The 12th Planet (15 page)

Then all the priests and temple functionaries who carried the gods, led by the great priest, offered a special "prayer of departure." "Great Anu, may Heaven and Earth bless you!" they intoned seven times. They prayed for the blessing of the seven celestial gods and invoked the gods that were in Heaven and the gods that were upon Earth. In conclusion, they bade farewell to Anu and Antu, thus:

May the Gods of the Deep,

and the Gods of the Divine Abode,

bless you!

May they bless you daily—

every day of every month of every year!

Fig. 44

Among the thousands upon thousands of depictions of the ancient gods that have been uncovered, none seems to depict Anu. Yet he peers at us from every statue and every portrait of every king that ever was, from antiquity to our very own days. For Anu was not only the Great King, King of the Gods, but also the one by whose grace others could be crowned as kings. By Sumerian tradition, rulership flowed from Anu; and the very term for "Kingship" was
Anutu
("Anu-ship"). The insignia of Anu were the tiara (the divine headdress), the scepter (symbol of power), and the staff (symbolizing the guidance provided by the shepherd).

The shepherd's staff may now be found more in the hands of bishops than of kings. But the crown and scepter are still held by whatever kings Mankind has left on some thrones.

•

The second most powerful deity of the Sumerian pantheon was EN.LIL. His name meant "lord of the airspace"—the prototype and father of the later Storm Gods that were to head the pantheons of the ancient world.

He was Anu's eldest son, born at his father's Heavenly Abode. But at some point in the earliest times he descended to Earth, and was thus the principal God of Heaven
and
Earth. When the gods met in assembly at the Heavenly Abode, Enlil presided over the meetings alongside his father. When the gods met for assembly on Earth, they met at Enlil's court in the divine precinct of Nippur, the city dedicated to Enlil and the site of his main temple, the E.KUR ("house which is like a mountain").

Not only the Sumerians but the very gods of Sumer considered Enlil supreme. They called him Ruler of All the Lands, and made it clear that "in Heaven—he is the Prince; On Earth—he is the Chief." His "word [command] high above made the Heavens tremble, down below made the Earth quake":

Enlil,

Whose command is far reaching;

Whose "word" is lofty and holy;

Whose pronouncement is unchangeable;

Who decrees destinies unto the distant future....

The Gods of Earth bow down willingly before him;

The Heavenly gods who are on Earth

humble themselves before him;

They stand by faithfully, according to instructions.

Enlil, according to Sumerian beliefs, arrived on Earth well before Earth became settled and civilized. A "Hymn to Enlil, the All-Beneficent" recounts the many aspects of society and civilization that would not have existed had it not been for Enlil's instructions to "execute his orders, far and wide."

No cities would be built, no settlements founded;

No stalls would be built, no sheepfolds erected;

No king would be raised, no high priest born.

The Sumerian texts also stated that Enlil arrived on Earth before the "Black-Headed People"—the Sumerian nickname for Mankind—were created. During such pre-Mankind times, Enlil erected Nippur as his center, or "command post," at which Heaven and Earth were connected through some "bond." The Sumerian texts called this bond DUR.AN.KI ("bond heaven-earth") and used poetic language to describe Enlil's first actions on Earth:

Enlil,

When you marked off divine settlements on Earth,

Nippur you set up as your very own city.

The City of Earth, the lofty,

Your pure place whose water is sweet.

You founded the Dur-An-Ki

In the center of the four corners of the world.

In those early days, when gods alone inhabited Nippur and Man had not yet been created, Enlil met the goddess who was to become his wife. According to one version, Enlil saw his future bride while she was bathing in Nippur's stream—naked. It was love at first sight, but not necessarily with marriage in mind:

The shepherd Enlil, who decrees the fates,

The Bright-Eyed One, saw her.

The lord speaks to her of intercourse;

she is unwilling.

Enlil speaks to her of intercourse;

she is unwilling:

"My vagina is too small [she said],

It knows no copulation;

My lips are too little,

they know not kissing."

