In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal (DEREŠ. Ancient Semitic religion spans the Polytheistic religions of the Semitic speaking peoples of the Ancient Near East. The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" Mesopotamian mythology is the collective name given to Sumerian Akkadian Assyrian and Babylonian mythologies from the land between the Tigris In the Levantine pantheon the Elohim are the sons of El the ancient of days (olam assembled on the divine holy place Mount Zephon ( Jebel This is a sub-article to Pre-Islamic Arabia Arabian mythology comprises the ancient Pre-Islamic beliefs of the Arabs Prior to the Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "land between the rivers" is an area geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers largely corresponding In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians Anu (also An; (from Sumerian *An = sky heaven was a sky-god The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Ancient Mesopotamia and is among the earliest known works of literary fiction. In Sumerian mythology, the utukku were a type of Spirit or Demon that could be either benevolent or evil Babylonian mythology is a set of stories depicting the activities of Babylonian deities, Heroes and Mythological creatures While these stories The Anunna are the fifty great gods of Sumerian mythology. Some of them are associated with specific cities while others bear a strong resemblance to the functions of patron This article is about the Sumerian god Adad also known as Ishkur. Ashnan was the goddess of grain in Mesopotamia. She and her brother Lahar, both children of Enlil, were created by the gods to provide the Annunaki In Sumerian and Akkadian mythology Asaruludu is one of the Anunnaku. Enbilulu was a rivers and Canals god in Mesopotamian mythology Disambiguation Sometimes an alternate spelling for Enkidu. Enkimdu is the Sumerian god of farming in charge of canals and ditches a task assigned Inanna ( D INANNA B153ellstpng|100x20px|INANNA]]) is the Sumerian goddess of sexual love fertility and warfare Lahar was the Sumerian cattle-god sent by Enlil and Enki from heaven to earth in order to make abundant its cattle In Sumerian mythology Nanshe was the daughter of Enki and Ninhursag. The name Nergal (or Nirgal, Nirgali) refers to a Deity in Babylonia with the main seat Nanibgal ( D NANIBGAL B010ellstpng|100x20px|AN]] 𒀭𒀭𒉀 D NÁNIBGAL 𒀭𒀭𒊺𒉀 also Nisaba or Nidaba Ningal ("Great Lady" in Sumerian mythology was a goddess of reeds daughter of Enki and Ningikurga and the consort of the moon god Nanna In Sumerian mythology, Ninsun or Ninsuna ("lady wild cow" is a goddess best known as the mother of the legendary hero Gilgamesh, and as Ninkasi is the ancient Sumerian matron goddess of Beer. Her father was Enki, the lord Nudimmud, and her mother was Ninti In Sumerian mythology, Ninlil (𒀭𒊩𒌆𒆤 D NIN.LÍL"lady of the open field" or "Lady of the Air" first called Ninurta ( Nin Ur: Lord of the Earth/Plough in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology was the god of Nippur, identified with Ningirsu Nusku was the name of the light and fire-god in Babylonia and Assyria, who is hardly to be distinguished from a certain time on from a god Girru - Uttu in Sumerian mythology is the goddess of weaving and clothing The Anunnaki (also transcribed as Anunnaku, Ananaki) are a group of Sumerian and Akkadian deities related to and in some cases Mesopotamian mythology is the collective name given to Sumerian Akkadian Assyrian and Babylonian mythologies from the land between the Tigris Dingir is the Sumerian for " Deity " It is written as an Ideogram in the Cuneiform script (Borger 2003 nr The Sumerian word NIN ( Akkadian pronunciation EREŠ) is the sign for "lady" KI. In Sumerian mythology, Ninhursag (NINURSAG was the earth and mother- Goddess, one of the seven great deities of Sumer. GAL, lit. GAL (Borger 2003 nr 553 U+ 120F2 𒃲 is the Sumerian Cuneiform for "great" "great lady under earth") was the goddess of Irkalla, the land of the dead or underworld. In Akkadian and Sumerian mythology, Irkalla (also Ir-Kalla, Irkalia) is the Hell -like Underworld from which there In the study of Mythology and Religion, the underworld (gr κάτω κόσμος) is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term Afterlife Sometimes her name is given as Irkalla, similar to way the name Hades was used in Greek mythology for both the underworld and its ruler. Hades (from Greek, Hadēs, originally, Haidēs or, Aidēs, probably from Indo-European *n̥-wid- 'unseen' refers both to the ancient Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance
Ereshkigal was the only one who could pass judgement and give laws in her kingdom. The main temple dedicated to her was located in Cuthah. According to the Tanakh, Cuthah was one of the five Syrian and Mesopotamian cities from which Sargon II, King of Assyria, [1]
The goddess Ishtar refers to Ereshkigal as her older sister in the Sumerian hymn "The Descent of Ishtar" (which was also in later Babylonian myth still called "The Descent of Ishtar"). Ishtar ( D IŠTAR 𒀭𒌋𒁯 is the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to Ishtar ( D IŠTAR 𒀭𒌋𒁯 is the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to Inanna/Ishtar's trip and return to the underworld is the most familiar of the myths concerning Ereshkigal.
