Jawnomicon

Namtar

Also called Namtaru, Hand of Pestilence.

Namtar is the Mesopotamian demon of plague and fate, minister to the queen of the underworld, whose name means the decree that cannot be appealed and whose arrival is the sentence carried out.

At a glance

Tradition
Mesopotamian mythology
Region
Underworld (place of origin)
Trait family
The Threshold-Keepers

Near this figure

Traits

Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.

Behaviour

  • Underworld gatekeeper
    why

    Namtar serves in the Mesopotamian underworld as the vizier of its queen, carrying her orders and admitting or refusing those who come to the gate.

  • Underworld demon causes illness in living
    why

    He is regularly listed among the bringers of disease, and incantation texts name him as the agent behind particular illnesses, which places him in ritual practice as well as in narrative. In the descent narratives he is the functionary who executes the queen's instructions on the visitor, and later, when the gods intervene, the one sent to fetch and to fetch back.

Defensive powers

  • Threshold guardianship
    why

    Namtar serves in the Mesopotamian underworld as the vizier of its queen, carrying her orders and admitting or refusing those who come to the gate.

Roles

Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.