#ninazu

Ereshkigal Ruler of the Underworld

Nergal God of inflicting death

Ninazu of the underworld

Big fan of how she has multiple animal themed husbands. Girl boss tbh

Altar to gift My Queen Ereškigal two cuneiform tablet inscriptions & begin worship of Ninazu.

February 11, 2025

Gods on Altar: Gugal-ana, Ninĝu Ereškigal'am, Ninazu

.🥀.

I bought two new items from Ancient Text, Modern Tablet. Link to Etsy Shop.

The new circular tablet is written in Sumerian and states:

"Ereškigal, Mother of Ninazu. Your Praise is Sweet!"

I plan to alternate between this tablet, and the tablet that reads "Ereškigal Queen of Where the Sun Sets," which is on the right side of the altar. During the "dark" half of the year, summer to winter solstices her idol will be accompanied by the sun sets tablet; during the "light" half of the year winter to summer solstices her idol will be accompanied by the praise tablet.

From the craftsman's information sheet:

This tablet contains the final lines of an only partially recovered Sumerian composition called "the Death of Gilgamesh," which centers around the impending demise of Gilgamesh, the legendary Mesopotamian ruler of the famous city of Uruk. It includes description of his funerary preparations, his entry into the netherworld as its governor, as well as a predictive dream foretelling his death where the gods deliberate his fate. It is what is often described as the text's "doxology," where either Nisaba, the goddess of the scribal art, or a deity that is central to the plot of the text is praised to concluded the text, in this case Ereshkigal, the queen of the netherworld [...] Unfortunately, no Sumerian cultic songs dedicated to Ereshkigal currently survive to us, although they do for her son Ninazu, another important netherworld deity who was closely associated with snakes and mythical reptiles, earning him the epithet “king of snakes.” He was also a god of vegetation who conspired to bring agriculture to bring grain agriculture to early man in the fragmentary myth “How Grain Came to Sumer.”

How Grain Came to Sumer Myth Link

.🥀.

The protective amulet invokes Ereškigal against witches & witch's fever written in Akkadian and states:

"Incantation. Ereškigal, mistress of the broad netherworld world! As for so-and-so (the wearer of this necklace), whom a witch has affected before your gaze, whom fever has seized, which afflicts her head, save her, let her live, that she may praise your divinity as long as she lives! Incantation."

I particularly like the "save her, let her live, that she may praise your divinity as long as she lives!" Since Ninĝu Ereškigal'am has quite literally saved me (well me worshipping her has saved me, I turn to her in my darkest of dark moments). I gifted the amulet and asked that it be an amulet of her protection and against evil in general. It came with a nice string but I need to get a magnetic clamp attachment because I can't do clasps easily.

From the craftsman's information sheet:

We have a number of magical amulets from ancient Mesopotamia that were meant to be worn on the body as necklaces for protection, as well as a number of surviving texts that describe their use. A number of rituals meant to remedy issues ranging from sexual potency to illness provisioned for the wearing of a magically potent necklace, sometimes made with magically efficacious materials such as precious stone beads and wool yarn. In some instances, the incantation itself was to be worn as an amulet. We have ritual texts that provision for amulets to be made from clay taken from the local canal (the typical source for sufficiently pure clay to make cuneiform tablets). This amulet is inscribed with a ten line incantation that invokes Ereshkigal, the queen of the netherworld [...]. The role of Ereshkigal in preventing witchcraft may be rooted in the fact that in the most elaborate anti-witchcraft ritual known to us, a multi-day ritual which is referred to as “Maqlu,” calls for the banishment of the offending witches to a special part of the netherworld. The incantation specifically targets fever caused by witchcraft.

.🥀.

Ninazu

I've done some more research and contemplation on Namtar, I decided to "finish" my worship of him. I removed the white/blue pendant representation of him from Ereškigal's idol when I first set this altar up a few days ago. Then during ritual I thanked Namtar, and "ended" that worship.

Ninazu seems much more prominent and important as Ereškigal's son. I cleansed the item of its representation of Namtar (it is not an idol so this was simple); I invited Ninazu into my worship and dedicated the representation to him. Then placed it back on Ereškigal's idol.

.🥀.

Transtigridian Snake Gods

In his publication “Transtigridian Snake Gods”, Franz Wiggermann discusses the similar traits and roles of various gods that he categorizes as Transtigridian, or having residency outside of southern Sumer proper. In the god list An-Anum, these five gods follow Ereshkigal, denoting them as Chthonic gods, and each had some association with snakes. A little more about each below:

ya’ll probably don’t care but these are chibis of my precious DBZ girls and I love them dearly 

Inktober Day 21: Furious

Day 14: Chthonic Ninazu

Ninazu is a god associated with snakes, the underworld, fertility, and sometimes warfare. For a time he was the patron deity of Eshnunna, before he was replaced by Tishpak. I haven’t been able to find too many sources about him, besides some hymns and vague references in other works (perhaps he is the deity who prevents Damu from entering the underworld in ‘In the Desert in the Early Grass’ )