Ancient Mesopotamian underworld
The ancient Mesopotamian underworld, most often known in Sumerian as Kur, Irkalla, Kukku, Arali, or Kigal and in Akkadian as Erṣetu, although it had many names in both languages, was a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground,[1][2] where inhabitants were believed to continue "a shadowy version of life on earth".[1] The only food or drink was dry dust, but family members of the deceased would pour libations for them to drink. Unlike many other afterlives of the ancient world, in the Sumerian underworld, there was no final judgement of the deceased and the dead were neither punished nor rewarded for their deeds in life. A person's quality of existence in the underworld was determined by their conditions of burial.
The ruler of the underworld was the goddess Ereshkigal, who lived in the palace Ganzir, sometimes used as a name for the underworld itself. Her husband was either Gugalanna, the "canal-inspector of Anu", or, especially in later stories, Nergal, the god of war. After the Akkadian Period (c. 2334–2154 BC), Nergal sometimes took over the role as ruler of the underworld. The seven gates of the underworld are guarded by a gatekeeper, who is named Neti in Sumerian. The god Namtar acts as Ereshkigal's sukkal, or divine attendant. The dying god Dumuzid spends half the year in the underworld, while, during the other half, his place is taken by his sister, the scribal goddess Geshtinanna, who records the names of the deceased. The underworld was also the abode of various demons, including the hideous child-devourer Lamashtu, the fearsome wind demon and protector god Pazuzu, and galla, who dragged mortals to the underworld.
Names[]
The Sumerians had a large number of different names which they applied to the underworld, including Arali, Irkalla, Kukku, Ekur, Kigal, and Ganzir.[3] All of these terms were later borrowed into Akkadian.[3] The rest of the time, the underworld was simply known by words meaning "earth" or "ground", including the terms Kur and Ki in Sumerian and the word erṣetu in Akkadian.[3] When used in reference to the underworld, the word Kur usually means "ground",[3][4][a] but sometimes this meaning is conflated with another possible meaning of the word Kur as "mountain".[3] The cuneiform sign for Kur was written ideographically with the cuneiform sign