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Wellsprings
cosmos-godsWe're still mapping where this idea was first discussed. Key passages and related ideas below.

Enlil & Divine Rulership

His word, once spoken, cannot be called back — the storm that builds cities and the storm that flattens them.

Enlil, whose great temple the Ekur stood at Nippur, was for the Sumerians the working king of the gods — the one whose command (his 'word') set the world's order, granted or withdrew kingship from cities, and could not be reversed. He is awesome and dangerous as much as benevolent: his decree brings prosperity, but his anger brings the storm and the sack of cities. Much Sumerian theology is meditation on the irreversible, sometimes terrifying, authority of Enlil's word.