Enciclopedia Cattolica Vol. VIII, 1952 Sacred Scripture Peoples and figures

Nergel (Hebr. Nèrghal, Sept. 'Ergél)

NERGEL

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NERGEL (Hebr. Nèrghal, Sept. 'Ergél). - Name of the idol that the Assyrian colonists, sent to populate the Samaritan city of Cuthah, "made" for themselves (II Kings 17:30).

It is a deity very well known from cuneiform religious literature, which in hymns and incantations calls him god of the infernal regions (like the classical Pluto), and, through his demons, he is the author of plagues, famines, wars, enemy invasions, fires, and diseases, as the means by which he gathers a population for his subterranean kingdom. In some texts, however, he is also a god of farmers, who sends water not to devastate but to irrigate, and grants fertility to animals: and as such he will have been worshiped by the colonists of Cuthah.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: A. Deimel, Pantheon Babylonicum, Rome 1914, no. 2332; G. Furlani, La religione babilonese, I, Bologna 1928, p. 243 ff.

Giovanni Rinaldi

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By Giovanni Rinaldi

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Translated from the Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII (1952), coll. 1764–1765.

More by Giovanni Rinaldi: Nephthali (Hebr. Naphtālī) · Nimrod (Hebr. Nimrādh, Septuagint Neṣnā) · Nehemias (Hebr. Nēḥemyāh, Septuagint Nemía[s], Vulg. Nehemias) · Nazirite · Nathinei (Hebr. Nēthānīm; Septuagint Nēthānīm, rarely Nēthānīm and Nēthānīm; Vulg. Nathinae)

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Chicago

Rinaldi, Giovanni. “Nergel (Ebr. Nèrghal, sett. 'εργέλ).” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, coll. 1764–1765. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952. https://azioneromana.com/article/nergel-ebr-nerghal-sett-ergel.

MLA

Rinaldi, Giovanni. “Nergel (Ebr. Nèrghal, sett. 'εργέλ).” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952, coll. 1764–1765. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/nergel-ebr-nerghal-sett-ergel.

BibTeX

@incollection{ec8_nergel_ebr_nerghal_sett_ergel,
  author    = {Rinaldi, Giovanni},
  title     = {Nergel (Ebr. Nèrghal, sett. 'εργέλ)},
  booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
  volume    = {VIII},
  pages     = {1764--1765},
  note      = {Cited by column},
  publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
  address   = {Città del Vaticano},
  year      = {1952},
  url       = {https://azioneromana.com/article/nergel-ebr-nerghal-sett-ergel}
}

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