Enlil, Storm God and Main God of Nippur | Middle East And North Africa

ENLIL

Enlil and Ninlil

Enlil (Bel) was a storm or wind god and the main god in Nippur. Some Christian writers have equated the Holy Spirit as a "person" to Enlil as the chief administrator of the other "gods." His chief, in turn, is Nusku and he is the leader of the Anunnaki (the triad of deities that also includes Anu and Ea).

Enlil was the main Sumerian deity and sometimes treated like supreme deity. Nippur, built on the Euphrates and at its height around 2500 B.C., was the home of important temple dedicated to Enlil and other temples, including one dedicated to Bau (Gula), the Mesopotamian goddess of healing. Nippur (pronounced nĭ poor’) was the main religious center of Sumer and remained an important religious center through the Babylonian and Assyrian eras. Nippur was seat of the cult of Enlil. It was never an important city-state and was ruled by other city-states.

Morris Jastrow said: “We have seen that the city of Nippur occupied a special place among the older centres of the Euphrates Valley, marked not by any special political predominance—though this may once have been the case—but by a striking religious significance. Corresponding to this position of the city, we find the chief deity of the place, even in the oldest period, occupying a commanding place in the pantheon and retaining a theoretical leadership even after Enlil was forced to yield his prerogatives to Marduk. [Source: Morris Jastrow, Lectures more than ten years after publishing his book “Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria” 1911]

“The name Enlil is composed of two Sumerian elements and signifies the “lord of the storm.” His character as a storm-god, thus revealed in his name, is further illustrated by traits ascribed to him. The storm constitutes his weapon. He is frequently described and addressed as the “Great Mountain.” His temple at Nippur is known as E-Kur, “Mountain House,” which term, because of the supreme importance of this Temple, became, as we have seen,the general name for a sanctuary. Since, moreover, his consort Ninlil is designated as Nin-Kharsag, “Lady of the Mountain,” there are substantial reasons for assuming that his original seat was on the top of some mountain, as is so generally the case with storm-deities like Jahweh, the god of the Hebrews, the Hittite god Teshup, Zeus, and others. There being no mountains in the Euphrates Valley, the further conclusion is warranted that Enlil was the god of a people whose home was in a mountainous region, and who brought their god with them when they came to the Euphrates Valley, just as the Hebrews carried the cult of Jahweh with them when they passed from Mt. Sinai into Palestine. Nippur is so essentially a Sumerian settlement that we must perforce associate the earliest cult of Enlil with the non-Semitic element in the population. Almost the only region from which the Sumerians could have come was the east or the north-east—the district which in a general way we may designate by the name Elam, though the Sumerians, like the Kassites in later days, might have originated in a region considerably to the north of Elam.”

Importance of Enlil

reconstruction of the temple of Nippur

Morris Jastrow said: “The god Enlil is an example of a deity whose Sumerian origin may be set down as certain. His mountainous origin is indicated in an ancient lamentation-hymn in which he is addressed as the “offspring of the mountain,”while the seven chief names given to him clearly demonstrate his Sumerian origin. [Source: Morris Jastrow, Lectures more than ten years after publishing his book “Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria” 1911 ]

“Many of these Sumerian hymns, forming part of a ritual of lamentation, give an enumeration of these names:
O lord of the lands!
O lord of the living command!
O divine Enlil, father of Sumer!
O shepherd of the dark-headed people!
O hero who seest by thine own power!
Strong lord, directing mankind!
Hero, who causest multitudes to repose in peace!

“The terms in which he is addressed, however, reflect also the broader and more general character given to him, pointing to a deity who has far outgrown the original proportions of a local god with limited sway. The great antiquity of the Enlil cult at Nippur was probably the most important factor in giving to this deity and his temple such significance in the eyes of the inhabitants of the Euphrates Valley. As he pertained to a great religious centre the control whereof stirred the ambition of the various rulers of Euphratean states, it was a natural tendency to assign to Enlil attributes and qualities belonging of right to personifications of natural powers other than the one which he originally represented. Transferred from his original mountain home to a valley dependent for its support on the cultivation of the soil, Enlil assumes the traits of the Power that fosters vegetation. This association becomes all the more likely in view of the climate of the Euphrates Valley, where fertility is dependent upon the storms and rains of winter which Enlil so distinctly personified. In these same ancient compositions he is, therefore, addressed also as the “lord of vegetation,” as well as the “lord of storms.” The storm, sweeping over the land, is personified as his “word” or “command” and described as bringing on devastation and ruin, overwhelming the meadows in their beauty, flooding the crops, and laying waste the habitations of men.

