View source for Enki

{{short description|God in Sumerian mythology}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Mesopotamian
| name = Enki<br>{{langx|sux|{{cuneiform|4|𒀭𒂗𒆠}}|label=none}}
| image = Enki(Ea).jpg
| caption = Detail of Enki from the Adda Seal, an ancient Akkadian cylinder seal dating to circa 2,300 BCE<ref name="seal">{{cite web|title=The Adda Seal|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=368706&partId=1&searchText=89115&page=1|website=British Museum}}</ref>
| deity_of = God of subterranean fresh waters, wisdom, crafts, creation, magic and incantations{{sfn|Galter|1983|p=52-103}}
| symbol = ram-headed staff, [[Sea goat|goat-fish]], [[turtle]], [[ibex]]{{sfn|Wiggermann|1997|p=226}}
| consort = {{plainlist|
*[[Damgalnuna]]
*[[Ninhursag]] (in Enki and Ninhursag through syncretism with Damgalnuna){{sfn|Katz|2008|p=322}}
*[[Ningikuga]] (in one tradition){{sfn|Zgoll|1998|p=352}}
*[[Ninti]] (in the Hymn to Ninkasi){{sfn|Asher-Greve|Goodnick Westenholz|2013|p=168}} }}
| siblings = {{plainlist|
*[[Enlil]] (in Enki and the World order){{sfn|Lambert|2013|p=405}}
*[[Ninhursag|Ninmah]] (in Enki and Ninmah){{sfn|Krebernik|1997|p=507}}
*[[Hadad|Ishkur]] (in some texts){{sfn|Shwemer|2008|p=133}} }}
| children = several, including [[Nanshe]], [[Asalluhi]], [[Marduk]] and [[Enbilulu]]{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|p=75}}
| Greek_equivalent = 
| equivalent1 = [[Kothar-wa-Khasis]]{{sfn|Tugendhaft|2016|p=180}}
| equivalent1_type = Ugaritic
| equivalent2 = [[Ptah]]
| equivalent3 = Eyan{{sfn|Tugendhaft|2016|p=180}}
| equivalent4 = [[Napirisha]]{{sfn|Garrison|2009|p=2}}
| equivalent2_type = Egyptian
| equivalent3_type = Hurrian
| equivalent4_type = Elamite
| abode = [[Abzu]]
| other_names = Ea, Nudimmud, Nagbu, Niššīku
| cult_center = [[Eridu]], [[Malgium]]
| number = 40
| equivalent5 = possibly [[Prometheus]]{{sfn|West|1994|p=129-149}}{{sfn|Duchemin|1974|p=33-67}}
possibly [[Poseidon]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Duke|first=T. T.|title=Ovid's Pyramus and Thisbe|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3296569|journal=The Classical Journal|volume=66|number=4|year=1971|issn=0009-8353|publisher=Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS)|pages=320–327|jstor=3296569}} p. 324, note 28: "... Leonard Palmer suggests in his ''Interpretation of Mycenaean Greek texts'' (1963), p. 255, that the name of Poseidon is a direct translation of the Sumerian EN.KI, 'lord of the earth'".</ref>
| equivalent5_type = Greek
| father = [[Anu|An]]
| mother = [[Nammu]] or [[Uraš|Urash]]{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=138}}
| spouse = 
}}
{{Contains special characters|cuneiform}}

'''Enki''' ({{langx|sux|{{cuneiform|4|𒀭𒂗𒆠}}}} {{Transliteration|sux|<sup>[[dingir|D]]</sup>EN-KI}}) is the [[Sumerian religion|Sumerian god]] of [[water deity|water]], knowledge (''[[Geshtu-E|gestú]]''), [[crafts]] (''gašam''), art, intelligence, trickery, mischief, magic, fertility, virility, healing,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mark |first=Joshua J. |date=2017-01-09 |title=Enki |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Enki/ |journal=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref> and [[Creation deity|creation]] (''nudimmud''), and one of the [[Anunnaki]]. He was later known as '''Ea''' ({{langx|akk|{{cuneiform|4|𒀭𒂍𒀀}}}}) or '''Ae'''<ref name="Duke 1971 320–327">{{cite journal|last=Duke|first=T. T.|title=Ovid's Pyramus and Thisbe|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3296569|journal=The Classical Journal|volume=66|number=4|year=1971|issn=0009-8353|publisher=Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS)|pages=320–327|jstor=3296569}} p. 324, note 27.</ref> in [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] ([[Assyria]]n-[[Babylonia]]n) [[Babylonian religion|religion]], and is identified by some scholars with '''Ia''' in [[Canaanite religion]]. The name was rendered '''Aos''' within Greek sources (e.g. [[Damascius]]).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Langdon|first=S.|title=The Babylonian Conception of the Logos|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25209408|journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|year=1918|issn=0009-8353|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=433–449 [434]|jstor=25209408}}</ref>

He was originally the [[patron god]] of the city of [[Eridu]], but later the influence of his [[Cult (religious practice)|cult]] spread throughout [[Mesopotamia]] and to the [[Canaan#Canaanites|Canaanites]], [[Hittites]] and [[Hurrians]]. He was associated with the southern band of constellations called ''stars of Ea'', but also with the constellation '''AŠ-IKU''', ''the Field'' ([[Pegasus (constellation)|Square of Pegasus]]).<ref>[http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1998JBAA..108....9R Origins of the ancient constellations: I. The Mesopotamian traditions] by J.H. Rogers</ref> Beginning around the second millennium BCE, he was sometimes referred to in writing by the numeric ideogram for "40", occasionally referred to as his "sacred number".{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|p=145}}<ref>{{cite book |first1=Benjamin R. |last1=Foster |chapter=4 Mesopotamia |editor-first=John R. |editor-last=Hinnells |title=A Handbook of Ancient Religions |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FIYiil96ZXAC&pg=PA174 |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-46198-6 |pages=174}}</ref> The planet [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], associated with Babylonian ''[[Nabu]]'' (the son of [[Marduk]]) was, in [[Sumer]]ian times, identified with Enki,{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|p=133}} as was the star [[Canopus]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nugent |first=Tony |date=1993-01-01 |title=Star-god: Enki/Ea and the biblical god as expressions of a common ancient Near Eastern astral-theological symbol system |url=https://surface.syr.edu/rel_etd/52 |journal=Religion – Dissertations}}</ref>

Many myths about Enki have been collected from various sites, stretching from Southern Iraq to the [[Levant]]ine coast. He is mentioned in the earliest extant cuneiform inscriptions throughout the region and was prominent from the third millennium down to the [[Hellenistic period]].

== The names Enki and Ea ==
The meaning of the names Enki and Ea is uncertain. It is presumed that they were originally separate deities, though it is unclear when they were fully equated with each other.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Horry |first=Ruth |date=2019 |title=Enki/Ea (god) |url=https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/enki/index.html |access-date=2025-05-31 |website=Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses |publisher=Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, UK Higher Education Academy}}</ref> Alfonso Archi argues that syncretism between them likely already existed at least from the mid third millennium BCE in parts of Babylonia.{{Sfn|Archi|2010|p=15-17}}

=== Enki ===
The name Enki is usually translated as “Lord of the Earth” in [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]].{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=8}} This explanation is not universally accepted.{{Sfn|Lambert|1989|p=116}} Several scholars argue that it does not seemingly fit the functions of the god.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=8}}{{Sfn|Kramer|1960|p=276}} It has been proposed that Enki could have been an epithet of the deity that eventually replaced his original name.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=8-9}} [[Samuel Noah Kramer]] argued that the epithet <nowiki>''Lord of the Earth''</nowiki> was given to the god by the theologians of [[Eridu]] in order to elevate his position in the pantheon and make him a rival of [[Enlil]].{{Sfn|Kramer|1960|p=276}}However, [[Thorkild Jacobsen]] points out that there is no conclusive evidence of a rivalry between Enki and Enlil in Sumerian texts.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1992|p=415}} Jacobsen interpreted Enki as a personification of the power of sweet waters. He explained his name ‘’Lord (productive manager) of the Earth’’ as a reflection of the role of water in the fertilizing of the earth.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1976|p=111}} He proposed that Enki’s original name was [[Abzu|Abzû]], later regarded as his under-earth sweet water domain and living place.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1970|p=22}} However according to Peeter Espak there is no conclusive proof that Enki was regarded as a water god in the available sources of the old sumerian period.{{Sfn|Espak|2010|p=237}} Despite the similarity between their names, Enki of Eridu and [[Ancestors of Enlil|the primordial god Enki]] were separate figures.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1976|p=252}} Jacobsen proposed that their names had slightly different meanings and he translated the name of the primordial god as “Lord Earth”.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1976|p=252}}The forms of their names in the [[Emesal]] dialect are different; the name of Enki of Eridu is written Amanki, while the name of the primordial god is written Umunki.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=414}}

