Enlil in Mesopotamian tradition
Enlil created the cosmic hoe after heaven and earth were separated, using it to bring humankind from the earth. He is a Mesopotamian deity of wind, air, storms and weather, whose chief city is Nippur and whose authority includes kingship and divine decrees. In his encounter with Namzitara, Enlil’s power to determine destinies is linked to the Enlilship he took from his elder brother Enmešarra.
The quick answers
Who is Enlil?
Enlil is a Mesopotamian deity associated with wind and air, storms and weather, kingship and royal authority, fate and divine decrees, the earth and agricultural fertility.Source
Source
- Dictionary of Mythology
- Babylonian Creation Myths
- Three Kingdoms
- The Oxford Companion to World Mythology
What is Enlil the god of?
wind and air, storms and weather, kingship and royal authority, fate and divine decrees, the earth and agricultural fertilitySource
Source
- Dictionary of Mythology
- Babylonian Creation Myths
- Three Kingdoms
- The Oxford Companion to World Mythology
What family links are recorded for Enlil?
Father: Anu, Spouse: Damgalnuna, 7 children, 1 sibling.
Enlil’s family, at a glance
Parents above, children below, and the figure’s consorts named in between, the same family data as the fact box, laid out as a chart instead of a field list.
The names Enlil answers to
Enlil
Lord of the wind and air
SourceDictionary of Mythology
Ellil
Akkadian form of Enlil's name
SourceBabylonian Creation Myths
Nunamnir
A revered lordly epithet
SourceThe Oxford Companion to World Mythology
Kur-gal
The Great Mountain
SourceThe Oxford Companion to World Mythology
The myths of Enlil
4 myths, each traced to its primary text and corpus sources.
Enlil and Ninlil
At Nippur, Enlil approached Ninlil and raped her. Ninlil became pregnant with his child. When the other gods learned what Enlil had done, they punished him by banishing him from the world above. They sent him down to the Underworld, where he remained separated from the gods and the world above.
Ninlil carried the child, Sin, who later became the moon god. She followed Enlil into the Underworld while she was still carrying him. She went there so that, when the child was born, he would know both his parents. Enlil’s punishment therefore placed him below, and Ninlil remained beside him there rather than returning to the world above.
In the Underworld, Enlil had further sexual encounters with Ninlil. These encounters produced three more children. The three children became deities associated with the Underworld. Sin, later known as Nanna, and the three other deities all became children of Enlil and Ninlil.
The other gods did not withdraw their judgement against Enlil. He remained banished because of what he had done to Ninlil at Nippur. Ninlil stayed with him in the Underworld, and she did not return to the world above. Sin and the three later children were born from their encounters there.
In the modern world
No modern rework confirmed yet.
2 sources· checked 2026-08-19
- 1Babylonian mythologyT1
- 2the ancient sourcesT1
Quote
“The sources present Enlil’s banishment to the Underworld after raping Ninlil, her descent with Sin, and the birth of three further children there.”
the ancient sources
Enlil and Sud
Enlil approached Sud and tested her. The nature of the test remained unknown. The words Enlil spoke, Sud’s reply, and the result of the test were not given. No other participant appeared during their meeting, and no separate obstacle came between them.
Enlil then courted Sud and sought her as his wife. Sud accepted him, and they married. After the marriage, Enlil gave her the name Ninlil. One telling gave the name as Ninlil-lá, while other tellings gave it as Ninlil. The reason for the new name was not given. Enlil established Ninlil as his consort in Nippur.
A genealogical tradition placed Enlil and Ninlil among a sequence of divine pairs. It named An and Uraš first, at the place where barley sprouted. It then named Enki and Ninki, Enul and Ninul, Endašurimma and Nindašurimma, Endukuga and Nindukuga, and Enutila and Enmenšarra. The sequence identified some figures as the mother or mothers of Ninlil and the father or fathers of Enlil.
The order and names differed between tellings. Some left out An and Uraš. Others used different forms of Enlil, Ninlil, Enul, or Ninul. These genealogies did not add another event to Enlil’s meeting with Sud, her marriage, or her establishment in Nippur. They also did not settle Enlil’s parentage. Other traditions named An, Enmešarra, or Lugaldukuga as his father. The differing ancestral schemes remained alongside the account of Sud’s marriage to Enlil and her renaming as Ninlil.
In the modern world
No modern rework confirmed yet.
3 sources· checked 2026-08-19
- 1THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH : an English version with an introductionT1
- 2the ancient sourcesT1
Quote
“The sources describe Sud’s marriage to Enlil, her renaming as Ninlil, and her establishment as his consort in Nippur, alongside differing accounts of their divine ancestry.”
the ancient sources
- 3Babylonian Creation MythsT1
Enlil and Namzitara
Enlil approached Namzitara in the form of a crow. Namzitara was a priest from Enlil’s establishment in Nippur. The crow asked him what he was doing. Namzitara then asked the crow who he was.
