to the Early Dynastic period. A mythological explanation made Ninlil a name Sud received after getting married. The syncretism between them is attested in the god list An = Anum, but in the older Weidner god list Sud appears not with Enlil and Ninlil, but rather among the medicine goddesses, such as Gula. The process of conflation meant that some associations originally exclusive to Sud could be transferred to Ninlil as well. For example, the Hymn to Gula composed by a certain Bulluṭsa-rabi attests that she could be viewed as a goddess of healing, which has been identified as a possible result of Sud's association with Gula. Sud could also be associated with Sudaĝ, one of the names of the wife of sun god Shamash. Hurrian reception Ninlil was also incorporated into Hurrian religion, where she and Enlil were regarded as two of the so-called "primeval gods," a group of deities belonging to the former divine generations who resided in the underworld. Other senior Mesopotamian deities like Anu and Alalu could be listed among them too. They could be invoked as divine witnesses of treaties. Assyrian reception From the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I onward, Ninlil started to be viewed as the wife of the Assyrian head god, Ashur. The equivalence between Ninlil understood as spouse of Enlil and Mullissu understood as spouse of Ashur is well attested in neo-Assyrian sources. It has been argued that Mullissu's newfound position might have resulted in conflation with Šerua, as in scholarship it is often assumed that this goddess was the original wife of Ashur. It has also been proposed that while originally regarded as his wife, she later came to be replaced (rather than absorbed) by Mullissu, and was demoted to the position of a daughter or sister. A different theory, based on Aramaic inscriptions from the Parthian period, makes Šerua's initial position that of a daughter of Ashur, who later came to be viewed as his second wife alongside Mullissu. Mullissu also came to be conflated with Ishtar of Nineveh, who was also recast as Ashur's consort in the neo-Assyrian period. It has been argued that especially in texts from the reign of Ashurbanipal, the names are synonymous. Similar process is also attested for Ishtar of Arbela and Ishtar of Assur. At the same time Ishtar without any epithets indicating association with a specific location could appear in Assyrian texts separately from