“The god is pictured as a rushing deluge that brings woe to mankind, a torrent sweeping away buttresses and dikes, an onrushing storm which none can oppose:
The word that causes the heavens on high to tremble,
The word that makes the earth below to quake,
The word that brings destruction to the Annunaki.
His word is beyond the diviner, beyond the seer,
His word is a tempest without a rival.

“The power residing in his word is well summed up in a refrain:
The word of the lord the heavens cannot endure,
The word of Enlil the earth cannot endure.
The heavens cannot endure the stretching forth of his hand,
The earth cannot endure the setting forth of his foot.

“But it is this same word which elsewhere is described as having created the world, as having laid the foundations of the earth, and called the upper world into existence. His character as a god of vegetation is directly indicated in another hymn which opens as follows:
O Enlil, Councillor, who can grasp thy power?
Endowed with strength, lord of the harvest lands!
Created in the mountains, lord of the grain fields!
Ruler of great strength, father Enlil!
The powerful chief of the gods art thou,
The great creator and sustainer of life!

Enlil and the Hebrew God Jahweh

Map of Nippur

Morris Jastrow said: “Among the ancient Hebrews we have a parallel development; where Jahweh, originally a god of storms, perhaps also of earthquakes, who manifests himself in the lightning, and whose voice is heard in » the thunder, is magnified into the creator of the universe, the producer of vegetation, and the protector of harvests and of crops. Like Enlil, Jahweh comes from the mountains. His seat is on the top of Mt. Sinai, or, as it is said in the Song of Deborah, on Mt. Seir in Edom. [Source: Morris Jastrow, Lectures more than ten years after publishing his book “Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria” 1911 ]

“Traces of this early conception of Jahweh as a storm-god still linger in the metaphors of late Psalms where the power of the god of the universe is described:
The voice of Jahweh is upon the waters,
The god of glory thundereth,
Jahweh is upon the great waters.
The voice of Jahweh is full of power,
The voice of Jahweh is full of might,
The voice of Jahweh breaketh cedars,
Jahweh breaks the cedars of Lebanon and makes them skip like a calf,
Lebanon and Sirion like a young mountain-bull.
The voice of Jahweh hews flames of fire,
The voice of Jahweh shakes the wilderness,
Jahweh shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

“A vivid description, indeed, of a storm-god rushing onward in furious haste, uprooting mighty cedars and driving them before him like a flock of cattle! The voice of Jahweh is the thunder in the storm, and the flame of fire is the lightning, but what is set down as a metaphor in this late composition is really the survival in language of the conceptions that once were held as literal.”

Enlil and Bulls

Morris Jastrow said: “Like Enlil, however, Jahweh assumes also the attributes of the Canaanitish deities of vegetation —the Baals—when the Hebrews, dispossessing the older inhabitants, definitely entered on the agricultural stage. Jahweh himself becomes a Baal to whom the first fruits of the field are offered as a tribute to his power in making the grass to grow and the fields to be covered with verdure (Ps. civ., 14). A further analogy between Enlil and Jahweh is suggested by the description of the former as a mighty ox or bull, which recalls the fact that Jahweh was worshipped in the northern Hebrew kingdom under the symbol of a calf. An entire series of hymns and lamentations is recognised as addressed to Enlil from the opening words “the Bull to his sanctuary,” where the bull designates Enlil. [Source: Morris Jastrow, Lectures more than ten years after publishing his book “Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria” 1911 ]

“In a fragment of a hymn, Enlil is described as:
Crouching in the lands like a sturdy mountain bull,
Whose horns shine like the brilliance of the sun,
Full of splendour like Venus of the heavens.

