This 4, 000 year old relief is thought to depict the goddess Ishtar. She holds a rod and ring, symbols of justice, while the horned crown signals her divinity. Unusually she appears naked with taloned feet, possibly alluding to her temporary descent to the underworld during which time all sexual activity ceased on earth. Worship of the Ishtar, Inanna, stretches back 6, 000 years to southern Iraq. The embodiment of sexual desire and an aggressive, she was central to Sumerian civil life. Later honoured as Ishtar by Babylonians and Assyrians, her worship spread across the Middle East and Mediterranean. Painted clay, Iraq, c. 1750 BC.