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58-466: The ruler of the underworld was the goddess Ereshkigal , who lived in the palace Ganzir , sometimes used as a name for the underworld itself. Her husband was either Gugalanna , the "canal-inspector of Anu", or, especially in later stories, Nergal , the god of war. After the Akkadian Period ( c.  2334–2154 BC), Nergal sometimes took over the role as ruler of the underworld. The seven gates of

116-511: A boat to slay the Kur. The Kur defends itself by pelting Enki with rocks of many sizes and by sending the waves beneath Enki's boat to attack Enki. The poem never actually explains who the ultimate victor of the battle is, but it is implied that Enki wins. Samuel Noah Kramer relates this myth to the ancient Greek myth of the abduction of Persephone , asserting that the Greek story is probably derived from

174-400: A couple likely developed out of a need to reconcile the two traditions. Ereshkigal's sukkal (vizier or messenger) was Namtar. While obscure in cultic texts, Ereshkigal was prominent in mythical literature. Examples of myths where she plays an important role include: In this poem, the goddess Inanna descends into the underworld, apparently seeking to extend her powers there. Ereshkigal

232-465: A judge of the dead in the underworld alongside the malku , kusu , and the Anunnaki . On his way through the underworld, Utu was believed to pass through the garden of the sun-god, which contained trees that bore precious gems as fruit. The Sumerian hymn Inanna and Utu contains an etiological myth in which Utu's sister Inanna begs her brother Utu to take her to Kur, so that she may taste the fruit of

290-502: A loyal subordinate to them. However, when she discovers that her husband, Dumuzid , has not mourned her death, she becomes ireful towards him and orders the demons to take him as her replacement. Diane Wolkstein argued that Inanna and Ereshkigal represent polar opposites: Inanna is the queen of heaven , but Ereshkigal is the queen of Irkalla. This myth tells the story of the origin of Ereshkigal's marriage to Nergal . Two versions are known, though they differ only in details related to

348-535: A male deity with the masculine title of katte (king), started to be viewed as a goddess instead due to conflation with Allani and Ereshkigal. In later times, the Greeks appear to have applied the name Ereshkigal (Ερεσχιγαλ) to their own goddess Hecate . In the heading of a spell in the Michigan Magical Papyrus , which has been dated to the late third or early fourth century A.D. (and as such

406-459: A nymph over the course of the journey. Finally, once she has gone through all seven gates, she finds herself naked and powerless, standing before the throne of Ereshkigal. The seven judges of the underworld judge Inanna and declare her to be guilty. Inanna is struck dead and her corpse is hung on a hook in the underworld for everyone to see. Inanna's minister, Ninshubur , however, pleads with various gods and finally Enki agrees to rescue Inanna from

464-516: A phrase meaning "Lord of the Good Tree". In the Sumerian poem, The Death of Gilgamesh , the hero Gilgamesh dies and meets Ningishzida, along with Dumuzid , in the underworld. Gudea , the Sumerian king of the city-state of Lagash , revered Ningishzida as his personal protector. In the myth of Adapa , Dumuzid and Ningishzida are described as guarding the gates of the highest Heaven. Ningishzida

522-400: A result of this, Ereshkigal demanded Nergal to be sent to the underworld to atone. In one version, she planned to kill Nergal upon arrival in the underworld, but this detail is absent from the other versions. Nergal travels under the advice of Ea , who warns him not to sit, eat, drink or wash while in the underworld, as well as not to have sex with Ereshkigal. At his advice Nergal travels to

580-551: A senior status among the underworld deities, ruling over the category of so-called "transtigridian snake gods" (such as Ninazu, Tishpak , Ishtaran , and the Elamite god Inshushinak , in Mesopotamia known almost exclusively in the afterlife context), while Nergal, who fulfilled analogous functions in the north in Sumerian times, had an entourage of minor war gods and disease demons instead. The idea of Nergal and Ereshkigal as

638-460: A significant ruler of the land of the dead in Sumerian imagination at a later point in time. However, beliefs related to this sphere were somewhat amorphous, and it is possible there was initially no single universally-agreed-upon version of relevant mythical and cultic concepts, with various deities, both male and female, ruling over the underworld in the belief systems of various areas and time periods. In later Babylonian god lists, Ereshkigal held