“In another composition the refrain reads, “A sturdy bull art thou.” When we see votive offerings with the figure of a bull, or representations of a crouching bull with a human face, we are tempted to assert that they are symbols of Enlil; and if this be so, further traces of the association between the god and the animal may be seen both in the colossal bulls which form a feature of Assyrian art and were placed at the entrance to temples and palaces, and in the bull as the decoration of columns in the architecture of the Persian period.

“The bull is so commonly in ancient religions a symbol of the power residing in the sun that the association of this animal with Enlil and Jahweh presumably belongs to the period when the original traits of these deities as storm-gods were overlaid by the extended conception of them as gods of vegetation, presiding, therefore, like the solar deities over agricultural life. The Baals of the Canaanites, we know, were personifications of the sun; and in the case of Nippur we can with reasonable certainty name the solar deity, whose attributes were transferred to Enlil.”

excavations at Nippur in 1893

Enlil in the E-Kur

Enlil in the E-kur (Enlil A) reads: “Enlil's commands are by far the loftiest, his words are holy, his utterances are immutable! The fate he decides is everlasting, his glance makes the mountains anxious, his ...... reaches into the interior of the mountains. All the gods of the earth bow down to father Enlil , who sits comfortably on the holy dais, the lofty dais, to Nunamnir , whose lordship and princeship are most perfect. The Anuna gods enter before him and obey his instructions faithfully.” [Source: J.A. Black, G. Cunningham, E. Robson, and G. Zlyomi 1998, 1999, 2000, Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford University, piney.com]

“Enlil , faithful shepherd of the teeming multitudes, herdsman, leader of all living creatures, has manifested his rank of great prince, adorning himself with the holy crown. As the Wind of the Mountain occupied the dais, he spanned the sky as the rainbow. Like a floating cloud, he moved alone . He alone is the prince of heaven, the dragon of the earth. The lofty god of the Anuna himself determines the fates. No god can look upon him. His great minister and commander (1 ms. has instead: chief barber) Nuska learns his commands and his intentions from him, consults with him and then executes his far-reaching instructions on his behalf. He prays to him with holy prayers and divine powers .

“Enlil , your ingenuity takes one's breath away! By its nature it is like entangled threads which cannot be unraveled, crossed threads which the eye cannot follow. Your divinity can be relied on. You are your own counsellor and adviser, you are a lord on your own. Who can comprehend your actions? No divine powers are as resplendent as yours. No god can look you in the face.

You, Enlil , are lord, god, king. You are a judge who makes decisions about heaven and earth. Your lofty word is as heavy as heaven, and there is no one who can lift it. The Anuna gods ...... at your word. Your word is weighty in heaven, a foundation on the earth. In the heavens, it is a great ......, reaching up to the sky. On the earth it is a foundation which cannot be destroyed. When it relates to the heavens, it brings abundance: abundance will pour from the heavens. When it relates to the earth, it brings prosperity: the earth will produce prosperity. Your word means flax, your word means grain. Your word means the early flooding, the life of the lands. It makes the living creatures, the animals which copulate and breathe joyfully in the greenery. You, Enlil, the good shepherd, know their ways . ...... the sparkling stars.

“You married Ninlil , the holy consort, whose words are of the heart, her of noble countenance in a holy ma garment, her of beautiful shape and limbs, the trustworthy lady of your choice. Covered with allure, the lady who knows what is fitting for the E-kur , whose words of advice are perfect, whose words bring comfort like fine oil for the heart, who shares the holy throne, the pure throne with you, she takes counsel and discusses matters with you. You decide the fates together at the place facing the sunrise. Ninlil , the lady of heaven and earth, the lady of all the lands, is honoured in the praise of the Great Mountain.”

