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Nergal

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{{Mesopotamian myth (50)}} The name '''Nergal''' (or '''Nirgal''', '''Nirgali''') refers to a deity in Babylonia with the main seat of his cult at Kutha Cuthah represented by the mound of Tell-Ibrahim. Nergal is mentioned in the Hebrew bible as the deity of the city of Kutha Cuth (Cuthah): "And the men of Babylon made Succor-benoth Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal" (Books of Kings 2 Kings, 17:30). Nergal actually seems to be in part a solar deity, sometimes identified with Shamash, but only a representative of a certain phase of the sun. Portrayed in hymns and myths as a god of war and pestilence, Nergal seems to represent the sun of noontime and of the summer solstice that brings destruction, high summer being the dead season in the Mesopotamian annual cycle. Nergal was also the deity who presides over the Underworld netherworld, and who stands at the head of the special wiktionary:pantheon pantheon assigned to the government of the dead (supposed to be gathered in a large subterranean cave known as Aralu or Irkalla). In this capacity he has associated with him a goddess Allatu or Ereshkigal, though at one time Allatu may have functioned as the sole mistress of Aralu, ruling in her own person. In some texts the god Ninazu is the son of Nergal by Allatu/Ereshkigal. Ordinarily Nergal pairs with his consort Laz. Standard iconography pictured Nergal as a lion, and boundary-stone monuments symbolise him with a mace surmounted by the head of a lion. Nergal's fiery aspect appears in names or epithets such as ''Lugalgira'', ''Sharrapu'' ("the burner," perhaps a mere epithet), ''Erra'', ''Gibil'' (though this name more properly belongs to Nusku), and ''Sibitti''. A certain confusion exists in Cuneiform (script) cuneiform literature between Ninurta and Nergal. Nergal has epithets such as the "raging king," the "furious one," and the like. A play upon his name -- separated into three elements as ''Ne-uru-gal'' (lord of the great dwelling) -- expresses his position at the head of the nether-world pantheon. In the late Babylonian astral-theological system Nergal is related to the planet Mars (planet) Mars. As a fiery god of destruction and war, Nergal doubtless seemed an appropriate choice for the red planet, and he was equated by the Ancient Greece Greeks either to the combative demigod Heracles (Latin Hercules) or to the war-god Ares (Latin Mars) -- hence the current name of the planet. In Babylonian ecclesiastical art the great lion-headed colossi serving as guardians to the temples and palaces seem to symbolise Nergal, just as the bull-headed colossi probably typify Ninurta. Nergal's chief temple at Cuthah bore the name ''Meslam'', from which the god receives the designation of ''Meslamtaeda '' or ''Meslamtaea'', "the one that rises up from Meslam". The name Meslamtaeda/Meslamtaea indeed is found as early as the list of gods from Fara while the name Nergal only begins to appear in the Akkadian period. The cult of Nergal does not appear to have spread as widely as that of Ninurta. Hymns and votive and other inscriptions of Babylonian and Assyrian rulers frequently invoke him, but we do not learn of many temples to him outside of Cuthah. Sennacherib speaks of one at Tarbisu to the north of Nineveh, but significantly, although Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar II (606 BCE - 586 BCE), the great temple-builder of the neo-Babylonian monarchy, alludes to his operations at Meslam in Cuthah, he makes no mention of a sanctuary to Nergal in Babylon. Local associations with his original seat -- Kutha -- and the conception formed of him as a god of the dead acted in making him feared rather than actively worshipped.

Nergal in Demonology
Being a deity of the desert, and a god of fire, the negative aspects of the sun, and the underworld, and also being a god of one of the rivalling religions of Christianity and Judaism, Nergal was sometimes called a demon and even being identified with Satan. According to Collin de Plancy and Johann Weyer, Nergal was said to be the chief of Hell's "secret police", and said to be "an honorary spy in the service of Beelzebub Belzebuth".

Nergal in fiction
Nergal's name is featured in other areas, such as: * Fire Emblem's (the first one released in the U.S.) main villain is Nergal, who uses the magic (gaming) magic tome Ereshkigal to fight. * The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy features a monster from the center of the earth named Nergal. His son is Nergal, Jr. * Martian Successor Nadesico has Nergal Corporation, a large corporation who is heavily involved in Mars research and settlement. * Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy has a character named Nirgal, who is a Martian native. Many of the Martian natives in Nirgal's group are named after the names of Mars in various languages. * John Constantine was haunted by a demon named Nergal in the Hellblazer comic book. * Nurgle is one of the four main gods of Chaos in Warhammer 40,000. Nurgle is seen as the Chaos god of Pestilence, and his greater daemon champions are called "great unclean ones." * Nergal is the core entity in the end-of-2005 Storyline Tournaments of White Wolf, Inc.'s collectible card game Vampire: The Eternal Struggle * David Weber's '''Mutineers' Moon''' includes a battleship named Nergal. * Nergal is the stage name of '''Adam Michal Darski''', born in Gdynia, Poland, in 1977. Adam is guitarist, songwriter and frontman in the Polish black-/death metal band Behemoth, which he founded in 1991. * Nergal was the father of the monster Sameel in the movie version of Hellboy. Only briefly mentioned in the beginning and not actually appearing in the film.

See also:
* Apollo * Hades * Mamitu * Pazuzu * Set (god) Set * Tyr

References
* {{1911}}

External links
* ETCSL "A hymn to Nergal" and "A ''tigi'' to Nergal": [http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.4.15*# Unicode] and [http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.4.15*&charenc=j# ASCII] * Ereskigal.net – "Ereshkigal and Nergal": [http://www.mindwidth.com/ereshkigal/index.php?ID=1009&cat=3 Assyrian version] and [http://www.mindwidth.com/ereshkigal/index.php?ID=1010&cat=3 Amarna version]
- Gateway to Babylon: Nergal and Ereshkigal Category:Akkadian gods Category:Solar gods cs:Nergal da:Nergal de:Nergal es:Nirgal fr:Nergal ja:ãƒ?ãƒ«ã‚¬ãƒ« pl:Nergal pt:Nergal sv:Nergal

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