[[Edmond Sollberger]] and [[Wilfred G. Lambert]] have proposed a different translation for the name of Enki of Eridu. It has been remarked that an omissible g appears at the end of the second element of his name, which does not appear in the name of the primordial god.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=417}}For this reason they interpret this second element not as ki, ‘’earth’’, but as ki(g) of unknown meaning.{{Sfn|Espak|2006|p=27}} Sollberger understood an element ki(g) meaning ‘’favour, benevolence, love’’ in Sumerian. Therefore he translated Enki(g) as ‘’Lord Love’’,{{Sfn|Sollberger|1966|p=141}}or ‘’Lord Benevolence’’.{{Sfn|Sollberger|Kupper|p=301|1971}} He argues that this translation reflects Enki’s well attested role in myths as a friend of mankind.{{Sfn|Sollberger|1966|p=141}} However, this explanation is not generally accepted. It has been remarked that it is possible that the omissible g developed via [[dissimilation]],{{Sfn|Lisman|2013|p=128}} though similar examples of dissimilation are so far not attested in Sumerian.{{Sfn|Espak|2006|p=28}}

=== Ea ===
The name Ea first occurs in personal names from the [[Akkadian Empire|Old Akkadian period]]. Earlier translations interpreting Ea as a sumerian name meaning ‘’House of Water’’ or ‘’House of the Moon, Moon station’’ are regarded as implausible by modern scholarship.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=3}} In a few modern publications, the interpretation ‘’House of Water’’ is sometimes presented as a scribal popular etymology. However, according to Lambert, there is no evidence for such a reinterpretation.{{Sfn|Lambert|1989|p=116}}

Due to the fact that the name appears associated with Semitic elements in the sources of the Old Akkadian Period, it has been suggested that Ea is most likely a Semitic name.{{Sfn|Roberts|1972|p=20-21}} It has been proposed that the etymology of the name is connected to the Semitic root ''ḥyy'', ‘’to live’’.{{Sfn|Archi|2010|p=15}} This explanation has not been proved with certainty, though it is considered plausible.{{Sfn|Espak|2010|p=163}} Miguel Civil proposed that the name of the god [[Haya (god)|Haya]] was originally an alternative spelling of Ea.{{Sfn|Civil|1983|p=44}} Margaret W. Green proposed that the names Ea and Haya were both derived from the name of a pre Sumerian deity that was integrated into the pantheons of the Sumerians and of the Semitic peoples, and that Haya persisted as a separate deity after Ea was syncretized with Enki.{{Sfn|Green|1975|p=75}} The hypothesis of a connection between the names Ea and Haya is considered to be credible, but it is not proved, and it is not accepted by all scholars.{{Sfn|Weeden|2009|p=98-103}}

== Alternative names and epithets ==
=== Nudimmud ===
Nudimmud, one of the most frequently attested alternative names and [[epithet]]s of Enki/Ea, was almost exclusively used in literary texts. In [[Akkadian language|akkadian]] sources, it could also appear in royal inscriptions, prayers, and [[incantation]]s.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=13}} It already appears in the [[Zame Hymns]] under the form ''<sup>d</sup>''en-nu-te-mud.{{Sfn|Espak|2010|p=54}} The standard writing was ''<sup>d</sup>''nu-dím-mud. Earlier spellings include nu-te-me-nud from the Fāra period or nu-da-mud from the [[Third Dynasty of Ur|Ur III period]]. The verbal elements dím and mud in the standard orthography respectively mean ‘’to build, create’’, and ‘’to bring forth’’.{{Sfn|Cavigneaux|Krebernik|1998a|p=607}} The god list An=Anum ša ameli explains Nudimmud as Ea in his aspect as the god of creation.{{Sfn|Espak|2010|p=54}} [[Thorkild Jacobsen]] interpreted the name as ‘’Image fashioner’’, ‘’God of shaping’’, reflecting Ea’s role as the god of crafts and as the god who creates figures from [[clay]].{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1976|p=111}} The meaning of Nudimmud in the older periods is unclear.{{Sfn|Espak|2010|p=54}} Antoine Cavigneaux and Manfred Krebernik remark that the standard orthography with dím and it's translation likely reflect a later etymological reinterpretation of the name.{{Sfn|Cavigneaux|Krebernik|1998a|p=607}}

=== Nagbu ===
Nagbu, ‘’Source, spring’’,{{Sfn|Roberts|1972|p=80}} was an alternative name of Enki/Ea which reflected his role as the lord of the [[Spring (hydrology)|springs]] and [[Groundwater|subterranean waters]]. In this aspect he was not only connected to irrigation and fertility,{{Sfn|Galter|1998|p=77}} but he was also associated with the art of incantation, as subterranean water played an important role in [[Mesopotamia]]n magic and incantation rituals.{{Sfn|Galter|1998|p=78}} Nagbu is attested chiefly in sources from [[Babylonia]], and in the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire|Neo Babylonian period]], the name often appears in incantation texts.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=11}} It was written with the logogram ''<sup>d</sup>''IDIM. This logogram already appears as a theophoric element in Akkadian and Neo Sumerian names.{{Sfn|Galter|1998|p=77}}Starting from the second millennium BC it often appears in Babylonian personal names.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=11}} In the god list [[An = Anum|An=Anum]], Nagbu is equated with Ea. It is unclear whether Nagbu was originally an independent deity or an aspect of Ea.{{Sfn|Galter|1998|p=78}}

=== Niššīku ===
Niššīku was an alternative name and epithet of Enki/Ea of uncertain meaning. It is first attested in literary texts of the [[Old Babylonian Empire|Old Babylonian period]].{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=12}} Wilfred G. Lambert and Alan R. Millard propose that the name was derived from the Semitic element ''nasīku'' ,’’chieftain’’, reflecting Enki’s sumerian epithet ''nun'',{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|1969|p=148-149}} <nowiki>''prince'', ''leader''</nowiki>.{{Sfn|Espak|2010|p=60}} Hannes D. Galter considers that a connection between an Old Babylonian expression and a loanword from [[Aramaic]] is implausible.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=12}}Alternative spellings of the name include Naššīku and Ninšīku.{{Sfn|Cavigneaux|Krebernik|1998b|p=590}} Ninšīku is likely a later [[folk etymology]] from [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]]. It is attested from the [[Middle Babylonian period]] onwards.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=12}} One god list explains Ninšīku as Ea in his aspect as god of wisdom. In this interpretation, -šiku was likely equated with Sumerian ''kù-zu'', ‘’wise’’.{{Sfn|Cavigneaux|Krebernik|1998b|p=590}}

=== DIŠ ===
The logogram DIŠ often designates Enki/Ea in [[Assyria]]n texts. In [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo Assyrian]] sources, it chiefly appears in royal inscriptions and incantation literature.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=10}} It is sometimes attested as a theophoric element in personal names of the first millennium. In Neo Babylonian [[Uruk]] it designates [[Anu]] instead. The reading of DIŠ in akkadian is unknown. Galter suggests that DIŠ was possibly a numeral symbolizing the number 60, a number associated with Anu, and that its use for Ea could have been a way to equate him with the supreme god of the pantheon.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=10}}

