Nergal

Nergal descended from heaven into the netherworld after he offended Ereshkigal, its queen. He entered the dark realm and faced the goddess he had insulted. He overcame Ereshkigal there. The cause of his offence remained unknown, and the road by which he reached her domain remained unknown.

The netherworld lay beneath the earth’s surface and above the nether waters, the great abyss. Its Sumerian name was Kur. Kur also meant mountain and foreign land, so the name carried more than one sense. The realm was also called the Land of No Return. Humans and gods who entered it could not return to the earth’s surface.

Ereshkigal ruled this sombre land. In one telling, the Underworld carried her away as its prize after An took heaven and Enlil took the earth. In another, the Underworld was given to her as her prize. One telling called her Ishtar’s elder sister. In another, she had first been a sky goddess before she became queen below, but she never returned to earth in spring.

After Nergal overcame Ereshkigal, he became her husband and co-ruler. He was an underworld god and a plague god. His name meant Lord of the Dead. Later Babylonian tellings linked him with warfare and used Erra as his name. Nergal did not return to heaven or earth. An Akkadian poem told of his translation to the underworld, but its fuller sequence remained unknown.