Editing Nergal (section)

==Associations with other deities==
The god most closely associated with Nergal was [[Erra (god)|Erra]], whose name was Akkadian rather than Sumerian and can be understood as "scorching".{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=217}} Two gods with names similar to Erra who were also associated with Nergal were [[Errakal]] and [[Erragal]].{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|pp=217–218}} It is assumed that they had a distinct origin from Erra.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=218}}

[[Ninazu]] was seemingly already associated with Nergal in the Early Dynastic period, as a document from [[Shuruppak]] refers to him as "Nergal of [[Enegi]]", his main cult center.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998b|p=335}} The city itself was sometimes called "Kutha of Sumer".{{sfn|George|2003|pp=124-125}} In later times, especially in [[Eshnunna]], he started to be viewed as a son of Enlil and Ninlil and a warrior god, similar to Nergal.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998b|p=330}}

Many minor gods were associated or equated with Nergal. The god [[Shulmanu]], known exclusively from Assyria, was associated with Nergal and even equated with him in god lists.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=218}} [[Lagamal|Lagamar]] (Akkadian: "no mercy"{{sfn|Lambert|1983|p=418}}), son of [[Urash (god)|Urash]] (the male tutelary god of [[Dilbat]]) known both from [[lower Mesopotamia]]n sources and from [[Mari, Syria|Mari]] and [[Susa]]{{sfn|Lambert|1983|pp=418–419}} is glossed as "Nergal" in the god list ''An = Anum''.{{sfn|Lambert|1983|p=419}} Lagamar, [[Shubula]] and a number of other deities are also equated with Nergal in the Weidner god list.{{sfn|Zaia|2017}} Luhusha (Sumerian: "angry man"), worshiped in [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]], was referred to as "Nergal of Kish".{{sfn|George|2000|p=299}} Emu, a god from [[Suhum]] located on the [[Euphrates]] near Mari, was also regarded as Nergal-like.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=218}} He is directly identified as "Nergal of Sūḫi" in the god list ''Anšar = Anum'', and  might be either the same deity as the poorly attested Âmûm (''a-mu'', ''a-mu-um'' or ''a-mi-im'') known from Mari, or alternatively a local derivative of the sea god [[Yam (god)|Yam]], possibly introduced to this area by people migrating from further west; Ryan D. Winters notes in the latter case the association would presumably reflect Nergal's epithet ''[[lugala'abba]]'',{{sfn|Lambert|Winters|2023|p=321}} "king of the sea".{{sfn|Lambert|2013|p=240}}

Nergal was on occasion associated with [[Ishtaran]], and in this capacity he could be portrayed as a divine judge.{{sfn|Peterson|2015|p=48}} However, as noted by Jeremiah Peterson, this association is unusual as Nergal was believed to act as a judge in locations where the sun sets in mythological texts, while on the account of [[Der (Sumer)|Der]]'s location Ishtaran was usually associated with the east, where the sun rises.{{sfn|Peterson|2015|p=57}}

===Parents and siblings===
Enlil and Ninlil are attested as Nergal's parents in the overwhelming majority of sources, and while in the myth ''Nergal and Ereshkigal'' he addresses [[Enki|Ea]] as "father", this might merely be a honorific, as no other evidence for such an association exists.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=219}}

In the myth ''[[Enlil and Ninlil]]'' Nergal's brothers are Ninazu (usually instead a brother of [[Ninmada]]), [[Nanna (Sumerian deity)|Nanna]] and [[Enbilulu]].{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998b|p=330}} In a single text, a Neo-Babylonian letter from [[Marad]], his brothers are instead [[Nabu]] and [[Lugal-Marada]], the tutelary god of this city.{{sfn|Pomponio|1998|p=21}} However, this reference is most likely an example of ''[[captatio benevolentiae]]'', a [[rhetorical device]] meant to secure the goodwill of the reader, rather than a statement about genealogy of deities.{{sfn|Stol|1987|p=148}}