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696-501: A soul needed to pass. All seven gates were protected by bolts . The god Neti was the gatekeeper. Ereshkigal's sukkal , or messenger, was the god Namtar . The palace of Ereshkigal was known as Ganzir. At night, the sun-god Utu was believed to travel through the underworld as he journeyed to the east in preparation for the sunrise. One Sumerian literary work refers to Utu illuminating the underworld and dispensing judgement there and Shamash Hymn 31 (BWL 126) states that Utu serves as

754-442: A tree that grows there, which will reveal to her all the secrets of sex. Utu complies and, in Kur, Inanna tastes the fruit and becomes knowledgeable of sex. A number of deities were believed by the ancient Mesopotamians to reside in the underworld. The queen of the underworld was the goddess Ereshkigal. She was believed to live in a palace known as Ganzir. In earlier stories, her husband is Gugalanna , but, in later myths, her husband

812-527: A very limited scope. No personal names with "Ereshkigal" as a theophoric element are known. In the ancient Sumerian poem Inanna's Descent to the Underworld , Ereshkigal is described as Inanna 's older sister. However, this is a cultural artifact since the Sumerians used terms such as sister as a way to place each other on the same level in hierarchy The two main myths involving Ereshkigal are

870-417: Is Ninazu . In Inanna's Descent into the Underworld , Inanna tells the gatekeeper Neti that she is descending to the underworld to attend the funeral of "Gugalanna, the husband of my elder sister Ereshkigal". During the Akkadian Period ( c.  2334 – 2154 BC), Ereshkigal's role as the ruler of the underworld was assigned to Nergal, the god of death. The Akkadians attempted to harmonize this dual rulership of

928-407: Is a minor deity of the underworld. Seven or eight other minor deities were said to be his offspring. His symbol was the suššuru (a kind of pigeon ). In one incantation, Enmesarra and Ninmesharra, his female counterpart, are invoked as ancestors of Enki and as primeval deities. Ennugi is "the canal inspector of the gods". He is the son of Enlil or Enmesarra and his wife is the goddess Nanibgal . He

986-653: Is associated with the underworld and he may be Gugalanna, the first husband of Ereshkigal, under a different name. The ancient Mesopotamians also believed that the underworld was home to many demons, which are sometimes referred to as "offspring of arali ". These demons could sometimes leave the underworld and terrorize mortals on earth. One class of demons that were believed to reside in the underworld were known as galla ; their primary purpose appears to have been to drag unfortunate mortals back to Kur. They are frequently referenced in magical texts, and some texts describe them as being seven in number. Several extant poems describe

1044-452: Is described as being Inanna's older sister. When Neti , the gatekeeper of the underworld, informs Ereshkigal that Inanna is at the gates and demanding to be let in, Ereshkigal responds by ordering Neti to bolt the seven gates of the underworld and to open each separately, but only after Inanna has removed one article of clothing. Inanna proceeds through each gate, removing one article of clothing at each gate, and also loses her magic items to

1102-580: Is given as Irkalla , similar to the way the name Hades was used in Greek mythology for both the underworld and its ruler, and sometimes it is given as Ninkigal, lit. "Lady of the Great Earth". Ereshkigal was only one of multiple deities regarded as rulers of the underworld in Mesopotamia. The main temple dedicated to her was located in Kutha , a city originally associated with Nergal, and her cult had

1160-486: Is mentioned near the end of this composition. The vegetation god Ningishzida presumably has to descend to her kingdom each year. Ereshkigal is listed alongside other underworld deities. Nergal is described as her husband in this text. In some versions of the myths, Ereshkigal rules the Underworld by herself, but in other versions of the myths, she rules alongside a husband subordinate to her named Gugalana . Gugalana had no fixed identity. In Inanna's descent he dies before

1218-418: Is the gatekeeper of the underworld. In the story of Inanna's Descent into the Underworld , he leads Inanna through the seven gates of the underworld, removing one of her garments at each gate so that when she comes before Ereshkigal she is naked and symbolically powerless. Belet-Seri is a chthonic underworld goddess who was thought to record the names of the deceased as they entered the underworld. Enmesarra

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1276-423: Is the god Nergal . Her gatekeeper was the god Neti and her sukkal is the god Namtar . In the poem Inanna's Descent into the Underworld , Ereshkigal is described as Inanna's "older sister". Gugalanna is the first husband of Ereshkigal, the queen of the underworld. His name probably originally meant "canal inspector of An" and he may be merely an alternative name for Ennugi . The son of Ereshkigal and Gugalanna

