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Enlil (add the name in cuneiform please an=?? shar=?), (EN = Lord
EN (cuneiform)

EN is the Sumerian cuneiform for "lord" or "priest". Originally, it seems to have been used to designate a high priest or priestess of a Sumerian city-state's patron-deity - a position that entailed political power as well....
 + LIL = Loft, "Lord of the Open" or "Lord of the Wind") was the name of a chief deity listed and written about in ancient Sumer
Sumer

Sumer was a civilization and a historical region located in Southern Iraq , known as the Cradle of civilization. It lasted from the first settlement of Eridu in the Ubaid period through the Uruk period and the Dynastic periods until the rise of Babylon in the early 2nd millennium BC....
ian, Akkad
Akkad

The Akkadian Empire was an empire centered in the city of Akkad Sumerian language: Agade KUR A.GA.D?KI "land of Akkad". ; Biblical Accad) and its surrounding region Akkadian URU Akkad KI in central Mesopotamia....
ian, Hittite
Hittite

Hittite may refer to:*Hittites, ancient Anatolian people*Neo-Hittite states, Iron Age successors to the Hittite people located in modern Turkey and Syria...
, Canaan
Canaan

Canaan is an ancient term for a region encompassing modern-day Israel and Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Jordan, Syria and northeastern Egypt....
ite and other Mesopotamian clay and stone tablets. The name is perhaps pronounced and sometimes rendered in translations as Ellil in later Akkadian
Akkadian language

Akkadian or Assyrian-Babylonian is a Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian language, an unrelated language isolate....
, Hittite, and Canaanite literature.

Enlil was considered to be the god of breath, wind, loft, and breadth.

story names his origins as the exhausted breath of An
An (mythology)

In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians, Anu was a sky-god, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spiritual being and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions....
 (god of the heavens) and Ki
Ki (goddess)

Ki in Sumerian mythology was the goddess and personification of the earth and underworld, chief consort of Anu the sky god. In some legends Ki and An were brother and sister, being the offspring of Anshar and Kishar , earlier personifications of heaven and earth....
 (goddess of the Earth) after sexual union.

When Enlil was a young god, he was banished from Dilmun
Dilmun

Dilmun is a land mentioned by Mesopotamia as a trade partner, source of raw material, copper, and entrepot of the Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilization trade route....
, home of the gods, to Kur
Kur

In Sumerian mythology, Kur was primarily a mountain or mountains, and usually referred to the Zagros mountains to the east of Sumer. The cuneiform for "kur" was a pictograph of a mountain It can also mean "foreign land"....
, the underworld for raping a girl named Ninlil
Ninlil

In Sumerian mythology, Ninlil , first called Sud, in Assyrian called Mullitu, is the consort goddess of Enlil. Her parentage is variously described....
.






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Enlil (add the name in cuneiform please an=?? shar=?), (EN = Lord
EN (cuneiform)

EN is the Sumerian cuneiform for "lord" or "priest". Originally, it seems to have been used to designate a high priest or priestess of a Sumerian city-state's patron-deity - a position that entailed political power as well....
 + LIL = Loft, "Lord of the Open" or "Lord of the Wind") was the name of a chief deity listed and written about in ancient Sumer
Sumer

Sumer was a civilization and a historical region located in Southern Iraq , known as the Cradle of civilization. It lasted from the first settlement of Eridu in the Ubaid period through the Uruk period and the Dynastic periods until the rise of Babylon in the early 2nd millennium BC....
ian, Akkad
Akkad

The Akkadian Empire was an empire centered in the city of Akkad Sumerian language: Agade KUR A.GA.D?KI "land of Akkad". ; Biblical Accad) and its surrounding region Akkadian URU Akkad KI in central Mesopotamia....
ian, Hittite
Hittite

Hittite may refer to:*Hittites, ancient Anatolian people*Neo-Hittite states, Iron Age successors to the Hittite people located in modern Turkey and Syria...
, Canaan
Canaan

Canaan is an ancient term for a region encompassing modern-day Israel and Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Jordan, Syria and northeastern Egypt....
ite and other Mesopotamian clay and stone tablets. The name is perhaps pronounced and sometimes rendered in translations as Ellil in later Akkadian
Akkadian language

Akkadian or Assyrian-Babylonian is a Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian language, an unrelated language isolate....
, Hittite, and Canaanite literature.

Enlil was considered to be the god of breath, wind, loft, and breadth.

Origins

One story names his origins as the exhausted breath of An
An (mythology)

In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians, Anu was a sky-god, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spiritual being and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions....
 (god of the heavens) and Ki
Ki (goddess)

Ki in Sumerian mythology was the goddess and personification of the earth and underworld, chief consort of Anu the sky god. In some legends Ki and An were brother and sister, being the offspring of Anshar and Kishar , earlier personifications of heaven and earth....
 (goddess of the Earth) after sexual union.

