Ereshkigal, the powerful goddess of the underworld (Kur) in Sumerian mythology, presided over the realm of the dead. Unlike some afterlife rulers, Ereshkigal wasn’t necessarily malicious, but her domain was a dreary place devoid of joy.
The Sumerians believed everyone, regardless of their actions in life, went to Kur after death. It wasn’t a place of punishment or reward, but simply the destination for departed souls, where the dead relied on offerings from the living for sustenance. The living descendants of the dead would pour libations over their loved one’s graves through a clay pipe, which they believed refreshed the souls below.
The well-known story of Inanna’s Descent sheds light on both Ereshkigal and Sumerian views of the connection between the afterlife and everyday life. Inanna, the goddess of love, war, and fertility, ventures into the underworld to visit her sister Ereshkigal, perhaps seeking to extend her own influence. The ensuing power struggle between the two goddesses has repercussions above and below.
Inanna’s descent begins with her preparation and adornment with royal regalia. As Inanna descends through the seven gates of Kur, she must shed a piece of clothing or jewelry at each one, symbolizing a loss of power and status. This highlights the underworld as a place where earthly power holds no sway.
Upon reaching Ereshkigal’s throne room, stripped of her power and vulnerable, Inanna is condemned, killed, and hung on a hook for all to see.
Inanna gets help from her friends Ninshubur and Enki and eventually returns to the upper world, with a substitute taking her place in the underworld.
These beings escort Inanna up from the underworld, but a horde of angry demons follow Inanna, demanding to take someone else down to the underworld as Inanna’s replacement. They initially want it to be Ninshubur, but Inanna rebukes this order, stating that she would not hand over a loyal subordinate to them. However, when she discovers that her husband, Dumuzid, has not mourned her death, she becomes ireful towards him and orders the demons to take him as her replacement.*
“Inanna’s Descent” is a complex story that explores death, rebirth, power dynamics, and the relationship between different realms. It offers a glimpse into the Sumerian worldview, where the afterlife was not a paradise or a fiery pit, but a necessary and inevitable part of existence where all souls went regardless of how they lived their lives.
Jungians tend to view the myth of Inanna’s descent as a psychological dynamic highlighting the importance of ’embracing the shadow‘ to achieve self-actualization. But these stories have more than one variant, which probably reflects poliitcal attempts to reconcile different cultural influences present in the ancient world— something that Jungians tend to gloss over in their arguably grand and abstracted ‘unified’ theory of world myth.
The myth of Ereshkigal’s marriage to Nergal revolves around a banquet held by the gods, which Ereshkigal couldn’t attend due to her duties as queen of the underworld. When Nergal, a deity, mistreats her messenger, Ereshkigal demands his presence in the underworld as punishment. Nergal journeys below, warned against certain actions, but succumbs to temptation and lies with Ereshkigal for six days before returning to the upper world. Ereshkigal, angered, demands his return, threatening chaos if refused.
In one version, Ereshkigal plans to kill Nergal but he drags her to the floor and nearly kills her. Nergal succumbs to Ereshkigal’s pleas for mercy and agrees to marry her instead, thus sharing their power. In a variant, the two reconcile. Nergal becomes king of the underworld alongside Ereshkigal, and they happily jump into bed after making up.
Ereshkigal was only one of multiple deities regarded as rulers of the underworld in Mesopotamia. Her main temple was located in Kutha, a city originally associated with Nergal.
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