mylitta

Mylitta, also transliterated Militta, is a name that appears in ancient Near Eastern religious material, most notably in classical Western writings that refer to a Mesopotamian goddess associated with fertility. The term is generally treated as the name of a deity within the Babylonian or broader Mesopotamian pantheon, though exact identifications vary among scholars. Some regard Mylitta as a distinct local goddess, while others connect her with Ishtar (Inanna) because of overlapping domains such as fertility and childbirth.

The most widely discussed claims about Mylitta come from classical authors who describe Babylonian cult practices. In particular, certain Greek and Latin writers recount a temple goddess named Mylitta and reference rites that involve offerings related to fertility. Modern scholarship has reexamined these accounts, noting that the reliability and interpretation of such reports are uncertain. Many scholars argue that if a cult associated with a goddess named Mylitta existed, it is not well documented in surviving Mesopotamian cuneiform sources, and descriptions of ritual prostitution or sacred sexual rites remain controversial and debated.

In contemporary scholarship, Mylitta is often understood as a figure that illustrates how ancient fertility deities were named, identified, and interpreted by later authors, rather than as a clearly attested, widely practiced cult figure. The evidence for Mylitta is fragmentary and subject to varying interpretations among specialists.