When Enlil was a young god, he was banished from Dilmun
Dilmun

Dilmun is a land mentioned by Mesopotamia as a trade partner, source of raw material, copper, and entrepot of the Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilization trade route....
, home of the gods, to Kur
Kur

In Sumerian mythology, Kur was primarily a mountain or mountains, and usually referred to the Zagros mountains to the east of Sumer. The cuneiform for "kur" was a pictograph of a mountain It can also mean "foreign land"....
, the underworld for raping a girl named Ninlil
Ninlil

In Sumerian mythology, Ninlil , first called Sud, in Assyrian called Mullitu, is the consort goddess of Enlil. Her parentage is variously described....
. Ninlil followed him to the underworld where she bore his first child, Nergal
Nergal

The name Nergal refers to a deity in Babylonia with the main seat of his cult at Kutha represented by the mound of Tell-Ibrahim. Nergal is mentioned in the Hebrew bible as the deity of the city of Kutha : "And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal" ....
, and/or the moon god Sin
Sin (mythology)

Sin is a Sumerian lunar deity in Mesopotamian mythology. He is the son of Enlil and Ninlil. His sacred city was Ur....
 (Sumerian Nanna/Suen). After fathering three more underworld deities (subtitutes for Sin), Enlil was allowed to return to Dilmun.

Enlil was also known as the inventor of the pickaxe/hoe
Mattock

A mattock is a hand tool similar to a pickaxe. It is distinguished by the head, which makes it particularly suitable for digging or breaking up moderately hard ground....
 (favorite tool of the Sumerians) and caused plants to grow.

Cosmological role

Enlil, along with Anu/An, Enki
Enki

Enki was a deity in Mesopotamian mythology, later known as Ea in Babylonian mythology. He was originally chief god of the city of Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout Mesopotamia and also to Hittite and Hurrian areas....
 and Ninhursag
Ninhursag

In Sumerian mythology, Ninhursag was the earth and mother-goddess, one of the seven great deities of Sumer. She is principally a fertility goddess....
 were gods of the Sumerian
Sumerian

Sumerian may refer to:*Sumerian language*Cuneiform script*Sumer, including**History of Sumer**Sumerian architecture**Mesopotamian mythology...
s .

By his wife Ninlil
Ninlil

In Sumerian mythology, Ninlil , first called Sud, in Assyrian called Mullitu, is the consort goddess of Enlil. Her parentage is variously described....
 or Sud, Enlil was father of the moon god Nanna/Suen (in Akkadian, Sin
Sin (mythology)

Sin is a Sumerian lunar deity in Mesopotamian mythology. He is the son of Enlil and Ninlil. His sacred city was Ur....
) and of Ninurta
Ninurta

Ninurta in Sumerian mythology and Akkadian mythology was the god of Nippur, identified with Ningirsu with whom he may always have been identical....
 (also called Ningirsu). Enlil is the father of Nisaba the goddess of grain, of Pabilsag who is sometimes equated with Ninurta, and sometimes of Enbilulu
Enbilulu

Enbilulu was a rivers and canals god in Mesopotamian mythology. In the creation mythology he was placed in charge of the sacred rivers Tigris and Euphrates by the god Enki....
. By Ereshkigal
Ereshkigal

In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal was the goddess of Irkalla, the land of the dead or underworld. Sometimes her name is given as Irkalla, similar to way the name Hades was used in Greek mythology for both the underworld and its ruler....
 Enlil was father of Namtar
Namtar

In Mesopotamian mythology Namtar was a hellish deity, god of death, and the messenger of An , Ereshkigal, and Nergal.Namtar was considered responsible for diseases and pests....
.

Cultural histories

Enlil is associated with the ancient city of Nippur
Nippur

Nippur , from the Sumerian for 'lord wind' , is modern Nuffar in Afak Al Qadisyah Governorate, Iraq. Nippur was one of the most ancient of all the Sumerian cities....
, sometimes referred to as the cult city of Enlil. His temple was named Ekur, "House of the Mountain." Enlil was assimilated to the north "Pole of the Ecliptic". His sacred number name was 50.

At a very early period prior to 3000 BC, Nippur had become the centre of a political district of considerable extent. Inscriptions found at Nippur, where extensive excavations were carried on during 1888–1900 by John P Peters and John Henry Haynes, under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is America's first university and is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States....
, show that Enlil was the head of an extensive pantheon
Babylonian mythology

Babylonian mythology is a set of stories depicting the activities of Babylonian deity, heroes, and mythological creatures. While these stories are in modern times usually considered a component of Babylonian religion, their purpose was not necessarily religious in nature....
. Among the titles accorded to him are "king of lands", "king of heaven and earth", and "father of the gods".

His chief temple at Nippur was known as Ekur, signifying 'House of the mountain', and such was the sanctity acquired by this edifice that Babylonian and Assyria
Assyria

Assyria was a political state centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times in history....
n rulers, down to the latest days, vied with one another in embellishing and restoring Enlil's seat of worship, and the name Ekur became the designation of a temple in general.

Grouped around the main sanctuary, there arose temples and chapels to the gods and goddesses who formed his court, so that Ekur became the name for an entire sacred precinct in the city of Nippur. The name "mountain house" suggests a lofty structure and was perhaps the designation originally of the staged tower at Nippur, built in imitation of a mountain, with the sacred shrine of the god on the top.

Enlil was also the God of weather. According to the Sumerians, Enlil helped create the humans, but then got tired of their noise and tried to kill them by sending a flood. A mortal known as Utanapistim survived the flood through the help of another god, Ea, and he was made immortal by Enlil after Enlil's initial fury.

External links

  • ETCSL "Enlil and Ninlil" and "Enlil and Sud": and .
  • .
  • ETCSL "Enlil in the Ekur": and .
  • .
  • "The Song of the Hoe" in ETCSL—Songs, elegies and related compositions: and .