=== Other names and epithets ===
Enki/Ea had a variety of other names and [[epithet]]s reflecting his different functions and his association with his abode, [[Abzu|Abzû]], and his cult center, [[Eridu]].{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=10-51}} Galter remarks that the majority of other names of Ea are only documented from sources from the late [[2nd millennium BC|second millennium]], and therefore he presumes that they represent an effort to fully encompass and describe all of the aspects of the god.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=32}} Craftsmanship deities such as [[Uttu]] and [[Ninagal]] could be regarded as alternative names of Ea in late sources.{{Sfn|Lambert|Winters|2023|p=29}}

The majority of [[Akkadian language|akkadian]] epithets of Ea reflect his role as the god of wisdom.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=51}} Such epithets include for example, ''bēl nēmeqi'' (‘’Lord of wisdom’’), ''bēl tašīmti'' (‘’Lord of understanding’’),{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=37}} and ''apkal ilī.''(‘’Sage of the gods’’).{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=34}} ''Bēl nagbi,'' (‘’Lord of the subterranean waters’’){{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=36}} was a frequently attested epithet of Ea in his aspect as a water god.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=11}} He could be referred to as ''bēl tenēšēti'', ‘’Lord of mankind’’.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=38}} His association to the arts of incantation was reflected in his epithets ''mašmaš ilī'', ‘’Exorcist of the gods’’,{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=40}} and ''bēl išīputti'' (‘’Lord of the purification rites’’).{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=36}}

Ea could be referred to as Ea-šarru in some akkadian texts.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|1969|p=149}} According to Galter, it is unclear whether Ea-šarru was simply an epithet of Ea or if a foreign deity was identified with Ea and ''šarru'',‘’king’’, was added to distinguish them. He remarks that the earliest attestations of this name occur outside of [[Mesopotamia]], which could indicate that the name did not originate in the region.{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=15}}

A common epithet of Enki/Ea in literary texts was Enlil-banda, ‘’the junior [[Enlil]]’’. An early attestation of this epithet dates to the [[Old Babylonian Empire|Old Babylonian Period]].{{Sfn|Lambert|Winters|2023|p=131}} Several possible interpretations of this name have been suggested by scholars. It could indicate that Ea was regarded as a younger brother of Enlil, it could have been a way to equate Ea with Enlil, it could have been a way to assert that he is ‘’like Enlil’' in his domain,{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=26}} or it could mean that he received his functions and abode from Enlil.{{Sfn|Espak|2010|p=59}}

Enki’s epithets king of the Abzû and king of Eridu are already attested in [[Sumerian language|sumerian]] sources from the [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic Period]].{{Sfn|Espak|2010|p=99}} Another of his epithets was (''<sup>d</sup>dàra-abzu)'', translated as [[Ibex]]{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=45}}{{sfn|Wiggermann|1997|p=226}} or [[Deer|Stag]]{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|p=75}} of the Abzû. The ibex was associated with Enki in historical times.{{Sfn|Lisman|2013|p=131-132}} An early attestation of this byname is found in an [[Old Babylonian Empire|Old Babylonian]] hymn. Several compound bynames of Enki/Ea formed with the element ''dàra'' appear in a later god list.{{Sfn|Boivin|2018|p=40}}{{Sfn|Galter|1983|p=32}}

== Symbols and iconography ==
[[File:Ea (Babilonian) - EnKi (Sumerian).jpg|thumb|Detail of the Adda Seal, an ancient [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] [[cylinder seal]] (circa 2300 BCE) depicting Enki with water streams coming from his shoulders. [[British Museum]].|270x270px]]
Enki/Ea is considered one of the few [[Mesopotamia|Mesopotamian]] deities with a recognizable iconography.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Goodnick Westenholz|2013|p=289}} His most distinguishing features are water streams flowing from his body, often accompanied by fish swimming in the water. These features are first attested in the [[Akkadian Empire|Old Akkadian Period]].{{sfn|Lambert|1997|p=5}} Enki’s iconography in the older periods is uncertain. It has been proposed that he is depicted on an [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic]] seal representing a sitting god with two fish beneath his feet,{{sfn|Boehmer|1965|p=87}} though this identification is not universally accepted.{{sfn|Espak|2010|p=19 note 30}} Enki/Ea’s water streams could be depicted as coming from his shoulders or his hips, or he could be depicted sitting within his shrine or abode, with the streams surrounding it in the shape of a rectangle.{{sfn|Galter|1983|p=114}}{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|p=75}} Additionally, he could often be depicted with water sprouting vessels,{{sfn|Seidl|1971|p=486}} carrying them either on his shoulders, in his hand or above his hand.{{sfn|Galter|1983|p=115}}[[File:God Ea, also Enki, holding a cup with overflowing water. From Iraq. Pergamon Museum.jpg|thumb|[[Old Babylonian Empire|Old Babylonian]] (19th-17th century BCE) statue of Ea holding a vessel with flowing waters. [[Pergamon Museum]].]]
His emblems include the [[Sea goat|goat-fish]] and the ram-headed staff.{{sfn|Seidl|1971|p=488-489}} They were often depicted together, for example on [[Kudurru|kudurrus]].{{sfn|Galter|1983|p=104}}{{sfn|Galter|1983|p=106}} The [[Nazimaruttaš kudurru stone|kudurru of Nazi-Maruttash]] refers to them as ‘’the great emblems of Ea’’.{{sfn|Galter|1983|p=106}} The ram-headed staff is attested in art from the Old Babylonian period until the Achaemenid period. In Neo Assyrian seals, Ea is sometimes represented carrying a crook, which [[Jeremy Black (Assyriologist)|Jeremy Black]] and Anthony Green suggest may be a symbolic representation of the staff.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|p=169}} The goat-fish is attested in mesopotamian art from the [[Third Dynasty of Ur|Neo Sumerian]] period until [[Seleucid Empire|Hellenistic times]], and it was later adopted into roman art.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|p=93}} It is at the origin of the zodiacal constellation [[Capricornus|Capricorn]].{{sfn|Rogers|1998|p=27-28}} Ea could often be represented sitting or standing on it.{{sfn|Galter|1983|p=106}} While the goat-fish’s connection to Ea is well attested, it could also be depicted as a general apotropaic figure, not attached to any god.{{sfn|Green|1997|p=257}} Clay figurines of goat-fishes could be used in apotropaic magic.{{sfn|Galter|1983|p=106}}

Another symbol of Ea was the [[turtle]]. It was associated with him since the Old Akkadian period.{{sfn|Galter|1983|p=105}}{{sfn|Seidl|1971|p=488}} On kudurrus it could be used as his symbol instead of the goat-fish with the ram-headed staff, or it could be represented on the back of the goat-fish.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|p=179}}

Ea was often depicted alongside his two faced vizier [[Isimud]]. Since the Old Akkadian period he could also be depicted alongside his  [[Lahmu]] servants, divinities represented as naked or kilted male figures with abundant facial hair and locks of hair on each side of their face.{{sfn|Lambert|1997|p=6}} On cylinder seals they could be represented as his doorkeepers, holding a gate-post, or in later periods a spade.{{sfn|Wiggermann|1981|p=101-102}} Another figure closely associated with Ea in pictorial representations is the fish-man, who has the upper body of a man and the lower body of a fish. It was depicted next to symbols of Ea.{{sfn|Galter|1983|p=107}} It is attested in pictorial representations from the Neo Sumerian period up until Hellenistic times, and might have been the precursor of the [[merman]] in Greek and Medieval European art and literature.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|p=131}}{{sfn|Green|1997|p=257}}

