Enlil and Ninlil or the Myth of Enlil and Ninlil or Enlil and Ninlil: The begetting of Nanna is a Sumerian

creation myth A creation myth (or cosmogonic myth) is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop ...

, written on

clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylu ...

s in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC.

Compilation

The first lines of the

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

were discovered on the

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology—commonly known as the Penn Museum—is an archaeology and anthropology museum at the University of Pennsylvania. It is located on Penn's campus in the University City neighb ...

, catalogue of the Babylonian section (CBS), tablet number 9205 from their excavations at the

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

Nippur Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory': Vol. 1, Part 1. Accessed 15 Dec 2010. Akkadian language, Akkadian: '' ...

. This was translated by

George Aaron Barton George Aaron Barton (12 November 1859 – 28 June 1942) was a Canadian author, Episcopal clergyman, and professor of Semitic languages and the history of religion. Biography Barton was born on 12 November 1859 in East Farnham, Canada East, Cana ...

in 1918 and first published as ''"Sumerian religious texts"'' in ''"

Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions ''Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions'' is a 1918, Sumerian linguistics and mythology book written by George Aaron Barton. It was first published by Yale University Press in the United States and deals with commentary and translations of twe ...

"'', number seven, entitled "A Myth of

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 ( D 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 senior deity and head of the ...

". The tablet is by by at its thickest point. Barton noted that

Theophilus G. Pinches Theophilus Goldridge Pinches Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, M.R.A.S. (1856 – 6 June 1934 Muswell Hill, London), was a pioneer British assyriologist. Pinches was originally employed in father's business as a die-sinker, ...

had published part of an equivalent

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...

version of the same story in 1911, noting ''"The two texts in general agree closely, though there are minor variations here and there."'' Another tablet from the same collection, number 13853 was used by

Edward Chiera Edward Chiera (August 5, 1885 – June 20, 1933) was an Italian-American archaeologist, Assyriologist, and scholar of religions and linguistics. Born in Rome, Italy, in 1885, Chiera trained as a theologian at the Crozer Theological Seminary (B. ...

to restore part of the second column of Barton's tablet in ''"Sumerian Epics and Myths"'', number 77.

Samuel Noah Kramer Samuel Noah Kramer (September 28, 1897 – November 26, 1990) was one of the world's leading Assyriologists, an expert in Sumerian history and Sumerian language. After high school, he attended Temple University, before Dropsie and Penn, both in ...

included CBS tablets 8176, 8315, 10309, 10322, 10412, 13853, 29.13.574 and 29.15.611. He also included translations from tablets in the Nippur collection of the

Museum of the Ancient Orient The Museum of the Ancient Orient (Turkish language: ''Eski Şark Eserleri Müzesi'') is a museum in Istanbul, and part of the group of Istanbul Archaeology Museums, located just in front of the main Archaeology Museum building. The building of the ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, catalogue number 2707. Another tablet used as cuneiform source for the myth is held by the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, BM 38600, details of which were published in 1919. Other tablets and versions were used to bring the myth to its present form with the latest composite text by

Miguel Civil Miguel Civil (Miquel Civil i Desveus; May 7, 1926 – January 13, 2019) was an American Assyriologist and expert on Sumer and Ancient Mesopotamian studies at the University of Chicago Oriental Institute. According to his colleague, Christopher ...

produced in 1989 with latest translations by Willem Römer in 1993 and Joachim Krecher in 1996.Enlil and Ninlil - Electronic and Print Sources - The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford 1998-.
/ref>

Story

The story opens with a description of the city of Nippur, its

wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

s and

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

, portrayed as the home of the gods and, according to Kramer ''"that seems to be conceived as having existed before the creation of man."'' A.R. George suggests ''"According to a well-known tradition, represented by the myth of Enlil and Ninlil, time was when Nippur was a city inhabited by gods not men, and this would suggest that it had existed from the very beginning."'' He discusses Nippur as the "first city" (

uru Uru or URU may refer to: Language * Uru dialect of Central Kilimanjaro, a Bantu language of Tanzania * Uru language, the extinct language of the Uros, an Amerindian people * Uru of Ch'imu, an extinct language of the Uros, an Amerindian people ...

-sag, 'city-head(top)') of Sumer. This conception of Nippur is echoed by Joan Goodnick Westenholz, describing the setting as "civitas dei", existing before the "

axis mundi In astronomy, axis mundi is the Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles. In a geocentric coordinate system, this is the axis of rotation of the celestial sphere. Consequently, in ancient Greco-Roman astronomy, the '' ...

". The story continues by introducing the goddess Nun-bar-ce-gunu warning her daughter Ninlil about the likelihood of romantic advances from Enlil if she strays too near the river. Ninlil resists Enlil's first approach after which he entreats his minister

Nuska Nuska or Nusku, possibly also known as Našuḫ, was a Mesopotamian god best attested as the sukkal (divine vizier) of Enlil. He was also associated with fire and light, and could be invoked as a protective deity against various demons, such as La ...

to take him across the river, on the other side the couple meet and float downstream, either bathing or in a boat, then lie on the bank together, kiss, and conceive Suen-Acimbabbar, the

moon god A lunar deity or moon deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be foun ...

