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Descent of Ištar to the Netherworld 12-20:
Ištar, upon arriving at the gate of the Land of No Return, speaks (these) words to the gatekeeper: “O gatekeeper, open your gate so that I may enter. If you do not open the gate and I cannot enter, I will break down the door, I will break the lock, I will break down the doorframe and tear out the doors, I will bring up the dead, they will devour the living, the dead will outnumber the living.
Homer, Iliad 20.61-66:
And seized with fear in the world below was Aidoneus, lord of the shades, and in fear leapt he from his throne and cried aloud, lest above him the earth be cloven by Poseidon, the Shaker of Earth, and his abode be made plain to view for mortals and immortals - the dread and dank abode, wherefor the very gods have loathing: so great was the din that arose when the gods clashed in strife.
Odes of Solomon 17.10-11:
And I opened the doors which were closed, and I shattered the bars of iron, for my shackle[s] had grown hot and melted before me.
Aphrahat, Demonstrations 14.652.7-10:
He entered Sheol and brought out its prisoners; he strove with the evil one and triumphed over him; he trampled on him and broke his footholds (?) and despoiled his possessions; he broke his doors and and shattered his bars.
Narsai, Homily for the Sunday of the Resurrection, 364-366:
‘He cried out in Sheol as a mighty one and its foundations shook: and he broke its gates and smashed its bars and plundered it and went forth.’
Narsai, Homily for the Day before Hosanna:
(Christ:) ‘They have seen that by the death of my person I descended to the depths of Sheol, and I broke its gates and shattered its bars so as to save you.’
Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Aphrahat, Demonstrations 14.652.7-10
Descent of Ištar to the Netherworld 12-20
Homer, Iliad 20.61-66
Narsai, Homily for the Sunday of the Resurrection, 364-366
Narsai, Homily for the Day before Hosanna
Odes of Solomon 17.10-11
Bibliography
| Murray 1975, 234-236 | Murray, Robert. Symbols of Church and Kingdom. A Study in Early Syriac Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1975. |
| Reiner 1985, 36 | Reiner, Erica. Your Thwarts in Pieces, Your Mooring Rope Cut. Poetry from Babylonia and Assyria. Michigan Studies in the Humanities 5. Ann Arbor: Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan 1985. |
| West 1997, 391 | West, Martin L. The East Face of Helicon. West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1997. |
Amar Annus
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