Divinity · ◆ Darkness

Ereshkigal

Queen of the Great Below · Lady of the Great Earth

majorattestedc. 1900–1600 BCE (tablets)Mesopotamian religion

Queen of the Great Below, the Sumerian land of no return, and elder sister of Inanna. She rules the dead absolutely and alone. When the Queen of Heaven walks into her realm, Ereshkigal has her stripped, judged, struck dead and hung on a hook — and is undone not by force but by the first creatures who ever grieve with her.

Darkness84

Chaos77

Power78

Dread70

✦Signature powerDivine DomainHolds sovereign power over a sphere of the living world.

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Its universe

The mythic order Ereshkigal belongs to, who comes before and after in the story of this world.

An, father of the gods

Voices & connections

Figures bound to Ereshkigal, family and rivals within the myth, and the thinkers and writers who shaped how we know them.

Dumuzienemy of Inannasibling of

Read the story

Illustrated chapters where Ereshkigal appears. Start reading in a click.

Illustrated storyThe Descent of InannaThe oldest descent story ever written, four thousand years old: Inanna, Queen of Heaven, turns her ear to the Great Below and walks through the seven gates of the dead. At each gate a garment of her power is stripped away, until she stands naked before her sister Ereshkigal — and is hung on a hook. Her rescue costs a head for a head, and her eye falls on the consort who did not mourn her.Begin reading →