. The story then cuts to Enlil walking in the

Ekur Ekur ( ), also known as Duranki, is a Sumerian term meaning "mountain house". It is the assembly of the gods in the Garden of the gods, parallel in Greek mythology to Mount Olympus and was the most revered and sacred building of ancient Sumer. ...

, where the other gods

arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...

him for his relationship with Ninlil and exile him from the city for being ritually impure. There follows three similar episodes as Enlil leaves the city, speaking to as the keeper of the city gate (''"keeper of the holy barrier"'' or ''"man of the pure lock"''), the man who guards Id-kura – the Sumerian river of the underworld (similar to the river Styx in

Greek Mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

) – and lastly SI.LU.IGI, the underworld ferryman (similar to

Charon In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon (; grc, Χάρων) is a psychopomp, the ferryman of Hades, the Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the wo ...

). Each time Enlil tells these characters ''"When your lady Ninlil comes, if she asks after me, don't you tell her where I am!"''. Ninlil follows him asking each ''"When did your lord Enlil go by?"'' To this, Enlil (in disguise) tells her ''"My lord has not talked with me at all, O loveliest one. Enlil has not talked with me at all, O loveliest one"'' upon which Ninlil offers to have sex with him and each time they conceive another god. Two of the offspring are gods of the underworld,

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 ...

-Meclamta-ea 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 ...

. The third god,

Enbilulu 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 dei ...

is called the ''"inspector of canals"'', however Jeremy Black has linked this god to management of irrigation. The myth ends with praise for the fertility of Enlil and Ninlil.

Discussion

Jeremy Black discusses the problems of serial pregnancy and multiple births along with the complex psychology of the myth. He also notes that there are no moral overtones about Enlil being ritually impure. Ewa Wasilewska noted about the location of the tale that ''"Black and Green suggest the Sumerians located their underworld in the east mountains where the entrance to

Kur The ancient Mesopotamian underworld, most often known in Sumerian as Kur, Irkalla, Kukku, Arali, or Kigal and in Akkadian as Erṣetu, although it had many names in both languages, was a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground, where ...

was believed to exist. He (Enlil) was thus the 'King of the Foreign Lands/Mountains,' where the underworld to which he was banished and from which he returned, was located."'' Robert Payne has suggested that the initial scene of the courtship takes place on the bank of a canal instead of a river. Herman Behrens has suggested a ritual context for the myth where dramatic passages were acted out on a voyage between the Ekur and the sanctuary in Nippur. Jerrold Cooper has argued for a more sociological interpretation, explaining about the creation of gods who seem to perform as substitutes for Enlil, he suggests the purpose of the work is ''"to tell the origins of four gods"'' and that it ''"explains why one (Suen) is shining in the heavens, while the other three dwell in the Netherworld"''. Cooper also argues that the text uses local geographical placenames in regard to the netherworld. From the analysis of

Thorkild Jacobsen Thorkild Peter Rudolph Jacobsen (; 7 June 1904 – 2 May 1993) was a renowned Danish historian specializing in Assyriology and Sumerian literature. He was one of the foremost scholars on the ancient Near East. Biography Thorkild Peter Rudolph Ja ...

, Dale Launderville has suggested the myth provides evidence that Sumerian society prohibited

premarital sex Premarital sex is sexual activity which is practiced by people before they are married. Premarital sex is considered a sin by a number of religions and also considered a moral issue which is taboo in many cultures. Since the Sexual Revolutio ...

in a discussion entitled ''"Channeling the Sex Drive Toward the Creation of Community"''. He discusses the attributes of the gods ''"(1) the moon god was regarded as rejuvenating living things; (2) Nergal was associated occasionally with agricultural growth but more often with

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

, pestilence,

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...

and sudden death; (3) Ninazu and (4) Enbilulu were forces that ensured successful

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

."'' He concludes that the narrative exonerates Enlil and Ninlil indicating nature to have its way even where societal conventions try to contain sexual desire.

References

External links

Barton, George Aaron., Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions, Yale University Press, 1918. Online Version

* [https://books.google.com/books?id=t16tDOHZLLEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=sumerian+mythology&hl=en&ei=g3HiTbjeINKzhAf2g4DzBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Kramer, Samuel Noah., Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C., Forgotten Books, First published 1944. Online Version]
Enlil and Ninlil., Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E., and Zólyomi, G., The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford 1998-.

Transliteration - The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford 1998-.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Enlil And Ninlil Sumerian texts Clay tablets Mesopotamian myths Mythological mountains Creation myths Religious cosmologies Sumerian literature

Compilation

Story

Discussion

Further reading

See also

References

External links