Enki/Sumer/Mythology

Enki

Sumerian language

The Sumerian language of ancient Sumer was spoken in Southern Mesopotamia from at least the 4th millennium BCE....
: ^dEN.KI(G) ) was a deity

Deity

A deity, god, or borus is a postulated preternatural being, usually, but not always, of significant power, worshipped, thought holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, or respected by human beings....
in Sumerian mythology

Mesopotamian mythology

Mesopotamian mythology is the collective name given to Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian mythologies from the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern Iraq, Syria and Turkey....
, later known as Ea in Babylonian mythology

Babylonian mythology

Babylonian mythology is a set of mythology depicting the activities of Babylonian deity, heroes, and mythological creatures....
, originally chief god of the city of Eridu

Eridu

Eridu was an ancient city seven miles southwest of Ur. Eridu was the southernmost of the conglomeration of cities that grew about temples, almost in sight of one another, in Sumer, southern Mesopotamia....
. He was the deity of crafts (= gašam), water

Water

Water is a tasteless, odorless substance that is essential to all known forms of life and is known as the universal solvent....
(=a, ab ), intelligence (= gestú (literally = "ear")) and creation (Nudimmud, from dim mud, "to engender", "to shape").

The exact meaning of his name is uncertain: the common translation is "Lord of the Earth": the Sumerian en

EN (cuneiform)

EN is the Sumerian cuneiform for "lord".deities:*Enlil*Enki*Engurun*Sin See also: ERE? "lady", LUGAL "king", b?lu....
is translated as a title equivalent to "lord

Lord

A Lord is a male who has power and authority. It can have different meanings depending on the context of use....
"; it was originally a title given to the High Priest; ki means "earth"; but there are theories that ki in this name has another origin, possibly kig of unknown meaning, or kur meaning "mound". The name Ea is allegedly Hurrian in origin while others claim that it is possibly of Semitic origin and may be a derivation from the West-Semitic root *hyy meaning "life" in this case used for "spring", "running water." In Sumerian E-A means "the house of water", and it has been suggested that this was originally the name for the shrine to the God at Eridu

Eridu

Eridu was an ancient city seven miles southwest of Ur. Eridu was the southernmost of the conglomeration of cities that grew about temples, almost in sight of one another, in Sumer, southern Mesopotamia....
.

Attributes

The main temple of Enki was called é-engur-a, the "house of the lord of deep waters"; e-unir or é-abzu, the "house of Abzu" (the house of far waters), the underground area of sweet waters (most probably the Sumerians' explanation of groundwater

Groundwater

Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of geologic formations....
) marshlands that surrounded the mound on which the temple to Enki at Eridu was built. It was in Eridu

Eridu

Eridu was an ancient city seven miles southwest of Ur. Eridu was the southernmost of the conglomeration of cities that grew about temples, almost in sight of one another, in Sumer, southern Mesopotamia....
, which was then in the wetlands of the Euphrates

Euphrates

The Euphrates is the westernmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia .God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of the land of Israel extends to this river....
valley not far from the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf , in the Middle East region, is an extension of the Gulf of Oman located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula....
. He was the keeper of the holy powers called Me

Me (mythology)

In Mesopotamian mythology, a me...
, the gifts of civilized

Civilization

The word civilization has a variety of meanings related to human society. The word "civilization" comes from the Latin word for townsman or citizen, civis, and its adjectival form, civilis....
living. His image of the double-helix snake is reminiscent of the DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetics instructions for the developmental biology of a Cell form of life or a virus....
helix.

