LIFE AFTER DEATH: THE OTHER WORLD IN SUMERIAN TEXTS

The Ancient Mesopotamians believed that after death, every human would go to the nether world which was thought to be underground. When a person died, he could go to the other world after some certain funeral rites. This paper aims to reveal how the nether world where many gods such as Nergal, Ere？kigal, Ningi？zida, Dumuzi ruled is depicted and to represent the conditions of the human spirits. Information about the subject is reached from Sumerian literal and mythological texts most of which dates to Old Babylonian Period. We will try to describe the other world beliefs of Mesopotamians via informations from these source