But Enlil did not take no for an answer. He disclosed to his chamberlain Nushku his burning desire for "the young maid," who was called SUD ("the nurse"), and who lived with her mother at E.RESH ("scented house"). Nushku suggested a boat ride and brought up a boat. Enlil persuaded Sud to go sailing with him. Once they were in the boat, he raped her.

The ancient tale then relates that though Enlil was chief of the gods they were so enraged that they seized him and banished him to the Lower World. "Enlil, immoral one!" they shouted at him. "Get thyself out of the city!" This version has it that Sud, pregnant with Enlil's child, followed him, and he married her. Another version has the repentant Enlil searching for the girl and sending his chamberlain to her mother to ask for the girl's hand. One way or another, Sud did become the wife of Enlil, and he bestowed on her the title NIN.LIL ("lady of the airspace").

But little did he and the gods who banished him know that it was not Enlil who had seduced Ninlil, but the other way around. The truth of the matter was that Ninlil bathed naked in the stream on her mother's instructions, with the hope that Enlil—who customarily took his walks by the stream—would notice Ninlil and wish to "forthwith embrace you, kiss you."

In spite of the manner in which the two fell for each other, Ninlil was held in the highest esteem once she was given by Enlil "the garment of ladyship." With one exception, which (we believe) had to do with dynastic succession, Enlil is never known to have had other indiscretions. A votive tablet found at Nippur shows Enlil and Ninlil being served food and beverage at their temple. The tablet was commissioned by Ur-Enlil, the "Domestic of Enlil." (Fig. 45)

Apart from being chief of the gods, Enlil was also deemed the supreme Lord of Sumer (sometimes simply called "The Land") and its "Black-Headed People." A Sumerian psalm spoke in veneration of this god:

Lord who knows the destiny of The Land,

    trustworthy in his calling;

Enlil who knows the destiny of Sumer,

    trustworthy in his calling;

Father Enlil,

    Lord of all the lands;

Father Enlil,

    Lord of the Rightful Command;

Father Enlil,

    Shepherd of the Black-Headed Ones....

From the Mountain of Sunrise

    to the Mountain of Sunset,

There is no other Lord in the land;

 you alone are King.

The Sumerians revered Enlil out of both fear and gratitude. It was he who made sure that decrees by the Assembly of the Gods were carried out against Mankind; it was his "wind" that blew obliterating storms against offending cities. It was he who, at the time of the Deluge, sought the destruction of Mankind. But when at peace with Mankind, he was a friendly god who bestowed favors; according to the Sumerian text, the knowledge of farming, together with the plow and the pickax, were granted to Mankind by Enlil.

Fig. 45

Enlil also selected the kings who were to rule over Mankind, not as sovereigns but as servants of the god entrusted with the administration of divine laws of justice. Accordingly, Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian kings opened their inscriptions of self-adoration by describing how Enlil had called them to Kingship. These "calls"—issued by Enlil on behalf of himself and his father Anu—granted legitimacy to the ruler and outlined his functions. Even
H
ammurabi, who acknowledged a god named Marduk as the national god of Babylon, prefaced his code of laws by stating that "Anu and Enlil named me to promote the welfare of the people ... to cause justice to prevail in the land."

God of Heaven and Earth, Firstborn of Anu, Dispenser of Kingship, Chief Executive of the Assembly of the Gods, Father of Gods and Men, Granter of Agriculture, Lord of the Airspace—these were some of the attributes of Enlil that bespoke his greatness and powers. His "command was far reaching," his "pronouncements unchangeable"; he "decreed the destinies." He possessed the "bond heaven-earth," and from his "awesome city Nippur" he could "raise the beams that search the heart of all the lands"—"eyes that could scan all the lands."

Yet he was as human as any young man enticed by a naked beauty; subject to moral laws imposed by the community of the gods, transgressions of which were punishable by banishment; and not even immune to mortal complaints. At least in one known instance, a Sumerian king of
Ur
complained directly to the Assembly of the Gods that a series of troubles that had befallen
Ur
and her people could be traced back to the ill-fated fact that "Enlil did give the kingship to a worthless man ... who is not of Sumerian seed."