In this article, we will discuss the remaining children of Enlil. Previously, we covered Nanna, the moon god and son of Enlil, and now we continue exploring his other offspring.
Nergal
The god who will become the god of the underworld. He is an illegitimate son of Enlil and is in disguise as the gatekeeper of the underworld.
He is an important god in the Sumerian theogony because after he was an upper god sitting with the gods in the upper world.
he later became king of the lower world and married the goddess Ershkegal, his queen, which is what a Babylonian legend narrates.
There is no doubt that the presence of the moon god and the god of darkness (Nergal) in one generation of Enlil’s sons means the conflict or relationship between light and darkness, as the air or space gave birth to the moon and darkness, both of which revolve above and below the earth.
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| Ninlil and Enlil |
This contrast between light and darkness will be seen in the second generation of Enlil, where the sun, Venus (light), and the goddess Ershkegal (darkness) appear.
Indeed, the third generation of the god Enlil, at whose head Inana stands, suggests to us the duality of light and darkness in her journey between the upper and lower worlds.
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| Nergal |
We do not have anything that indicates a symbol of the god Nergal in the Sumerian era specifically, but in later eras the winged dog was a symbol of him.
Ninazu
An important god of the gods of the underworld. The meaning of his name is (Mr. Physician). He is an illegitimate son of Enlil.
He is in disguise as the river man in the underworld. However, this god is mentioned as a son of the god Nergal and the goddess Ershkegal .
Gibil
is the god of the lower fire, and in another narration he is the god Enbilulu
He is the god of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, but this is a god mentioned in theology as the son of the god Enki.
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| Gibil |
Storm God (Ninurta)
The word (Ninurta) in Sumerian means (hurricane god), and his function is related to the turbulent and severe weather situation.
From a practical standpoint, he is the true heir to the function and nature of his father (Enlil) due to his relationship with the air and the storm, and therefore they called him (the boy) as a diminutive of Enlil.
The Semites worshiped him as a god of hunting and war, while the Assyrians gave him a great position in their religious life.
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| Ninurta |
The secret number of the god (Ninurta) is the same as his father’s secret number (50) and he was given to the Temple of Fifty (i.e. Ninu) in Lagash after it belonged to his father Enlil (Ninurta was called the storm of Enlil, and he was the god of fertility who controlled crops and floods and became a god in late Assyrian times.
Battles and advisor to Anu and Enlil, who is a hunting lord like Nergal, so we see their banners on the chariots of kings, and he is symbolized by the head of a horse placed on a chair with a bow above it, as well as a column with the head of a lion or the heads of a bull on top of it.
The wife of the god Ninurta was the goddess (Baba), called (the black-headed goddess) and also called Pao, the builder of fields and orchards. She was Thogonia, the daughter of the god Anu, the god of the sky.
As for the god (Nengirso), he is (the god of the Sumerian city of Kirsu), which is a city belonging to the city-state of Lagash.
This god seemed to represent the general god Ninurta and his father, the absolute god Enlil, in the entire city of Kirsu or Lagash.
it was A god of war who loves to give gifts and vows. There is a famous Sumerian text written on two cylinders by the king of Lagash, Kudea, to the god Nengirso regarding the building of a temple for him, where he comes to him in a dream and informs him of this matter.
Nengirso also appears to be a god related to the weather, rain, and wind.
The Sumerians symbolized it in the Mesilime era (about 3000 BC) with two columns with rounded heads and grooved necks.
And a symbol of it in the first half of the third millennium BC. M with the storm bird Imdugud , which has the head of a lion and the wings of an eagle, and many statues appeared expressing this bird, which signifies both strength and wind, and it seems that it sometimes became a symbol of his brother, the god Ninurta.
God of the seasons summer and winter, Emesh and Enten
These two gods, who are conjoined or connected by their alternation, are considered the sons of the god Enlil and control the appearance and succession of the seasons of summer and winter. We do not know much about them except a famous legend of their rivalry in front of Enlil.
For those who prefer visual content, you can watch the video below that covers the same topic in detail.