My Eresh Theory

[Sagiri]

Yesterday I bought a book called Encyclopedia of Spirits, and there is one Somalian goddess called Ereshkigal.
Similarities:
1. Eresh and Ereshkigal are found beneath the earth
2. Eresh holds the Ressurecction Rune, Ereshkigal holds power over life and death
3. It is possible that Eresh called Shepcesska from the land of the dead, while Ereshkigal has the ablilty to bring forth the dead.
4. Both Eresh and Ereshkigal hold scepters.

Ereshkigal is an immortal goddess, so if Eresh were immortal it would make sense as to why she wears the clothes of a respected older person.

[Runemaster]

Interesting.. So this may prove that Eresh was heavily inspired by that Ereshkigal.

Anyway, my little interest miraculously made my lazy self browse Wikipedia!

It doesn't inform much resemblances of Eresh to her but anyway.. here's Ereshkigal!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ereshkigal

[Sagiri]

Yeah... thanks for that wiki thing. Even the name is similar despire the 'kigal' part

[Iesous]

Go to Gensopedia and look up Eresh. Her trivia talks about her name and her weapon names are all Sumerian (not Somalian) and Babylonian gods and goddesses. Gensopedia is a little bit incorrect (or maybe just didn't put enough information) concerning Shepcesska. He was a Pharaoh from the fifth dynasty of Egypt. Most of the time it is said he was the fourth king of that dynasty. Some scholars suggest that he was fifth.

Quick history lesson: Sumerian and Babylonian were both cultures in Mesopotamia, present-day southern Iraq. Sumerians were the first to invent a writing system (cuneiform). Their language is completely unrelated to any other language in the history of the world. Babylonians (as well as Assyrians) spoke a language called Akkadian. Akkadian is a Semitic language which means it is related to Hebrew and Arabic among others. Before the invention of an alphabet, the Akkadians decided to just borrow the Sumerian writing system. Therefore they have alot of borrowed words from Sumerian as well.

I know what a few of the parts of the names mean. 'Ki' means city. 'Gal' means big or great. Other than that, I'm not sure. I'm learning Akkadian, not Sumerian, so I only know a few words.

Mythologically speaking, the three weapon names and Ereshkigal are inter-related. The second weapon name was the first husband of Ereshkigal. Nergal was a later consort of Ereshkigal. More importantly, all of them have something to do with either the underworld or plagues.

All of this to say: I don't think she's immortal. I think they simply want to associate her with having power over the underworld.

[Runemaster]

Wow, too many things registering in my mind!

Shepcesska is rumored to be a king but I don't know how that thing became king.

This is getting more interesting! looks like you people have answered some Eresh questions.

[Lemmy Claypool]

Shepcesska is rumored to be a king but I don't know how that thing became king.

The actual pharoah isn't a giant floating pyramid-arsed monster lol, Konami have just used his name for that particular boss. Probably because it sounds cool and keeps with the ancient Egyptian motif of that section of the game.

[Sagiri]

Sorry about the origins thing. I thought it was somali or something similar.
But I honestly didn't know about the Shepcesska thing I just thought Konami made it up or something

[Runemaster]

Shepcesska is rumored to be a king but I don't know how that thing became king.

The actual pharoah isn't a giant floating pyramid-arsed monster lol, Konami have just used his name for that particular boss. Probably because it sounds cool and keeps with the ancient Egyptian motif of that section of the game.

What? Does that mean he/it isn't a pharaoh? But there WAS a pharaoh named Shepcesska am I right?

[Lemmy Claypool]

Shepcesska is rumored to be a king but I don't know how that thing became king.

The actual pharoah isn't a giant floating pyramid-arsed monster lol, Konami have just used his name for that particular boss. Probably because it sounds cool and keeps with the ancient Egyptian motif of that section of the game.

What? Does that mean he/it isn't a pharaoh? But there WAS a pharaoh named Shepcesska am I right?

Correct. So far we have no idea what relevance, if any, the Suikoden Shepcesska has to anything in-game, or if it is just another typical boss monster.

In reality, Shepcesska was an ancient Egyptian pharoah. Different beings, same name.

[Runemaster]

Ahh.. I see so there was a REAL Shepcesska!
I just referred to what I saw on gensopedia about it being rumored to be an Armes king.

[Sagiri]

I'm quite pleased on how this is turning out.

[Iesous]

Correction on what I said earlier. I said that 'Ki' meant city. Actually it means earth. So the goddess' name could mean "Eresh of the Great Earth." I speculate that Great Earth refers to the underworld, as it could be larger than the earth (since it has to hold everyone who had ever lived on the surface-earth).

[kelvingarinkz]

hmm, a minor point to add
if Eresh is linked to pharaoh, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Babylonian culture, dont forget how she is linked to Jeane who is linked to Raura who is linked to Hortez VIII and maybe Caleria ?
all seem to be having this Mesopotamian aura ... including Jeane with her Egyptian costume in s5

[Iesous]

Caleria not so much. I think that you're confusing Middle Ages-Present day Middle East with Ancient Near East (as Egypt, Palestine, Asia Minor, Arabia, and Mesopotamia are called). Caleria does indeed look like an Arabic/Muslim culture. But I wouldn't say that ancient Egypt-through-Mesopotamia would look the same. However, the capitol city of Ancient Armes does look Egyptian. Therefore, Raura and Hortez could somehow be related (maybe descended) from Ancient Armes. With Raura being a friend of Jeane's, she may not age, so maybe she could actually be from Ancient Armes herself. You might also be right about Jeane. I didn't notice that her outfit is Egyptian. (There's just not enough to tell for sure, imo.)

[Sagiri]

But recall what I said in the original post. Ereshkigal is a goddess of the underworld. A part of her name miight mean something like that and may reveal a bit about Eresh's personality. Ereshkigal also, apparently, could ressurect the dead. It might not mean much, but Eresh comes equiped with a ressurection rune, doesnt she?
Here are some links:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_M2Cvj22ZTf0/S ... hkigal.jpg
http://27runesgallery.iespana.es/4image ... /erest.jpg

Hmm.... similarities, similarities... if you find some, let me know.