Enki is also the master shaper of the world, god of wisdom

Wisdom

Wisdom is the ability, developed through experience, insight and reflection, to discern truth and exercise good judgement....
and of all magic

Magick

Magick, in the broadest sense, is any act designed to cause intentional change. The archaic spelling with the terminal "k" was repopularized in the first half of the 20th century by Aleister Crowley when he made it a core component of his myst...
. He is the lord of the Apsu

Apsû

The aps was the name for the mythological underground freshwater ocean in Sumerian mythology and Akkadian mythology....
(Akkadian, Abzu in Sumerian, hence perhaps the Greek abussos and English word "abyss

Abyss

Abyss may mean:* Spirit of the Abyss, From Andromeda* Abyssal zone, the deepest extent of the sea....
"), the freshwater ocean of groundwater

Groundwater

Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of geologic formations....
under the earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth largest....
. In the later Babylonian "Enuma Eliš" Abzu, the "begetter of the gods", is inert and sleepy but finds his peace disturbed by the younger gods so sets out to destroy them. His grandson Enki, chosen to represent the younger gods puts a spell on Abzu "casting him into a deep sleep" confining him deep underground. Enki subsequently sets up his home "in the depths of the Abzu." Enki thus takes on all of the functions of the Abzu including his fertilising powers as lord of the waters and lord of semen.

Early royal inscriptions from the third millennium speak of "the reeds of Enki". Reed

Phragmites

Phragmites australis, the Common Reed, is a large Poaceae native to wetland sites throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world....
s were an important local building material, used for baskets and containers, and collected outside the city walls, where the dead or sick were often carried. This links Enki to the kur or underworld

Underworld

In the study of mythology and religion, the underworld is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term afterlife, referring to any place to which newly the dead souls go....
of Sumerian mythology. In another even older tradition Nammu

Nammu

In Sumerian mythology, Nammu is the Sumer creation goddess. If the Babylonian creation myth Enma Elish is based on a Sumerian myth, which seems likely, Nammu/Namma is the Sumerian goddess of the primeval sea that gave birth to heaven and ea...
the goddess of the primeval creative matter and the mother-goddess, who was said to have "given birth to the great gods," was the mother of Enki, and as the watery creative force, was said to pre-date Ea-Enki. Benito states "With Enki it is an interesting change of gender symbolism, the fertilising agent is also water, Sumerian "a" which also means "semen". In one evocative passage in a Sumerian hymn Enki stands at the empty river beds and fills them with his 'water'". This may be a reference to Enki's hieros gamos

Hieros gamos

Hieros Gamos or Hierogamy means a coupling of a god and a man or a woman, often having a symbolic meaning and generally conducted in the spring....
or sacred marriage with Ki

KI

The letters KI can refer to:...
/Ninhursag

Ninhursag

In Sumerian mythology, Ninhursag was the earth and mother-goddess she usually appears as the sister of Enlil....
(the Earth) (see below).

His symbols included a goat and a fish

Fish

A fish is a water-dwelling vertebrate with gills, that remains so throughout its life. Most are cold-blooded, though some, such as some species of tuna and shark, are warm-blooded....
, which later combined into a single beast, the goat

Capra (genus)

The genus Capra is a genus of mammals consisting of nine species, including the Ibex, the West Caucasian Tur, the East Caucasian Tur, the Markhor, and the Wild Goat....
Capricorn

Capricorn

Capricorn may refer to:*The constellation Capricornus, one of the constellations of the zodiac...
, which became one of the signs of the zodiac

Zodiac

The term zodiac denotes several places where a circle of twelve animals occurs. Indo-European people developed a zodiac of twelve signs associated with a yearly cycle and with constellations of stars that lie along the apparent path of t...
(Capricornus

Capricornus

Capricornus , a name meaning "Horn Goat" or "That which has horns like a goat's" in Latin, is one of the constellations of the zodiac....
).

Enki in Sumerian astronomy also represented the planet Mercury

Mercury (planet)

Mercury is the nearest planet to the sun, orbiting at an average distance of about 58 million kilometers....
, known for its ability to shift rapidly, and its proximity to the Sun

Sun

|+ The Sun |+|-| colspan="2" align="center" | |-! bgcolor="#ffffc0" colspan="2" align="center" | Observation data...
, Sumerian Utu

Utu

In Sumerian mythology, Utu is the offspring of Nanna and Ningal and is the god of the sun and of justice....
, Akkadian Shamash

Shamash

Shamash or Sama, was the common Akkadian language name of the sun-god in Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Mesopotamian mythology Utu....
, the god of Justice

Justice

Justice is the ideal, morally correct state of things and persons. This ideal has never been realised the world is filled with injustice; and it is overwhelmingly important most people think that injustice must be resisted and punished, and m...
.

