1. Nergal and Ereshkigal
Two versions:
From Tell el-Amarna,
mid-2nd millennium BC
From Sultantepe and
Uruk, 7th c. BC

2. Amarna Version
Ereshkigal is unable to leave Underworld
(p. 178, recall p. 156). Sends Namtar to
pick up her share of divine banquet
Nergal (a.k.a. Erra, god of war, plague, forest
fires) treats Namtar with disrespect.
Ereshkigal resolves to kill him, but he
evades capture
Nergal seizes Underworld, accepts Ereshkigal’s
offer of marriage and mastery (p. 180)

3. Sultantepe/Uruk Version
Ereshkigal is unable to leave Underworld
(p. 178, recall p. 156). Sends Namtar to
pick up her share of divine banquet
Nergal (a.k.a. Erra, god of war, plague, forest
fires) treats Namtar with disrespect, despite
Ea’s hints (p. 167)…
Nergal going to Underworld. Ea’s instructions.

4. Sultantepe/Uruk Version
Nergal arrives at Underworld, identified by
Namtar (p. 169). What happens next?
Nergal admitted, says sent by Anu to judge
dead (p. 170); hint at future, though avoids
ties to Underworld…
Until unable to resist Ereshkigal. After 6 nights
together, flees on 7th day, tricking Namtar
and being welcomed by gods as “son of
Ishtar”

5. Sultantepe/Uruk Version
Ereshkigal’s grief (p. 172)
Collapse, tears, calls to lover
Predicament worse than before (p. 173):
Loneliness, abandonment, spiritually
impure
Ereshkigal’s threat
Effect of repetition

6. “I shall raise up the dead and they will eat
the living.
“I shall make the dead outnumber the living!”
Recall Ishtar on pp. 80 and 155

7. Sultantepe/Uruk Version
Namtar fails to arrest Nergal twice…
Namtar(!) advises Nergal on how to force
entry into Underworld
Nergal seizes Underworld, goes to bed with
Ereshkigal for 6 days (p. 176)
On 7th day Anu declares Nergal will remain in
Underworld, thus becoming lord thereof

8. The Lovers…
Poignancy of setting
Contrast to Ishtar’s love affairs - maternal
Ereshkigal (recall p. 156)
Power of feminine sexuality - Nergal’s
reaction
Nergal’s laugh - siahu (“to laugh,” but with
conceptual link to lovemaking, p. 176)

9. The Lovers…
Loss on both sides?
Ereshkigal’s character

10. Literary techniques:
Contradictions
“Plagiarism”