40: Ghosts, Gates, and Goddesses: Inside Ereshkigal's Underworld
This week is all about the goddess, Ereshkigal. Ereshkigal is the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of the underworld, a powerful and enigmatic deity who ruled over the land of the dead. Her name means “Queen of the Great Earth” or “Lady of the Great Place,” referring to the realm of the dead, often called Kur or Irkalla.
Her Roles and Responsibilities:
Queen of the Underworld: Ereshkigal governs Ganzir, the palace at the entrance to the netherworld, and oversees the souls of the dead. She enforces the boundary between life and death, once a soul enters, it cannot return.
Sister of Inanna (Ishtar): In Sumerian mythology, she is the dark counterpart to her sister Inanna, the goddess of love, fertility, and war. Their relationship is explored in the myth The Descent of Inanna, where Inanna ventures into Ereshkigal’s realm and is stripped of her power and killed, only to be resurrected later.
Wife of Nergal (in Akkadian myth): In the myth Nergal and Ereshkigal, she takes Nergal, the god of war and plague, as her consort, and the two rule the underworld together. This myth reflects themes of power, submission, and balance between chaos and order.
What Ereshkigal Represents
Death and the Afterlife: She personifies the inevitability and finality of death, not as punishment, but as a natural passage for all souls.
Order and Justice: She ensures that burial rituals are observed and that the dead are treated with respect. If not, she may allow the dead to rise as ghosts to correct the living.
Sacred Boundaries: Ereshkigal maintains the divine separation between the worlds, and violations, like Inanna’s descent, must be paid for with a price.
Divine Grief and Power: Though she is powerful, she also experiences deep pain and mourning, showing that even goddesses carry emotional burdens.
Citations for this episode:
Joshua J. Mark, Ereshkigal (World History Encyclopedia, 11 January 2017) https://www.worldhistory.org/Ereshkigal/
Samuel Noah Kramer, The Sumerians Their History, Culture, and Character (The University of Chicago Press, 1963) page 134
Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses: Ereshkigal, accessed 13 April 2017.
Bertman, S. Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. Oxford University Press, 2005.
Black, J. & Green, A. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia. University of Texas Press, 1992.
Kramer, S. N. The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character. University of Chicago Press, 1971.
Leick, G. The A to Z of Mesopotamia. Scarecrow Press, 2010.
Sanders, N. K. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Penguin Classics, 1960.
The Death of Ur-Nammu, accessed 9 Jan 2025.
The Marriage of Ereshkigal and Nergal, accessed 9 March 2025.
Wallis Budge, E. A. Babylonian Life and History. Barnes & Noble, 2005.
Wolkstein, D & Kramer, S. N. Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth. Harper Perennial, 1983.
Morris, D. (2022, April 4). Goddess Ereshkigal: The first ruler of the underworld. TheCollector. https://www.thecollector.com/goddess-ereshkigal/
Woodfield, S. (2017). Dark goddess craft: A journey through the heart of transformation. Llewellyn Publications.
