Enki

• 1. Origins And Etymology

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  Scholars have debated the meaning of Enki's name for over a century. The Sumerian spelling dEN-KI usually translates to Lord of the Earth, yet this definition does not fit all known functions of the god. Some researchers argue that the second element ki(g) might mean favor or benevolence instead of earth. Edmond Sollberger and Wilfred G. Lambert proposed this alternative translation in modern scholarship. They suggest the name reflects Enki's role as a friend to humanity rather than just a ruler of land. Other scholars point out that an omissible g appears at the end of the second element of his name. This letter does not appear in the name of the primordial god Enki found in other texts. The forms of their names differ in the Emesal dialect, with one written Amanki and the other Umunki. It remains unclear when these two figures were fully equated with each other. Alfonso Archi argues that syncretism between them likely existed from the mid third millennium BCE in parts of Babylonia. The name Ea first occurs in personal names from the Old Akkadian period around 2300 BCE. Earlier translations interpreting Ea as House of Water are now regarded as implausible by most experts. Margaret W. Green proposed that both names derived from a pre-Sumerian deity integrated into later pantheons. Miguel Civil suggested the name Haya was originally an alternative spelling of Ea. This hypothesis is considered credible but has not been proved with certainty.

• 2. Attributes And Iconography

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  Ancient artists depicted Enki with water streams flowing directly from his body or shoulders. These streams often contained fish swimming within them on cylinder seals from the Old Akkadian Period. A well-known example is the Adda Seal dating to circa 2300 BCE which shows this imagery clearly. He held vases from which water flowed while sitting or standing in his shrine. His emblems included the goat-fish and the ram-headed staff appearing together on kudurrus. The kudurru of Nazi-Maruttash refers to them as the great emblems of Ea. The ram-headed staff appeared in art from the Old Babylonian period until the Achaemenid period. The goat-fish was attested in Mesopotamian art from the Neo Sumerian period until Hellenistic times. It became the origin of the zodiacal constellation Capricorn. Another symbol associated with him since the Old Akkadian period was the turtle. On some kudurrus it replaced the goat-fish with the ram-headed staff entirely. Artists sometimes showed him alongside his two-faced vizier Isimud who introduced people to him. He also appeared with Lahmu servants described as naked male figures with abundant facial hair. These beings acted as doorkeepers holding gate-posts or spades in later periods. A figure known as the kulullû had a human upper body and lower body of a fish. This creature might have been the precursor of the merman in Greek and Medieval European art.

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• 3. Family And Divine Court

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  The sky god An is named as the father of Enki in multiple sources including the myth Enki and the World order. In a balbale by Ishme-Dagan, the parents are listed as An and Urash. The creator goddess Nammu was regarded as the mother of Enki in the tradition of Eridu. She appears in this role in the myth Enki and Ninmah and the god list An=Anum. Some scholars keep these traditions separate because An and Nammu do not appear together often. Enki's spouse Damgalnuna acted as an intermediary between her husband and supplicants. In the myth Enki and Ninhursag, Ninhursag instead appears as Enki's consort. Ningikuga was another goddess regarded as a wife of Enki according to tablet II of the god list An=Anum. Marduk was regarded as the son of Enki and Damgalnuna and could be called Ea's first-born son. The earliest documented sources attesting to this tradition date to the Old Babylonian Period. Asalluhi was also considered a son of Enki before being assimilated into Marduk. Nanshe was regarded as the daughter of Enki and Damgalnuna with traditions existing in Early Dynastic Lagash. Enbilulu could be regarded as a son of Enki though he is sometimes called the son of Enlil and Ninlil. The eponymous goddess Ninkasi is Enki's daughter with Ninti according to the Hymn to Ninkasi. Dumuzi-abzu was originally the name of a female deity from Lagash who was reinterpreted as his son later. Eight deities were born from the ill body parts of Enki at the end of the myth Enki and Ninhursag. His sukkal was Isimud who was characteristically depicted with two faces in Mesopotamian art. Sirsir served as a boatman for Enki while Ka-halgal and Igi-halgal acted as doorkeepers.