In Akkadian period seals, Ea was depicted in various scenes, some of which likely have a mythological background. A well known example is the seal of Adda.{{sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=119-121}}{{sfn|Espak|2006|p=77}} There he is depicted with one foot on a mountain, with water streams coming out of his shoulders, and fish swimming in them. An [[ibex]]{{sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=122}} or a bull is seated beneath his right foot. An eagle descends from above to the center of the scene. Ea’s two faced vizier stands behind him. The god rising from the mountain is most often interpreted as [[Shamash]], and the armed goddess as [[Inanna|Ishtar]].<ref name="seal" /> Another well attested example is a motif where a half man, half bird creature is presented before an enthroned Ea by one or two gods, one of which is generally Isimud.{{sfn|Galter|1983|p=112}} Various interpretations of these scenes have been proposed by scholars.{{sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=121-123}} Pierre Amiet proposed that the scene on the Adda cylinder may represent the revelation of the forces of nature in early spring.{{sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=123}} [[Samuel Noah Kramer|Kramer]] and Maier proposed that the scene of the ‘’bird-man’’ led before the god of streams could be derived from the Anzû myth, representing the return of the tablets of destinies to Enki after the defeat of the [[Anzû]] bird who had stolen them,{{sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=121}} as in the sumerian version of the myth he was their guardian, while in the akkadian version they were stolen from Enlil instead.{{sfn|Galter|1983|p=105}}{{sfn|Green|1997|p=249}} However, since only a few, difficult to understand myths are preserved from this period, the narrative behind the scenes remains uncertain.{{sfn|Espak|2006|p=80}} Ea could also be depicted travelling on his boat. According to one text, the name of the boat was ‘’Ibex of the [[Abzu|Abzû]]’’.{{sfn|Galter|1983|p=105}} Enki’s association with the ibex dates to the second half of the third millennium.{{sfn|Lisman|2013|p=131}}

The [[little owl]] is called the bird of Ea in the Bird Call Text.{{sfn|Galter|1983|p=108}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Sceau Enki Agade MNB1905.jpg|[[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] cylinder seal depicting the enthroned Enki accompanied by a [[Lahmu]] holding a gate-post, and his two faced vizier, who introduces a personal goddess leading the owner of the seal.
File:Cylinder seal - Ea Anzu BM 103317 cropped.jpg|[[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] cylinder seal representing three gods introducing a half bird, half man creature before the enthroned Enki.
File:Periodo accadico, sigillo in basalto col dio era in trono che riceve 4 dei, da tell asmar, 2350-2150 ac ca.jpg|[[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] cylinder seal depicting four deities stepping before the enthroned Enki.
</gallery>

==Worship==
The main temple to Enki was called ''E-abzu'', meaning "[[abzu]] temple" (also ''E-en-gur-a'', meaning "house of the subterranean waters"), a [[ziggurat]] temple surrounded by [[Euphrates|Euphratean]] marshlands near the ancient [[Persian Gulf]] coastline at [[Eridu]]. It was the first temple known to have been built in Southern Iraq. Four separate excavations at the site of Eridu have demonstrated the existence of a shrine dating back to the earliest [[Ubaid period]], more than 6,500 years ago. Over the following 4,500 years, the temple was expanded 18 times, until it was abandoned during the Persian period.{{Sfn|Espak|2006}}{{Page needed|date=March 2021}} On this basis Thorkild Jacobsen<ref>Jacobsen, Thorkild (1970) "Mesopotamian Gods and Pantheons", p. 22</ref> has hypothesized that the original deity of the temple was Abzu, with his attributes later being taken by Enki over time. P. Steinkeller believes that, during the earliest period, Enki had a subordinate position to a goddess (possibly [[Ninhursag]]), taking the role of divine consort or high priest,<ref>Steinkeller P. (1999) "Priests and Officials", p. 129</ref> later taking priority. The Enki temple had at its entrance a pool of fresh water, and excavation has found numerous carp bones, suggesting collective feasts. Carp are shown in the twin water flows running into the later God Enki, suggesting continuity of these features over a very long period. These features were found at all subsequent Sumerian temples, suggesting that this temple established the pattern for all subsequent Sumerian temples. "All rules laid down at Eridu were faithfully observed".<ref>van Buren, E.D. (1951) OsNs 21, p. 293{{Full citation needed|date=March 2021}}</ref>

== Mythology ==

=== Creation myths ===

==== Enki and the world order ====
[[File:Sceau Enki barque Agade AO2332.jpg|thumb|350x350px|[[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] cylinder seal depicting Enki travelling in his boat.]]
Preserved from [[Old Babylonian Empire|Old Babylonian]] tablets,{{Sfn|Leick|1991|p=43}} Enki and the world order is one of the longest and best preserved myths in the [[Sumerian language|sumerian]] language.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=38}} It portrays Enki as the god responsible for the organization of the world. His prerogatives are given to him by [[Enlil]], the chief god of the pantheon,{{Sfn|Black|2004|p=215-217}} here his older brother.{{sfn|Lambert|2013|p=405}} In this myth, the city of [[Ur]] is depicted as the capital of Sumer. It has been argued that this reflects an original date of composition of the myth at the time of the [[Third Dynasty of Ur|Ur III dynasty]].{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=181}}

The composition begins with the poet’s praise of Enki.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=39-41}}{{Sfn|Black|2004|p=215-217}} Enki then praises himself twice, declaring his intention to journey to Sumer, Meluhha, Magan and Dilmun, to which the Anuna-gods respond positively, praising his connection to the ''[[Me (mythology)|me-s]]'',{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=42-43}}{{Sfn|Black|2004|p=217-218}} fundamental powers and decrees of the gods which enable the functioning of human civilisation.{{Sfn|Black|Green|1992|p=130}} The cult personnel of Enki performs various rituals to purify his temple. The god then travels on his boat, accompanied by his divine attendants.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=44-45}}{{Sfn|Black|2004|p=219}} He blesses [[Sumer]]{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=45}} and the city of [[Ur]].{{Sfn|Black|2004|p=220}} He then travels to [[Meluhha]], which he blesses with luxuriant fauna and flora, and [[Dilmun]], which he purifies, blesses, and gives to [[Meskilak|Ninsikila]]. He also blesses the [[Amorites|Martu]]. In a fragmentary passage, he curses [[Elam]] and [[Marhasi|Marhashi]].{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=46-47}}{{Sfn|Black|2004|p=219-220}}

The second half of the composition focuses on his institution of different crafts and his attribution of different areas of responsibilities to other gods.{{Sfn|Black|2004|p=215}}{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1976|p=115}} Enki fills the [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]] with water and puts [[Enbilulu]] in charge of its regulation,{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=47}}{{Sfn|Leick|1991|p=44}} then he puts a deity whose name is not preserved in charge of the lagoons and marshes.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=48}} He entrusts the sea, where he built a shrine, to [[Nanshe]],{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=48-49}}{{Sfn|Black|2004|p=221-222}} plans the functioning of the rain, and puts [[Hadad|Ishkur]] in charge of it.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=49-50}} He takes care of the agricultural tools and puts [[Enkimdu]] in charge of them, then he provides the field with various grains and vegetables, and assigns this domain to [[Ashnan|Ezina]].{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=50-51}} Enki assigns the task of preparing bricks to [[Kulla (god)|Kulla]]; he then builds a model house, and appoints [[Mushdamma]] in charge of house construction.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=51}}{{Sfn|Black|2004|p=222}} After providing the steppe with vegetation and herds, he puts [[Šumugan]] in charge of it.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=51-52}} He builds stalls and sheepfolds and assigns this domain to [[Dumuzid|Dumuzi]].{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=52}} He performs certain tasks, such as the demarcation of boundaries, and puts [[Shamash|Utu]] in charge of the universe.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=52-53}} He then organizes the art of weaving and assigns this domain to [[Uttu]].{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=53}}{{Sfn|Black|2004|p=223}} In the last, and longest section, [[Inanna]] intervenes to complain that she has not received suitable functions.{{Sfn|Leick|1991|p=44}}{{Sfn|Black|2004|p=223-224}} In a badly preserved section, Enki responds by pointing out the functions that she already holds.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=55}}

==== Enki and Ninhursag ====
This myth is known from three [[Old Babylonian Empire|Old Babylonian]] copies, one from [[Nippur]], one from [[Ur]], and one from an unknown provenance.{{Sfn|Katz|2007|p=569}} It is a source of debate in modern scholarship, subject to various different translations and interpretations.{{Sfn|Leick|1991|p=41}}{{Sfn|Dickson|2007|p=1}}{{Sfn|Leick|1994|p=36-37}}

