Enbilulu ( sux, ) was a
Mesopotamian god associated with irrigation, and by extension with both canals and rivers. The origin of his name is unknown, and there is no agreement among experts in which way he was related to the similarly named deities
Bilulu
Bilulu was a Mesopotamian goddess who most likely functioned as the deification of rain clouds. She might be related to Ninbilulu known from a number of Early Dynastic texts. She is known from the myth ''Inanna and Bilulu'', in which she is respo ...
and Ninbilulu. While originally an independent deity, he eventually came to be seen as a name of
Marduk
Marduk (Cuneiform: dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: ''amar utu.k'' "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. When Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of ...
and is mentioned in this role in the ''
Enūma Eliš
The ' (Akkadian Cuneiform: , also spelled "Enuma Elish") is the Babylonian creation myth (named after its opening words). It was recovered by English archaeologist Austen Henry Layard in 1849 (in fragmentary form) in the ruined Library of Ashur ...
''.
Character
The meaning of the term ''bilulu'' is not known, but it appears in two other names of deities as well, Ninbilulu, known from
Early Dynastic sources, and
Bilulu
Bilulu was a Mesopotamian goddess who most likely functioned as the deification of rain clouds. She might be related to Ninbilulu known from a number of Early Dynastic texts. She is known from the myth ''Inanna and Bilulu'', in which she is respo ...
, known from the myth ''
Inanna
Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, Divine law, divine justice, and political p ...
and Bilulu''. It has been proposed that there was originally only one deity, Bilulu, who was female and later split into male Enbilulu and female Ninbilulu. However, the identification of Enbilulu and Bilulu is "problematic" according to
Wilfred G. Lambert, as "the character of the goddess (...) is not sufficiently similar to that of Enbilulu for the matter to be sure." Another possibility is that Ninbilulu and Enbilulu were the same deity, whose gender either changed after the Early Dynastic period from female to male or who was regarded as male all along. The sign
NIN did not necessarily denote name as belonging to a female deity in Mesopotamian sources.
It has been argued that the theoretical original Bilulu was a personification of the storm or of rain clouds. However Enbilulu only rarely is mentioned in association with rain. Frans Wiggermann instead proposes the word ''bilulu'' refers to
rushes.
Enbilulu was chiefly associated with irrigation and with the water of both canals and rivers. He could be called the "canal inspector of heaven and earth."
He has been described as a "purely agricultural deity" and in that capacity compared with
Enkimdu
Enkimdu (𒀭𒂗𒆠𒅎𒁺) was a Mesopotamian god associated with agriculture and irrigation. He is best known from the poem ''Dumuzid and Enkimdu'', but in laments he was instead connected with the god Martu, who like Dumuzi could be describ ...
.
Worship
Ninbilulu, who according to Antoine Cavigneaux and Manfred Krebernik might be the same deity as Enbilulu, appears in the Early Dynastic
Fara and
Abu Salabikh
The low tells at Abu Salabikh, around northwest of the site of ancient Nippur in Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq mark the site of a small Sumerian city state of the mid third millennium BCE, with cultural connections to the cities of Kish, ...
god lists and in a ''zame'' hymn from the same period in relation with
Tigris
The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...
,
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...
and other sources of water, but without a cult center listed. Daniel Schwemer proposes that Enbilulu originally belonged to the pantheon of Eridu. Wilfred G. Lambert considered him to be a deity associated with the city of Babylon. In the
Esagil
The Ésagila or Esangil ( sux, , ''"temple whose top is lofty"'') was a temple dedicated to Marduk, the protector god of Babylon. It lay south of the ziggurat Etemenanki.
Description
In this temple was the statue of Marduk, surrounded by ...
temple complex, a seat was dedicated to him jointly with
Enmesharra Enmesharra (Enmešarra, Sumerian: "Lord of all me's") was a Mesopotamian god associated with the underworld. He was regarded as a member of an inactive old generation of deities, and as such was commonly described as a ghost or resident of the ...
. It bore the name ''du
6.ki.sikil'', "mound, pure place."
An exorcistic text from the late first millennium BCE assumed to originate in
Der lists Enbilulu alongside multiple other agricultural deities, such as
Urash,
Ennugi
Ennugi () was a Mesopotamian god associated with agriculture, especially irrigation, and with the underworld. According to an incantation he was also considered to be the creator of grubs. He was considered a member of the court of Enlil, and a ...
and
Ningirsu
, image= Cropped Image of Carving Showing the Mesopotamian God Ninurta.png
, caption= Assyrian stone relief from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu, showing the god with his thunderbolts pursuing Anzû, who has stolen the Tablet of Destinies from En ...
, and implores all of them to protect a field.
A
Hittite scribe named Ḫanikkuili, son of a man bearing the Mesopotamian name Anu-šar-ilan, described himself as a servant of Enbilulu in a
colophon of a text about
Naram-Sin he copied.
Mythology
In the myth ''
Enlil and Ninlil
Enlil and Ninlil or the Myth of Enlil and Ninlil or Enlil and Ninlil: The begetting of Nanna is a Sumerian creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC.
Compilation
The first lines of the myth were discovere ...
'' Enbilulu's parents are the eponymous deities,
Enlil
Enlil, , "Lord f theWind" later known as Elil, is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Bab ...
and
Ninlil
Ninlil ( DINGIR, DNIN (cuneiform), NIN.LÍL; meaning uncertain) was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of Enlil. She shared many of his functions, especially the responsibility for declaring destinies, and like him was regarded as a senio ...
