Inanna. Goddess of love fertility warfare and lust.
Inanna is an independent goddess who does as she pleases quite often without regard for consequences and either manipulates threatens or tries to seduce others to fix the difficulties her behaviour creates. The fact that in no tradition does Inanna have a permanent male spouse is closely linked to her role as the goddess of sexual love. She is also among the oldest deities whose names are recorded in ancient Sumer.
She is often shown in the company of a lion denoting courage and sometimes even riding the lion as a sign of her supremacy over the 'king of beasts’. Other symbols include the eight-pointed star aka planet Venus and the eight-pointed flowery rosette capturing both the intensity of a star and the subtle delicacies of a flower which reflect well the Goddess paradoxical nature.
Inanna continued as a powerful and popular goddess until the decline of the prestige of female deities during the reign of Hammurabi which coincides with women's loss of status and rights in society.
Inanna endured because she was so accessible and recognizable. Women and men both could relate to this goddess and it was no coincidence that both sexes served her as priests temple servants and sacred prostitutes. Inanna made people want to serve her because of who she was not what she had to offer and her devotees remained faithful to her long after worship in her temples had ceased. She was closely associated with the morning and evening star and even the present day she continues to be - even if few remember her name.