Dumuzi is the Sumerian god of vegetation and fertility, and also of the underworld...
Dumuzi means "faithful or true son" in Sumerian...
In the Sumerian Descent of Inanna he is the consort of the goddess Inanna...
According to the Sumerian King-List Gilgamesh was descended from 'Dumuzi a shepherd'.
Dumuzi was originally a mortal ruler whose marriage to Inanna ensured the fertility of the land and the fecundity of the womb...
This marriage, however, according to a legend whose denouncement has only recently come to light, ended in stark tragedy when the goddess, offended by her husband's unfeeling behavior toward her, decreed that he be carried off to the netherworld for six months of each year-hence the barren, sterile months of the hot summer.
At the autumnal equinox, which marked the beginning of the Sumerian new year, Dumuzi returned to the earth...
His reunion with his wife caused all animal and plant life to be revitalized and made fertile once again...
In Babylonia, the month Tammuz was established in honor of the eponymous god Tammuz, who originated as a Sumerian shepherd-god...
More:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3642771
See Inanna:
See Gilgamesh:
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