Enlil's Appearance
Enlil is described in the myth Enlil and Ninlil as a man with bright eyes, which presumably means that he has bright blue eyes. Enlil, like most Sumerian gods, is usually depicted with a full beard. He is the grandfather of Inanna and is therefore depicted as being around 40 years older than her, i.e. around 65 years old. As the supreme god of the Anunnaki, he is often depicted as a royal figure who radiates authority and power.
Enlil's Personality
Enlil is regarded as an authoritarian and strict man of power who tends to resort to drastic measures when he sees his position in the pantheon or his projects threatened. In order to portray the gods as all-powerful, he presents natural disasters as deliberate decisions on his part, which he conjures up in order to get the population explosion under control. When making important decisions, he usually listens to his advisor, the god Enki.
Enlil's Duties as a God
As the supreme god of the Anunnaki, Enlil is responsible for monitoring the country's income and expenditure and for ensuring that sufficient capital and manpower are available for his projects. With his projects, Enlil promotes the development of human civilization. He gives people the knowledge and skills necessary for the survival and prosperity of the community. One of his most important projects in Sumer was the construction of the canal system used to irrigate the fields. Enlil is also the supreme commander of the Igigi and enlists them for his projects. The Myth of Etana makes it clear that if a god wants to appoint a new king, this decision must be confirmed by Enlil.
The Career of Enlil
Enlil is the son of the sky god An and the earth goddess Ki. In the myth Enki and Ereshkigal, Enlil is said to have caused the separation of An (the sky) and Ki (the earth), thereby taking the responsibility of being the protector and guardian of the earth onto his shoulders. Enlil realizes that there is more to life than mere existence and thinks about how he could organize the lives of the gods in a meaningful way. The realization grows in him that
This insight later became a guiding principle for his actions.
The myth Enlil and Ninlil indirectly describes how Enlil established his power over the other gods. At that time, he lived as a young man in Nippur, met his future wife Ninlil and fathered the future moon god Nanna with her. At that time, he did not yet have the right to change the fates of the gods, but was already in a position to do so. When he nevertheless changed the fate of his future wife Ninlil, the other gods saw their power threatened and banished him to the netherworld. On his way to the netherworld, he had his wife Ninlil father several underworld gods, which extended Enlil's sphere of influence to the netherworld. Due to his newfound power, he no longer needed to visit the netherworld and soon became the supreme god of the Anunnaki.
He let his wife give birth to Ennugi, whom he later entrusted with overseeing the construction of the canal system. As mentioned in The Epic of Atrahasis, the construction of the canal system, which was used to irrigate the fields, was one of Enlil's most important projects. Enlil initially enlisted the Igigi to build the canals, but this led to a rebellion among the Igigi due to the high workload. Later, the humans did the work.
However, the construction of the canal system and the first settlements was overshadowed by a catastrophe. In the myth Enki and the World Order, it is mentioned that the cities of Eridu and Ur were flooded, for which Enlil took responsibility. This flood, which can be dated to around 3500 BCE, was not yet the Deluge. Afterwards, Enlil instructed the god Enki to increase or restore the prosperity of the people, while he himself administered the income and expenditure of the land in Nippur.
The Epic of Atrahasis deals with the problem of the population explosion and the task of the gods to put a stop to it. In order to curb the population, Enlil first conjured up a disease, then a drought and finally the Flood. The Flood can be dated to around 2900 BCE. Enlil was so fed up with the proliferation of humans that he wanted to wipe them out with the Flood and start all over again. Thanks to Enki's intervention, however, this did not happen and humanity survived the Flood.
Enlil saw his projects jeopardized by people who worked against him. As described in the myth Lugalbanda and the Anzu Bird, Enlil therefore instructed the eagle Anzu to keep humans on the straight and narrow path where they would be beneficial to Enlil's projects. He had therefore authorized Anzu to decree the fates of humans in this way.
Together with Inanna, Enlil planned to establish the realm of the gods on earth. As described in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the residence of the gods was to be built in a cedar forest and guarded by the giant Humbaba, whom Enlil had created for this purpose. However, this project failed thanks to Gilgamesh.