The crow answered, “I am Enlil.” Namzitara accepted the answer. He said, “You were not a crow. You were Enlil.” He had not recognised the god by examining the bird or by finding a hidden sign. Enlil had stated his identity, and Namzitara had accepted his word.
Enlil then asked Namzitara how he knew that Enlil controlled destinies. Namzitara answered by naming Enmešarra, whom he called Enlil’s elder brother. He said that Enlil had taken Enlilship from Enmešarra. Enlilship was the power to decree destinies. After taking it, Enlil had said that he would fix destinies like a lord. Namzitara therefore knew that Enlil held the power to determine fate.
The conversation ended with Namzitara’s explanation of Enlil’s authority. He had not recognised Enlil by seeing through the crow’s form. He had recognised him because Enlil held Enlilship, the power that Enlil had taken from Enmešarra.
In the modern world
No modern rework confirmed yet.
2 sources· checked 2026-08-19
- 1Babylonian Creation MythsT1
- 2the ancient sourcesT1
Quote
“The sources state that Namzitara recognises Enlil in crow form and explains his power over destinies through the Enlilship taken from Enmešarra.”
the ancient sources
The Song of the Hoe
In former days, in distant former days, the established order was brought into being and carefully nurtured. Bread was placed in the houses of the land and baked in their ovens. Heaven was separated from earth, and earth was severed from heaven. The name of humankind was established. An carried off heaven, while Enlil carried off earth.
After this division, Enlil made the cosmic hoe. The tool belonged to the first ordering of the world. It was the instrument with which Enlil worked upon earth. Its creation followed the separation of heaven and earth and the establishment of humankind’s name.
Enlil used the hoe to bring humankind forth from the earth. Human beings emerged through his work with the tool. The account gives no individual human ancestor and names no later human generations. It does not describe a separate creator or another act that brings people into being.
Enlil’s work with the hoe completes the account. People come from the earth through the tool he made, after heaven and earth have been divided and the ordered world has been established. The passage ends with humankind emerging from the earth under Enlil’s work.
In the modern world
No modern rework confirmed yet.
3 sources· checked 2026-08-19
- 1Babylonian Creation MythsT1
- 2the ancient sourcesT1
Quote
“The sources describe An taking heaven, Enlil taking earth, and Enlil using the hoe to bring humankind forth from the earth.”
the ancient sources
- 3Babylonian Creation MythsT1
Also appears in
The myths across MythSource where Enlil features, each on that figure’s page.
- The Birth of Anu · on Anu
- The Separation of Heaven and Earth · on Anu
- Gilgamesh and Enkidu's Ghost · on Gilgamesh
- Gilgamesh and Humbaba in the Cedar Forest · on Gilgamesh
- The Gods Condemn Enkidu · on Gilgamesh
- Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld · on Ishtar
- Inanna’s Revenge on Bilulu · on Ishtar
- Marduk’s Ordeal · on Marduk
- Nergal and Ereshkigal · on Nergal
- Ninurta and the Anzu Bird · on Ninurta
- The Birth and Rise of Ninurta · on Ninurta
- The Marriage of Ninurta and Bau · on Ninurta
- Nanna-Suen’s Journey to Nippur · on Sin
5 works catalogued
This is the candidate catalogue for Enlil: candidate reworks first, then references, then names used as atmosphere. Nothing here has been checked against a source yet. Only reviewed myth-to-work links are promoted in Overview.
Showing 5 of 5 works.
Game3
- Persona Q2: New Cinema LabyrinthRework
- House of AshesReference
- Enlil: Rise Of the EndName only
Book2
- Book of MardukRework
- The Sacred Band of StepsonsRework
These are catalogue candidates, not proof that every work retells this figure. Reviewed myth-to-work links appear in Overview.
What this page is built from
About this page
Written and maintained by MythSource. Last reviewed not yet recorded. How a page gets built.
4 sources are cited on this page, primary texts and corpus scholarship, listed below.
Cite this page
MythSource. (n.d.). Enlil. https://www.mythsource.com/figures/enlil
"Enlil." MythSource, n.d., www.mythsource.com/figures/enlil.
"Enlil." MythSource. n.d. https://www.mythsource.com/figures/enlil.
The mythology summaries and identity fields on this page are grounded in the primary texts and scholarship above. The appearance table records candidates separately; only reviewed joins are presented as modern reworks in Overview.
The film
The Underdrawing video on Enlil embeds here once it publishes.