(Sumer - "The Land of Natives" or "Civilised Kings) - was a civilization in the bronze age located in the region today known as Iraq).
Ereshkigal is the ruler of the great depths, and twin sister of Inanna, Queen of Heaven. The story of Ereshkigal is intertwined with that of Inanna, as Inanna meets her dark sister on her journey to the underworld, where she goes to visit Ereshkigal. Perhaps I will write that whole story in a different post.
Ereshkigal, anticipating the arrival of Inanna, decides to show her no mercy on her visit. The underworld that she rules is guarded by seven gates along a long road. Inanna, all set on reaching her sister, has to strip of one item - being her jewelry and clothings - at each gate in order to pass the guard. After a long and exhausting journey Inanna reaches the chamber of the Queen of the Dead, naked, humiliated, helpless. The mercyless Ereshkigal greets her sister by killing her by killing her, putting her in chains, and nailing her to the wall. A mercyless woman indeed.
Inannas visit to the underworld was to attend the funeral of Ereshkigals husband, the Great Bull Gugulanna. As Inanna still has her lover Dumuzi, Ereshkigal shows her jaloux side and aims at showing Inanna that her life and relationship is actually not as perfect as it seems.
But Ereshkigal is not a happy Goddess. The job of being the Queen of the Dead is tedious and thankless, depressive. She has lost her husband. Ereshkigal is in deep mournings, with the end of her relationship being a terrible tradeghy. In the midst of the mourning Inanna walks in with all her perfectness and light. She shines with complacent illusions, that Ereshkigal immediately sets out to destroy.
However the Great God Enki, anticipating events, had created two very special little creatuers, that were sent to save Innana from Ereshkigals claws. These creatures were small androgynes, both of them both male and female.
Note: Old Babylonians used transgered priests/priestesses (galaturs and kurgarras) - who wore costumes that were masculine on one side and feminiine on the other - the sides being reversed for masculine women and feminine men. In India existed the hijas that were also holy transgenders present at weddings to bring luck and to symbolize the holy union of the male and female. So actually what the mourning Ereshkigal just wants. the union, the wholeness of the unified male and female principle - the Holy Matrimony or Hieros Gamos.
When the two transgenderes creatures arrives in the chamber of Ereshkigal with the suffering, dead Inanna nailed to the wall, they are intuitively able to look deep into Ereshkigal. They can see her sadness and her sorrow. Therefore they weep tears of sympathy for the Queen of Dead.
The tears are reaching Ereshkigal deep withing, something frozen inside her comes alive. She gets moved and decides to let Inanna free. Still she wants to teach the loveblinded Queen of Heaven a lesson about denial and hypocricy, and lets Inanna free only to take hold on her lover Dumuzi instead of her.
Now the Queen of Dead, still a coldhearted woman, has got what she wanted: the sacred union which she gets with her new, stolen lover. Dumuzi is fated to spent the rest of his life in the underworld, together with the Queen of the Dead. Back in Heaven, Inanna weeps and weeps, and eventually the sister of Dumuzi, Ninshubur, offers to spent half of the time in the underworld instead of Dumuzi. Then Ereshkigal has her lover Dumuzi half the year, and his sister as a companion the other half. She is still not really satisfied though.
In all this, Inanna underwent a great transformation. She made huge sacrifices by being humiliated and losing her lover to her sister, but with time she learned to share her lover with her sister in the underworld.
The story of Ereshkigal does not end here though. In later times the Great Goddesses decides that they now need strong male companions to accompany them in the ruling of the world. Ereshkigal, however, is not not fond of this idea. Though she wants to unite with a man, she wants the man to be weaker, less powerful than her, like Dumuzi and his sister. Ereshkigal was totally used to being the unquestioned ruler of the underworld, she was teaching others hard lessons without learning from the herself.
A day came where Ereshkigals domain was invaded by the god Nergal with the aid of fourteen demons. Nergal demanded the hand of Ereshkigal and to rule the unerworld together with her in equality. Ereshkigal refused, and was thrown down off her throne and only in terror agreed to the terms of Nergal that then became King of the Underworld at her side.
