Enlil Gate

The Enlil Gate is the first of Dūr-Šarrukīn’s two north-facing (meḫret ištāni) gates. Because ‘north’ (Akkadian ištānu) can refer to both northeast and northwest in Akkadian sources, it is uncertain if the Enlil Gate was located on the city’s northeast or northwest wall and, therefore, it is uncertain if that entranceway to Sargon II’s newly-constructed capital should be identified as Khorsabad Gate 1, Gate 2, or a hitherto undiscovered (postern) gate on the northwest or southwest side of the citadel. Since one expects a grand gate to be dedicated to Enlil, Gate 1, the northernmost portal on the northeast wall, seems to be the most plausible suggested location for the Enlil Gate; Gate 2 and the yet-to-be-identified (postern) gate are both assumed to be undecorated entrances and, thus, seem unlikely to have been named after this important god.