Take arms against the lions of death, the kings of sunset.
Definition/Summary:
Religion and mythology
- Underworld deity worshipped throughout Mesopotamia
- God of war, plague and death
- Part a solar deity, sometimes identified with Shamash, but only later phase of the sun
- As war and pestilence, he represent the sun of noontime and of the summer solstice that brings destruction, high summer being the dead season
“The king of sunset”
- Became god of the underworld
Expanded info:
Nergal pairs with his consort Laz. Nergal appears as a lion, and monuments symbolise him with a mace surmounted by the head of a lion.
- Nergal’s fiery aspect appears in names or epithets such as Lugalgira
- Nergal has epithets such as the “raging king,” the “furious one,” and the like