Enlil

The Lord of Wind and Destiny

Domain: Wind, Storm & Destiny
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Element: Air
Relics of Power: Tablet of Destinies

Speak with Enlil

The full Codex

5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

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The People

People

Sumerians, Akkadians & Babylonians

Region

Mesopotamia (modern Iraq)

Period

c. 3500 – 500 BC

The Mesopotamian gods were worshipped by the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians in the land between the Tigris and Euphrates, the cradle of writing and cities. Each city raised a ziggurat to its patron god, served by a powerful priestly caste. Their myths, such as the Enuma Elish and the Epic of Gilgamesh, are among the oldest in the world.

The Akitu festival opened the new year with processions along Babylon's Sacred Way, and the sacred marriage rite symbolically united Inanna and Dumuzi to ensure fertility. Lamentations, hymns, and divination by animal livers marked daily religious life.

At a glance

Enlil holds a sovereign place in many Sumerian texts: he decides destinies, receives the reverence of the gods, and dwells in the E-kur at Nippur. The hymn Enlil A attributes the prosperity of fields and the authority of rulers to his word. The narratives, however, do not present a uniform figure: he is expelled in Enlil and Ninlil, organizes the world with a hoe in The Creation of the Hoe, and takes part in the decision to send the flood in the account of Ziusudra. Each composition calls for its own reading, especially where passages are fragmentary.

8 min read · Reviewed on October 14, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

The tablet of destinies, the horned crown and the sacred mountain

Family

Enlil

Unions

Ninlil

Children

Suen (Nanna), moon godNergalNinazuEnbilulu

Genealogy according to ETCSL, Enlil and Ninlil, 1–154

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Anonymous; edition and translation by ETCSL, Enlil and Ninlil (ETCSL 1.2.1). read
Anonymous; edition and translation by ETCSL, Enlil and Sud (ETCSL 1.2.2). read
Anonymous; edition and translation by ETCSL, The Creation of the Hoe (ETCSL 5.5.4). read
Anonymous; edition and translation by ETCSL, The Flood Story (ETCSL 1.7.4). read
Anonymous; edition and translation by ETCSL, Enlil in the E-kur (ETCSL 4.05.1). read

Studies

Ira Spar, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mesopotamian Creation Myths. 2009. open
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brick with inscription of Ashurbanipal describing building work on Ekur. open

Name and epithets

Enlil is the conventional form of the Sumerian divine name written dEn-lil₂ in the ETCSL transliterations. The element en means lord; the full rendering of the name as “lord of the wind” is widespread, but simply identi…

In the ancient sources

Enlil and Ninlil, Sumerian composition preserved in ancient copies; exact date uncertain. Narrative of the union, Enlil’s expulsion, and the journey toward the underworld.

The myths

Enlil and Ninlil: desire, expulsion, and the underground road. The poem begins in Nippur, naming canals, quays, and a well before introducing Enlil, Ninlil, and her mother Nunbaršegunu.

Worship and archaeology

The E-kur is the best documented center in this group of sources. Enlil A places the god in Nippur, describes the temple as a site of rites, prayers, festivals, and offerings, and connects his favor with the elevation o…

How the god was depicted

The texts considered here favor verbal images: Enlil is Great Mountain, shepherd, a sovereign seated on a dais, and bearer of a sacred crown in Enlil A. The hymn also connects his power with clouds, abundance, and awe.

What scholars debate

Different narratives and a fragmentary text. Enlil and Ninlil and Enlil and Sud frame the bond with Ninlil differently.

After antiquity

Ira Spar’s essay at the Metropolitan Museum of Art explains that the Babylonian poem Enuma Elish celebrates Marduk’s rise and Babylon’s position in relation to the older centrality of Enlil and Nippur.

Did you know?

Enlil A says that Ninlil advises Enlil and that they decide destinies together; she is not described only as a passive consort.

Codex relic

Tablet of Destinies. The cuneiform tablet that grants its bearer absolute dominion over the destiny of the universe.

The rest of this scroll is sealed

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