At the beginning of the text, the story is set in Dilmun. The goddess of [[Dilmun]], [[Meskilak|Ninsikila]], complains to Enki that her land lacks water.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=24}}{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=187}} Enki responds by summoning underground sweet waters to Dilmun, and as a result it becomes a rich, fertile land.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=189-190}}{{Sfn|Dickson|2007|p=2}}{{Sfn|Katz|2007|p=586}} Some scholars identify [[Meskilak|Ninsikila]] as another name of Ninhursag in this myth. However, this interpretation is not universally accepted.{{Sfn|Postgate|2010|p=242}}{{Sfn|Katz|2007|p=570}}

The next scene takes place in the marshes in the south of [[Sumer]].{{Sfn|Katz|2008|p=320}} Enki sleeps with [[Ninhursag]], and she becomes pregnant. After nine days of gestation, she gives birth to [[Ninšar|Ninnisig/Ninšar]].{{Sfn|Dickson|2007|p=3}}{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=191}} One day, Enki spots Ninnisig/Ninšar along the riverbank in the marsh. He also sleeps with her, she becomes pregnant, and after nine days of gestation, she gives birth to [[Ninkurra]].{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=192-193}}{{Sfn|Katz|2008|p=323-324}} Similarly, Enki sees her, has intercourse with her, she becomes pregnant, and after nine days of gestation, she gives birth to [[Uttu]]. In a variant of the story, she insteads gives birth to Ninimma, who is the one to give birth to Uttu.{{Sfn|Katz|2008|p=320}}{{Sfn|Dickson|2007|p=3}} What follows is a fragmentary passage in which Ninhursag apparently instructs Uttu to not let Enki into her house unless he gives her cucumbers, apples and grapes as a gift.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=26}} Enki summons sweet waters, making the land fertile, and a gardener gives him cucumbers, apples and grapes as thanks.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=39-27}}{{Sfn|Katz|2008|p=327-328}} Enki brings them to Uttu, introducing himself as the gardener, and she opens her house to him. He then has intercourse with her.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=27}} Ninhursag removes his semen from Uttu’s body, and grows eight plants from it.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=28}}{{Sfn|Dickson|2007|p=4}}

Enki spots the unfamiliar plants in the marsh, and decides to eat them in order to ‘’know their heart’’ and ‘’determine their destiny’’.{{Sfn|Katz|2008|p=330}} As a result, Ninhursag curses him, and he falls deathly ill.{{Sfn|Dickson|2007|p=4}}{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=200-201}} A fox offers its help to [[Enlil]] and the other gods, and Enlil promises it fame and to erect two kiskanu trees in its honor if it succeeds in bringing Ninhursag back.{{Sfn|Katz|2008|p=332-333}} The fox adorns itself and goes to see Ninhursag. Due to the fragmentary passage of the text, it is unknown how it managed to convince her to heal Enki.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=200-202}}{{Sfn|Katz|2008|p=334}} Ninhursag asks Enki which parts of him hurt, and after he names them, she facilitates the birth of eighth deities, which removes the illness from his body.{{Sfn|Dickson|2007|p=5}}{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=202-204}} Their names contain elements which pun with the ill body parts of Enki;{{Sfn|Dickson|2007|p=5}} Abu is connected to the top of the head, and the akkadian word ''abbattu'',{{Sfn|Katz|2008|p=335-336}} [[Meskilak|Ninsikila]] to the hair (siki), [[Ningirida|Ninkiriedu]] to the nose (kiri), [[Ninkasi]] to the mouth (ka), [[Nanshe|Nazi]] to the throat (zi), [[Azimua]] to the arm (á), [[Ninti]] to the rib (ti), and [[Inzak|Ensag]] to the side (zag).{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=203-204}}{{Sfn|Katz|2008|p=335-336}} The myth ends with the assignment of roles to the new deities, and a formula of praise to Enki.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=30}}

Comparisons have been made between Enki’s eating of the plants and its consequences and [[Adam]] and [[Eve]]’s eating of the apple in [[Bible|Genesis]].{{Sfn|Dickson|2007|p=37}}

==== Enki and Ninmah ====
This myth is known from a few tablets in sumerian from the [[Old Babylonian Empire|Old Babylonian]] period, as well as a bilingual [[Sumerian language|sumerian]]-[[Akkadian language|akkadian]] copy from the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo Assyrian]] period.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=330}} In the first part of the myth, Enki creates mankind in collaboration with his [[Nammu|mother]], [[Ninhursag|Ninmah]], and several helper goddesses, while the second part focuses on a drunken contest between Ninmah and Enki.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=194,197}}{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=334}}

The beginning of the myth describes a time in which the gods had to work for their food themselves.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=335}}{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=32}} The gods who work grow dissatisfied with their situation. Enki, who lies asleep in his bed in the [[Abzu|Abzû]], is woken up by Nammu, here his mother, who informs him of their complaints and tells him to create a substitute to perform the hard labour.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=155}}{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=337}} Enki devises a plan to create mankind from the clay of the Abzû, and delegates its execution to his mother, assisted by Ninmah and seven helper goddesses.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=334,337}}{{Sfn|Leick|1991|p=42}}{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=32-33}}

In the second section, the gods take part in a banquet, where Enki is praised.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=33}} Enki and Ninmah get drunk, and start a competition.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=337-341}} Ninmah fashions six humans with some kind of physical disabilities, the nature of which is not always understood. Each time, Enki successfully finds a place in society for them.{{Sfn|Leick|1991|p=43}}{{Sfn|Kikawada|1982|p=44}}{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=196}} Then they exchange roles. Enki creates two beings, the second of which, called Umul, is in such bad shape that Ninmah cannot decree a <nowiki>''good fate''</nowiki> for them. As a result, she loses the competition.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=341}}{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=34=35}} Then Ninmah gives a difficult to interpret speech where she complains about being chased from her city after it was attacked, accusing Enki of being responsible for her misfortune. Due to the damage to this section of the text, Enki’s answer and the resolution of the myth is unclear, but it seems that he attempts to appease Ninmah and that he finds a place for Umul.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=36}}{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=334}} Some scholars have interpreted Umul as a premature or not fully developed baby.{{Sfn|Gomes de Almeida|2024|p=1}}

==== Enūma Eliš ====
{{main|Enūma Eliš}}
The Babylonian Epic of Creation, celebrating the elevation of [[Babylon]]’s national god [[Marduk]] as the head of the [[List of Mesopotamian deities|Mesopotamian pantheon]], was composed in the second half of the second millennium BCE. It has been suggested to date to the reign of [[Nebuchadnezzar I]], though there is no secure evidence for its date of composition.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=436}} In Enūma Eliš, Ea plays a crucial role in killing [[Abzu|Abzû]], here personified as a god of an older generation, and he becomes the father of the future king of the gods, Marduk.{{Sfn|Rutherford|2011|p=217}}

The beginning of the poem describes the creation of the first gods as a result of the mingling of [[Tiamat]] and [[Abzu|Abzû]]. While [[Abzu|Abzû]] is usually the name of Ea’s underground cosmic water domain, it appears here as the personification of these waters and as Tiamat’s consort.{{Sfn|Black|Green|1992|p=177}}{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=217}} Ea is here the son of [[Anu]], himself created from the union of the pair [[Anshar]] and [[Kishar]], themselves the result of the union between [[Lahmu]] and [[Lahamu]], themselves the result of the union between Tiamat and Abzû.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=439-440}}{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=51}} The clamor and restless behaviour of the younger gods angers Abzû and Tiamat. While Tiamat is initially reluctant to harm her creations, Abzû plots to kill the younger gods, supported by his vizier, [[Mummu]].{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=51-52}}{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=440-441}} Ea becomes aware of Abzû’s designs and devises a plan to foil them. He fashions a sleep spell that he casts on Abzû and Mummu. When they are asleep, he binds and then kills Abzû, and imprisons Mummu.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=441}}

Afterwards, he establishes his abode on the body of Abzû, which becomes his underground water domain.{{Sfn|Black|Green|1992|p=27}} The following section deals with the birth of Marduk, Ea’s son with [[Damgalnuna|Damkina]], described as surpassing all of the gods.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=55}} His grandfather Anu, delighted with the young god, gives him the four winds. The waves that Marduk creates by whirling the winds irritate a group of gods only specified as children of Tiamat. They urge her to act and avenge her consort and his vizier.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=57}}{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=287}} She raises an army and takes the god [[Qingu]] as her new consort.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=444-445}} When Ea learns of her preparations, he is horrified and brings the news to his grandfather Anshar.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=446}} Anshar is initially angered and blames Ea for the situation caused by his murder of Abzû. Ea defends himself by arguing that it was a necessary action at the time.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=448}}{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=67}} Anshar then orders Ea to defeat Tiamat. He fails, and Anshar then sends Anu, who also fails.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=447-450}} Ea then summons his son and instructs him to seek out Anshar and volunteer to challenge Tiamat.

