Ok... we don't have an emoticon that jumps up and down for joy... (who's Joy and what's she doing here?? ) But, visualize me jumping up and down in joy for Lish starting this thread on the goddess of my heart, Ereshkigal. (I think the eye dazzling effects above do a good enough job, yes?)
Actually, my question in regard to the term sukkal, is one part of my ongoing research into our underworld queen.
I, too, have been poring over a wide variety of literature in search of bits, pieces and scraps of clues and hints on our queen of the netherworld/underworld/whatever you wish to call the place of renewal, nourishment, inner essence, and, ultimately, rebirth.
Now, I'll clarify why I asked the question in the first place.
Last year during a week long intensive training with other like minded folks from the northeastern U.S. and Canada, we traveled through the myths of Inanna as portrayed in Kramer & Wolkstein's Inanna. When examining Ninshubur, Inanna's sukkal, she was described as being somthing akin to Inanna's spirit guide (similar to what many christians might call their 'guardian angel'). Then we, too, were encouraged to think about our own sukkal, what would he or she look like? Did we already have a spirit guide with whom we worked?
So, in Sumerian and Akkadian myths we see Nusku, Isimud, Ninshubur and Namtar doing things for, and sometimes acting on the behalf of, the goddess or god they are related to. My question then is, what is the nature of this relationship and connection between each? In the myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal, Ereshkigal sends Namtar to the feast of the gods as her representative to get her share of the feast. Therefore, it would seem that although the saw Namtar, for all intents and purposes it was Ereshkigal who was there. When you saw one, you immediately thought of the other.
Ok... so now we go to the Atraharsis myth with Enlil's increasing frustration from the din created by humanity. One of his solutions was to ask Namtar to come and spread plague to decrease the population. Another was to create the Pushittu demon to kill infants as they were being birthed.
Since I have shown how Namtar's presence in the middleworld was synonymous with Ereshkigal's, it would follow that Enlil was, in essence, asking for Ereshkigal's help here!
The only record of direct contact between Enlil and Ereshkigal (that I know of) can be inferenced from the myth of Ninlil and Enlil. It was here that Enlil learned of the awesomeness of Ereshkigal's power, and the healing and cleansing that come from the lessons of her domain. (Lish, I just reread "Ninlil's Descent". As always, it had me in tears. Now my mind is considering what was the nature of the interaction between Enlil and Ereshkigal before his meetings with Ninlil in her descent to rescue him. What was her charge to him?)
Well, these are my ramblings thus far.... I could say more, but will stop for now... Really should get some work done today *grin*. Hope the spreadsheets are going ok, Lish!
Re: Ereshkigal
You asked a bunch of lovely questions, and I can only try to answer them as far as my experience of the Mystery is concerned.
I guess the first clue is in the sentence that the sukkal is a spirit helper to the deity considered. Whether this Spirit Helper was real spirit or the part of the soul of the ancient worshiper who first reached out for the deity... it is debatable, but ... quite possible. What is the nature of the relationship between sukkal and deity? I will try to answer this question with another question: what is the nature of the relationship with a best friend and trusted ally? Amazing, isn´t it?
Perhaps we have here, in the close relationship of sukkal and chosen deity, the beginnings of formal priest/ess/hood in a more formalized setting. A further development of the shaman and mystic, the individual who served the deity of his/her heart as a trusted ally and best friend. The context the sukkal is referred to is hierarchical, when the god/dess has a palace, temple, porter, etc. And the sukkal served the deity in the highs and lows likewise with a very definite and precise profile.
Thus, the trusted friend and sukkal tried to channel the True Spirit of the Source of his/her devotion on earth. I find it amazing that it is Ninshubur who defeats Enki on behalf of Inanna. The Spirit of True Priestesshood showing the Way. Because in actual fact, Inanna did not want to defeat Enki (only his demons) and Enki never intended to terminate with Inanna (he just wanted Her to prove herself worthy!).
On the charge of Ereshkigal upon Enlil in Enlil and Ninlil: this is debatable as well, but when I did Ninlil´s Descent, I considered the charge was that both young Enlil had to learn about growing up and be responsible towards Ninlil and future baby, as well as Ninlil had to grow up into her own power as the consort to Enlil. Now, the nature of the challenge was that Enlil had to beg for Ninlil´s help, as he was in disguise when he met her three times in the Underworld. She had to see the man in the god and he had to humble himself in front of her... to become a human god. This was my experience of the myth itself.