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Source myths
She is known chiefly through two myths, believed to symbolize the changing of the seasons, but perhaps also intended to illustrate certain doctrines developed in the temple-schools of Babylonia. Ereshkigal is therefore the sister of Ishtar and from one point of view her counterpart, the symbol of nature during the non-productive season of the year. As the doctrine of two kingdoms, one of this world and one of the world of the dead, becomes crystallized, the dominions of the two sisters are sharply differentiated from one another.
One of these myths is the famous story of Ishtar's descent to Irkalla or Aralu, as the lower world was called, and her reception by her sister who presides over it; the other is the story of Nergal, the plague god, whose offence against Ereshkigal, his banishment to the kingdom controlled by the goddess and the reconciliation between Nergal and Ereshkigal through the latter's offer to have Nergal share the honors of the rule over Irkalla. The name Nergal (or Nirgal, Nirgali) refers to a Deity in Babylonia with the main seat In later tradition, Nergal is said to have been the victor, taking her as wife and ruling the land himself.
It is theorized that the story of Ishtar's descent is told to illustrate the possibility of an escape from Irkalla, while the other myth is intended to reconcile the existence of two rulers of Irkalla: a goddess and a god. The addition of Nergal represents the harmonizing tendency to unite with Ereshkigal as the queen of the netherworld to the god who, in his character as god of war and of pestilence, conveys the living to Irkalla and thus becomes the one who presides over the dead.
Other details
In some versions of the myths, she rules the underworld by herself, sometimes with a husband subordinate to her named Gugalana. In Mesopotamian mythology, Gugalanna (lit "The Great Bull of Heaven" Sumerian gu "bull" gal "great" an It was said that she had been stolen away by Kur and taken to the underworld, where she was made queen unwillingly. For the river see Kur River; for the village in Azerbaijan see Kür. [1]
She is the mother of the goddess Nungal. Her son with Enlil was the god Namtar. Enlil ( EN = Lord + LIL = Loft "Lord of the Open" or "Lord of the Wind" was the name of a chief deity listed and written about in ancient Sumerian In Mesopotamian mythology Namtar was a hellish Deity, god of death and the messenger of An, Ereshkigal, and Nergal. With Gugalana her son was Ninazu. In Mesopotamian mythology, Gugalanna (lit "The Great Bull of Heaven" Sumerian gu "bull" gal "great" an Ninazu in Sumerian mythology was a god of the underworld and of healing
Notes and References
- ^ "Ereshkigal", Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2003.
Sources
- Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia by Jeremy Black and Anthony Green (ISBN 0-292-70794-0)
- The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels by Alexander Heidel (ISBN 0-226-32398-6)
- Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth" by Diane Wolkenstein and Sumuel Noah Kramer (ISBN 0-06-090854-8)
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
External links
- "Inana's descent to the nether world" - from The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature by the Oriental Institute of the University of Oxford
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