Enshag- Mesopotamian GodDeity"Lord of Dilmun"
Also known as: Enshak, Inzak, and Enzak
Description
When Enki lay dying from Ninhursag's curse, eight deities were born to heal his eight afflicted organs. Enshag was born to heal Enki's head, the seat of the wisdom god's essential nature, and as reward received lordship over Dilmun, the blessed land where no one grew sick or old.
Mythology & Lore
Birth and Healing
In the myth of Enki and Ninhursag, the god of wisdom ate eight forbidden plants in the paradise of Dilmun, provoking Ninhursag's rage. The great mother goddess had caused the plants to sprout from the earth, and Enki's vizier Isimud brought each one to him in turn so he could taste them. Upon discovering what Enki had done, Ninhursag cursed him: "Until you are dead, I shall not look at you with the 'eye of life.'" She vanished from the assembly of the gods.
Enki fell grievously ill as eight of his organs sickened. The gods were helpless to heal him until a fox persuaded Ninhursag to return. She relented, and for each of Enki's afflicted organs she birthed a healing deity, a new god whose very nature was the cure for a specific ailment. Enshag was born to heal Enki's head.
Lord of Dilmun
As reward for this healing, Enshag received dominion over Dilmun, the Sumerian paradise, a land of purity and abundance free from the afflictions that plagued ordinary existence. The healer of the wisdom god's head became ruler of the land where healing was never needed.
Enshag was one of eight sibling deities, each created for a specific cure. Among them was Ninti, "Lady of the Rib," created to heal Enki's rib, and Ninkasi, who healed the mouth and became the goddess of beer. Enshag may be identified with Inzak, the chief deity worshipped in the historical Dilmun, modern Bahrain, attested in god lists and inscriptions from the third through first millennia BCE.