Because it is a very ancient myth, this is only one possible explanation. Judge it through the eyes of your soul. It was another tour de force writing this healing of the myth. How would a young woman find her own sovereignty? How would a young and proud god know humanity to become a fully mature god? This was my experience of it. Why would both meet three times in the Underworld? Ninlil was Enlil´s hardest judge. And he had to acknowledge her as such... and fight for their future nevertheless.
I sincerely find this myth much more exciting and more modern than Psyche and Eros. Ninlil and Enlil were together all the time, although he was in disguise. The presence of Ereshkigal is barely touched. But who judges the deeds of all the living, the Eternal as well?
As usual, I ask more questions than answer them myself too!
These were my educated hunches, but my way of trying to reply to your deep and most inspired questions.
cyberhugs,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Historical evidence for the rulers of the Underworld 1
This is long, but the source is wonderful. Read up to the end, because the end is worth it. Sorry for the mistakes in the Sumerian, Dubsar and everyone else *red-face...
Lambert, W. G. (1980) The Theology of Death. In: Death in Mesopotamia, 26th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, edited by Bendt Alster, from the Series Copenhagen Studies in Assyriology, Volume 8th.
The Netherworld was presided over by one ruling deity, though many other deities were resident there. For example, one tradition has 600 gods below, compared with only 300 in heaven. A consideration of all the gods known from various texts to have been considered at some time or other resident in the underworld would result in a study far too large for the present publication, and would not contribute sufficiently to the theology of death, so attention will be restricted to the ruling deities. While the names of Nergal and Ereshkigal will occur at once to any cuneiform scholar, the matter is much more complicated when the attempt is made to see things historically. A modern composite picture, putting everything from the better known texts into one telescopic view, is worthless, not to say misleading. The picture is indeed very complicated, and often we shall be compelled to observe facts which cannot yet be explained. The reasons for this confusion of gods are more than one. There were, of course, the Sumerian cities and their temples, and no doubt at the beginning of history through there was a recognized pantheon in Sumer, there were many local differences of opinion about particular deities. Each temple, though devoted to a particular deity, would have statues of many more. Gudea Cylinder 2 illustrates how a whole court of deities existed within one temple, and within this temple at hte particular time there was clearly a existing theology of each and every one. Of course in other temples in other towns somewhat different views on some of the same deities were no doubt held even at that very period of time. In addition to having a temple in a home town, many Sumerian deities in the 3rd millennium had temples or shrines at Nippur, the religious capital. The theologians there were thus confronted with a larger problem than existed within the temple of a god in the provinces. They had to attempt to bring order into all the major deities of Sumer, and not merely to arrange a local court of gods. The two levels of thinking were of course going on at the same time, and the best endeavours could not iron out all the contradictions resulting from city-state traditions. The passage of time, the replacement of Sumerians by Babylonians in the second millennium, and various changes, ideological, economic, social, political, etc. all had their influence ont he gradual shaping fo the Sumero-Babylonian pantheon, and the surviving documents have come to us by accident and need not present a balanced picture. One procedure will, then, attempt to find the ruling deity of the Netherworld period by period as the sources permit.
The earliest usable texts are those from the end of the Early Dynastic period, expecially from Fara and Salabikh, but from other sites also. Among them there is one systematic statement of the Sumerian pantheon, the Salabikh Zami Hymns. In form, Enlil, clearly sole head, praises the other dieties of the pantheon, one at a time. Ereshkigal does not occur. Nergal also does not occur, unless the god written d GIR.UNUG can be read d Nè.eri11 and be taken as a short form of d Néri11.gal. The section involved (lines 65-69) contains nothing that to our knowledge requires the deity to be Nergal, though nothing exclude the possibility either. The first line seems to be the name of the deity´s town. The city is described as “great abode of heaven and underworld, pleasant shade of Enki and Ninki”, epithets which neither support nor refute the possibility being considered. A more certain candidate is Ninazu of Enegi, who is clearly identifiable in the section lines 128-139. His headship of the underworld is well known from later periods, e.g. line 27 of the double-column edition of the Weidner god list: d nin.ª.zu=bel-er-set-ti. However, the Zami Hymns section seems to be concerned mainly with domesticated cattle and has nothing about the Underworld. Meslamta’e’a, a name of Nergal used in the Early Dynastic times, seems to be lacking. In short, no head of the Underworld can be definetly identified in this listing of gods. Of course, much of it is still not understood, and such phrases as may be translated need not be in final rendering. Also, because the epithets may refer to the city rather than the deity, we should not press its silence.
