NERGAL was a Mesopotamian god of the underworld. Nergal (properly, Nerigal) is a phonetic rendering of the Sumerian Enirigal(a) ("lord of the big city [i.e., the underworld]"). Nergal was also called Meslamtaea ("one who comes out of the Meslam [temple]"). His consort was Ereshkigal ("queen of the big place [i.e., the underworld]"). How he came to be king of the underworld is described in the Akkadian myth Nergal and Ereshkigal. His cultic center was Cuthah, in central Babylonia, where his consort was Laz (Akk., la asu, "no exit [i.e., the underworld]"), also called Mamma, Mammi, and Mammitum. Because of the complete identity of Nergal with Cuthah, that city's name became synonymous with the underworld.

The myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal is preserved in three versions, the first coming from Tell El-Amarna, with two later versions from Sultantepe and Uruk. The story of how Nergal...