Restorer of balance

Enki was not perfect, as god of water he had a penchant for beer

Beer

Beer is one of the world's oldest alcoholic beverages, possibly brewed for the first time over 10,000 years ago, according to renowned beer writer Michael Jackson ....
and as god of semen he had a string of incest

Incest

Incest is sexual activity between close family members.Incest is considered taboo, and forbidden in the majority of current and historical cultures....
uous affairs. In the epic Enki and Ninhursag, he and his consort Ninhursag

Ninhursag

In Sumerian mythology, Ninhursag was the earth and mother-goddess she usually appears as the sister of Enlil....
had a daughter Ninsar

Ninsar

In Sumerian mythology, Ninsar) is the goddess of plants.Daughter of Ninhursag and Enki.Mother of Ninkurra....
. When Ninhursag left him he came upon Ninsar (Lady Greenery) and then had intercourse with her. Ninhursa then gave birth to Ninkurra

Ninkurra

In Sumerian mythology a minor mother goddess, daughter of Enki and Ninsar. Mother of Uttu by Enki. In an alternative tradition she was the mother of Nin-imma, the deification of the female sex organs...
(Lady Fruitfulness or Lady Pasture).

A second time, he had intercourse with Ninkurra, who gave birth to Uttu

Uttu

Uttu is the goddess of weaving and clothing. She is both the child of Enki and Ninkur, and she bears seven new child/trees from Enki, the eighth being the Ti....
(= Weaver or Spider).

A third time Enki succumbs to temptation, and attempts seduction of Uttu. Upset about Enki's reputation, Uttu consults Ninhursag, who, upset at the promiscuous nature of her spouse, advises Uttu to avoid the riverbanks. In another version of this myth Ninhursag takes Enki's semen from Uttu's womb and plants it in the earth where seven plants rapidly germinate. With his two-faced servant and steward Isimud

Isimud

Isimud is a minor deity, the messenger of the god Enki in Mesopotamian mythology.He is readily identifiable by the fact that he possesses two faces looking in opposite directions....
, Enki finds the plants and immediately starts consuming their fruit. Consuming his own semen he falls pregnant (ill with swellings) in his jaw, his teeth, his mouth, his throat, his limbs and his rib. The gods are at a loss to know what to do, as Enki lacks a womb with which to give birth, until Ninhursag's sacred fox fetches the goddess.

Ninhursag relents and takes Enki's Ab (water, or semen) into her body, and gives birth to gods of healing of each part of the body. The last one - Ninti, Sumerian = Lady Rib, is also a pun on Lady Life, a title of Ninhursag herself. The story symbolically reflects the way in which life is brought forth through the addition of water to the land, and once it grows, water is required to bring plants to fruit. It also counsels balance and responsibility, nothing to excess.

Ninti, is given the title of the mother of all living, and was a title given to the later Hurrian goddess

Goddess

A goddess is a female deity, in contrast with a male deity known as a "god ". A great many cultures have goddesses, sometimes alone, but more often as part of a larger wiktionary:pantheon that includes both of the conventional genders and in so...
Kheba

Hebat

The mother goddess of the Hurrians. Hebat, known as "the mother of all living", was the consort of Teshub and the mother of Sarruma....
. This is also the title given to Eve

Eve (Bible)

Sorry, no overview for this topic
(= Hebrew Chavvah), the Aramaic Hawwah, who was supposedly made from the Rib of Adam, in a strange reflection of the Sumerian myth.

Confuser of languages

In the Sumerian epic entitled Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta

Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta

Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta is a legendary Sumerian language account, preserved early post-Sumerian copies, composed in the Neo-Sumerian period ....
, in a speech of Enmerkar

Enmerkar

Enmerkar, according to the Sumerian king list, was the builder of Uruk, and was said to have reigned for "420 years"....
, an incantation is pronounced that has a mythical introduction. Kramer's translation is as follows:

Once upon a time there was no snake, there was no scorpion,
There was no hyena, there was no lion,
There was no wild dog, no wolf,
There was no fear, no terror,
Man had no rival.