1334-507: Is the sister of Dumuzid, the god of shepherds. In one story, she protects her brother when the galla demons come to drag him down to the underworld by hiding him successively in four different places. In another version of the story, she refuses to tell the galla where he is hiding, even after they torture her. The galla eventually take Dumuzid away after he is betrayed by an unnamed "friend", but Inanna decrees that he and Geshtinanna will alternate places every six months, each spending half

1392-479: The Third Dynasty of Ur ( c. 2112 – c. 2004 BC), it was believed that a person's treatment in the afterlife depended on how they were buried; those that had been given sumptuous burials would be treated well, but those who had been given poor burials would fare poorly. Those who did not receive a proper burial, such as those who had died in fires and whose bodies had been burned or those who died alone in

1450-484: The galla dragging the god Dumuzid into the underworld. Like other demons, however, galla could also be benevolent and, in a hymn from King Gudea of Lagash ( c. 2144 – 2124 BC), a minor god named Ig-alima is described as "the great galla of Girsu ". Demons had no cult in Mesopotamian religious practice since demons "know no food, know no drink, eat no flour offering and drink no libation." Lamashtu

1508-510: The "land of no return", the "desert", or the "lower world". The most common name for the earth and the underworld in Akkadian is erṣetu , but other names for the underworld include: ammatu , arali / arallû , bīt dumuzi ("House of Dumuzi "), danninu , erṣetu la târi ("Earth of No Return"), ganzer / kanisurra , ḫaštu , irkalla , kiūru , kukkû ("Darkness"), kurnugû ("Earth of No Return"), lammu , mātu šaplītu , and qaqqaru . In

1566-581: The Third Millennium B.C. Samuel Noah Kramer proposed that, according to the introductory passage of the ancient Sumerian epic poem, " Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld ," Ereshkigal was forcibly abducted, taken down to the Underworld by the Kur , and was forced to become queen of the Underworld against her will. In order to avenge the abduction of Ereshkigal, Enki, the god of water, set out in

1624-402: The ancient Sumerian story. This view, and even the idea of Kur being a single well-defined monster rather than a vague term referring to mountains, foreign lands or the underworld, are not supported by modern scholars. The passage mentioned is interpreted as Enlil and Anu assigning a dowry to Ereshkigal. [REDACTED]   This article incorporates text from a publication now in

1682-477: The dead into pieces as they passed through the gates. During the Neo-Assyrian Period (911 BC–609 BC), small depictions of them would be buried at entrances, with Lugal-irra always on the left and Meslamta-ea always on the right. They are identical and are shown wearing horned caps and each holding an axe and a mace. They are identified with the constellation Gemini , which is named after them. Neti

1740-481: The desert, would have no existence in the underworld at all, but would simply cease to exist. The Sumerians believed that, for the highly privileged, music could alleviate the bleak conditions of the underworld. A staircase led down to the gates of the underworld. The underworld itself is usually located even deeper below ground than the Abzu , the body of freshwater which the ancient Mesopotamians believed lay deep beneath

1798-445: The earth. In other, conflicting traditions, however, it seems to be located at a remote and inaccessible location on Earth, possibly somewhere in the far west. This alternate tradition is hinted at by the fact that the underworld is sometimes called "desert" and by the fact that actual rivers located far away from Sumer are sometimes referred to as the "river of the underworld". The underworld was believed to have seven gates, through which

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1856-451: The events of the myth; in some inscriptions he is the father of Ninazu; eventually this name became a title of Nergal as well. In Sumerian mythology, Ereshkigal is the mother of the goddess Nungal . In a fragmentary text translated by Jeremiah Peterson, Nungal appears alongside Ereshkigal and the healing goddess Nintinugga . In one late magical text her son with Enlil was her vizier Namtar . The Hurrian underworld goddess Allani

1914-407: The first millennium BC. He is shown with "a rather canine face with abnormally bulging eyes, a scaly body, a snake-headed penis, the talons of a bird and usually wings." He was believed to be the son of the god Hanbi . He was usually regarded as evil, but he could also sometimes be a beneficent entity who protected against winds bearing pestilence and he was thought to be able to force Lamashtu back to

1972-461: The hideous child-devourer Lamashtu , the fearsome wind demon and protector god Pazuzu , and galla , who dragged mortals to the underworld. The Sumerians had a large number of different names which they applied to the underworld, including Arali , Irkalla , Kukku , Kur , Kigal , and Ganzir . All of these terms were later borrowed into Akkadian. The rest of the time, the underworld was simply known by words meaning "earth" or "sand", including

