Erra (sometimes called Irra) is an Akkadian plague god known from an 'epos'[1] of the eighth century BCE.

The god Erra is sleeping fitfully with his consort (identified with Mamītum and not with the mother goddess Mami)[5][6] but is roused by his advisor Išum and the Seven (Sibitti or Sebetti), who are the sons of heaven and earth[7]—"champions without peer" is the repeated formula—and are each assigned a destructive destiny by Anu.

The Seven are known from a range of Akkadian incantation texts: their demonic names vary,[11] but their number, seven, is invariable.

The five tablets containing the Erra epos were first published in 1956,[12] with an improved text, based on additional finds, appearing in 1969.

[14] Walter Burkert[15] noted the consonance of the purely mythic seven led by Erra with the Seven against Thebes, widely assumed by Hellenists to have had a historical basis.