No. 4.
A MYTH OF ENLIL AND NINLIL.
This tablet, though fragmentary, as the copies show, contains a more complete text of a myth, a portion of which was published by Pinches in 1911 in PSBA, XXXIII, 85 ff. The text of Dr. Pinches contained an Akkadian translation; the Philadelphia text is in Sumerian only. The myth concerns the irrigation of Nippur and the establishment of its prosperity, the first line of Dr. Pinches text read "At Duranki, their city they dwelt" instead of At. . . . . . their Nippur(?) they dwelt." A colophon at the end of his tablet states that it was "First tablet, At Duranki, their city. Not finished." In reality his text covers only parts of columns i and ii of our tablet. The two texts in general agree closely, though there are minor variations here and there.
The myth itself is of great interest. It represents the courtship and marriage of Enlil and Ninlil. He was a young hero; she a handmaid. She was standing on the bank of a canal, when he saw her, ran to her, and kissed her. Her heart was captivated; she yielded to him, and from their marital union fertilizing rain was born. The story is not unlike that of the union between Enki and Nintu in the Epic of Paradise published by Langdon.[1] The idea of creation by birth from the marital union of deities appears to have been particularly popu-
- ↑ PBS, X, No. 1. For the interpretation cf. Jastrow, AJSL, XXXIII, 112; also Barton, in Am. Journal of Theol., XXI, 576 ff.
