Ereshkigal 

Sumerian Goddess of Aralu

ERESHKIGAL:  Ereshkigal is the Sumerian mistress of death and ruler of ARALU, the "Land of No Return."  An ancient poem, "Hymn to the Locust-tree," explains that "Ereshkigal had received the underworld as her share" of creation.  It is a dry, dusty place beneath Abzu, the "sweet waters of the underground."  Aralu is a dimension of eternal darkness, a huge communal grave where languishing spirits eat dust and moan in sorrow.  Another description from Sumerian myth states:

The pure Ereshkigal herself upon her throne,

The Annunake, the seven judges, pronounced judges, pronounce judgment before her,

They fastened their eyes upon her, they eyes of death.

At their word, the word which tortures the spirit...

The sick woman was turned into a corpse,

The corpse was hung from a stake. 

One of the most complex ancient myths about the underworld involves the legend of Inanna (Ishtar in some translations), Ereshkigal's sister, who makes a disastrous trip to the place of the dead.  The beautiful Inanna, determined to shame her sister, decides to travel to the underworld to mock Ereshkigal and her lowly status as ruler of the damned.  She dons her most glamorous clothes and finest jewelry and sets out for Aralu.  Word quickly spreads to Ereshkigal that her sister is coming, charming everyone in her path.

Ereshkigal becomes jealous and orders her guards to seize a garment from Inanna at each of the seven gates she must pass through on the way to the depths of hell.  Inanna does so, arriving naked and enraged at her sister's throne.  A heated argument erupts over the incident, and Ereshkigal has Inanna impaled on a hook, her her body quickly turns green and decays, much to Ereshkigal's delight.  The CHTHONIC deity displays her sister's withered corpse as a trophy in the halls of Aralu.

Meanwhile, in the upper world, Inanna's handmaid, who knows of the sisters' feud, works for Inanna's release.  After intervention from a number of Sumerian deities, Ereshkigal reluctantly agrees to give up her sister's corpse.  The gods revive Inanna with water and the grass of life, but the judges of the dead will not let her leave the underworld until she finds a substitute to take her place in hell.  Inanna agrees to send a replacement back to her sister's kingdom. 

A ghastly demon escort sees Inanna back to the land of the living.  Upon her return, she discovers that her husband, Dumuzi, rather than mourning her loss, as been celebrating her absence with wine, women, and song.  She immediately selects him as her substitute and sends him to Aralu to suffer in her place.  Inanna eventually pities Dumuzi's plight and works out an arrangement with Ereshkigal so that he has to stay in hell for only six months of the year.

Another legend tells how Ereshkigal used her wiles to trick NERGAL, a vain and lecherous warrior god, into taking up residence in the land of the dead.  When Nergal ventures to the underworld to meet this legendary queen, Ereshkigal charms him into sharing her bed, knowing that this will seal his doom.  After the seduction, the gods refuse to allow him to return to the upper world, so Nergal weds Ereskigal and becomes the king of the dead.  Together the couple oversees the souls of those who have departed Aralu.  (o)

Ereškigal:  Ereškigal, whose name can be translated 'Queen of the Great Below', is also known in Akkadian as Allatu.  She is the goddess who rules the underworld, mother of the goddess Nungal and, by Enlil, of the god Namtar, who serves as her messenger and minister.  Ereškigal'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 'Inana's Descent to the Underworld', Inana 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 Ereškigal'.  The son of Ereškigal and Gugal-ana was the god Ninazu.  In another tradition, Ereškigal married the god Nergal, as related in the poem 'Nergal and Ereškigal'. 

Ereškigal 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 guarded by a porter.  (r)

Resource List - all entries are taken verbatim from the original source:

(o) "The Encyclopedia of Hell."  Miriam Van Scott.  St. Martin's Press.  ©1998

(r) "Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia.  An Illustrated Dictionary."  Jeremy Black and Anthony Green.  University of Texas Press, Austin.  ©1992