Ninlil

THE SUMERIAN" NINLIL "WAS A FERTILITY AND GRAIN GODDESS, AN ANCIENT GODDESS WHO IS SAID TO HAVE LIVED MORE THAN 7,000 YEARS AGO, SINCE BEFORE THE BIRTH OF MAN. SHE AIDS IN HEALING BARRENNESS MOST BELIEVE THAT "NINLIL" IS PROBABLY THE SOURCE OF MOST "MOTHER GODDESSES". IN EARLY MYTHOLOGY, "NINLIL" WAS CONSIDERED TO BE "ENLIL'S" CONSORT WHO ASSISTED HIM IN BESTOWING KINGSHIP UPON EARTHLY MONARCHS." NINLIL" WAS A POPULAR AND BENEVOLENT GODDESS, CALLED THE "'MERCIFUL MOTHER'" AS SHE INTERCEDED WITH HER HUSBAND ON BEHALF OF MORTALS.

IN THE SUMERIAN MYTH OF "ENLIL "AND "NINLIL", THE YOUNG GODDESS "NINLIL "IS BATHING IN THE PURE STREAM "NUNBIRDU". THE GOD OF THE AIR, "ENLIL", SEES "NINLIL "AND, UNABLE TO RESIST HER GREAT BEAUTY, RAPES HER. FOR THIS ACT, HE IS BANISHED BY THE GODS TO THE "UNDERWORLD "AS PUNISHMENT. " NINLIL", HOWEVER, REALIZING THAT SHE LOVED" ENLIL" IN RETURN, FOLLOWED HIM INTO THE DARK WORLD. AND, BECAUSE THEY DID NOT WANT THEIR CHILD, THE "MOON," TO BE TRAPPED IN DARKNESS, THE COUPLE PROMISED THAT THEY WOULD LEAVE THEIR FUTURE CHILDREN IN THE UNDERWORLD IN HIS PLACE. AND, THIS IS WHY "NANNA "WAS BORN IN THE UPPER WORLD WHERE HE CONTINUES TO LIGHT UP THE NIGHT.

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