The epic just referred to belongs to the old Babylonian period.

It embodies ancient traditions of rivalry between the Babylonian principalities, though there are traces of several recastings which the epic received.
The violent Ishtar, therefore, is a type going back to the same period as the other side of her character that is emphasized elsewhere.

Since, moreover, the Ishtar in the Gilgamesh epic is none other than the chief goddess of Uruk, all further doubt as to the union of such diverging traits in one and the same personage falls to the ground.

In this same epic, Ishtar appears as sympathizing with the sufferings of mankind, and bewailing the destruction that was at one time decreed by the gods.

It is noteworthy that the violent Ishtar appears in that portion of the epic which, on the assumption of a zodiacal interpretation for the composition, corresponds to the summer solstice, whereas, the destruction which arouses her sympathy takes place in the eleventh month.