{{Poem quote|text=Then Ea from his secret dwelling called
[The perfect one] of Anshar (?) , father of the great gods,
Whose heart is perfect like a fellow citizen or countryman (?),
The mighty heir who was to be his father’s champion,
Who rushes (fearlessly) into battle : Marduk the Hero !
He told him his innermost design, saying,
‘O Marduk, take my advice, listen to your father !
You are the son who sets his heart at rest !
Approach Anshar, drawing near to him,
And make your voice heard, stand your ground:
he will be calmed by the sight of you.’{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=242}}}}

Foster proposes that while the design of Ea (in his translation <nowiki>''secret words''</nowiki>) could refer to magic words told to Marduk, it could also be connected to Marduk’s later demand to the gods to be made their king in exchange for his help.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=450}} Marduk’s offer is accepted by the gods.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=79}} After his defeat of Tiamat, Marduk organizes the universe.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=461-465}} He tells Ea his idea to create mankind from divine blood so that they might do the hard labor of the gods. Ea suggests that one of the rebels be killed to fashion this new creature.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=111}} Marduk then demands that the rebellious gods hand over their leader in exchange for amnesty. The rebellious gods single out Qingu. He is executed, and Ea fashions mankind from his blood.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=469-470}} While Ea still participates in the creation of mankind, in accordance with older [[Mesopotamia|Mesopotamian]] tradition where he works with the [[Mami (goddess)|mother-goddess]] to fashion the new being, the idea of the creation of mankind is there attributed to his son.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=469}} The role of the mother-goddess in the older tradition is here fully taken over by Ea.{{Sfn|Krebernik|1997|p=513}} In the last sections dealing with Marduk’s multiples names, Ea gives to his son his own name, and puts him in charge of his offices.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=133}}

==== The disputation between the bird and the fish ====
The beginning of this [[Debate between bird and fish|Sumerian disputation poem]] relates a creation story centered on Enki.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=86}} He is depicted bringing the waters of the land together and organizing them, giving the Tigris and Euphrates their places and laying down irrigation ditches.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=87}} He sets up stalls, sheepfolds, cities and hamlets, causes the people to multiply and organizes their system of government. He then organizes the marshes, and furnishes them with abundant fauna and flora.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=87}}

==== The First Brick ====
Ea appears in his role as a creator deity in an building incantation concerned with the renovation of temples known from [[Neo-Babylonian Empire|Late Babylonian]] tablets and a [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|late Assyrian]] fragment, dubbed ‘’The First Brick’’.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=376-379}} It contains a creation myth in which Ea creates the Abzû and then fashions from clay various deities, as well as a king and mankind, which all participate in the temple renovation process.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=377}} The deities created are [[Kulla (god)|Kulla]], tasked to renovate the first brick, the deities [[Ninildu]], Ninsimug and [[Ninagal]], tasked to help with the construction, the deities [[Arazu]], [[Kusibanda|Guškinbanda]], Ninzadim, [[Ninkurra]], [[Ashnan|Ašnan]], [[Lahar (god)|Laḫar]], [[Siris (goddess)|Siris]], [[Ningishzida|Ningišzida]], [[Ninšar]], Adag, Umunmutamgu, and Umunmutamnag, the last eight of which are instructed to supply resources to mankind for their regular offerings, and finally [[Kusu (goddess)|Kusu]], tasked to perform the rites of the temple.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=381}}{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=377}}

=== The story of the flood ===

==== Atra-ḫasīs ====
This [[Atra-Hasis|myth]] is the longest preserved [[Old Babylonian Empire|Old Babylonian]] Epic.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=29}} It is known from Old Babylonian tablets, the best preserved being three tablets written by the scribe Ku-Aya under the reign of [[Ammi-Saduqa|Ammi-ṣaduqa]], perhaps from [[Sippar]], two [[Middle Babylonian period|Middle Babylonian]] pieces, one from [[Ugarit|Ras Shamra]] and one from [[Nippur]], as well as fourteen [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo Assyrian]] pieces from the library of [[Ashurbanipal]].{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=31-34}} Enki plays a crucial role in Atra-ḫasīs. He first creates mankind alongside the [[Mami (goddess)|mother goddess]] (variously named Mami, Mama, Nintu, and Bēlet-ilī ), and later opposes [[Enlil]]’s attempts to wipe it out, which culminate in the sending of the [[Flood myth|flood]].{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=227-228}}{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=8-13}}

The myth begins describing a time in which the gods had to work for their food themselves. The gods divide the world between themselves; [[Anu]] claims the Heavens as his domain, Enlil claims the Earth, and Enki claims the underground water ocean [[Abzu|Abzû]].{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=43}}{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=229-230}} The task of working falls to the Igigi gods. After 40 years of toiling, they grow discontent and rebellious.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=230-231}}{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=45}} They set fire to their tools and surround Enlil’s [[Ekur]] shrine in Nippur. Enlil is woken up by his vizier [[Nuska|Nusku]], who informs him of the situation.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=47}} Anu and Enki are brought into Enlil’s presence.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=49}} Enki suggests that the mother goddess creates a new being, man, to bear the load of the work instead of the Igigi.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=8-9,57-59}} He proposes a plan to create man from a mix of clay and divine blood, and works together with the mother goddess to fashion this new creature.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=57-59}}{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=235}} The god [[Geshtu-E|Wê-ila]] is killed and his blood used to create mankind. The process of creation of mankind itself is not entirely preserved.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=236-237}} The mother goddess is congratulated and named ‘’Mistress of all gods’’, Bēlet-kāla-ilī.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=237}}{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=61}}

In the next section of the myth, mankind has multiplied, and they create so much noise that Enlil is unable to sleep. He decides to wipe out humanity by sending a plague.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=239}}{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=67}} The text introduces Atra-ḫasīs, who prays to his god, Enki, for help. Enki instructs him to tell his fellow men to stop praying and sending offerings to all of the gods, and to instead concentrate their offerings on the god responsible for the plague, [[Namtar]].{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=239-240}}{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=69}} Atra-ḫasīs executes Enki’s instructions and Namtar, pleased and embarrassed by the gift, alleviates the plague.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=71}} Humans multiply, and once again Enlil is unable to sleep due to the noise. He decides this time to wipe out humanity with a famine and orders [[Adad]], the weather-god, to withhold his rain.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=73}} Once more Atra-ḫasīs prays to Enki, who instructs him to tell his fellow men to stop praying and sending offerings to all of the gods, and to instead concentrate their offerings on Adad. Adad is embarrassed by the gift and discreetly allows enough rain for humanity to survive.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=241-242}}{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=75-77}} The composition at this point is fragmentary and entire passages are missing.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=10-11}} Enlil resumes the drought but appoints Anu and Adad as guards of the heavens, Enki as guard of the regions under the earth, and himself as guard of the earth. His plan is foiled in an incident which involves fish being freed on the starving humanity.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=10-11}}{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=244}} Enlil then confronts Enki. He decrees that humanity will be wiped out by a flood, and has him swear an oath against his will to ensure his cooperation.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=246}}{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=85}} 

