Divine Brothers, Soul Builders Of Sumer

In early Mesopotamia, by far the two most important gods who figure in almost all myths as leading characters are Enlil and Enki.

Enlil is Lord Air/Wind, the firstborn of Anu, the Skyfather, and Ki, the Earth Mother, and under His command it is the Word that all teaches and has the potential to Create everything. Enlil is therefore Inspiration and the Inspirer, the first Breath of the Universe.

Enki, on the other hand, is the god of the sweet underground waters (the apsu), patron of all crafts, magick and wisdom, embodying the primeval idea of Form that can take countless shapes yet remaining the same in essence. Enki is thus fundamentally the Shaper of All, Master of all Knowing to be Manifested without. His father is also Anu, the Skyfather, and His mother is Nammu, the primeval salt waters that gave origin to everything there is.

Enlil is the first of the young gods to be born, and his impetuous growth caused the separation of the Great Above (Sky) and the Depths Below, the reason why Enlil took over his young shoulders the responsibility to watch over his mother Ki. Enki, on the other hand, and Ereshkigal, Enki´s twin sister and future Great Goddess of the Underworld, are engendered right after Ki is separated from Anu by Enlil, when the tears of the Skylord met the bittersweetness of the waters of Mother Nammu, the Primeval Sea. So according to the Eridu Model, Enlil is slightly older than Enki, but the bond between the two brothers seems to have been forged in the very first days of all creation in Sumer.

While Enlil is sworn to protect the Living Earth, the inner work within this very land that brings fruition and enables all sorts of growth is Enki´s first task, as the Lord of the Fertile Sweet Waters of the Deep. Esoterically, Enki´s coming into the world brings consistence and meaning to Enlil´s designs, because if Enlil is the Inspiration and Breath of the Universe, Enki as the Master Shaper of All gives form and substance to Creation, transforming ideas (Enlil´s attribute) into deeds in the world. Therefore, Enlil and Enki are both Complements to each other, Divine Brothers who represent the outer and inner realisation of power in the land.

The term Mesopotamia means literally "land between the rivers": a land which is the domain of Enlil to protect and care for, and which is at the same time fertilised and irrigated by the rivers Tigris and Euphrates and its tributaries, the sweet waters that are Enki´s domain.

Because if Enlil personifies humankind´s discovery of agriculture, once it was Enlil who gave to humanity the plow, the pickaxe and the hoe, Enki personifies the discovery of irrigation, the organised use of the rivers´ fertile waters and thus the organisation of the South Mesopotamian worldview, once it should be kept in mind that irrigation was and still is the pre-condition for successful agriculture. This way the sweet waters of the Tigris and the Euphrates, which are said to have sprung from Enki´s loins, are intrinsically united to the land, watched over with much care by Enlil.

Indeed, archaeological records show that after 8,000 Before Common Era the Near East or the Fertile Crescent became more attractive for human settlements. Irrigation, on the other hand, has been attested in the region since 6,000 Before Common Era, and it consisted of a system of dikes, dams and canals, where the the precipitation in the mountainous region in the north was used in the south. It is interesting to note that climatic conditions (relative cold and dry periods) around the fourth and third millennia (4,000-3,000 BCE) coincide with the expansion of cities in Mesopotamia and of the first Egyptian dynasty. Nevertheless, while Egypt developed into a territorial state, or a large area that is brought under unified political control and governed through a hierarchy of administrative centres at national, provincial and local levels, partaking the same capital, Mesopotamian development was by the formation of city-states, each controlling a relatively small rural area around itself. Each city-state had one or more patron gods or goddesses and was organised around the temples and temple precincts of those patron deities

Fundamentally, the bond between Enki and Enlil is deep and unbroken because Enlil stands for the Outer Manifestation of Power, the impetus to establish a common vision based on the Leadership of the One who Dares and Motivates, whereas Enki is the Inner Manifestation of Power, the One who Knows, gives Meaning, all Binds and Finds Solutions to all impossibilites based on sheer practical and/or mystical wizzardry.

How many times this bond will repeat itself in world myth and religion?

Impossible to say, but the order will be altered, with Enki as the Magician or Inner Teacher/Higher Self leading the Rightful Sovereign (Enlil) to power by teaching him to direct his will and work for the land and the people by doing ensouled deeds.

The names will be different, but to every Enki/Merlin there will be an Enlil/Arthur, mentor and Wise One guiding the king on the make to the full realisation of his potential. However, the balance that we find in the bond between Enlil and Enki that is built in the complementarity of forces is not there longer in these stories.

Indeed, if we take the Grail cycle as a parameter, the moment Arthur comes to power, Merlin, the Wise Soul of the land, retreats to the background, and the search for the Holy Chalice breaks the Round Table by making all knights leave the realm in the Quest instead becoming themselves the pillars of the Round Table and the kingdom. Left alone to rule without Merlin, Arthur fails in his task. (More ...)