Diorite mortar, an offering from Gudea ro Enlil

Enlil and Nippur in the E-Kur

Enlil in the E-kur (Enlil A) reads: ““The mighty lord, the greatest in heaven and earth, the knowledgeable judge, the wise one of wide-ranging wisdom, has taken his seat in the Dur-an-ki , and made the Ki-ur , the great place, resplendent with majesty. He has taken up residence in Nibru [Nippur], the lofty bond between heaven and earth. The front of the city is laden with terrible fearsomeness and radiance, its back is such that even the mightiest god does not dare to attack, and its interior is the blade of a sharp dagger, a blade of catastrophe. For the rebel lands it is a snare, a trap, a net. [Source: J.A. Black, G. Cunningham, E. Robson, and G. Zlyomi 1998, 1999, 2000, Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford University, piney.com]

“It cuts short the life of those who speak too mightily. It permits no evil word to be spoken in judgement . ......, deception, inimical speech, hostility, impropriety, ill-treatment, wickedness, wrongdoing, looking askance , violence, slandering, arrogance, licentious speech , egotism and boasting are abominations not tolerated within the city.

“The borders of Nibru [Nippur]form a great net, within which the hurin eagle spreads wide its talons. The evil or wicked man does not escape its grasp. In this city endowed with steadfastness, for which righteousness and justice have been made a lasting possession, and which is clothed in pure clothing on the quay, the younger brother honours the older brother and treats him with human dignity; people pay attention to a father's word, and submit themselves to his protection; the child behaves humbly and modestly towards his mother and attains a ripe old age.”

“Enlil , when you marked out the holy settlements, you also built Nibru , your own city. You ...... the Ki-ur , the mountain, your pure place. You founded it in the Dur-an-ki , in the middle of the four quarters of the earth. Its soil is the life of the Land, and the life of all the foreign countries. Its brickwork is red gold, its foundation is lapis lazuli. You made it glisten on high in Sumer as if it were the horns of a wild bull. It makes all the foreign countries tremble with fear. At its great festivals, the people pass their time in abundance.

“Enlil , if you look upon the shepherd favourably, if you elevate the one truly called in the Land, then the foreign countries are in his hands, the foreign countries are at his feet! Even the most distant foreign countries submit to him. He will then cause enormous incomes and heavy tributes, as if they were cool water, to reach the treasury. In the great courtyard he will supply offerings regularly. Into the E-kur , the shining temple, he will bring.”

Enlil Temple in the E-Kur

Enlil in the E-kur (Enlil A): ““In the city, the holy settlement of Enlil , in Nibru [Nippur] , the beloved shrine of father Great Mountain, he has made the dais of abundance, the E-kur , the shining temple, rise from the soil; he has made it grow on pure land as high as a towering mountain. Its prince, the Great Mountain, father Enlil , has taken his seat on the dais of the E-kur , the lofty shrine. No god can cause harm to the temple's divine powers. Its holy hand-washing rites are everlasting like the earth. Its divine powers are the divine powers of the abzu: no one can look upon them. [Source: J.A. Black, G. Cunningham, E. Robson, and G. Zlyomi 1998, 1999, 2000, Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford University, piney.com]

“Its interior is a wide sea which knows no horizon. In its ...... glistening as a banner , the bonds and ancient divine powers are made perfect. Its words are prayers, its incantations are supplications. Its word is a favourable omen ......, its rites are most precious. At the festivals, there is plenty of fat and cream; they are full of abundance. Its divine plans bring joy and rejoicing, its verdicts are great. Daily there is a great festival, and at the end of the day there is an abundant harvest. The temple of Enlil is a mountain of abundance; to reach out, to look with greedy eyes, to seize are abominations in it.

“The lagar priests of this temple whose lord has grown together with it are expert in blessing; its gudu priests of the abzu are suited for lustration rites; its nuec priests are perfect in the holy prayers. Its great farmer is the good shepherd of the Land, who was born vigorous on a propitious day. The farmer, suited for the broad fields, comes with rich offerings; he does not ...... into the shining E-kur .

“Enlil , holy Urac is favoured with beauty for you; you are greatly suited for the abzu, the holy throne; you refresh yourself in the deep underworld, the holy chamber. Your presence spreads awesomeness over the E-kur , the shining temple, the lofty dwelling. Its fearsomeness and radiance reach up to heaven, its shadow stretches over all the foreign lands, and its crenellation reaches up to the midst of heaven. All lords and sovereigns regularly supply holy offerings there, approaching Enlil with prayers and supplications.