===Wives and children===
Multiple goddesses are attested as Nergal's wife in various time periods and locations, but most of them are poorly defined in known documents.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|pp=219–220}} While Frans Wiggermann assumes that all of them were understood as goddesses connected to the earth,{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=220}} this assumption is not shared by other assyriologists.{{sfn|Lambert|1983a|p=507}}{{sfn|Krebernik|1987|p=330}}

[[Laṣ]], first attested in an offering list from the [[Third Dynasty of Ur|Ur III period]] mentioning various deities from Kutha, was the goddess most commonly regarded as Nergal's spouse,{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=220}} especially from the [[Kassites|Kassite]] and [[Middle Assyrian Empire|middle Assyrian]] periods onward.{{sfn|Lambert|1983a|pp=506–507}} She received offerings from neo-Babylonian kings alongside Nergal in Kutha.{{sfn|Da Riva|2010|p=47}} Her name is assumed to have its origin in a [[Semitic languages|Semitic language]], but both its meaning and Laṣ' character are unknown.{{sfn|Lambert|1983a|pp=506–507}} Based on the Weidner god list, [[Wilfred G. Lambert]] proposes that she was a medicine goddess.{{sfn|Lambert|1983a|p=507}} Couples consisting of a warrior god and a medicine goddess (such as [[Pabilsaĝ|Pabilsag]] and [[Ninisina]] or [[Zababa]] and [[Bau (goddess)|Bau]]) were common in [[Mesopotamian myths|Mesopotamian mythology]].{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=38}}

Another goddess often viewed as the wife of Nergal was [[Mamitu|Mammitum]].{{sfn|Lambert|1983a|p=507}}{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=220}} Her name is homophonous with [[Mami (goddess)|Mami]], a goddess of birth known for example from the [[Nippur]] god list,{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=87}} leading some researchers to conflate them.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=220}} However, it is generally accepted that they were separate deities,{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=87}} and they are kept apart in Mesopotamian god lists.{{sfn|Krebernik|1987|p=330}} Multiple meanings have been proposed for her name, including "oath" and "frost" (based on a similar [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] word, ''mammû'', meaning "ice" or "frost").{{sfn|Krebernik|1987|p=330}} It is possible she was introduced in Kutha alongside Erra.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=220}} In at least one text, a description of a New Year ritual from [[Babylon]] during which the gods of Kish, Kutha and [[Borsippa]] were believed to visit [[Marduk]] (at the time not yet a major god), both she and Laṣ appear side by side as two separate goddesses.{{sfn|Lambert|2013|p=282}} In the Nippur god list Laṣ occurs separately from Nergal,{{sfn|Lambert|1983a|p=507}} while Mammitum is present right behind him, which along with receiving offerings alongside him in [[Ekur]] in the same city in the Old Babylonian lead researches to conclude a spousal relation existed between them.{{sfn|Peterson|2009|p=54}} She is also the wife of Erra/Nergal in the ''Epic of Erra''.{{sfn|George|2013|p=51}} The Middle Babylonian god list ''An = Anum'' mentions both Laṣ and Mamitum, equating them with each other, and additionally calls the goddess [[Adamma (goddess)#Mari|Admu]] ("earth") Nergal's wife.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=220}} She is otherwise only known from personal names and a single offering list from Old Babylonian Mari.{{sfn|Nakata|1995|p=236}}

In third millennium BCE in Girsu, the spouse of Nergal (Meslamtaea) was Inanna's sukkal [[Ninshubur]],{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=207}} otherwise seemingly viewed as unmarried.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998c|p=495}} Attestations of Ninshubur as Nergal's sukkal are also known, though they are infrequent.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=220}}

According to the myth ''Nergal and Ereshkigal'' he was married to [[Ereshkigal]], the goddess of the dead.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=220}} In god lists, however, they do not appear as husband and wife,{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=218}} though there is evidence that their entourages started to be combined as early as in the Ur III period.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|pp=218–219}} Ereshkigal's importance in Mesopotamia was largely limited to literary, rather than cultic, texts.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=220}}