The next major documents of comparable value is the Sumerian Temple Hymns, edited by A Sjöberg in TC3, apparently from the Akkad period with ome later additions. This is much more easily understandable than the Salabikh Zami Hymns and systematically gives some epithets of the divine owner of each temple dealt with. It clearly intends to give all the main city temples of city and Akkad of its time. Here there are two Ninazus: of Enegi (no. 14) and of Eshunna (no. 34). The latter section does not refer to the underworld and will receive no further attention here. The former is full of infernal things. The town Enegi is first described as “big pipe of Ereshkigal´s Underworld”, where the pipe is the clay tube down which offerings to the dead of the liquid kind were poured. It is next described as “Kutha of Sumer”, presumably contrasting it with Nergal´s Kutha, which was in Akkad “where mankind gathers”, i.e. at their deaths. The city of the god of the underworld partakes of the character of the Underworld, just as Eridu in some sense is the Apsu. Egidda, temple of Enegi, is now described in the words: “your shadow has stretched over the princes of the underworld (kur) in the underworld (kur)”. This again implies that Enegi, as the city of the god of the underworld, is metaphorically the underworld. However, it would be unwise to restrict the term princes of the underworld in the Sumerian Temple Hymns to the two Ninazus. Then the Ninazu section turns to the god himself and gives his father as a great lord (not futher specified), and his mother as Ereshkigal. This corrects na impression gained from the Early Dynastic document DP 51, that Ninazu and Ereshkigal were husband and wife. His relationship to the netherworld is given in the Temple Hymns as sita ki.gal.la. The precise meaning of sita in such context is not certain, though it seems to be na elected office raher than a permanent autocracy. Had the author mean that Ninazu were the supreme ruler, she could have expressed herself much more clearly by using other terms. If this conclusion is correct, there is a contradiction between the implications of the description of city and temple and the term used for their owner. The former imply that Ninazu was head of the underworld, the latter seems to withold that rank from him. In the context of the Akkad period that is perhaps not surprising. There had been a Sumerian god of the infernal regions, Ninazu, and an Akkadian god, Nergal. With the rise of Akkad as a political empire, this document, said to have been composed by a daughter of Sargon of Akkad, Enheduanna, quite naturally wishes to make the most of Nergal, and so far as possible, to denigrate his rival Ninazu. Of course, this had to be done tactfully. The Nergal section (no. 36) makes him important by heaping up his names: erra (written dgir.ra), Lugal-meslamma, Hushki'a, Meslamta'e'a. Then he is called master (lugal) of the land of the setting sun. This title lugal has an absolute ring about it. It was what Sargon and Naram-Sin used of themselves.
more tomorrow or later today.
Love light and laughter,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Historical evidence for the rulers of the Underworld 2
Note: sighs This is the third time I try to post on the first recorded evidence on an offering to Ereshkigal... well, I´ll try again but will do the post in parts. Be patient please!
The earliest dedication inscription to Ereshkigal, by Lu-Utu, ensi of Umma under the 3rd Dynasty of Ur, uses the feminine equivalent of the smae phrase of Her"mistress of the land of the setting sun". So far as is known, Ereshkigal had no special place in the pantheon of Umma at this time, so this may be taken as evidence that Ereshkigal was on the rise, displacing her son, at least in Sumer. Thus, in the Sumerian Descent of Inanna, first known from early second millennium copies, Ereshkigal rules the underworld, assisted by other divine powers, but without equal. Nothing is hearf of Ninazu or Nergal, though her husband is named as Gugalanna, of whom more shortly. The Akkadian Descent of Ishtar preserves the same status of Ereshkigal as the Sumerian. With the rise of Babylonian literature during the Old Babylonian period, Nergal´s position as king of the Underworld must presumably have been boosted, since he was city god of Kutha, a town not far from Babylon. The decline of Enegi as town must have contributed to Ninazu´s loss of pre-eminence in Underworld politics. This background helps to explain the Babylonian epic Nergal and Ereshkigal. The earliest preserved copy is from Amarna, Egypt, so that it could equally be of Old Babylonian origin. Evidence for Nergal and Ereshkigal as husband and wife first appears in Old Babylonian religious texts, eg. PB 1/1 112 61-62, where they are called respectively Enlil and Ninlil of the Underworld.
