Ninlil

The Lady of the Air

Domain: Air, Grain & Fertility
Alignment: Neutral Good
Element: Earth
Relics of Power: Sacred Grain

Speak with Ninlil

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

Ninlil is the consort of Enlil in the Sumerian texts of the ETCSL corpus (University of Oxford), read here in English translation. The poem “Enlil and Ninlil” tells of her meeting with Enlil at the canal of Nibru, his punishment by the gods and her pursuit of him toward the underworld, with the birth of Suen (the moon god), Nergal-Meslamta-eda, Ninazu and Enbilulu. Another poem, “Enlil and Sud”, tells a different origin: Sud, daughter of Nisaba, receives the name Ninlil from Enlil. Hymns and laments show her seated beside Enlil in the E-kur and weeping over the ruin of Ur.

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

Sacred symbols

The grain, the ear of wheat, the wind and the royal crown

Family

Ninlil

Unions

Enlil

Children

SinNergal-Meslamta-edaNinazuEnbilulu

Genealogy according to ETCSL c.1.2.1, Enlil and Ninlil, linhas 1-154: https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr121.htm; c.1.2.2, Enlil and Sud: https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr122.htm

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

ETCSL Project, University of Oxford, Enlil and Ninlil (c.1.2.1), translation. translation: English translation of the ETCSL. read
ETCSL Project, University of Oxford, Enlil and Sud (c.1.2.2), translation. translation: English translation of the ETCSL. read
ETCSL Project, University of Oxford, Nanna-Suen's journey to Nibru (c.1.5.1), translation. translation: English translation of the ETCSL. read
ETCSL Project, University of Oxford, Enlil in the E-kur (Enlil A, c.4.05.1), translation. translation: English translation of the ETCSL. read
ETCSL Project, University of Oxford, The lament for Urim (c.2.2.2), translation. translation: English translation of the ETCSL. read
ETCSL Project, University of Oxford, The lament for Sumer and Urim (c.2.2.3), translation. translation: English translation of the ETCSL. read

Name and epithets

Ninlil is the form of the name the ETCSL uses; it is written this way in the poems checked. The poem “Enlil and Sud” gives an internal explanation: Enlil tells Sud’s mother that her daughter’s name “shall become Ninlil”…

In the ancient sources

Enlil and Ninlil (Sumerian poem, ETCSL c.1.2.1), Ancient Sumerian text; the date of the manuscripts is not given in the translation pages checked. Modern translation of a cuneiform text.

The myths

The city of Nibru and the young woman Ninlil. The poem “Enlil and Ninlil” opens with a description of place. There was a city, Nibru, “the one we live in”; the poem also gives it the name Dur-jicnimbar and names the hol…

Worship and archaeology

The translation pages read contain references to place and rite connected with Ninlil, but no direct description of an organised cult in her honour.

How the god was depicted

The translation pages read contain no description of an image of Ninlil, nor of an object, animal attribute or fixed emblem.

What scholars debate

Two origins of Ninlil: the maiden of Nibru and Sud of Erec. In “Enlil and Ninlil”, Ninlil is a young woman of Nibru, advised by Nun-bar-ce-gunu, and her marriage comes after Enlil’s seduction and punishment.

After antiquity

In the ETCSL translations of “Enlil and Ninlil”, Enlil A and the laments of Ur, Ninlil’s later reception appears only inside the Sumerian corpus itself: the closing praise of “Enlil and Ninlil”, the hymn Enlil A and the…

Did you know?

In the poem “Enlil and Ninlil”, the three sons conceived during the pursuit (Nergal-Meslamta-eda, Ninazu and Enbilulu) are conceived in Enlil’s own disguises.

Codex relic

Sacred Grain. The grains under her blessing, symbol of the fertility and abundance she grants the land.

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