2030-413: The most in the underworld, because they would have nothing to drink at all, and were believed to haunt the living. Sometimes the dead are described as naked or clothed in feathers like birds. Nonetheless, there are assumptions according to which treasures in wealthy graves had been intended as offerings for Utu and the Anunnaki , so that the deceased would receive special favors in the underworld. During

2088-460: The motivation of the deities involved and both the plot structure and ultimate outcome are the same. Once, the gods held a banquet that Ereshkigal, as queen of the underworld, could not come up to attend. Kaka, one of the messengers of Anu (analogous to Papsukkal or Ninshubur ) invited her to send a messenger, and she sent her vizier Namtar in her place. He was treated well by most, the exception being Nergal, who treated Namtar with disrespect. As

2146-437: The myth " Nergal and Ereshkigal " it is also referred to as Kurnugi . All souls went to the same afterlife, and a person's actions during life had no effect on how the person would be treated in the world to come. Unlike in the ancient Egyptian afterlife , there was no process of judgement or evaluation for the deceased; they merely appeared before Ereshkigal, who would pronounce them dead, and their names would be recorded by

2204-476: The permission of other deities strongly indicates that she was seen as a goddess in her own right. Mesopotamian peoples protected against her using amulets and talismans . She was believed to ride in her boat on the river of the underworld and she was associated with donkeys. She was believed to be the daughter of An . Pazuzu is a demonic god who was well known to the Babylonians and Assyrians throughout

2262-415: The same version in which Ereshkigal planned to kill Nergal, when he gets to the throne he knocks over Namtar and drags Ereshkigal to the floor. He is about to kill her with his ax when she pleads for her life; she promises to be his wife and to share her power with him. He consents. However, Nergal must still leave the underworld for six months, so Ereshkigal gives him back his demons and allows him to traverse

2320-490: The scribal goddess Geshtinanna . The souls in Kur were believed to eat nothing but dry dust and family members of the deceased would ritually pour libations into the dead person's grave through a clay pipe, thereby allowing the dead to drink. For this reason, it was considered essential to have as many offspring as possible so that one's descendants could continue to provide libations for the dead person to drink for many years. Those who had died without descendants would suffer

2378-533: The springtime, when the land was fertile and abundant, but, during the summer months, when the land was dry and barren, it was thought that Dumuzid had "died". During the month of Dumuzid , which fell in the middle of summer, people all across Sumer would mourn over his death. An enormous number of popular stories circulated throughout the Near East surrounding his death. Geshtinanna is a rural agricultural goddess sometimes associated with dream interpretation . She

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2436-417: The story of Inanna's descent into the Underworld and the story of Ereshkigal's marriage to the god Nergal . Other myths also associate her with gods such as Ninazu , originally regarded as her husband but later as a son, and Ningishzida . In Sumerian mythology, Ereshkigal was the queen of the underworld . Some researchers believe that Ninazu originally fulfilled this function, with Ereshkigal only becoming

2494-459: The terms Kur and Ki in Sumerian and the word erṣetu in Akkadian. When used in reference to the underworld, the word Kur usually means "ground", but sometimes this meaning is conflated with another possible meaning of the word Kur as "mountain". The cuneiform sign for Kur was written ideographically with the cuneiform sign 𒆳, a pictograph of a mountain. Sometimes the underworld is called

2552-512: The third millennium BC, but he was later supplanted by the Hurrian storm god Tishpak . A god named "Ninazu" was also worshipped at Enegi in southern Sumer, but this may be a different local god by the same name. His divine beast was the mušḫuššu , a kind of dragon, which was later given to Tishpak and then Marduk. Ningishzida is a god who normally lives in the underworld. He is the son of Ninazu and his name may be etymologically derived from

2610-430: The underworld along with 14 demons. When he arrives, the gatekeeper Neti gets orders from Ereshkigal to allow him through the seven gates, stripping him of everything before arriving in the throne room, but at each gate, Nergal posts two demons. Although Nergal has no problem with respecting all the other warnings, the god succumbs to the temptation and lies with the goddess for six days. At the seventh, he escapes back to

2668-476: The underworld and, in later mythology, he was one of the demons of the underworld. Ereshkigal In Mesopotamian mythology , Ereshkigal ( Sumerian : 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒆠𒃲 EREŠ . KI . GAL , lit. "Queen of the Great Earth") was the goddess of Kur , the land of the dead or underworld in Sumerian mythology . In later myths, she was said to rule Irkalla alongside her husband Nergal . Sometimes her name