On Ereshkigal and Gugalanna by Black and Green
Source: Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, 1991, British Museum Press.
Ereshkigal, whose name can be translated "Queen of the Great Below" , is also known in Akkadian as Allatu(m). She is the goddess who rules the Underworld, nother of the goddess Nungal and, by Enlil, of the god Namtar, who serves as her messenger and minister. Ereshkigal´s first husband was the god Gugal-ana, whose name probably originally meant "canal inspector of An" and who may therefore have been identical with Ennugi. In the Sumerian poem Descent of Inanna to the Underworld, Inanna tries to gain entry to the Underworld by claiming that she has come to attend the funeral rites of Gugal-ana, "the husband of my elder sister Ereshkigal". The son of Ereshkigal and Gugal-ana was the god Ninazu. In another tradition, Ereshkigal married the god Nergal as related in the poem Nergal and Ereshkigal. Ereshkigal lived in a palace located at Ganzir, the doorway to the Underworld, protected by seven gates, all of which could be bolted and each of which was garded by a porter.
Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography
by Wayne Horowitz, based on his PhD thesis supervised by Professor W. G. Lambert, published by Eisenbrauns, 1998.
I will quote bits and pieces from him because the perceptions of the ancients of world geography are important to understand how Ereshkigal and the rulers of the Underworld came into being. I got this book last year but did not have time to study it in depth. But I guess it is important to include the Mesopotamian views of this author for the purposes of our thread.
This is a very good resource but expensive. Worth having it anyway. You can always order it from you local university library via interlibrary loan.
Re: Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography
Basically, although Dr. Horowitz covers in detail many accounts of creation, i.e. the prologues to Gilgamesh and the Hulupu Tree, The Creation of the Pickax and Enki and Ninmah, as well as Enki and the World Order, the Duties and Powers of a Kassite King and the Exaltation of Inanna, he does not refer to the Creation based on the Eridu Model, as described by Gwendolyn Leick in Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian literature. Eridu is the oldest settlement according to archaeological records in South Mesopotamia. According to this model, Nammu is the Primeval Waters, the Mother and from Her embrace, Heaven (An) and Ki were born.
Kramer (1981, History begins at Sumer) also analyses in detail the prologue to Gilgamesh and the Hulupu Tree, and concludes that Nammu created Heaven and Earth, whose first offspring is represented by Enlil. Enlil, lord Air, as he grew out of his parents´ embrace (Ann=Sky and Ki=Earth) caused the separation of Heaven and Earth. Ereshkigal is then given the Underworld for Her domain.
Therefore, we can perhaps assume with a certain degree of certainty that Mesopotamians might have had from very early times the notion of the Underworld in their minds. It is also possible that the Underworld was not a realm of such importance in the beginnings of consciousness in the Ancient Near East in comparison to the other cosmological regions.
But evidence also shows that by the third millennium this situation had somehow changed. A rich body of myth and literature is found and it tells us stories of wondrous descents to and ascents from the underworld, the land of the setting sun. By this time, Ereshkigal reigns sovereign as the mighty Queen of the Underworld, and so continues to be the all-powerful Goddess of the Land of No Return, Judge of all the Living, mortals and gods alike.
enjoy the rest of your Sunday!
best,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
The Mesopotamian Underworld
The Underworld is the lowest region of the universe, the home of the Underworld deities such as Nergal and Ereshkigal, and the final resting place of deceased humans. In KAR 307, the Underworld is identified as the lowest of three earths, and 600 Anunnaki are shut inside. No other text other than KAR 307 can confirm that the Underworld was located below the Apsu, since only KAR 307 considers the relative locations of the Underworld, Apsu and earth´s surface together. Nevertheless, many texts do demonstrate that the Underworld was lower than the earth´s surface. For example, Ludlul II 46-47 states that people worry about descending to the Underworld during times of distress.
In good times people speak of going up to heaven
When they become worried they mutter about going down to the Underworld
In contrast, no one is ever said to ascend to the Underworld, and there is no evidence for any cosmic feature below the Underworld.
