Reshep is a warlike god that rules over diseases. He is the lord of fire and all heat, including that from the sun and that which can burn inside man, that is, fever. There is, however, no evidence of Reshep´s rule in the netherworld. The only argument in favor of this thesis rests on the identification of Reshep with Nergal. Yet this identification springs from their common rule over disease and not from any connection with the netherworld. This seems particularly obvious when ones takes into account that the West Semites were already acquainted with the cut of Nergal in the form of an association with the cult of Erra, the god of heat, drought, and disease.