NER'GAL. A prominent deity in the Baby lonian and Assyrian pantheons. The name (prob ably better, Nerigal) is assured by the Old Testament; its meaning is obscure (*the rages,' or 'the great ruler') , the Babylonian etymologists explaining it as 'the mighty one of the great dwelling-plaee.' with reference to Nergars lord ship over Hades. His original aspect seems to have been that of a solar deity. representing (-specially the blazing heat of the sun at noon or the summer solstice: thus he is referred to as 'the hero of the gods. the lofty meridian sun.' As a destructive deity he became the god of war and the god of pestilence. Ile shares the former characteristic with Ninib. along with whom he also appears as the god of the chase. But he appears more uniquely as the god of pestilence, and so lie became by an easy transition of thought the god of those whom he destroyed, and thus the deity of the lower world. Accordingly in the later mythology he stood for the declining sun. and the month of Chislev (December) is dedi cated to him. This development in the char acter of Nergal is presented in a story preserved in an Amarna tablet, to the effect that the gods of the upper world became engaged in war with Allatu ( Eresh-kigal ), the goddess of Hades; Nergal as their leader makes his way into her presence, but is induced by her supplications to save her life and to marry her, so becoming the god of the lower world. With this may be com
pared the classic myth of Pluto and Proserpine. Nergal had also as wife Laz, probably an upper world goddess. As god of war and destruction, Nergal was identified with the planet Mars, while the lion was his symbol. Nergalss ancient sanctuary, with which lie was always associated from earliest to latest times, was Cutha, the name of which even became a synonym of Hades. Accordingly. the Cuthalln colony which was set tled in Samaria after the deportation of Israel brought thither the cult of Nergal (11. Kings xvii. 30). Ills cult, however. was widespread and seems to have been especially patronized in the later Assyrian Empire. Consult .Tastrow, Reli gion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston, 1898).