In those days, the lands of Subur (and) Hamazi

Hamazi

Hamazi was an ancient kingdom or city-state of some importance that reached its peak ca. 2500-2400 BC....
,
Harmony-tongued Sumer, the great land of the decrees of princeship,
Uri, the land having all that is appropriate,
The land Martu, resting in security,
The whole universe, the people in unison
To Enlil in one tongue [spoke].

(Then) Enki, the lord of abundance (whose) commands are trustworthy,
The lord of wisdom, who understands the land,
The leader of the gods,
Endowed with wisdom, the lord of Eridu

Eridu

Eridu was an ancient city seven miles southwest of Ur. Eridu was the southernmost of the conglomeration of cities that grew about temples, almost in sight of one another, in Sumer, southern Mesopotamia....

Changed the speech in their mouths, [brought] contention into it,
Into the speech of man that (until then) had been one.

Champion of humankind

According to Sumerian mythology, Enki also assisted humanity to survive the Deluge designed to kill them. In the Legend of Atrahasis, Enlil, the king of the gods, sets out to eliminate humanity, whose noise of them mating is offensive to his ears. He successively sends drought, famine and plague to eliminate humanity, but Enki thwarts his half-brother's plans by teaching Atrahasis irrigation, granaries and medicine. Humans again proliferate a fourth time. Enraged Enlil

Enlil

Enlil was the name of a chief deity in Babylonian religion, perhaps pronounced and sometimes rendered in translations as Ellil in later Akkadian language....
, convenes a Council of Deities and gets them to promise not to tell humankind that he plans their total annihilation. Enki, does not tell Atrahasis, but tells of Enlil's plan to the walls of Atrahasis'(aka Noah) reed hut, thus covertly rescuing the man Atrahasis, or Ziusudra by either instructing him to build some kind of a boat for his family, or by bringing him into the heavens in a magic boat. After the seven day Deluge, the flood hero, Utnapishtim, Atrahasis or Ziusudra

Ziusudra

#REDIRECT Sumerian creation myth...
frees a swallow, a raven and a dove in an effort to find if the flood waters have receded. On the boat landing, a sacrifice is organized to the gods. Enlil is angry his will has been thwarted yet again, and Enki is named as the culprit. As the god of what we would call ecology, Enki explains that Enlil is unfair to punish the guiltless Atrahasis for the sins of his fellows, and secures a promise that the gods will not eliminate humankind if they practice birth control and live within the means of the natural world. The threat is made, however, that if humans do not honor their side of the covenant

Covenant

Covenant, in its most general sense, is a word for a solemn promise or similar undertaking.More specifically, a covenant, in contrast to a contract, is a one-way agreement whereby the covenantor is the only party bound by the promise....
the gods will be free to wreak havoc once again. This is apparently the oldest surviving Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a subcontinent for the Historical geography and cultural geography subregion of Africa-Eurasia traditionally held to be countries or regions in Southwest Asia together with Ancient Egypt#Background....
ern Deluge myths

Flood (mythology)

The story of a Great Flood sent by God or the deity to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution is a widespread theme in mythologys....
.

Enki and Inanna

In his connections with Inanna Enki shows other aspects of his ll non-Patriarchal

Patriarchy

Patriarchy is the anthropological term used to define the sociological condition where male members of a society tend to predominate in positions of power; with the more powerful the position, the more likely it is that a male will hold that p...
nature. The myth Enki and Inanna tells the story of the young goddess of the É-anna temple of Uruk

Uruk

Uruk, was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates, on the line of the ancient Nil canal, in a region of marshes, about 140 miles SSE from Baghdad....
, who visits the senior god of Eridu, and is entertained by him in a feast. The seductive god plies her with beer, and the young goddess maintains her virtue, whilst Enki proceeds to get drunk. In generosity he gives her all the gifts of his Me, the gifts of civilized life. Next morning, with a hangover, he asks his servant Isimud

Isimud

Isimud is a minor deity, the messenger of the god Enki in Mesopotamian mythology.He is readily identifiable by the fact that he possesses two faces looking in opposite directions....
for his Me, only to be informed that he has given them to Inanna. Upset at his actions, he sends Galla demons to recover them. Inanna escapes her pursuers and arrives safely back at the quay at Uruk. Enki realizes that he has been tricked in his hubris and accepts a peace treaty forever with Uruk.

