Dilmun- Mesopotamian LocationLocation · Realm"The Pure Land"

The Pure Land

The earliest Sumerian texts describe Dilmun in emphatic terms: "Pure is Dilmun land. Virginal is Dilmun land. Pristine is Dilmun land." In this blessed place, the lion did not kill, the wolf did not seize lambs, the sick did not say "I am sick," the old did not say "I am old," and the cry of the boatman was never heard.

Dilmun was closely associated with the god Enki, lord of fresh water and wisdom, and its tutelary goddess was Ninsikilla, the "Pure Lady." Sweet, life-giving springs bubbled up from subterranean aquifers there, waters drawn from Enki's Abzu, the primordial freshwater ocean beneath the earth.

Enki and Ninhursag

The Sumerian composition "Enki and Ninhursag" is set in Dilmun. The myth begins with the paradise incomplete: though pure, it lacked fresh water. Ninsikilla pleaded with Enki to provide water for the land. Enki commanded the sun god Utu to draw fresh water up from the earth, and Dilmun was transformed into a verdant garden green with grain-yielding fields.

In this paradise, Ninhursag caused eight plants to sprout. Enki, curious and covetous, had his messenger Isimud pluck each plant in turn so he could taste them. Enki consumed all eight, and the enraged Ninhursag pronounced the curse of death upon him, swearing never to look upon him with the "eye of life" again. She departed, and Enki's health failed as eight of his organs sickened.

The gods were helpless to heal him until a fox persuaded Ninhursag to return. She relented and created eight healing deities, one for each of Enki's afflicted organs. Among these was Enshag, who became the Lord of Dilmun.

Dilmun and the Flood

After the Great Flood, the gods granted Utnapishtim and his wife eternal life and settled them in Dilmun, "at the mouth of the rivers," far from human habitation.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the hero's quest for immortality leads him to seek out Utnapishtim in this remote paradise. The journey requires Gilgamesh to cross the Waters of Death, a supernatural barrier separating the mortal world from Dilmun. When he finally arrives, Utnapishtim tells him the truth: the immortality the gods granted was a unique, unrepeatable gift. There is no second one.