Nergal's daughter was [[Tadmushtum]],{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=220}} a minor underworld goddess first attested in [[Puzrish-Dagan|Drehem]] in the Ur III period.{{sfn|Krebernik|2013|p=398}} In an offering list she appears alongside Laṣ.{{sfn|Krebernik|2013|p=398}} Her name has Akkadian origin, possibly being derived from the words ''dāmasu'' ("to humble") or ''dāmašu'' (connected to the word "hidden"), though more distant cognates were also proposed, including [[Geʽez]] ''damasu'' ("to abolish", "to destroy", or alternatively "to hide").{{sfn|Krebernik|2013|p=398}} It has also been proposed that a linguistic connection existed between her and the [[Ugaritic]] goddess Tadmish (or [[Dadmish]], ''ddmš'' in the [[Ugaritic alphabet|alphabetic script]]), who in some of the [[Ugaritic texts]] occurs alongside [[Resheph]], though a copy of the [[Weidner god list]] from Ugarit however equates Tadmish with [[Shuzianna]] rather than Tadmushtum.{{sfn|Krebernik|2013|p=398}} In Neo-Babylonian lists of so-called "Divine Daughters", pairs of minor goddesses associated with specific temples likely viewed as daughters of their head gods, the "Daughters of E-Meslam" from Kutha are Dadamushda (Tadmushtum{{sfn|Krebernik|2013|p=398}}) and Belet-Ili.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|pp=112–113}}

While Frans Wiggermann{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=220}} and Piotr Michalowski{{sfn|Michalowski|2013|p=241}} additionally regard the god [[Shubula]] as Nergal's son, it is actually difficult to determine if such a relation existed between these two deities due to the poor preservation of the tablet of the god list ''An = Anum'' where Shubula's position in the pantheon was specified.{{sfn|Peterson|2009|p=54}} Shubula might have been a son of [[Ishum]] rather than Nergal.{{sfn|Peterson|2009|p=54}} He was an underworld god and is mostly known from personal names from the Ur III and Isin-Larsa periods.{{sfn|Michalowski|2013|p=241}} His name is most likely derived from the Akkadian word ''abālu'' ("dry").{{sfn|Peterson|2009|p=54}} There is also clear evidence that he was regarded as Tadmushtum's husband.{{sfn|Krebernik|2013|p=398}}{{sfn|Michalowski|2013|p=241}}

===Servants===
Nergal's [[sukkal]] (attendant deity) was initially the god [[Ugur (god)|Ugur]], possibly the personification of his sword.{{sfn|Krebernik|2014|p=297}} After the Old Babylonian period he was replaced in this role by [[Ishum]].{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=220}} Sporadically Inanna's sukkal Ninshubur{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=220}} or Ereshkigal's sukkal [[Namtar]] were said to fulfill this role in the court of Nergal instead.{{sfn|Klein|1998|p=144}} His other courtiers included ''umum'', so-called "day demons", who possibly represented points in time regarded as inauspicious; various minor deities associated with diseases; the minor warrior gods known as [[Sebitti]]; and a number of figures at times associated with Ereshkigal and gods such as Ninazu and Ningishzida as well, for example Namtar's wife [[Hušbišag|Hushbisha]], their daughter [[Ḫedimmeku|Hedimmeku]], and the deified heroes [[Gilgamesh]] and [[Etana]] (understood as judges of the dead in this context).{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|pp=220–221}} In some texts the connection between Gilgamesh in his underworld role and Nergal seems to be particularly close, with the hero being referred to as "Nergal's little brother".{{sfn|George|2003|p=127}}