Enki finds a way to bypass his oath and sends a dream to Atra-ḫasīs. When Atra-ḫasīs seeks clarification about the dream, Enki speaks indirectly to him through a reed wall, and instructs him to build a boat and destroy his house.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=247}}{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=11}} He warns him that the flood will come on the seventh day. Atra-ḫasīs speaks with his elders and explains his departure by telling them that since Enki had a falling out with Enlil, he, as Enki's servant, must leave Enlil’s earth.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=91}} The people help him build his boat and load it with animals. Before the departure, he holds a banquet, but he cannot take part in it himself, as he is feeling sick with the knowledge of the impending destruction.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=91-92}} On the seventh day the flood comes and wipes out humanity, with the exception of Atra-ḫasīs and his family on the boat. Enki and Bēlet-ilī grieve for their creation, and the gods begin to suffer from hunger, since they no longer receive food offerings.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=250}} The flood lasts for seven days and seven nights.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=12,95-97}} When the flood ends, Atra-ḫasīs makes an offering to the gods.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=99}} When he discovers that a part of humanity survived, Enlil is furious and confronts Enki again.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=252}}{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=101}} The section of the text containing Enki’s reply is damaged, but Enlil is convinced to let humanity live. In exchange, he has Enki and Bēlet-ilī institute ways of controlling their population. Only a part of the proposals of Enki and Bēlet-ilī is preserved; it concerns the creation of infertile women, and the institution of classes of priestesses that do not bear children.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=253}}{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=13,103}}

==== The Eridu Genesis ====
[[Eridu Genesis|This fragmentary myth]] in the [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] language preserves another account of the [[Mesopotamia|Mesopotamian]] story of the flood.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1981|p=145}} It is reconstituted from several related, but distinct variants preserved from two fragments, one from [[Nippur]] and one from [[Ur]], both dating to the [[Old Babylonian Empire|Old Babylonian]] period ( circa 1600 BCE), as well as a bilingual sumero-akkadian fragment from the library of [[Ashurbanipal]].{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1981|p=513-514}} As the oldest fragment preserving the this myth dates from around the same period as the tablets preserving Atra-ḫasīs, the relation between the two texts is uncertain.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|Civil|1969|p=14}}

Though much of the text is lost, it is presumed that Enki plays the same role as he does in other accounts dealing with the flood, and ultimately placates [[Enlil]], ensuring that humankind is allowed to survive.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1981|p=524-525}} The beginning of the composition seemingly deals with the creation of man,{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=145}} an act for which [[Anu|An]], Enlil, Enki and [[Ninhursag]] are credited.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=146}} Another fragmentary section dealing with the establishment of the first cities describes Nintu giving [[Eridu]] to Enki.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1981|p=518}} A badly preserved portion of the text deals with the scene where the flood hero, here named [[Ziusudra]], receives Enki’s warning about the flood through a wall.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=148}}

==== The Epic of Gilgamesh ====
{{main|Epic of Gilgamesh}}
Tablet XI of the standard edition of the akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh tells the [[Flood myth|story of the flood]], in which Ea plays the same role as in [[Atra-Hasis|Atra-ḫasīs]]. The flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh is believed to be based on the one in Atra-ḫasīs.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|1969|p=11}}{{Sfn|George|2003|p=18}} 

[[Gilgamesh]] meets the flood survivor, here named [[Utnapishtim]], during his quest for immortality. Utnapishtim tells him how he and his wife survived the flood and were made immortal by the gods as a result.{{Sfn|George|2003|p=508-519}} The reason why the gods sent the flood is not given.{{Sfn|George|2003|p=509}} They swore an oath to make sure the task would be accomplished. Ea, who did not wish to see mankind destroyed, found a way around his oath and warned Utnapishtim. He sent him a dream, and then, speaking his words through a reed wall ,he instructed him to demolish his house and build a boat.{{Sfn|George|2003|p=509-510}} When Utnapishtim asked him what to tell the elders and the people of his city of [[Shuruppak]], Ea instructed him to tell them that since he had fallen out with [[Enlil]], he could not remain on the earth and that he was going to live in Ea’s underground ocean.{{Sfn|George|2003|p=510}} With the help of his people, Utnapishtim built a massive boat that he filled with his kin, possessions, and animals.{{Sfn|George|2003|p=514}} The flood came and wiped out humanity.{{Sfn|George|2003|p=91-92}} It lasted for six days.{{Sfn|George|2003|p=515-516}} When the flood stopped, Utnapishtim sent three birds to see if the waters had decreased enough for him to land. This episode has been compared to a similar one in the account of the flood related in the [[Bible|Book of Genesis]].{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|1969|p=12}}{{Sfn|George|2003|p=516}} After the last bird failed to come back to the boat, Utnapishtim prepared an offering for the gods on the top of the mountain. When Enlil realized that humans still lived, he was furious, and demanded to know the reason for their survival. [[Ninurta]] answered that Ea was the only one capable of this feat.{{Sfn|George|2003|p=519}} Ea told Enlil that his decision to wipe out humanity was a disproportionate punishment, and proposed other ways to control the size of its population. Enlil, convinced to let humanity live, granted Utnapishtim and his wife immortality.{{Sfn|George|2003|p=519}}

==== The Babyloniaca ====
Ea was assimilated with [[Cronus|Kronos]] in the writings of the Hellenistic Babylonian writer [[Berossus|Berossos]].{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=10}} Berossos transmitted a variant of the Mesopotamian story of the flood in his [[Babyloniaca (Berossus)|Babyloniaca]], a work meant to present the history of the Babylonians to the Greeks.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|1969|p=134}} His original work is lost, but it is known from quotes of [[Alexander Polyhistor]] and [[Abydenus]], themselves quoted by [[Eusebius]].{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|1969|p=134}} There Kronos warns Xisuthros (the hellenized form of the sumerian [[Ziusudra]]) about the incoming flood, appearing to him in a dream in the version quoted by Polyhistor. He instructs him to build a boat, stuff it with provisions and animals, and take his family and kin with him.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|1969|p=135}} He tells him the exact month in which the flood will come, and also instructs him to bury all writings in [[Sippar]], two details which are not present in the older cuneiform sources.{{Sfn|Lambert|Millard|1969|p=135-137}}

=== Inanna myths ===

==== Inanna and Enki ====
This long myth is preserved from a few tablets dating to the first third of the second millennium BCE.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=230}}

It tells the story of how [[Inanna]] acquired the ''[[Me (mythology)|me-s]]'' from Enki, their guardian.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=57}}

The plot begins when Inanna travels to Enki’s temple in [[Eridu]]. Enki instructs his [[sukkal]] [[Isimud]] to give her food, drink, and to treat her as a friend.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=58}} Inanna and Enki then begin a drinking contest.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=59}} Thoroughly drunk, Enki gives her over a hundred ''me-s.''{{Sfn|Kramer|1944|p=65-66}} The list of the ''me-s'' is not fully preserved.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=234}} It includes the ''me-s'' connected to aspects of human culture such as kingship, war, priestly offices, speech, crafts (woodworking, metalworking, writing, smithing, leather working, masonry, and basket weaving), eroticism and intelligence, among others.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=232-234}}{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=59-63}} Inanna takes them and loads them into the Boat of Heaven, and she departs for her city of [[Uruk]].{{Sfn|Kramer|1944|p=66}} When he is sober again, Enki realizes that the ''me-s'' are missing. He asks Isimud where they are, and the sukkal replies that he has given them all to Inanna.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=236-237}} Enki’s reaction is missing due to the fragmentary of the text at this point, but determined to get back the me-s, he dispatches Isimud and ''enkum'' servants to seize the Boat of Heaven and its cargo.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=65}}

Isimud catches up with Inanna and tells her that while she is free to return to Uruk, Enki has ordered that the Boat of Heaven be brought back to Eridu, which angers the goddess.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=237-238}} As soon as the ''enkums'' grab the Boat, Inanna summons her [[sukkal]] [[Ninshubur]], who prevents them from seizing it in unclear circumstances.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=65}} Enki then attempts to take back the ''me-s'' five more times. The second time, he dispatches Isimud alongside the fifty giants of Eridu, the third time alongside the fifty [[Lahmu|Lahamu]] of the Engur, the fourth time alongside the ‘’Big fish’’, the fifth time alongside the guards of Uruk, and the sixth time alongside the guards of the Turungal canal.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=66-67}}{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=239-244}} Each time, Inanna calls Ninshubur and the Boat of Heaven is able to continue its journey. Inanna eventually reaches Uruk triumphantly and unloads the ''me-s'' among the celebration of her people.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=68}} At the end of the myth Enki gives a speech that for the most part is lost,{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=68}} but whose last lines may indicate his reconciliation with Inanna and Uruk.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=248-249}}

