Preparation for a Journey. The Prerequisites. Proerosia: Pre Ploughing Rites. Late August to early September bring the first anticipation of rain. In central Mediterranean it is these first rains that quench the parched earth that herald the new season's harvests. It is these first rains that renew the vegetation that feeds both animals and man himself. But for that to happen the gods demand supplication. The oldest known sources of the journey in myth, appear in Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets. The story takes the name of "Inanna's Descent into the Netherworld". It is a metaphorical representation of the sowing of the cereals. It represents the first phase of the biological cycle in cereal cultivation, and starts with the sowing of the seed grain behind a plough. But there were certain prerequisites before the journey starts. In the Sumerian farmer's Almanak the cycle starts with the flooding of the fields. In Mesopotamia, the land between the two rivers