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NERGAL.—The god of the city of Cubta in Babylonia, hence worshipped by the captive Cuthæans who were transplanted to Samaria by Sargon (2Ki_17:30). In the Bab. [Note: Babylonian.] -Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] pantheon he was a god of war and pestilence, and of hunting, and the planet Mars was sacred to him.
The name Nergal is probably of Sumerian origin, namely, Ner-gal—‘great warrior.’ The god is sometimes in the non-Semitic texts called Ner-unu-gal, ‘hero of the lower world,’ evidently indicating his connexion with death and destruction.
W. M. Nesbit.