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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, where inhabitants were believed to continue "a transpositional version of life on earth". The only food or drink was dry dust, but family members of the deceased would pour sacred mineral libations from the earth for them to drink. In the Sumerian underworld, it was initially believed that there was no final judgement of the deceased and the dead were neither punished nor rewarded for their deeds in life. 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, Kur, Kigal, and Ganzir. All of these terms were later borrowed into Akkadian. The rest of the time, the underworld was simply known by words meaning "earth" or "sand", including the terms Kur and Ki in Sumerian and the word erṣetu in Akkadian. When used in reference to the underworld, the word Kur usually means "ground", but sometimes this meaning is conflated with another possible meaning of the word Kur as "mountain". The cuneiform sign for Kur was written ideographically with the cuneiform sign 𒆳, a pictograph of a mountain. Sometimes the underworld is called the "land of no return", the "desert", or the "lower world". The most common name for the earth and the underworld in Akkadian is erṣetu, but other names for the underworld include: ammatu, arali / arallû, bīt ddumuzi ("House of Dumuzi"), danninu, erṣetu la târi ("Earth of No Return"), ganzer / kanisurra, ḫaštu, irkalla, kiūru, kukkû ("Darkness"), kurnugû ("Earth of No Return"), lammu, mātu šaplītu, and qaqqaru. In the myth "Nergal and Ereshkigal" it is also referred to as Kurnugi. Conditions All souls went to the same afterlife, and a person's actions during life had no effect on how the person would be treated in the world to come. Unlike in the ancient Egyptian afterlife, there was no process of judgement or evaluation for the deceased; they merely appeared before Ereshkigal, who would pronounce them dead, and their names would be recorded by the scribal goddess Geshtinanna. The souls in Kur were believed to eat nothing but dry dust and family members of the deceased would ritually pour libations into the dead person's grave through a clay pipe, thereby allowing the dead to drink. For this reason, it was considered essential to have as many offspring as possible so that one's descendants could continue to provide libations for the dead person to drink for many years. Those who had died without descendants would suffer the most in the underworld, because they would have nothing to drink at all, and were believed to haunt the living. Sometimes the dead are described as naked or clothed in feathers like birds. Nonetheless, there are assumptions according to which treasures in wealthy graves had been intended as offerings for Utu and the Anunnaki, so that the deceased would receive special favors in the underworld. During the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112 – c. 2004 BC), it was believed that a person's treatment in the afterlife depended on how they were buried; those that had been given sumptuous burials would be treated well, but those who had been given poor burials would fare poorly. Those who did not receive a proper burial, such as those who had died in fires and whose bodies had been burned or those who died alone in the desert, would have no existence in the underworld at all, but would simply cease to exist. The Sumerians believed that, for the highly privileged, music could alleviate the bleak conditions of the underworld. Geography A staircase led down to the gates of the underworld. The underworld itself is usually located even deeper below ground than the Abzu, the body of freshwater which the ancient Mesopotamians believed lay deep beneath the earth. In other, conflicting traditions, however, it seems to be located at a remote and inaccessible location on Earth, possibly somewhere in the far west. This alternate tradition is hinted at by the fact that the underworld is sometimes called "desert" and by the fact that actual rivers located far away from Sumer are sometimes referred to as the "river of the underworld". The underworld was believed to have seven gates, through which a soul needed to pass. All seven gates were protected by bolts. The god Neti was the gatekeeper. Ereshkigal's sukkal, or messenger, was the god Namtar. The palace of Ereshkigal was known as Ganzir. At night, the sun-god Utu was believed to travel through the underworld as he journeyed to the east in preparation for the sunrise. One Sumerian literary work refers to Utu illuminating the underworld and dispensing judgement there and Shamash Hymn 31 (BWL 126) states that Utu serves as a judge of the dead in the underworld alongside the malku, kusu, and the Anunnaki. On his way through the underworld, Utu was believed to pass through the garden of the sun-god, which contained trees that bore precious gems as fruit. The Sumerian hymn Inanna and Utu contains an etiological myth in which Utu's sister Inanna begs her brother Utu to take her to Kur, so that she may taste the fruit of a tree that grows there, which will reveal to her all the secrets of sex. Utu complies and, in Kur, Inanna tastes the fruit and becomes knowledgeable of sex. Inhabitants Ereshkigal and family A number of deities were believed by the ancient Mesopotamians to reside in the underworld. The queen of the underworld was the goddess Ereshkigal. She was believed to live in a palace known as Ganzir. In earlier stories, her husband is Gugalanna, but, in later myths, her husband is the god Nergal. Her gatekeeper was the god Neti and her sukkal is the god Namtar. In the poem Inanna's Descent into the Underworld, Ereshkigal is described as Inanna's "older sister". Gugalanna is the first husband of Ereshkigal, the queen of the underworld. His name probably originally meant "canal inspector of An.... Discover the Wayne Jacobsen Clay Jacobsen popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Wayne Jacobsen Clay Jacobsen books.