But while Nergal, with a host of lesser demons about him, appears as the Babylonian Pluto, particularly in the religious texts, his functions are not limited to the control of the dead.

He is the personification of some of the evils that bring death to mankind, particularly pestilence and war.

The death that follows in his path is a violent one, and his destructive force is one that acts upon large masses rather than upon the individual.

Hence, one of the most common ideographs used to express his name is that which signifies 'sword.' War and pestilence are intimately associated in the mind of the Babylonians.

Among other nations, the sword is, similarly, the symbol of the deity, as the plague-bringer as well as the warrior.
To this day, a pestilence is the general accompaniment of war in the East, or follows in its wake.