En-Lil
En-Lil
Description
El-Lil is a god of dooms, the lord of wind-storms, floods and cataclysms, particularly in Pelishtia, Nippr and Eruk. Enlil's name comes from EN, meaning "lord and LIL meaning "wind". His name therefore literally translates as "Lord Wind", the personification of the wind itself rather than merely the cause of wind. El-Lil is the fearsome god of the wind, the son of Anu and Ki. As god of the wind, he separated day from night, and he created summer and winter. He shaped humanity from clay and breathed the winds of life into the people. He also invented for them the pickaxe and the hoe so they could better serve the gods in place of Ashnan, whom he loved. The early myths of the Sons of Shem tell of his raping Ashnan and his banishment by Anu to the underworld. Ashnan fell in love with El-Lil and followed him to the underworld. He raped her at each of the seven gates, posing as the guardsmen of the gates. With each rape she gave birth to another god or monster. One of those offspring is Nergal and another is the moon. He returned to the kingdom of the gods when it was revealed that Derketo, in the guise of Ashnan, had actually seduced him and magically induced the rapes. Ashnan understood this and became El-Lil’s consort and brought him back to the heavens to rule over the winds. The rise and fall of El-Lil to the underworld and back is celebrated at the beginning and end of the growing season in great parades and sexual morality plays, replacing the stories of Adonis/Pteor and Ishtar in some city-states, or running concurrently with those celebrations as a reinforcement of the gods’ roles in shaping mortal events. In most city-states, however, El-Lil’s role changed with the rise of Ishtar and Adonis in popularity. Later, El-Lil is foretold to retake patronage of Nippr, and Derketo’s great six-tiered temple (which was built on top of his five-tiered zikkurat) will be the foundation for his monstrous seven-tiered zikkurat.Rituals and Beliefs
El-Lil is strong, powerful and utterly merciless. He is a favourite god among many units of asshuri, who strive to be as merciless as this great god of cataclysms and wind. He is the god who gives kings their positions, the father of YakinYa, the first king of the Pelishtim. This also makes him a god of racial pride. He does not tolerate mixed marriages between the Sons of Shem and outsiders, and any offspring from such unions are thrown into the fires of his altar as abominations. His sacred number is 50. He was once the patron god of Nippr, but, because of his rape of Ashnan, he was supplanted by his true seducer, Derketo. The zikkurat of El-lil are located on high ground, to better communication between earth and heaven with the zikkurat as the channel. He still has a small zikkurat in the larger temple complex dedicated to Derketo in Nippr. He is still the patron of Eruk. His temple there houses a great gong created from dark sorcery, a gong known as his Voice. He is often pictured with the Tablets of Destiny, which gives him power of the fate of man. He also wears a horned crown to symbolise his power.His Clerics
WIPEn-Lil
EN-LIL
(Intermediate Deity)
Pantheon: ShemiteGender: Masculine Regions: Shem Representations: Wind and Storms Attributes: Sphere of Power:
- Wind
- Air
- Earth
- Storms
- Within Shemite Pantheon
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