Politically, this myth would seem to indicate events of an early period when political authority passed from Enki's city of Eridu to Inanna's city of Uruk.

In the myth of Inanna's descent, Inanna, in order to console her grieving sister Ereshkigal

Ereshkigal

In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal was the goddess of Irkalla, the land of the dead or underworld....
, who is mourning the death of her husband Gugalana (Gu=Bull, Gal=Great, Ana=Heaven), slain by Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh, according to the Sumerian king list, was the fifth king of Uruk , the son of Lugalbanda, ruling circa 2650 BC....
and Enkidu

Enkidu

Enkidu appears in Sumerian mythology as a mythical wild-man raised by animals; his beast-like ways are finally tamed by a courtesan named Shamhat....
, sets out to visit her sister. She tells her servant Ninshubur (Nin=Lady, Shubur=Evening}, a reference to Inanna's role as the evening star

Evening Star

Evening Star may be:* The planet Venus* BR 92220 Evening Star, a BR standard class 9F locomotive and the last steam locomotive to be built by British Railways....
, that if she does not return in three days, to get help from her father Anu

Anu

In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians, Anu was a sky-god, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spiritual being and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions....
, Enlil

Enlil

Enlil was the name of a chief deity in Babylonian religion, perhaps pronounced and sometimes rendered in translations as Ellil in later Akkadian language....
, king of the gods, or Enki. When she does not return, Ninshubur approaches Anu only to be told that he understands that his daughter is strong and can take care of herself. Enlil tells Ninshubur he is much too busy running the cosmos. Enki immediately expresses concern and dispatches his Galla demons, Galaturra or Kurgarra, sexless beings created from the dirt from beneath the god's finger-nails, to recover the young goddess. These beings may be the origin of the Greco-Roman Galli, androgynous beings of the third sex, similar to the American Indian berdache, who played an important part in early religious ritual.

In the story Inanna and Shukaletuda, Shukaletuda, the gardener, set by Enki to care for the date palm he had created, finds Inanna sleeping under the palm tree and rapes the goddess in her sleep. Awaking, she discovers that she has been violated and seeks to punish the miscreant. Shukaletuda seeks protection from Enki, whom Bottero believes to be his father. In classic Enkian fashion, the father advises Shukaletuda to hide in the city where Inanna will not be able to find him. Enki, as the protector of whomever comes to seek his help, and as the empowerer of Inanna, here challenges the young impetuous goddess to control her anger so as to be better able to function as a great judge.

Eventually, after cooling her anger, she too seeks the help of Enki, as spokesperson of the "assembly of the gods", the Igigi and the Anunnaki. After she presents her case, Enki sees that justice needs to be done and promises help, delivering knowledge of where the miscreant is hiding.

Portrayal

Enki was considered a god of life and replenishment, and was often depicted with two streams of water emanating from his shoulders, one the Tigris, the other the Euphrates. Alongside him were trees symbolizing the male and female aspects of nature, each holding the male and female aspects of the 'Life Essence', which he, as apparent alchemist of the gods, would masterfully mix to create several beings that would live upon the face of the earth.

In character

Moral character

Moral character or character is an evaluation of a person's Morality and mental qualities....
Enki is not a jester or trickster

Trickster

In mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spiritual being, human hero or anthropomorphism animal who plays pranks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and norms of behaviour....
god, he is never a cheat

Cheat

Cheat can refer to:* Cheating, to take advantage of a situation by the breaking of accepted rules or standards...
, and although fooled, he is not a fool

Fool

A fool can refer to:* A stupidity person* A court jester or clown* A fruit fool, a dish made with cooked fruit...
. Enki uses his magic for the good of others when called upon to help either a god, a goddess or a human. Enki is always true to his own essence as a masculine

Masculinity

Masculinity comprises culturally of the traits assigned to the male in various contexts. The word masculine can refer to:...
nurturer. He is fundamentally a trouble-shooter god, and avoids or disarms those who bring conflict and death to the world. He is the mediator whose compassion

