The Obituary
Nergal was the Mesopotamian god of war, plague and the underworld, embodying the destructive heat of the noon and midsummer sun and blamed for fever and sudden death. His chief temple stood at Kutha. In his best-known myth he affronts the underworld queen Ereshkigal, then invades her realm with a band of demons before being reconciled and installed as her consort and co-ruler of the dead. Venerated across Mesopotamia for over two thousand years, his cult faded under the empires that followed and ended in the early centuries CE, leaving the plague-god forgotten.
Worth remembering
- He embodied the lethal heat of the midday and midsummer sun, and was blamed for war, fever and sudden epidemic death.
- After insulting Ereshkigal's messenger, he stormed her underworld with fourteen demons, then was reconciled to her and made co-king of the dead.
Sources
- Nergal was a Mesopotamian god of war, plague, the underworld and the destructive heat of the sun, with his chief cult center at Kutha. Wikipedia
- In the myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal, Nergal descends to the underworld and becomes its co-ruler alongside the queen. World History Encyclopedia
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.