, while his brothers are
Nanna
Nanna may refer to:
*Grandmother
Mythology
* Sin (mythology), god of the moon in Sumerian mythology, also called Suen
* Nanna (Norse deity), goddess associated with the god Baldr in Norse mythology
* Nana Buluku, Fon/Dahomey androgynous deity cre ...
,
Nergal
Nergal ( Sumerian: d''KIŠ.UNU'' or ; ; Aramaic: ܢܸܪܓܲܠ; la, Nirgal) was a Mesopotamian god worshiped through all periods of Mesopotamian history, from Early Dynastic to Neo-Babylonian times, with a few attestations under indicating hi ...
and
Ninazu
Ninazu ( sux, ) was a Mesopotamian god of the underworld of Sumerian origin. He was also associated with snakes and vegetation, and with time acquired the character of a warrior god. He was frequently associated with Ereshkigal, either as a s ...
, In other sources he could instead be considered as a son of Ea.
In the myth ''
Enki
, image = Enki(Ea).jpg
, caption = Detail of Enki from the Adda Seal, an ancient Akkadian cylinder seal dating to circa 2300 BC
, deity_of = God of creation, intelligence, crafts, water, seawater, lakewater, fertility, semen, magic, mischief
...
and the World Order'', Enbilulu is entrusted with taking care of the Euphrates and the Tigris by the eponymous god. Enki himself is apparently responsible for their debit in the same narrative, though it is Enbilulu who regulates them.
A single incantation credits Enbilulu with being responsible for the creation of the order of days, week and months, a role usually attributed to the moon god Sin (Nanna). Linguistic analysis indicates it was composed in the
Middle Babylonian period, but the only known tablet might be a late copy.
Enbilulu as a name of Marduk
In the ''
Enūma Eliš
The ' (Akkadian Cuneiform: , also spelled "Enuma Elish") is the Babylonian creation myth (named after its opening words). It was recovered by English archaeologist Austen Henry Layard in 1849 (in fragmentary form) in the ruined Library of Ashur ...
'', Enbilulu is one of the names bestowed upon
Marduk
Marduk (Cuneiform: dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: ''amar utu.k'' "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. When Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of ...
. Wilfred G. Lambert noted that Enbilulu appears to be one of the names among the fifty which can be considered "major," as it originally belonged to a fully distinct deity. He considers
Asalluhi
In Sumerian and Akkadian mythology Asaruludu is one of the Anunnaki. His name is also spelled Namshub, Asarludu, and Asarluhi (). The etymology and meaning of his name are unclear.
Asaruludu served as an exorcist in Sumerian religious rituals.. ...
,
Tutu and Šazu to be the other names belonging to this category. It is uncertain how Enbilulu came to be absorbed by Marduk. It has been proposed that Marduk was first equated with
Adad
Hadad ( uga, ), Haddad, Adad ( Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm and rain god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions.
He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. ...
of Babylon, mentioned as a distinct deity in year names of
Hammurabi
Hammurabi (Akkadian: ; ) was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered Elam and the city-states ...
and
Samsu-iluna
Samsu-iluna (Amorite: ''Shamshu''; c. 1750–1712 BC) was the seventh king of the founding Amorite dynasty of Babylon, ruling from 1750 BC to 1712 BC (middle chronology), or from 1686 to 1648 BC ( short chronology). He was the son and successor of ...
, and then by extension with Enbilulu. There is however no direct evidence that Adad was ever called Enbilulu in Babylon, and Daniel Schwemer notes that the only source suggesting an equation between them is late and only offers an explanation of Enbilulu's character as Adad-like.
''Enūma Eliš'' describes Enbilulu as a deity who is responsible for the distribution of water and thus for the preservation of pastures and crops. The variant name Enbilulu-Epadun is specifically connected with irrigation canals. Two further names, Enbilulu-Gugal and Enbilulu-Hegal, are linked with abundance. The enumeration of variant Enbilulu names is followed up by
Sirsir
Sirsir, also known as Ninsirsir, was a Mesopotamian god. He was associated with sailors. It has been proposed that he corresponds to the so-called "boat god" motif known from cylinder seals, but this theory is not universally accepted.
Character ...
.
Identification of Marduk and Enbilulu is also known from other sourcess, such as the incantation series ''
Udug Hul'', the oldest examples of which are known from the late second millennium BCE. The god list ''An = Anu ša amēli'' refers to him as ''Marduk ša patati'', "Marduk of the canals." He is also listed as the Sumerian counterpart of Marduk in an
Emesal
Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer. It is one of the oldest attested languages, dating back to at least 3000 BC. It is accepted to be a local language isolate and to have been spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, in the area that is modern-day ...
vocabulary.
In a single hymn, Enbilulu occurs as a name of
Nabu
Nabu ( akk, cuneiform: 𒀭𒀝 Nabû syr, ܢܵܒܼܘܼ\ܢܒܼܘܿ\ܢܵܒܼܘܿ Nāvū or Nvō or Nāvō) is the ancient Mesopotamian patron god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes, and wisdom.
Etymology and meaning
The Akkadian "nab ...
rather than Marduk.
References
Bibliography
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External links
*
Enki and the World Order' in the
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL) was a project that provides an online digital library of texts and translations of Sumerian literature.
This project's website contains "Sumerian text, English prose translation and bibl ...
Mesopotamian gods
Sea and river gods
Agricultural gods