Compassion

Compassion is a sense of shared suffering, most often combined with a desire to alleviate or reduce such suffering; to show special kindness to those who suffer....
and sense of humor breaks and disarms the wrath of his stern half-brother, Enlil

Enlil

Enlil was the name of a chief deity in Babylonian religion, perhaps pronounced and sometimes rendered in translations as Ellil in later Akkadian language....
, king of the gods. He is the Challenger who tests the limits of Inanna

Inanna

Inanna, the original "Holy Virgin," as the Sumer called her, is the first known divinity associated with the planet Venus....
in the myth Enki and Inanna and the Me and then concedes graciously his defeat by the young goddess of Love and War, by strengthening the bonds between Eridu

Eridu

Eridu was an ancient city seven miles southwest of Ur. Eridu was the southernmost of the conglomeration of cities that grew about temples, almost in sight of one another, in Sumer, southern Mesopotamia....
and her city of Uruk

Uruk

Uruk, was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates, on the line of the ancient Nil canal, in a region of marshes, about 140 miles SSE from Baghdad....
. So he becomes the Empower

EMPOWER

EMPOWER or Moolniti Songserm Okard Pooying is a non-profit community organisation in Thailand that supports sex workers; it offers free classes in language, health, law and pre-college education as well as individual counseling to these p...
er of Inanna.

He is the lord of the Apsu

Apsû

The aps was the name for the mythological underground freshwater ocean in Sumerian mythology and Akkadian mythology....
(Akkadian, Abzu in Sumerian, hence Greek and English Abyss) , the fresh-water ocean of groundwater

Groundwater

Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of geologic formations....
under the earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth largest....
. The essay on "Enki: the Fresh Waters Lord, Master of all Crafts, Magick and Wisdom" states of Enki that he is -

"The most complete and modern mirror of masculine wholeness in Mesopotamia and world religion. His values and attributes are timeless, and it is not surprising to see that He is one of the most beloved gods of Mesopotamia. How can He be so whole? Because in Him the passionate and joyous Lover, the Mystic, the Strategist, the Sorcerer, the Divine Manager, the Keeper of World Order and Rescuer of Humankind and Gods alike are all One.

Enki is ... the gallant, impetuous, energetic Lord of Wisdom, the Seeker after truth, and Master Adept in sorcery, enchantment and seduction."

Influence

Enki and later Ea were apparently depicted, sometimes, like Adapa, as a man covered with the skin of a fish, and this representation, as likewise the name of his temple E-apsu, "house of the watery deep", points decidedly to his original character as a god of the waters (see Oannes

Oannes

Oannes was the name given by the 3rd century BC Babylonian writer Berossus to a mythical being who taught mankind wisdom....
). Of his cult

Cult

In religion and sociology, a cult is a cohesive group of people devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture or society considers to be far outside the mainstream....
at Eridu, which goes back to the oldest period of Mesopotamian history, nothing definite is known except that his temple was also associated with Ninhursag's temple which was called Esaggila = "the lofty sacred house" (E

É (temple)

? is the Sumerian language for "house" or "temple", written ideographically with the cuneiform sign ...
= house, Sag = sacred, Ila = High (or (Akkadian) = Ila (goddess))), a name shared with Marduk's temple in Babylon, pointing to a staged tower or ziggurat

Ziggurat

A ziggurat is a temple tower of the ancient Mesopotamian valley and Iran, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories....
(as with the temple of Enlil

Enlil

Enlil was the name of a chief deity in Babylonian religion, perhaps pronounced and sometimes rendered in translations as Ellil in later Akkadian language....
at Nippur

Nippur

The city of Nippur [nipoor'] was one of the most ancient of all the Babylonian cities of which we have any knowledge, the special seat of the worship of the Sumerian god, Enlil, ruler of the cosmos subject to An alone....
, which was known as Ekur ("Kur" = mountain "E" = house), and that incantations, involving ceremonial rites in which water as a sacred element played a prominent part, formed a feature of his worship. This seems also implicated in the epic

