Dilmun

Dilmun, sometimes described as "the place where the sun rises" and "the Land of the Living", is the scene of some versions of the Sumerian creation myth, and the place where the deified Sumerian hero of the flood, Utnapishtim (Ziusudra), was taken by the gods to live forever.

Dilmun is also described in the epic story of Enki and Ninhursag as the site at which the Creation occurred. Ninlil, the Sumerian goddess of air and south wind had her home in Dilmun. It is also featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

However, in the early epic "Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta", the main events, which center on Enmerkar's construction of the ziggurats in Uruk and Eridu, are described as taking place in a world "before Dilmun had yet been settled".


 * An: God of heaven/the firmament.
 * Enlil: God of the air (from Lil = Air).
 * Enki: God of knowledge and wisdom.
 * Inanna: Goddess of sexual love.
 * Ki: Goddess of the earth.
 * Ninlil: An air goddess and wife of Enlil.
 * Ninurta: God of war.
 * Utu: God of the sun.

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