• 4. Worship And Cult Centers

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  His main cult center was the city of Eridu which was regarded as his home already in the sources of the Early Dynastic Period. The temple of Enki in Eridu was named the E-Abzû meaning House of the Abzû. It could also be referred to with the byname Eengura meaning House of Sweet Waters. Construction work on the E-Abzû was done by a king of Ur named Elili during the Early Dynastic period. One shrine bearing the name Abzû-banda was built by Ur-Nanshe in the territory of Lagash. An inscription of Enmetena commemorates his building of the Abzû of Parsir for Enki lord of Eridu. In Umma, the construction of a temple for Enkigal is known from an inscription of Ur-Lumma. The earliest attestations of the name Ea date to the 24th century BCE. A festival of Ea took place in Ebla during the twelfth month where jugglers participated. Evidence from tablets dating to the first two centuries of the second millennium indicate he was one of the deities most frequently invoked in Mariote personal names. Examples include names like Ea-malik and Nabi-Ea. In Nippur, Enki and Damgalnuna's temple is known from a fragment of a business document from the reign of Samsu-Iluna. Shrines of Enki are attested in Sippar, Isin, and Dilbat during the Old Babylonian Period. A temple of Ea and Damkina in Nippur is mentioned in a Middle Babylonian metrological text. In Babylon, Ea was worshipped in the Ekarzagina meaning House of Pure Quay or House of the Quay of Lapis Lazuli. Essarhaddon had a statue of Ea made and purified there while Nabonidus furnished it with a new throne.

• 5. Creation Myths And Narratives

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  Enki and Ninmah describes how Enki creates mankind in collaboration with his mother Ninmah. The gods who work grow dissatisfied with their situation and demand a substitute to perform hard labor. Enki devises a plan to create mankind from the clay of the Abzû. He delegates its execution to his mother assisted by seven helper goddesses. In another myth called Enūma Eliš, Marduk demands that rebellious gods hand over their leader Qingu for amnesty. Ea fashions mankind from Qingu's blood after he is executed. This follows older tradition where he works with the mother-goddess to fashion the new being. The Babylonian Epic of Creation celebrates the elevation of Babylon's national god Marduk as head of the pantheon. It was composed in the second half of the second millennium BCE though no secure evidence exists for its exact date. In this epic, Ea kills Abzû personified as an older generation god and becomes father of Marduk. He establishes his abode on the body of Abzû which becomes his underground water domain. The myth Enki and Ninhursag sets the story in Dilmun where Ninsikila complains her land lacks water. Enki responds by summoning underground sweet waters to make it fertile. Later scenes involve sexual encounters between Enki and various goddesses leading to illness and healing. A fox offers help to Enlil if it succeeds in bringing Ninhursag back to heal Enki. The myth ends with assignment of roles to eight deities born from Enki's ill body parts.

• 6. Cross-Cultural Syncretism

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  The worship of Ea was introduced into Anatolia through Hurrian cults possibly as early as the third millennium BCE. His name was rendered as Eyan in Hurrian and Aaš in Hittite while Iyas appears in Luwian texts. He could be invoked as a divine witness in political treaties with earliest evidence dating to the fourteenth century BCE. A temple of Ea is attested in Hattusa during the thirteenth century BCE. He remained a prominent god by the Hittites of Northern Syria in the first millennium BCE. In an Assyrian incantation series, Enki is identified with the Elamite god Napirisha sharing association with underground waters. At Ebla, local form of Ea was associated with Zilašu the local form of beer goddess Siris. He was also connected with Rašap an Underworld god. In a god list part of an Ugaritic ritual, Ea is identified with Kothar-wa-Khasis like him a god associated with craftsmanship. Comparisons have been made between Ea and the Greek Titan Prometheus in modern scholarship. Both feature as culture heroes saving humanity from extinction by warning a human protege in a flood myth. Some scholars argue that Prometheus was assimilated to Ea by Greeks acquiring his role as culture hero as result. Though views suggesting Israelite god Yahweh derived from Mesopotamian Ea are largely rejected today. The Seven Sages were fish-men creatures of Abzû regarded as responsible for teaching mankind various aspects of culture. They appear in Babylonian and Assyrian tradition dating to late second and first millennium BCE. Berossos relates that Oannes came out of sea to teach inhabitants of Babylonia writing temple building and sciences.