Myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal

Akkadian mythological narrative preserved in two distinct recensions: a concise fourteenth-century BCE Middle Babylonian tablet from Tell el-Amarna in Egypt (EA 357) and an expanded seventh-century BCE Neo-Assyrian version from Sultantepe (STT 28) and Uruk. It relates how Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld, sends her vizier Namtar to the banquet of the celestial gods because she cannot ascend to Heaven; when Nergal fails to kneel before Namtar, he descends to the netherworld, overcomes its seven gates, and becomes Ereshkigal's consort and co-ruler of the dead.

Core Themes

• Cosmic boundary between Heaven and the Underworld connected by the "long staircase of heaven" traversed only by divine messengers (Papsukkal / Kakka and Namtar).
• Instructions of Ea (Enki), who equips Nergal with a wooden throne and advises him to refuse underworld bread, meat, beer, and bathwater before Ereshkigal seduces him.
• Nergal's second descent, where he strikes down the gatekeepers and seizes Ereshkigal by the hair before marrying her and receiving joint sovereignty from An.

Primary Text & Editions

• Untranslated Akkadian & English translation (Sultantepe & Uruk recension): Oracc CAMS/GKAB — Nergal and Ereškigal (Transliteration & Translation); electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL)
• Untranslated Amarna tablet witness (CDLI): Amarna Tablet EA 357 (British Museum BM 29865 / P270866) on CDLI
• Critical edition: Ponchia, S., and M. Luukko. 2013. The Standard Babylonian Myth of Nergal and Ereškigal (SAACT 8). Helsinki; Izre'el, S. 1997. The Amarna Scholarly Tablets. Groningen: Styx, pp. 51–61.

Related Concepts & Sources

Nergal (lord of Cutha and the underworld), Ereshkigal (Queen of the Netherworld), Namtar (underworld envoy), Ea (advisor of Nergal), Underworld (setting)