Without the Great Mountain Enlil , no city would be built, no settlement would be founded; no cow-pen would be built, no sheepfold would be established; no king would be elevated, no lord would be given birth; no high priest or priestess would perform extispicy; soldiers would have no generals or captains; no carp-filled waters would ...... the rivers at their peak; the carp would not ...... come straight up from the sea, they would not dart about. The sea would not produce all its heavy treasure, no freshwater fish would lay eggs in the reedbeds, no bird of the sky would build nests in the spacious land; in the sky the thick clouds would not open their mouths; on the fields, dappled grain would not fill the arable lands, vegetation would not grow lushly on the plain; in the gardens, the spreading trees of the mountain would not yield fruits.

Without the Great Mountain, Enlil , Nintud would not kill, she would not strike dead; no cow would drop its calf in the cattle-pen, no ewe would bring forth ...... lamb in its sheepfold; the living creatures which multiply by themselves would not lie down in their ....; the four-legged animals would not propagate, they would not mate.”

Temple of Bel in Palmyra

To Bel (Enlil), Lord of Wisdom: Babylonian Prayer

“To Bel, Lord of Wisdom” (1600 B.C.) goes:
1. O Lord of wisdom ruler...............in your own right,
O Bel, Lord of wisdom.............ruler in your own right,
O father Bel, Lord of the lands,
O father Bel, Lord of truthful speech,

“5. O father Bel, shepherd of the Sang-Ngiga [black-headed ones, or Babylonians],
O father Bel, who yourself opens the eyes,
O father Bel, the warrior, prince among soldiers,
O father Bel, supreme power of the land,
Bull of the corral, warrior who leads captive all the land.

“10. O Bel, proprietor of the broad land,
Lord of creation, you are chief of the land,
The Lord whose shining oil is food for an extensive offspring,
The Lord whose edicts bind together the city,
The edict of whose dwelling place strikes down the great prince

“15. From the land of the rising to the land of the setting sun.
O mountain, Lord of life, you are indeed Lord!
O Bel of the lands, Lord of life you yourself are Lord of life.
O mighty one, terrible one of heaven, you are guardian indeed!
O Bel, you are Lord of the gods indeed!

“20. You are father, Bel, who cause the plants of the gardens to grow!
O Bel, your great glory may they fear!
The birds of heaven and the fish of the deep are filled with fear of you.
O father Bel, in great strength you go, prince of life, shepherd of the stars!
O Lord, the secret of production you open, the feast of fatness establish, to work you call!
25. Father Bel, faithful prince, mighty prince, you create the strength of life!
[Source: George A. Barton, “Archaeology and the Bible”,” 3rd Ed., (Philadelphia: American Sunday School, 1920), pp. 398-401]

Enlil and Nam-Zid.Tara

Enlil and Nam-zid-tara reads: “1-10 Nam-zid-tara walked by Enlil, who said to him: "Where have you come from, Nam-zid-tara?" "From Enlil's temple. My turn of duty is finished. I serve at the place of the gudu priests, with their sheep. I am on my way home. Don't stop me; I am in a hurry. Who are you who asks me questions?"[Source: J.A. Black, G. Cunningham, E. Robson, and G. Zlyomi 1998, 1999, 2000, Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford University, piney.com]

“11-18 "I am Enlil." But Enlil had changed his appearance: he had turned into a raven and was croaking. "But you are not a raven, you really are Enlil!" "How did you recognise that I am Enlil, who decrees the destinies?" 17-18 "When your uncle En-me-cara was a captive, after taking for himself the rank of Enlil, he said: "Now I shall know the fates, like a lord."

19-23 "You may acquire precious metals, you may acquire precious stones, you may acquire cattle or you may acquire sheep; but the day of a human being is always getting closer, so where does your wealth lead? Now, I am indeed Enlil, who decrees the fates. What is your name?"

24-27 "My name is Nam-zid-tara (Well-blessed). " "Your fate shall be assigned according to your name: leave the house of your master, and your heirs shall come and go regularly in my temple."

