Ninkilim


The god Ninkilim, inscribed dnin-PEŠ2, is a widely referenced Mesopotamian deity from Sumerian to later Babylonian periods whose minions include wildlife in general and vermin in particular. His name, Nin-kilim, means "Lord Rodent," where rodent, pronounced šikku but rendered nin-ka6, is a homograph.
He is described in the Sumerian language as a.za.lu.lu “lord of teeming creatures”, and in Akkadian as Bēl-nammašti “lord of wild animals” and features in much of the incantation texts against field pests, such as the Zu-buru-dabbeda. Although Ninkilim is feminine in the great god-list, and the Sumerian Farmer's Almanac -, the field-pest incantations know him as masculine, as do other texts of the later periods.
The 8th year of Iddin-Dagān celebrates his selection “by means of the omens the high-priestess of Nin-kilim.” He was one of the patron deities, with the goddess Bēlit-ilī, of the city of Diniktum.
Ningilin was conflated at an early date with Ningirima, a god of magic who was commonly invoked for protection against snakes. She is probably a goddess, but might have sometimes been considered a god. She was so closely associated with mongooses that the Akkadian word for "mongoose" was later written using the Sumerian symbol for her name.