THE CREATION OF THE UNDERWORLD
Very little information concerning the early history of the Underworld has survived. The only known reference to the actual building fo the Underworld may be found in a short passage in Lugale, where Ninurta builds urugal = qabrum from stone:
Lugale, 327-29 (Sumerian from Sumerian version)
From now on it will not be called asakku, stone will be its name,
Zalaqu-stone will be its name, stone will be its name,
Its body will be the underworld (Akk,: Of the grave)
If urugal=qabru is taken as a name for the Underworld, rather than a simple noun meaning grave, Lugale reveals that the Underworld was fashioned from the stone corpse of the asakku demon. This tradition canb e compared to Enuma Elish IV 147-56, where Marduk fashions the heavens from the watery corpse of Tiamat.
The Sumerian Epic Gilgamesh and the Huluppu Tree offers a second tradition. In this epic lines 8-13, Ereshkigal receives the Underworld (kur) as a gift, after heaven (an) and earth (ki) are carried away by Anu and Enlil and mankind is created. Here the Underworld is apparently part of earth (ki) that is assigned to Ereshkigal.
Next: The interior of the Underworld
with the blessings of the Great Earth,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: On Ereshkigal and Gugalanna by Black and Green
Ok... most everything you've posted looks great, Lish. Thanks so much for all your work... what a labor of love ( and I know it is!!)
However, this entry from Black and Green either I don't understand correctly, or else there are some historical inaccuracies here... ??? Understand, not having the book, I am only going by what you posted... so I hope I'm not being unduly harsh. Thus a pinch or more of salt may be needed!!
- This was the first I had heard of Namtar being the child of Ereshkigal and (!!!) Enlil (!!!). I'd like to see their citations and references for this!
- Cute statement, "Ereshkigal's first husband." So would this make Ereshkigal the first goddess to become a widow? I guess no one has put it this way... But I guess this is what happens when you telescope the Sumerian and Akkadian texts together.
- Gugal-ana as the canal inspector of An, Really??!! Again, I've never read this anywhere else. Citations, please!
- "The son of Ereshkigal and Gugalana was the god Ninazu", not to be confused with Ninlil and Enlil's son 'Ninazu' ??!! More clarification was needed here!
It seems to me that it's possible that a lot of ambiguity and, perhaps, (IMHO) sloppy scholarship was made worse by an overzealous editor pruning down a manuscript to a manageable size. Tell me if I'm wrong, but in creating a "Reader's Digest" version of information on 'Gods, Demons and Symbols' too much essential information was lost. Your thoughts???
Re: On Ereshkigal and Gugalanna by Black and Green
I agree with you that the Black and Green entry is complicated. Bendt Alster discusses in some length on Gugalanna and Allatum as Ereshkigal, so I´ll go on to him... better presentation which shows equal conflicting data...
The point is that gods could die in Mesopotamia, but not of natural causes. I will expand on this based on Alster. Great stuff.
I guess what we have here is a set of much earlier traditions involving the Underworld which got lost in time. I had not heard of Namtar being the kid of Ereshkigal with Enlil either.... However, Black and Green are respected Assyriologists. Gods and Demons... is a British Museum publication... I will have a look at my Leick´s Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Mythology and get back to you.
I am as confused by Black and Green as you are.
cyberhugs,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: On Ereshkigal and Gugalanna by Black and Green
Namtar is actually said to be of the offspring of Ninlil and Enlil in one tradition. Which one, I could not find... It makes sense though that the child of the First Couple of Mesopotamia has a child whose name means Fate and who then becomes first minister and counsellor to Ereshkigal.
So I guess this bit is solved. Thus, Namtar is not the son of Ereshkigal... and yes, Green and Black might have made a mistake in the Ereshkigal entry and corrected it in the Namtar entry later...
Now, let´s get back to Alster´s discussion of the rulers of the Underworld. Perhaps I should have posted this before the entry by Black and Green....