Enlil Myths

A number of early Sumerian myths featured Enlil as their central character. Aaron Skaist wrote in the Encyclopaedia Judaica: The Birth of the Moon-god," which tells how Enlil when he was young took Ninlil by force, was banned from Nippur by the assembly of the gods and set out for the Netherworld. Ninlil, who had become pregnant with the moon-god, followed him and on the road, in various disguises, Enlil persuaded her to lie with him to conceive another child to take the moon-god's place in the Netherworld. Thus three further divine children were engendered, all chthonic in character. [Source: Aaron Skaist, Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2005, Encyclopedia.com]

"Enlil's wooing of Ninlil," a second, more conventional version of Enlil's wooing of Ninlil when she was yet a young girl in her mother's house in Eresh. Even in this tale Enlil is depicted as impetuous, but here he commits no wrong.

"The Creation of the Pickax," a short tale relating how in the beginning Enlil forced Heaven apart from Earth to make room for things to grow, fashioned the pickax with which he broke the crust of the earth in Uzumua, "Where Flesh was grown," a sacred spot in Nippur, to uncover the heads of the first men growing out of the earth like plants, and how he then let the other gods share in the use of the pickax and the human workers.

Erotic Mesopotamian Mythology with Enlil and Ninlil

Part of the myth of the god Enlil and his consort Ninlil goes: Having decided in my mind,
I made my plans,
and was filling from him
my empty womb,
Enlil, king of all lands
made love with me.
As Enlil is your master
so also am I your mistress!
An you be my mistress
let my hand touch your pudenda!

A sperm, your future master,
a lustrous sperm, is in my womb,
a sperm, germ of Suen the moon,
a lustrous sperm is in my womb!
May the sperm, my future master,
go heavenward,
and may my sperm
go to the netherworld,
may my sperm
instead of the sperm, my future master
come to the netherworld!

Enlil, as the man of the city gate
had her lie down in the latter's chamber,
made love with her, kissed her;
and at his lovemaking,
at his first kiss,
he poured into the womb for her
the sperm, germ of Nergal,
the one issuing forth from Meslam!

Myths About Ninurta, Enlil’s Son

Enlil's son Ninurta was the god of the plow, of the thunderstorms in spring, and of the yearly floods. Ninurta is featured in several myth; 1) Lugal-e is a myth about how Ninurta went to war in the mountains to the east against the Asakku, a demonic being engendered on Earth by Heaven, whom the plants had elected king. Aaron Skaist wrote in the Encyclopaedia Judaica: After a pitched battle Ninurta was victorious. He then built the near ranges, the ursag, as a dam, directed the waters from the mountains into the Tigris to provide irrigation water for Sumer, presented the ursag as a gift to his mother Ninlil when she came to see him, and gave her the name Ninhursaga(k), "Queen of the ursag." After that Ninurta satin judgment on the stones, some of which had opposed him viciously in the war. His judgments on them determined the character and qualities they now have. The section about the dolerite, a stone imported by Gudea for his statues, suggests that the myth was written, or perhaps added to, in his reign. [Source: Aaron Skaist, Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2005, Encyclopedia.com]

2) A second myth about Ninurta known as An-gimdim4-ma tells how Ninurta, as he nears Nippur in full panoply of war, is met by Enlil's vizier Nusku, who bids him lessen his clamor and not disturb Enlil. Ninurta answers huffily with a long boastful speech, but is calmed down and is made to enter Nippur peacefully by his barber, Ninkarnunna.

(3) A third myth "Ninurta's Pride and Punishment" seems to tell that Ningirsu, at Enki's behest, captured the thunder-bird Ansud who had stolen the tablets of fate from Enki. He had obviously hoped thus to obtain the tablets for himself, but when Ansud released them from its claw they returned to Enki in Apsu. Ninurta then, by bringing on a flood, sought to take over from Enki by force, but was outwitted and imprisoned in a pit dug by the tortoise, where Enki severely chided him for his ambitions.

