"Queen of the Great Earth")[1][2][a] was the goddess of Kur, the land of the dead or underworld in Sumerian mythology.

[4][5] The main temple dedicated to her was located in Kutha,[6] a city originally associated with Nergal,[7] and her cult had a very limited scope.

Some researchers believe that Ninazu originally fulfilled this function, with Ereshkigal only becoming a significant ruler of the land of the dead in Sumerian imagination at a later point in time.

Examples of myths where she plays an important role include: In this poem, the goddess Inanna descends into the underworld, apparently seeking to extend her powers there.

Enki sends two sexless beings down to the underworld to revive Inanna with the food and water of life.

Two versions are known,[14] though they differ only in details related to the motivation of the deities involved and both the plot structure and ultimate outcome are the same.

[b] Nergal travels under the advice of Ea, who warns him not to sit, eat, drink or wash while in the underworld, as well as not to have sex with Ereshkigal.

Although Nergal has no problem with respecting all the other warnings, the god succumbs to the temptation and lies with the goddess for six days.

However, Nergal must still leave the underworld for six months, so Ereshkigal gives him back his demons and allows him to traverse the upper world for that time, after which he returns to her.

In Inanna's descent he dies before the events of the myth; in some inscriptions he is the father of Ninazu;[23] eventually this name became a title of Nergal as well.

[24] In a fragmentary text translated by Jeremiah Peterson, Nungal appears alongside Ereshkigal and the healing goddess Nintinugga.

[26][27] While Allani was originally introduced in Mesopotamia as an independent figure,[28] receiving offerings in Ur during Shulgi's reign under the name Allatum (alongside other foreign deities such as Ishara and Belet Nagar),[29] she gradually became little more than a title of Ereshkigal.

[30] The Hattian death god Lelwani, originally described as a male deity with the masculine title of katte (king), started to be viewed as a goddess instead due to conflation with Allani and Ereshkigal.

[33] In the heading of a spell in the Michigan Magical Papyrus, which has been dated to the late third or early fourth century A.D. (and as such was written after the art of reading cuneiform texts was lost), Hecate is referred to as "Hecate Ereschkigal" and is invoked using magical words and gestures to alleviate the caster's fear of punishment in the afterlife.

[34] Further study of Greek texts which mention the name of Ereshkigal revealed that none feature motifs of Mesopotamian origin in any meaningful capacity, the symbols used are ones associated with Hecate rather than Ereshkigal, the use of Ereshkigal's name served no purpose other than "furnishing the Greek Netherworld goddess with a mysterious-sounding, foreign name,"[35] and that the people who "composed, transmitted and used these texts had either little interest in or little knowledge of (or both) the Mesopotamian traditions associated with Ereškigal.

In order to avenge the abduction of Ereshkigal, Enki, the god of water, set out in a boat to slay the Kur.

[36] This view, and even the idea of Kur being a single well-defined monster rather than a vague term referring to mountains, foreign lands or the underworld,[37] are not supported by modern scholars.