Ereshkigal & the Mesopotamian Underworld
- Sylvia Rose
- Nov 12, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 18
Goddess Queen Ereshkigal rules the Underworld of ancient Mesopotamia. She holds court among grim ghosts, gods and demons. Active from c. 2900 BCE to c. 600 BCE, she reigns for over twenty centuries.
Described in some sources as a monster goddess, she's sensual and attractive in others. She has domain over the souls, demons and deities of the land beyond Death. Her sister Inanna is Goddess Queen of Heaven.
Her Hurrian equivalent is Allani. Among the Hittites she's equated with the Goddess Lelwani, separately or in connection with the Sun Goddess of the Earth. In Ugarit she's equated with Asray.
The Underworld is Kur, Irkalla in Sumerian and Erṣetu in Akkadian. In the Bronze Age, Mesopotamia and Anatolia are among the most progressive cultures. As civilization grows, so do pantheons.
Goddess Ereshkigal enjoys considerable power and popularity in the godly and mortal world. In her realm, besides demons and dead are Underworld deities such as the God Neti the gatekeeper, and the Goddess Belet-Seri.
Belet-Seri is the scribe of Queen Ereshkigal. Also a goddess in her own right, Belet-Seri places high on God lists and accepts offerings especially of fowl. The sukkal of Ereshkigal is Namtar, an underworld disease demon.
Her consort is Nergal, a powerful god of death and disease. In some tales he forces her to marry him so he can become lord of the Underworld. The two are subjects of many stories, often cheating on each other.
They have massive fights and their sukkals must run or fly back and forth to mediate. Nergal's sukkal is night watchman Ishum.
For the deceased, the afterlife is monotonous. All is joyless, without color. There is no social life. No judgment is given, unlike the afterlife of ancient Egypt. People perish and appear in front of Ereshkigal. In some stories they must pass through seven doors.
Ereshkigal declares the person officially dead. Belet-Seri notes down names of the dead and how each person died. The life one lives has no effect on the conditions of one's death.
Unfortunately, the souls in the Underworld have only dry dust to eat. Families of the deceased must ritually pour libations through a clay pipe into the grave.
This allows the dead to drink. People even begin to have larger families, to be sure the living number enough to care for the dead. How one lives has no effect in the Underworld, but how one is buried means everything.
Souls with no one to care for them after life exist in a shadow world. Poor people, who can't afford a large burial, wear rags.
They have a more difficult time than those buried with riches, who sit back in luxury. However, the misfortunate, neglected or unhappy can go out and haunt the living to make their displeasure known.
Like the Memphis necropolis of the Egyptians, royal tombs give rise to entire cities of the dead, where the deceased can dwell for eternity. Living relatives can visit and leave offerings for the well-being of a departed soul.
As pantheons grow, priest/esses and scribes create god lists or kaluti on clay tablets, showing each deity's place in the hierarchy, associated sukkals and entourage. The lists outline the sacrifices to be made to the god/dess, when and in what quantity.
Worshippers who need divine intervention may not be allowed into the temples or ziggurats of the powerful gods. Priests and priestesses can have a word with the god on behalf of the mortals. It's best to honor that god/dess's sukkal as well.
In one famous myth Ereshkigal kills her sister when Inanna travels to the Underworld. Fortunately Inanna asks her overworld entourage to come and get her if she's not back after three days. They come for Inanna, argue with Ereshkigal, but in the end resurrect her.
When she flees the Underworld she's pursued by galla or gallu demons. These nasties are responsible for dragging unwilling souls into the land of the dead, and do so with glee.
They're part of Ereshkigal's personal pantheon. Inanna and her rescuers get away, and return to the realm of the living. However, Inanna's consort Dumuzid must take her place.
When Dumuzid, an agriculture god, is in Kur the land is dry and hot, and nothing grows. Eventually an agreement is reached.
His sister Geshtinanna comes to the Underworld for six months. There she serves in Ereshkigal's great palace, often as a scribe, sometimes equated with Belet-Seri.
Some vegetation gods have Underworld connections or dwell in Kur, including Abu, a vegetation snake god. Kur is not an abode of the dead. Gods beneath the earth nurture roots and growth of plants.
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