Ninib

Morris Jastrow said: “By the side of Enlil we find a god whose name is provisionally read Ninib prominently worshipped in Nippur in the earliest days to which we can trace back the history of that city. Indeed, Ninib belongs to Nippur quite as much as does Enlil, and there are reasons for believing that he is the original chief protecting deity of the region who was replaced by Enlil. Was he worshipped there before the Sumerians brought their mountain god to the Euphrates Valley? Prof. Clay, who has shown that the real form of the god’s name was En-Mashtu, is of the opinion that he is of Amoritish origin. Without entering into a discussion of this intricate problem, which would carry us too far, it would indeed appear that non-Sumerian influences were at work in evolving the figure of Ninib or En-Mashtu. If it could be definitely shown, as Clay assumes, that Mashtu is a variant form of Martu,—the common designation of Amurru as the “land of the west,”—En-Mashtu, “the lord of Mashtu,” would be the “Sumerian” designation of this non-Sumerian deity. [Source: Morris Jastrow, Lectures more than ten years after publishing his book “Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria” 1911 ]

“In the systematised pantheon of the old Babylonian period Ninib is viewed as the son of Enlil, a relationship that expresses the superior position which Enlil acquired, and which is revealed in the common designation of Nippur as the “place of Enlil,” though we find Nippur described also as “the beloved city of Ninib. The two gods in combination, the storm and the sun, stand for the two chief forces of nature that control the prosperity and welfare of the Euphrates Valley; and this combination was viewed in terms of human relationship, with the natural consequence of an harmonious exchange of their attributes. It is from Ninib that Enlil receives the traits of a god of vegetation, and, in return, the father transfers to the son, as in another religious centre Ea does to Marduk, some of his own attributes. Like Enlil, Ninib is addressed as the “honoured one.” He is the exalted hero of the universe and it is said of him, as it is said of Enlil, that “no one can grasp the power of his word.”A warrior, he rides forth to carry out his father’s command. So close is this association with Enlil that Ninib even assumes some of the traits belonging to the father as the storm-god.

“In a composition that appears to beholder than the days of Hammurabi, Ninib is portrayed as an onrushing storm: “In the thunderous rolling of thy chariot/ Heaven and earth quake as thou advancest.” Most significant, however, as illustrating the exchange of traits between Enlil and Ninib, is the form assumed in an ancient myth symbolising the conquest of chaos—pictured as a great monster—by the Power that brings order into the universe. The obvious interpretation of the myth is the triumph of the sun in the spring over the storms and torrents of the winter.

“The character of conqueror belongs, therefore, of right to a solar deity like Ninib, just as it fits the god of Babylon, the later Marduk, who is likewise the sun personified; but in a composition describing the powerful weapons wielded in this conflict by Ninib, we find among the names of the weapons such expressions as — “storm-god with fifty mouths,” “miraculous storm,” “destroyer of mountains,”“invincible mountain” — which point unmistakably to a personification of the storm, like Enlil. These designations appear by the side of others — such as the ““weapon whose sheen overpowers the land,” “the one made of gold and lapis-lazuli,” and “burning like fire” — that clearly belong to Ninib as the personification of the fiery sun. The conclusion has generally been drawn that the myth was originally told of Enlil and transferred to Ninib; but Enlil, as a god of the storms and rains of winter, would more naturally be identified with the conquered monster. The more reasonable assumption is that the myth dates from the period when Ninib still held a commanding postion in the “Nippur” circle of deities, and that, with the advance of Enlil to the headship of the pantheon, he was given a share in the conquest of chaos as a necessary condition of the creation of the universe of law and order. Enlil was, accordingly, represented as the power behind the throne who hands over his attributes— symbolised by the storm weapons—to his beloved son, who at the command of his father proceeds to conquer the monster.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Mesopotamia sourcebooks.fordham.edu , National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, especially Merle Severy, National Geographic, May 1991 and Marion Steinmann, Smithsonian, December 1988, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Discover magazine, Times of London, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, BBC, Encyclopædia Britannica, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Time, Newsweek, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “History of Warfare” by John Keegan (Vintage Books); “History of Art” by H.W. Janson Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

Last updated June 2024