===Foreign deities===
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| image1 = Yazilikaya B Nergal.jpg
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| caption1 = The "sword-god" from [[Yazılıkaya]], identified with Nergal{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998a|p=225}}
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| image2 = Ancient Parthian relief carving of the god Nergal from Hatra.jpg
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| caption2 = Syncretic [[Parthian art|Parthian]] relief carving of Nergal-Heracles from Hatra in [[Iraq]], dating to the first or second century AD{{sfn|Drijvers|1980|p=105}}
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[[Resheph]], a western god of war and plague, was already associated with Nergal in [[Ebla]] in the third millennium BCE, though the connection was not exclusive, as he also occurs in contexts which seem to indicate a relation with Ea (known in Ebla as [[Hayya]]) instead.{{sfn|Archi|2019|p=43}} Furthermore, the Eblaite scribes never used Nergal's name as a logographic representation of Resheph's.{{sfn|Archi|2019|p=43}} According to Alfonso Archi, it is difficult to further speculate about the nature of Resheph and his relation to other deities in Eblaite religion due to lack of information about his individual characteristics.{{sfn|Archi|2019|p=43}} The equivalence between Nergal and the same western gods is also known from [[Ugarit]],{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=218}} where Resheph was additionally associated with the planet Mars, much like Nergal in Mesopotamia.{{sfn|Wyatt|2007|p=62}} Documents from [[Emar]] on the Euphrates mention a god called "Nergal of the KI.LAM" (seemingly a term designating a [[market square|market]]), commonly identified with Resheph by researchers.{{sfn|Rutherford|2019|p=84}} Additionally, "Lugal-Rasap" functioned as a title of Nergal in Mesopotamia according to god lists.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=218}}

It has been proposed that in [[Urkesh]], a [[Hurrians|Hurrian]] city in northern Syria, Nergal's name was used to represent a local deity of Hurrian origin [[Logogram|logographically]].{{sfn|Archi|2013|p=8}} Two possible explanations have been proposed: [[Aštabi]] and [[Kumarbi]].{{sfn|Archi|2013|p=8}} The former was a god of Eblaite origin,{{sfn|Archi|2013|p=14}} later associated with [[Ninurta]] rather than Nergal,{{sfn|Archi|2013|p=10}} while the latter was the Hurrian "father of the gods", usually associated with Enlil{{sfn|Archi|2013|p=1}} and [[Dagon|Dagan]].{{sfn|Archi|2013|p=10}} {{ill|Gernot Wilhelm|de}} concludes in a recent publication that the identification of Nergal in the early Urkesh inscriptions as Kumarbi is not implausible, but at the same remains impossible to conclusively prove.{{sfn|Wilhelm|2014a|p=418}} He points out that it is also not impossible that Kumarbi only developed as a distinct deity at a later point in time.{{sfn|Wilhelm|2014a|p=418}} Alfonso Archi notes that it also possible the god meant is Nergal himself, as he is attested in other Hurrian sources as an actively worshiped deity.{{sfn|Archi|2013|p=8}}

In the [[Yazılıkaya]] sanctuary, Nergal's name was apparently applied to a so-called "sword god" depicted on one of the reliefs, most likely a presently unidentified local god of death.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998a|p=225}}

The Elamite god [[Simut (god)|Simut]] was frequently associated with Nergal, shared his association with the planet Mars and possibly his warlike character,{{sfn|Henkelman|2011|p=512}} though unlike his Mesopotamian counterpart he was not an underworld deity.{{sfn|Potts|2010|p=58}} In one case he appears alongside Laṣ.{{sfn|Lambert|1983a|p=507}} Wouter Henkelman additionally proposes that "Nergal of Hubshal (or Hubshan)" known from Assyrian sources was Simut.{{sfn|Henkelman|2011|p=512}} However, other identities of the deity identified by this moniker have been proposed as well, with [[Volkert Haas]] instead identifying him as Ugur.{{sfn|Haas|2015|p=367}} Yet another possibility is that Emu was the deity meant.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=218}}

Based on [[lexical lists]], two [[Kassite deities|Kassite gods]] were identified with Nergal, Shugab and Dur.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=218}}

In a Middle Assyrian god list, "Kammush" appears among the epithets of Nergal.{{sfn|Lambert|1980|p=335}} According to Wilfred G. Lambert it cannot be established whether this indicates an equation with either the third millennium BCE god [[Kamiš|Kamish]] known from the Ebla texts, or the [[Iron Age]] god [[Chemosh]] from [[Moab]].{{sfn|Lambert|1980|p=335}}

In late, [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] sources from [[Palmyra]], [[Hatra]] and [[Tarsus, Mersin|Tarsus]] [[Heracles]] served as the ''[[interpretatio graeca]]'' of Nergal.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=218}} Heracles and Nergal were also both (at different points in time) associated with the Anatolian god [[Sandas]].{{sfn|Taracha|2009|p=113}}