Gibil () in
Sumerian mythology
Sumerian religion was the religion practiced by the people of Sumer, the first literate civilization of ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders.
Ov ...
is the god of fire, variously of the son of
An and
Ki, An and
Shala
Shala (Šala) was a Mesopotamian goddess of weather and grain and the wife of the weather god Adad. It is assumed that she originated in northern Mesopotamia and that her name might have Hurrian origin. She was worshiped especially in Karkar an ...
or of
Ishkur
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. ...
and Shala. He later developed into the Akkadian god
Gerra.
In some versions of the
Enûma Eliš Gibil is said to maintain the sharp point of weapons, have broad wisdom, and that his mind is "so vast that all the gods, all of them, cannot fathom it". Some versions state Gibil, as lord of the fire and the forge, also possesses wisdom of
metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
.
References
*Michael Jordan, Encyclopedia of Gods, Kyle Cathie Limited, 2002
Fire gods
Mesopotamian gods
Smithing gods
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