In ancient Mesopotamia

In ancient Mesopotamia, doves were prominent animal symbols of Inanna-Ishtar, the goddess of love, sexuality, and war.[88][89] Doves are shown

on cultic objects associated with Inanna as early as the beginning of the third millennium BC.[88] Lead dove figurines were discovered

in the temple of Ishtar at Aššur, dating to the thirteenth century BC,[88] and a painted fresco from Mari, Syria, shows a giant dove emerging from a palm tree in the temple of Ishtar,[89] indicating that the goddess herself was sometimes believed to take the

form of a dove.[89] In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim releases a dove and a raven to find land; the dove merely circles and returns.[90] Only then does Utnapishtim send forth the raven, which does not return, and Utnapishtim concludes the raven has found land.[90]