He is best attested as the father of Enlil, the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, though other traditions about the parentage of the latter also existed, and no references to him in this role are known from before the Kassite period.
[2] Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that Lugaldukuga was originally understood as a "prime mover" in the local theology of a presently unknown small settlement, and only came to be incorporated into major scholarly works at a later date.
[8] Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that this view might originate in a tradition where Enmesharra was identified as Enlil's father,[2] though direct statements confirming the presence of such an idea in Mesopotamian theology are not presently known from any texts.
[9] While Lugaldukuga was most likely assumed to be an inhabitant of the underworld, a single source, a mystical explanatory text for an Akitu festival of Ninurta taking place on the twenty fourth day of Iyar states that he resided in heaven.
[11] A recently published myth describing the birth of Enlil, only known from a single copy (MS 3312) and compared to Old Babylonian incantations, keeps his parents nameless,[11] though according to Jeremiah Peterson it is possible that it belongs to the Enki-Ninki tradition.
[12] Enki and Ninki are the first generation of Enlil's ancestors in god lists, incantations, and other texts, and they are usually followed by a varying number of pairs of deities whose names start with "En" and "Nin".
[19] Antoine Cavigneaux and Manfred Krebernik propose the reading Árna ("fault," "penalty") for this name,[19] though Wilfred G. Lambert simply referred to this figure as Ubnu.
[8] It is uncertain if the Nunu equated with Lugaldukuga should be identified with the name element nu-nu, written both with divine determinative (dingir) and without.
[20] The latter is attested for the first time in the texts from Ebla from the third millennium BCE in name of a member of the royal family of Kish, without a dingir sign preceding it.
[8] Wilfred G. Lambert noted that in a single source, Lugaldukuga appears as the husband of Nindukuga, which could indicate that he was understood as one and the same as Endukuga, one of the Enki-Ninki deities.
[28] A šangûm priest of Lugaldukuga bearing the name Rīm-Adad ("gift of Adad") is mentioned in a document from Old Babylonian Nippur.
[32] Similarly, another Assyrian text, referred to as Astrolabe B, states that during the same month, funerary offerings were made both to Lugaldukuga and the Enki-Ninki deities.
"[23] The historical context of the latter text remains poorly understood, but Julia Krul notes that the associated rituals were seemingly connected to the Akitu festival.
"[8] In the surviving fragments, another deity whose name starts with the cuneiform sign en, most likely Enlil, is happy about something and shares this information with Lugaldukuga, who is dissatisfied.