Epic poetry

The epic is a broadly defined genre of poetry, and one of the major forms of narrative literature....
of the hieros gamos

Hieros gamos

Hieros Gamos or Hierogamy means a coupling of a god and a man or a woman, often having a symbolic meaning and generally conducted in the spring....
or sacred marriage

Marriage

A marriage is a relationship between or among individuals, usually recognized by civil authority and/or bound by the religious beliefs of the participants....
of Enki and Ninhursag, which seems an etiological

Etiology

Etiology is the study of Causality. It comes from the Greek meaning 'concerned with origins' so can refer to myths as well as medical and philosophical theories....
myth of the fertilization of the dry ground by the coming of irrigation water (from Sumerian = 'A, Ab' = water, or semen). The early inscriptions of Urukagina

Urukagina

Urukagina was a ruler of Lagash in Mesopotamia about the 24th century BC. His wife was probably Queen Shagshag....
in fact go so far as to suggest that the divine pair, Enki and Ninki, were the progenators of seven pairs of gods, including Enki as god of Eridu

Eridu

Eridu was an ancient city seven miles southwest of Ur. Eridu was the southernmost of the conglomeration of cities that grew about temples, almost in sight of one another, in Sumer, southern Mesopotamia....
, Enlil

Enlil

Enlil was the name of a chief deity in Babylonian religion, perhaps pronounced and sometimes rendered in translations as Ellil in later Akkadian language....
of Nippur

Nippur

The city of Nippur [nipoor'] was one of the most ancient of all the Babylonian cities of which we have any knowledge, the special seat of the worship of the Sumerian god, Enlil, ruler of the cosmos subject to An alone....
and Su'en (or Sin

Sin (mythology)

Nanna is a god in Mesopotamian mythology who is the lunar deity and the son of Enlil and Ninlil....
) of Ur

Ur

Ur was an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia, located near the original mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers on the Persian Gulf and close to Eridu....
, and were themselves the children of An (sky, heaven) and Ki (earth). The pool of the Abzu at the front of his temple, was adopted also at the temple to Nanna

Nanna

Nanna may refer to:* Nanna , god of the moon in Sumerian mythology* Nanna , god of the moon in Tamil mythology...
(Akkadian

Akkadian language

Akkadian was a Semitic language spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrian people and Babylonians....
Sin

Sin (mythology)

Nanna is a god in Mesopotamian mythology who is the lunar deity and the son of Enlil and Ninlil....
) the Moon, at Ur

Ur

Ur was an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia, located near the original mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers on the Persian Gulf and close to Eridu....
, and spread throughout the Middle East. It remains as the sacred pool at Mosques.

Whether Eridu at one time also played an important political role in Sumerian affairs is not certain, though not improbable. At all events the prominence of "Ea" led, as in the case of Nippur, to the survival of Eridu as a sacred city, long after it had ceased to have any significance as a political center. Myths in which Ea figures prominently have been found in Assurbanipal's library, and in the Hattusas archive

Archive

Archives refers to a collection of records, and also refers to the location in which these records are kept....
in Hittite

Hittites

The Hittites were an ancient people who spoke an Indo-European language, and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia from the 18th century BC....
Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to the Asiatic portion of Turkey, as opposed to the European portion, the Thrace....
. As Ea, Enki had a wide influence outside of Sumeria, being equated with El

El (god)

El is a northwest Semitic languages word and name translated into English as either 'god' or 'God' or left untranslated as El, depending on the context....
(at Ugarit

Ugarit

Ugarit was an ancient cosmopolitan port city, sited on the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria a few kilometers north of the modern city of Latakia....
) and possibly Yah

Yah

YAH may refer to:* Iah, the Egyptian language word for moon.* Jah, the Rastafari name of God....
(at Ebla

Ebla

Ebla is not to be confused with Elba.Ebla was an ancient city located in northern Syria, about 55 km southwest of Aleppo....
) in the Canaanite

Canaanite mythology

Canaan mythology are the myths and god tales of ancient Canaan.* calf worship of Canaanites and Phoenicians : Tobit i....
'ilhm