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Alster on the theology of the chief god of the Underworld
This brief historical survey of the theology of the chief god of the Underworld both indicates the kinds of changes to which all sorts of Mesopotamian gods were subjected over the centuries, but also casts great doubt on the antiquity and extent to which Ereshkigal was considered Nergal´s wife, contrary to some current opinion. If one takes this idea seriously, then Ereshkigal´s husband Gugalanna will have to be identified with Nergal and she must have been at home in Kutha. This latter point cannot be settled without more documents from Kutha over a wide period to see whether her name occurs in the onomasticon of the city. However, Gugalanna yields information. In the Sumerian Descent of Inanna, the young goddess alleges that She is demanding entrance to the netherworld to share in the lamentations for Ereshkigal´s husband Gugalanna, who has died. Dying gods are not common in Mesopotamian religion, and there is no evidence that Nergal was one of them. Who, then, was Gugalanna) One lead is very suggestive. The list An=Anum explicity and the Forerunner by implication, identify Ereshkigal to Allatum. Whereas the former is Sumerian, the latter has an Akkadian feminine ending -tum. There is a consistently male deity Alla written either syllabically d al-la/la or d NAGAR. He is definetly a dying god, a type of Tammuz. He is best known from Tammuz texts, where he appears listed with Damu, Ningishida, Ishtaran and others. His town is specified as Esagi, of unknown location. The bilingual creation myth KAR 4 and duplicates has the Alla-gods slain to provide the blood from which mankind was made. A late exposition of the ritual of reskinning a ritual drum equates Alla with Anshar as one of the seven coqnuered Enlils. Alla looks very much a masculine base for Allatum, and the two could easily have been husband and wife. If this is correct, and the evidence does not quite constitue proof, then, in view of the disappearance of Alla from city religion before the end of the 3rd millennium, it must be assumed that Ereshkigal was spouse of the city god of Esagi, and probably at that time unrelated to Nergal of Kutha. A later Early Dynastic statue of Alla describes him as vizier of Ninghishida, a humble position in the pantheon of Sumer, but at that time Ereshkigal, despite her name, was not generally, it seems, so acknowledged.
Thus, the genealogy of Ereshkigal seems to be quite complicated to trace back anyway!
best,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Dying Gods by Bendt Alster
Alla has introduced the subject of dying gods. How can a god die if death was assigned to man? The ambiguity of death in relation to men is relevant here too. The gods could not die in Sumero-Babylonian thought in the sense of getting old and eventually dying of natural causes. But they could die a violent death. There are three kinds of causes for divine deaths.
1) Younger gods could kill off the old in a succession struggle;
2) Rebels could be made to pay the ultimate penalty, and/or
3) In Monster salying the distinction between dragon and god could be blurred so that here too a god could die.
Now, this is a very interesting point. If one looks at the gods in terms of Jungian psychology as the Image of the Self that has evolved with the consciousness of humankind, the Old Gods or Images of the Values and Collective Unconscious of a certain group can die out and disappear or be transformed.
Then, again the Sumero-Babylonians are right and modern in this aspect.
But does the Everlasting Spirit die? In actual fact, never. This is why divine battles are re-enacted and villain gods and dragonesses resurrected in myths and epics that belong to the inner fabric of the culture under consideration.
This reinforces a thought that I have about the Eternal Return, a notion that was not exactly reincarnation, but the Eternal Return from the Land of the Setting Sun. Let´s face it, gods and heroes kept on descending and ascending in Mesopotamian myth and religion.
I have a little article on this issue in Gateways. Recommend also Adapa´s excellent piece on Sumerian Religion. There is also the case of the ancestors' worship in Mesopotamia.
Lots of exciting work still awaits for us and I guess a re-interpretation of the cuneiform is required for these issues.
best,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
The Interior of the Underworld
Descriptions of the interior of the underworld and its inhabitants are found in a few literary texts. One nearly identical description is repeated in Gilgamesh VII, Nergal and Ereshkigal and the Descent of Isthar, where the description is best preserved:
To the House of Darkness, the abode of Irkalla,
To the House which no one who enters can leave
To the road whose journey has no return
To the house where one who enters is deprived of light
where dust is their sustenance, their food is clay,
They see no light, in darkness they dwell
clothed like birds, with a garb of feathers
Over the door and bolt dust lies
Now, other literary works offer accounts of conditions inside the Underworld. In the Death of Ur-Nammu (by Samuel Noah Karmer, JCS 21 104-22) the ghost of Ur-Nammu pays courtesy calls to the underworld palaces of various Underworld gods, including Nergal, Ereshkigal and Dumuzi, soon after his death.
