Enki of Eridu — Ea to the Akkadians — the cunning god of fresh water and wisdom who saved humankind from the flood, now drowned in the silence of his own waters.
Born
3000 BCE
Died
100 CE
Lived
3,100 years
Dead for
1,926 yrs
Cause of death
Forgotten
Replaced by
Christianity and Islam in the later Near East
The Obituary
Enki, known to the Akkadians as Ea, was the Sumerian god of fresh water, wisdom and crafts, dwelling in the Abzu, the underground freshwater ocean beneath his city Eridu. The cunning problem-solver of the gods, he helped fashion humankind from clay and, against Enlil’s decree, warned the flood hero Ziusudra (Atrahasis) to build a boat and preserve life. Honored for nearly three thousand years across Mesopotamia, his rites dwindled under Persian and Greek domination and ended in the early centuries CE. The god of wisdom passed out of memory along with the temples that once invoked him.
Worth remembering
Dwelling in the Abzu, the underground freshwater ocean, he was the clever problem-solver of the gods, devising humankind from clay mixed with divine blood.
When Enlil sent the flood, Enki whispered the warning to the flood hero through a reed wall, telling him to build a boat and save the seed of life.
Gallery
Akkadian Adda cylinder seal, c. 2300 BCE, showing the god Ea (Enki) with streams of water and fish flowing from his shouldersNic McPhee · CC BY-SA 2.0Old Babylonian statue of the god Ea (Enki) enthroned holding a cup, flanked by fish-men, from Nasiriyah, Iraq, 2004-1595 BCEOsama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources
Enki (Akkadian Ea) was the Sumerian god of fresh water, wisdom, crafts and creation, whose cult center was Eridu. Wikipedia
Enki warns the flood hero (Ziusudra/Atrahasis) to build a boat, preserving humanity against Enlil's wrath. World History Encyclopedia
