Who was Tammuz?

A:Tammuz, also known as Dumuzi, was the shepherd-god and lover of the goddess Astarte or Inanna. Ezekiel 8:14 describes women in the Jerusalem Temple 'weeping for Tammuz'. We now know they were weeping because Inanna had condemned him to hell, after herself being crucified and resurrected. Origen says of Tammuz in his "Comments on Ezekiel" (Selecta in Ezechielem) that "they say that for a long time certain rites of initiation are conducted: first, that they weep for him, since he has died; second, that they rejoice for him because he has risen from the dead." Note that Origen could not have observed Jews worshipping Tammuz, since they did not worship Tammuz in the post-Exilic period.

Tammuz was also the name of the tenth month of the Jewish calendar, and is still used as the Iraqi name for the month of July.