Almost all known features of the underworld are architectural. The presence of palaces, a house/temple, a courtyard and perhaps even a temple-tower in the underworld demonstrates that the region was conceived as a great temple complex. In some traditions, this temple complex may have represented the entire underworld. However, it is more likely that the Underworld was thought to be a complete underground city. The term Great City was a popular Sumerina name for the Underworld, and it is difficult to imagine all the generation sof mankind living in a temple complex, alongside the Underworld gods. Most probably, ordinary deceased people were thought to dwell outside the temple complex of the Underworld, just as they did not reside in palaces and temples during their lifetimes on the earth´s surface. Nevertheless, important deceased humans such as Gilgamesh, Etana and Dumuzi resided with the gods in the underworld and even became underworld gods themselves.
I tend to agree with this view. The official Underworld itself as the residence of the Underworld gods was most probably a temple complex and underground city, reflecting the reality of the earth´s surface. Because the Underworld also represents the Inner Landscape of Memory and Ancestral roots, its lights are different from the earth´s surface. Especially because all families had the family gods, and bodies were buried underneath residences, it is possible that the whole land also was part of the Underworld complex
In terms of ritual work, I have alsways considered the Underworld as the Inner Reality that gives sustenance to the outer fabric of creation.
best,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
To work with the Underworld...
is perhaps interesting to read first R. J. Stewart The Underworld Initiation (hard to get, almost out of print I guess) and its sequels Power Within the Land and Earth Light.
Bob Stewart is Caitlin´s Soul Brother and has distinguished himself for his work with Merlin. I guess he is living in the US now. Although he works very much within the Celtic framework, there are exceptional pieces in his writings which are of great insight to work with Mesopotamia. I came across The Underworld Initiation just last year, but have worked deeply with the Underworld myself based on Power Within the Land and Earth Light for years now.
For example, the Power of Taking or the Negative Power of catalysis or breakdown, is invariably symbolized by an anthropomorphic female form (Ereskigal, as the Power of the Inner Living Earth of Ancestral Memory in Mesopotamia). There is so much food for thought here... I am especially attracted to the ideas of Feminine Power from Within and Inner and Outer Authority, which are present in the figure of Ereshkigal. Both Giving and Taking, the Goddess who is the Bringer of Life and Death, are representations of the powers of the Underworld. The chapter on the Saviours or dying and resurrected gods, whom I call Lords and Ladies of the Eternal Return is another gem, as well as the chapter on the ancestors. I guess Jung would summarize this chapter by saying that through carefully crafted imagery and use of a system such as the Cabala (Bob Stewart is a brilliant Cabalist), one can evoke ancestral images as a path to Knowledge and Knowing.
This is a great recommendation. The Underworld Initiation requires training to be fully understood. So if you want to dive in hands-on work and follow a step by step easy framework, get hold of Power Within the Land and Earth Light first.
This is just a taster of a modern set of insightful magickal works which can be used to understand better the Mesopotamian Underworld Tradition.
In other words, study the techniques of the great Hermeticists and apply them into the framework of your tradition, always comparing with the genuine sources of scholarship ancient and modern and the cuneiform. There is no contradiction between High Magick and Assyriology, for one enhances the appreciation of the other and vice-versa.
best,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: To work with the Underworld...
Thanks 60 million for the info, Lish! Lots of food for thought, meditation and study!! I'm dying to dive right into all of them, but will take your advice and tryto read Power of the Land and Earth Light first before reading The Underworld Initiation.
I've really been hungry for some good solid magickal study works, so I'm very thankful for these recommendations. I've also got a stack of books on 'the dark goddess' and other studies on the so-called shadow side. At this point I just see it as a means of coming more fully into one's own power and, more importantly, self-knowledge (a great FOI maxim). Being the passionate artist that I am I don't allow myself as much reading time as I would like. My partner, on the other hand (a beloved aries librarian), could and does read books all day on occasion.
BTW, do have anything like Alibris.com or 21NorthMain.com available to you in Brasil? These are online used and out of print book sellers. I found all three of the titles you mentioned in a flash! The best of the bunch is one I didn't mention above, it is www.addall.com/used This is a meta search engine for a number of online used and out of print book sellers. If you ever need something that you can't find there I can check for you up here and I'd be happy to ship them down to you... Just let me know!
Ok... gotta go for now!
Praise be Nisaba and all of the dubsars who blessed us with the records of Mesopotamia we have today (found and those still waiting to be found!)
Re: To work with the Underworld...
You will see that I used Bob Stewart´s techniques to write Ereshkigal and Kur and Enki and Ereshkigal, using Mesopotamian imagery.
