place

Irkalla

Places

The Mesopotamian land of the dead. Not Hades as the Greek underworld alone, and not Kur as a bare mountain-word dump.

Mesopotamian tradition

  • Irkalla appears in Mesopotamian tradition.

    The Epic of Gilgamesh names Irkalla among underworld seats in Enkidu’s vision of the house of dust. A named Irkalla underworld in that epic speech, not Duat and not a generic underworld flatten alone.

    from Epic of Gilgamesh, c. 1200 BCE (this recension)

    appears in · sourced · documented

sources

  • Epic of Gilgamesh

    The Epic of Gilgamesh, Standard Babylonian version (flood tablet; underworld material).