Elohim

Elohim is a Hebrew language word which expresses concepts of divinity. It is apparently related to the Hebrew word El, though morphology it consists of the Hebrew word Eloah with a plural suffix....
pantheon

Pantheon (gods)

A pantheon, is a set of all the gods of a particular religion or mythology, such as the gods of Hinduism, Greek mythology, Norse mythology, and Egyptian mythology....
, he is also found in Hurrian and Hittite

Hittites

The Hittites were an ancient people who spoke an Indo-European language, and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia from the 18th century BC....
mythology, as a god of contracts, and is particularly favourable to humankind. Amongst the Western Semites it is thought that Ea was equated to the term *hyy (Life), referring to Enki's waters as life giving. Enki/Ea is essentially a god of civilization, wisdom and culture. He was also the creator and protector of man, and of the world in general. Traces of this view appear in the Marduk epic celebrating the achievements of this god and the close connection between the Ea cult at Eridu and that of Marduk. The correlation between the two rise from two other important connections: (1) that the name of Marduk's sanctuary at Babylon bears the same name, Esaggila, as that of a temple in Eridu, and (2) that Marduk is generally termed the son of Ea, who derives his powers from the voluntary abdication of the father in favour of his son. Accordingly, the incantations originally composed for the Ea cult were re-edited by the priests of Babylon and adapted to the worship of Marduk

Marduk

Marduk was the Babylonian language name of a late generation god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon, who, when Babylon permanently became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of Hammurabi, start...
, and, similarly, the hymns to Marduk betray traces of the transfer of attributes to Marduk which originally belonged to Ea. It is, however, as the third figure in the triad (the two other members of which were Anu

Anu

In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians, Anu was a sky-god, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spiritual being and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions....
and Enlil

Enlil

Enlil was the name of a chief deity in Babylonian religion, perhaps pronounced and sometimes rendered in translations as Ellil in later Akkadian language....
) that Ea acquires his permanent place in the pantheon. To him was assigned the control of the watery element, and in this capacity he becomes the 'shar

Belu

Belu is a UK based company that sells mineral water packaged in "plastic" bottles made of corn. Belu claim to have created "the UK's first compost bottle"....
apsi', i.e. king of the Apsu or "the deep." The Apsu was figured as the abyss of water beneath the earth, and since the gathering place of the dead, known as Aralu, was situated near the confines of the Apsu, he was also designated as En

EN (cuneiform)

EN is the Sumerian cuneiform for "lord".deities:*Enlil*Enki*Engurun*Sin See also: ERE? "lady", LUGAL "king", b?lu....
-Ki, i.e. "lord of that which is below", in contrast to Anu, who was the lord of the "above" or the heavens. The cult of Ea extended throughout Babylonia and Assyria

Assyria

Assyria in earliest historical times referred to a region on the Upper Tigris river, named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur....
. We find temples and shrines erected in his honour, e.g. at Nippur, Girsu, Ur

Ur

Ur was an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia, located near the original mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers on the Persian Gulf and close to Eridu....
, Babylon, Sippar and Nineveh

Nineveh

Nineveh was an important city in ancient Assyria. This "exceeding great city", as it is called in the Book of Jonah, lay on the eastern bank of the Tigris in modern-day Mosul, Iraq....
, and the numerous epithets given to him, as well as the various forms under which the god appears, alike bear witness to the popularity which he enjoyed from the earliest to the latest period of Babylonian-Assyrian history. The consort of Ea, known as Ninhursag, Ki, Uriash Damkina, "lady of that which is below," or Damgalnunna, "great lady of the waters," originally was fully equal with Ea but in more patriarchal

Patriarchy

Patriarchy is the anthropological term used to define the sociological condition where male members of a society tend to predominate in positions of power; with the more powerful the position, the more likely it is that a male will hold that p...
Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian times plays a part merely in association with her lord. Generally, however, Enki seems to be a reflection of pre-patriarchal times, in which relations between the sexes were characterised by a situation of greater gender equality

Gender equality

Gender equality is the goal of the equality of the genders or the sexes, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality....
. In his character, he prefers persuasion to conflict, which he seeks to avoid if possible.