2726-412: The underworld are guarded by a gatekeeper, who is named Neti in Sumerian. The god Namtar acts as Ereshkigal's sukkal , or divine attendant. The dying god Dumuzid spends half the year in the underworld, while, during the other half, his place is taken by his sister, the scribal goddess Geshtinanna , who records the names of the deceased. The underworld was also the abode of various demons, including

2784-495: The underworld by making Nergal Ereshkigal's husband. Nergal is the deity most often identified as Ereshkigal's husband. He was also associated with forest fires (and identified with the fire-god, Gibil ), fevers, plagues, and war. In myths, he causes destruction and devastation. Ninazu is the son of Ereshkigal and the father of Ningishzida . He is closely associated with the underworld. He was mostly worshipped in Eshnunna during

2842-486: The underworld. Amulets bearing his image were positioned in dwellings to protect infants from Lamashtu and pregnant women frequently wore amulets with his head on them as protection from her. Šul-pa-e 's name means "youthful brilliance", but he was not envisioned as a youthful god. According to one tradition, he was the consort of Ninhursag, a tradition which contradicts the usual portrayal of Enki as Ninhursag's consort. In one Sumerian poem, offerings are made to Šhul-pa-e in

2900-399: The underworld. Enki sends two sexless beings down to the underworld to revive Inanna with the food and water of life. These beings escort Inanna up from the underworld, but a horde of angry demons follow Inanna, demanding to take someone else down to the underworld as Inanna's replacement. They initially want it to be Ninshubur, but Inanna rebukes this order, stating that she would not hand over

2958-445: The upper world for that time, after which he returns to her. In the other version, known from two copies, the myth has a less violent ending: according to Assyriologist Alhena Gadotti, "the two deities seem to reunite and live happily ever after," and the myth concludes with the line "they impetuously entered the bedchamber." In both versions, Nergal ends up becoming a king of the underworld, ruling alongside Ereshkigal. Ereshkigal

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3016-429: The upper world, which makes Ereshkigal upset. Namtar is then sent to bring Nergal back, but Ea disguises Nergal as a lesser god and Namtar is fooled. Ereshkigal ultimately realizes the deception and demands Nergal to return again, threatening to open the gates of the underworld and allow the spirits of the dead to swarm the world of the living if her demands are ignored. The gods agree to hand Nergal over to her again. In

3074-550: The use of Ereshkigal's name served no purpose other than "furnishing the Greek Netherworld goddess with a mysterious-sounding, foreign name," and that the people who "composed, transmitted and used these texts had either little interest in or little knowledge of (or both) the Mesopotamian traditions associated with Ereškigal." In his 1944 book, Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in

3132-477: The year in the underworld while the other stays in Heaven. While she is in the underworld, Geshtinanna serves as Ereshkigal's scribe. Lugal-irra and Meslamta-ea are a set of twin gods who were worshipped in the village of Kisiga, located in northern Babylonia . They were regarded as guardians of doorways and they may have originally been envisioned as a set of twins guarding the gates of the underworld, who chopped

3190-430: Was a demonic goddess with the "head of a lion, the teeth of a donkey, naked breasts, a hairy body, hands stained (with blood?), long fingers and fingernails, and the feet of Anzû ." She was believed to feed on the blood of human infants and was widely blamed as the cause of miscarriages and cot deaths . Although Lamashtu has traditionally been identified as a demoness, the fact that she could cause evil on her own without

3248-405: Was associated with the constellation Hydra . Dumuzid, later known by the corrupted form Tammuz, is the ancient Mesopotamian god of shepherds and the primary consort of the goddess Inanna. His sister is the goddess Geshtinanna. In addition to being the god of shepherds, Dumuzid was also an agricultural deity associated with the growth of plants. Ancient Near Eastern peoples associated Dumuzid with

3306-676: Was conflated with Ereshkigal in Mesopotamia, and with the Sun goddess of the Earth among the Hittites and Luwians . While Allani was originally introduced in Mesopotamia as an independent figure, receiving offerings in Ur during Shulgi's reign under the name Allatum (alongside other foreign deities such as Ishara and Belet Nagar ), she gradually became little more than a title of Ereshkigal. The Hattian death god Lelwani , originally described as

3364-447: Was written after the art of reading cuneiform texts was lost), Hecate is referred to as "Hecate Ereschkigal" and is invoked using magical words and gestures to alleviate the caster's fear of punishment in the afterlife. Further study of Greek texts which mention the name of Ereshkigal revealed that none feature motifs of Mesopotamian origin in any meaningful capacity, the symbols used are ones associated with Hecate rather than Ereshkigal,

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