Sumerian Gods Enki And Enlil
By James Donahue
According to text from the ancient Sumerian clay tablets, there was a complex story concerning two
primary god figures, Enki and Enlil, sons of the supreme god Anu but by different wives. Thus they were half-brothers and
they did not get along.
A study of the rivalry between these two gods gives us some insight into the wild stories handed down
to us via the Book of Genesis. And it helps explain why the Creator God Jehovah appears to be talking to himself when dealing
with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. That is because, at least in the Sumerian and later the Babylonian versions of the
actions of Enki and Enlil, there were at least two god figures battling over the fate of humanity in that garden and later
the flood that nearly wiped humanity off the face of the Earth.
In other words, the Hebrew and Christian accepted stories of Creation are nothing more than borrowed
mythology lifted right off those ancient Sumerian clay tablets, then watered down to make the stories easy for the lay reader
to understand.
Believe me, when you try to follow the Sumerian story of Enki and Enlil, and all of the other god
figures involved in manipulating the world in those days, you will have a very hard time fitting all of the pieces of that
puzzle together. If you would like to try we refer you to
for an extensive read.
According to the text, both Enki and Enlil were members of a group of "gods" or perhaps alien visitors
known to the Sumerians as the Anunnaki. Enki was the first to arrive and apparently he discovered gold, considered a valuable
commodity, on the planet. This excited Anu and his family and so Enlil was sent in to supervise the mining operation. This
angered Enki, who was the elder of the household.
Here is where the story gets really complicated. Although he was a male, Enki’s claim of birthright
was based on a matrilineal succession passed through the female line in a matriarchal system. The decision by the god Anu
to put Enlil in charge was, in a sense, dethroning the Great Mother and replacing her with a supreme male. Thus it was during
this time that men began to rule and war with one another on Earth.
While Enki is credited with stepping up the DNA of humanoids and creating homo Sapiens for the sole
purpose of slave mining the gold, Enlil is blamed by the Sumerians for bringing on the flood that nearly wiped out humanity.
But it was Enki who came to Noah and gold him how to build a large boat and save himself and the other species.
Enlil also is blamed for the destruction of Ur, from which Abraham escaped, and destroying Sodom and
Gomorrah with an atomic blast.
It was Enki who came to Adam and Eve in the garden and attempted to persuade them to eat of the fruit
of the Tree of Knowledge, so they would know to stand up to Enlil and refuse to be his slave in the gold mines. The Genesis
account, however, portrays Enki as an evil serpent, or Satan, who turned against the male god Enlil.
It appears that Abraham and his descendants chose to serve Enlil, who became known to them as Jehovah.
The Egyptians, however, were followers of Enki, who was of the Earth. Thus their fields yielded food, the Nile River gave
them water, and they were much more successful than the Hebrew people.
Even Marduk, the god of the Babylonians, is thoroughly explained in the clay tablet text. The Genesis
story refers to him as Nimrod, the son of Cush and great grandson of Noah. The Bible story describes Nimrod as "a mighty one
in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord . . . And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad,
and Calneh, in the land of Siniar."
Nimrod built an army and seized the tribes around him, thus creating the first world empire. He and
his wife, Queen Semiramis, declared themselves god and goddess over their kingdom of ancient Siniar. He was known as Marduk
and she was Astarte. Later, when Marduk died, Semiramis bore a son, Tammuz, who she declared was a miraculous conception and
thus was Marduk reborn.
The text deciphered from the ancient clay tablets, however, paints a very different version of the
Marduk story. As this story is told, Marduk was Enki's first born son by his wife, the goddess Damkina. His brother Enlil
and his wife, Nin-khursag, the half-sister to Enki, produced a son named Ningirsu, which means Mighty Hunter. Tammuz was the
son of the Shepherd King Dumuzi, who ruled over an earlier kingdom.
Marduk became the god of the Babelonian empire. The story is that Marduk's ambitions led him to war
against Enki, at about the year 2000 BC. It was during this warfare that Enlil's son, Ninurta turned sent nuclear bombs to
destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. The destruction of those cities had nothing to do with a judgment against the people for sinful
behavior.
By this time the Hebrews were supporting Enlil and the Babylonians were worshiping Marduk. Marduk,
who overpowered Enlil, forced the Hebrew people into captivity for 70 years. During this time, Enlil failed to help them.
It seems that in the eyes of the warring gods, the Hebrews were considered casualties of war.