I am particularly skeptical about many works on the Dark Goddesses, which are usually very basic, and don´t come full circle to Inner and Outer authority. Or are too post-Jungian.
Thanks for the tip on used books Getting used books was easier when I lived in London. Now I can afford Eisenbrauns, but still some books are hard to get. Bob Stewart´s Underworld Initiation was a booklet distributed for the groups he worked with in the UK. It was only published in very small numbers years back. His book on music and esoteric lore I guess it is even harder to find... sighs
However, these luminaries are worth reading and experiencing their writings. Besides, reading them is much cheaper in the end. You get Underworld Initiation and you can have a map to guide you through the Mesopotamian Underworld landscape, if you adapt the language and the metaphors to ours.
I am so happy I started in High Magick ten years back. There was not such a variety to choose from, so one could start on one´s own and be very specific.
I go along with Adapa: head to your local library before spending a fortune in your local megastore!
love light and laughter,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Topographic features of the Underworld
The only possible evidence for topographical features int eh Underworld is found in a passage from Damu in the Underworld, where underworld rivers, fields and sheep are very different from these on the earth´s surface:
The river of the Underworld does not carry water, its water does not fill it,
The field of the Underworld grows no grain, its hand does not grind it,
The sheep of the Underworld produce no wool, its hand does not...
Question: why are the rivers, fields and sheep in the Underworld so different from the ones of the Physical World? One of the possible answers is that the Underworld is the realm of the Spirit of Ancestral Memory that gives sustenance to everything there is. It is where balance is restored, thus the realm of Inner Justice as well.
This is only my answer, of course.
However, it matches later traditions. For example, I love a passage of the Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, the most amazing alchemical allegory, when Christian R contemplates a massive golden globe (the earth), where all places and countries from all initiates worldwide are shown. Then the globe opens itself up and... reveals the stars within.
As above, so below. Or if you want to go purely Mesopotamian, from the Heights Above to the Depths Below to reveal the secrets of the One who encompasses the Many, and the Many who coalesces as the One.
best,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
To work with the Underworld and Ereshkigal...
I guess first of all it is important to explore the notions of cosmic geography to understand what the Underworld is and how it came into being. I attempted to do it in my retellings, but at that time I didn´t have the book by Dr. Hurowitz, so there is still a need to dive into the landscape of the Mesopotamian Underworld first and foremost to understand how the Mesopotamians saw their land of Ancestral Memory and Ultimate Justice.
On the problem of the rulership of the Underworld and whether Ereshkigal or Ninazu came first according to archaeological evidence, this is another piece of evidence that we should confront with mystical insight (as you know already, mystical insight should go hand in hand with historical evidence). Again, work on cosmic geography would help, and the exploration of Gugalanna, Ereshkigal´s alleged first husband, should be explored as well.
Ereshkigal is attested to be twin sister of Enki, therefore of ancient origin. Her relationship with Ninhursag-Ki and Urash should be better explored. Earth Within and Earth Without?
Also, Her understanding should be seen in terms of the development of human consciousness towards the subtle/inner realms. First, the stars and the Heights Above, then the Living Earth and from the Living Earth, the Land of Memory, Justice and Ancestral Power that gives sustenance to everything that was, is and will be.
It is important to understand how the Underworld became the land of Ultimate Justice.
I need to concentrate back unto Ereshkigal again to try and cover all these issues. Wish my days were longer for me to do all I want...
Surely it is possible to contact Ereshkigal any time. But a serious and scholarly work grounded on the tradition needs yet to be done on Ereshkigal and the Mesopotamian Underworld.
Just some bits and pieces to keep the topic burning happy and high...
back to work because I am extremely busy,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Cinderella revisited
I am proposing to you now a new interpretation of Cinderella as an Underworld initiation for a young woman who has to learn to put aside her submissive ways... to conquer Love and Kingdom....
Read on then...
Melissa, this is a little special for youuuu
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
) But, visualize me jumping up and down in joy for Lish starting this thread on the goddess of my heart, Ereshkigal. 
Understand, not having the book, I am only going by what you posted... so I hope I'm not being unduly harsh. Thus a pinch or more of salt may be needed!! 
I'd like to see their citations and references for this! 
Tell me if I'm wrong, but in creating a "Reader's Digest" version of information on 'Gods, Demons and Symbols' too much essential information was lost. Your thoughts???
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