Ešurugal (temple of Ereškigal at Cutha)

Cutha

Ešurugal is a (minor) temple at Cutha that is dedicated to the goddess Ereškigal, the consort of the god Nergal, the so-called "Marduk of the netherworld." The Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 604–562 BC) claims that he had that temple built anew.

Names and Spellings

The Sumerian ceremonial name of this temple at Cutha means "House, Great City." Urugal (or Irigal) is a byname of the netherworld, a cosmic domain over which Ereškigal (and her consort Nergal) presides.

CBS 9

CBS 00009, a three-column clay cylinder with an Akkadian inscription of the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II mentioning his rebuilding of Ešurugal. Photo credit: Penn Museum.

Written Forms: EŠ₃.URUGAL.GAL.

Known Builders

Building History

An Akkadian inscription of the Neo-Bablyonian king Nebuchadnezzar II written on a clay cylinder (presumably from Kish) states that he had Ešurugal built anew. The relevant passage of that text reads:

(For) the goddess Ereškigal, the exalted princess who dwells in Ešurugal (and) who keeps my en[em]ies (and) those who do not love me in check, with my own (two) hands, I built anew Ešurugal, her temple in Cutha.

No further information about the project are known from presently-extant inscriptions.

Archaeological Remains

Ešurugal has not yet been identified in the archaeological record. It is unclear if the temple was an independent, freestanding structure or a (complex of) rooms in Emeslam.

Further Reading

Jamie Novotny & Naomi Weir

Jamie Novotny & Naomi Weir, 'Ešurugal (temple of Ereškigal at Cutha)', Babylonian Temples and Monumental Architecture online (BTMAo), The BTMAo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, [http://oracc.org/btmao/Cutha/TemplesandZiggurat/Eshurugal/]

 
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BTMAo 2019-. BTMAo is based at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Historisches Seminar (LMU Munich, History Department) - Alexander von Humboldt Chair for Ancient History of the Near and Middle East. BTMAo is part of the four-year project Living Among Ruins: The Experience of Urban Abandonment in Babylonia (September 2019 to October 2023), which is funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung as part of the program "Lost Cities. Wahrnehmung von und Leben mit verlassenen Städten in den Kulturen der Welt," coordinated by Martin Zimmermann and Andreas Beyer. Content released under a CC BY-SA 3.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/] license, 2007-.
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