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Underworld
(3,318 words)

[German version]

I. Mesopotamia

Myths, Epics, Prayers and Rituals of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC, in the Sumerian and Akkadian languages, describe the location and nature of the Underworld, along with the circumstances under which its inhabitants live. This domain, located beneath the surface of the earth and surrounded by the primeval ocean called Apsȗ, is known in Akkadian as erṣetu (Sumerian: ki), a term that can refer both to the surface of the earth and to the Underwo…

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S.LU., von Lieven, Alexandra (Berlin), B.CH., Johnston, Sarah Iles (Princeton), Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) and Jastrzebowska, Elisabeth, “Underworld”, in: Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1225130>
First published online: 2006
First print edition: 9789004122598, 20110510



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