Kirves Nergali jaoks. Täheldusi sumerite ja akkadlaste allilmakujutlustest
An axe for Nergal. Observations on Sumerians’ and Akkadians’ conceptions of the netherworld

Summary/Abstract: The current short Sumerian literary text, which was written in Old Babylonian time and which consists of only 16 lines, is a dedicatory inscription. This text was written on a bronze axe that was dedicated to Nergal, the main Mesopotamian god of the netherworld. The text reflects the imaginations of ancient Sumerians and Akkadians concerning afterlife in the netherworld. In ancient Egypt the fate of people after death was decided by the great gods of the netherworld and people could be happy if they had not committed any serious sins. In Mesopotamia life after death in the kingdom of Nergal was quite different from that of ancient Egypt – people suffered under very bad conditions. They were in pain, frozen and hungry, and their drinking water was very dirty. Some other literary texts, such as “Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld” also describe these harsh conditions in the netherworld of Mesopotamia. Of course, if a person had donated to gods, especially to Nergal, abundant gifts and offered sacrifices, they might have been given a possibility to drink clean water. Nibrutalu, the author of this text, which was called by researchers “An Axe for Nergal”, dedicated this axe with inscriptions to god Nergal. With this act he hoped to be given the possibility to drink clean water.

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