==== Inanna’s descent into the Underworld ====
Enki/Ea plays a supporting role in the [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] poem [[Inanna's Descent into the Underworld|Inanna’s descent into the Underworld]], and the shorter Akkadian poem Ishtar’s descent, where he devises a plan to revive the eponymous goddess after she has been struck dead by [[Ereshkigal]].{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=218-222}}

In the Sumerian version, as Inanna makes her preparations to journey into the Underworld, she instructs her [[sukkal]] [[Ninshubur]] to ask [[Enlil]], [[Sin (mythology)|Nanna]], and Enki for help if something happens to her.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=208-210}}{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=277-278}} The queen of the Underworld, Ereshkigal, is displeased to learn of Inanna’s visit.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=280}} When Inanna is brought into her presence, Ereshkigal strikes her down and hangs her corpse from a nail.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=282}} Ninshubur, in mourning, goes to see Enlil and Nanna, but both of them refuse to help her. She then goes to see Enki, who expresses concern for Inanna and agrees to help.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=284}}{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=217-218}} He fashions two androgynous beings, the galaturra and the kurgarra,{{Sfn|Gabbay|2008|p=50}} from the dirt beneath his fingernails, and gives them the water and bread of life. He then tells them to go see Ereshkigal, who is in labour, and to express sympathy.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=284-285}}{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=218-219}} When, appeased, she offers them gifts, Enki instructs them to refuse all of them, and instead to ask only for the corpse on the nail.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=285}} Finally they are to sprinkle the food of life and the water of life upon it to revive Inanna.{{Sfn|Jacobsen|1987|p=220}} The plan succeeds, and Inanna is able to leave the Underworld, though she then has to find a substitute to take her place there.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=286}} She picks her husband [[Dumuzid|Dumuzi]], who, unlike her attendants, was not mourning her properly.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=288-289}}

In the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] version, it is [[Papsukkal]] that comes to see the gods with the news that since Ishtar has been trapped in the Underworld, all sexual activity has ceased on earth.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=406}} Ea creates Asushunamir, an androgynous figure, and instructs them to appease Ereshkigal, and then to have her swear an oath of the great gods to give them the water of life.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=406-407}} Ishtar is revived, but Ereshkigal is furious and she curses Asushunamir to a grim life on earth.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=407}}

==== The Agushaya hymn ====
Ea plays a major role in this [[Old Babylonian Empire|Old Babylonian]] literary work. Known from two tablets of unknown provenance, it is one of the most difficult literary texts of the period.{{Sfn|Streck|2010|p=561}} Here the god appears in his usual role in [[Mesopotamia|Mesopotamian]] literature as an ingenious deity who devises plans to resolve difficult situations.{{Sfn|Foster|1977|p=79}}

The poem begins with a hymn praising [[Inanna|Ishtar]] in her aspect as the goddess of war.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=97-99}} Her excessively aggressive behaviour irritates Ea, who resolves to put an end to it. He proposes to the gods to create her an opponent, Ṣaltu (‘’discord’’).{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=99}} As he is the only one with the skill to accomplish the task he has proposed, the gods delegate its execution to him. Ea then creates Ṣaltu from the dirt beneath his fingernails.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=99-100}} She is described as a powerful fighter of monstrous proportions.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=100}} Ea then tells Ṣaltu that she has been created to disrespectfully challenge Ishtar, whom he calls Irnina ( the name of [[Irnina|one of her aspects]]) and he instructs her on how she is to act.{{Sfn|Foster|1977|p=80}} He proceeds to describe Ishtar so that Ṣaltu might recognize her.{{Sfn|Foster|1977|p=81}} In a fragmentary section, Ea taunts Ṣaltu by praising Ishtar.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=100-102}} 

{{Poem quote|text=So he dispatched Ṣaltu
extraordinary of form
making her tremble with insults,
contempt and calumny.
Ea the wise, whose reasoning is beyond all,
goes on to add yet a word
(that cuts) to her heart.
The sign of Ishtar the queen he gives her-
for it is Ishtar herself, greater than all the gods.
He makes her know her grandeur.
He well describes to her that prideful self,
this lest she avoid (her) later.{{Sfn|Foster|1977|p=82}}}}

As a result, Ṣaltu flows into a rage and goes to look for the goddess. Ishtar hears of this new opponent and dispatches her [[sukkal]] [[Ninshubur]] to acquire more information on her.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=103}} The confrontation between Ishtar and Ṣaltu is lost.{{Sfn|Foster|1977|p=83}} In the last section, the goddess, now referred to with the name Agushaya, complains to Ea about Ṣaltu and demands that he sends her away. Ea responds positively, and declares that one day of the year people will perform a whirling dance in the street in her honor.{{Sfn|Foster|1977|p=84}} The end of the poem indicates that Ishtar has abandoned her overly violent ways.{{Sfn|Foster|1977|p=84}} 

==== Inanna and Shukaletuda ====
After the prologue of this Sumerian myth, a short story relates how Enki gives to a raven certain tasks, including growing the first palm tree.{{Sfn|Cooley|2008|p=162}} After Inanna is raped in her sleep by the gardener Shukaletuda, she ravages the land with plagues in search of him, but with the advice of his father, he hides among the masses and is able to initially escape her wrath.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last1=Black |first1=Jeremy |last2=Cunningham |first2=Graham |last3=Robson |first3=Eleanor |last4=Flückiger-Hawker |first4=Esther |last5=Zólyomi |first5=Gábor |date=2006-12-19 |title=Inana and Šu-kale-tuda |url=https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.3.3&display=Crit&charenc=&lineid=t133.p1#t133.p1 |website=The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature}}</ref> Inanna travels to Enki’s temple in [[Eridu]], and asks for his assistance, threatening to not come back to her sanctuary until she is able to bring her attacker to justice.{{Sfn|Cooley|2008|p=162}} Enki agrees, and the goddess is able to find Shukaletuda by ‘’stretching herself across the whole sky like a rainbow’’.<ref name=":0" /> She then condemns him to death.{{Sfn|Cooley|2008|p=163}} [[Jean Bottéro|Bottéro]] presumes that the father of Shukaletuda is Enki in his interpretation of the myth.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=267}}

=== Miscellaneous myths ===

==== Enki’s journey to Nippur ====
This myth is one of the shortest and best preserved in the Sumerian language. The first part of the composition is devoted to the praising of Enki’s temple in [[Eridu]], while the second one is concerned with Enki’s journey to Nippur.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=69}}

The composition begins with a poetic description of Enki’s temple, built from silver and lapis lazuli and decorated with gold.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=69-70}}  Enki’s sukkal [[Isimud]] is introduced, and he praises the temple, describing its architecture{{Sfn|Al-Fouadi|1969|p=60}} and enumerating the different kind of musical instruments that play within.{{Sfn|Al-Fouadi|1969|p=80-81}} The temple itself is portrayed as a mountain floating upon the waters, surrounded by a garden where fruits grow and birds nest.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=72}} The god then embarks on the journey to Nippur on his boat.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=72-73}}

In preparation of the banquet that he is to hold in Nippur, Enki kills oxen and sheep, and brings musical instruments with him.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=73}} When he arrives in Nippur, he enters the ''giguna'' (a sacred part of a temple) and begins to prepare the beer for the banquet.{{Sfn|Al-Fouadi|1969|p=63}} When the preparations are finished, Enki invites the gods to the banquet. [[Anu|An]] and [[Enlil]] are seated in the high place, and [[Ninhursag|Nintu]] is seated at a place of honor.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=74}} The gods drink and feast. At the end of the composition, Enlil, pleased by the banquet, gives a blessing praising Enki’s temple.{{Sfn|Al-Fouadi|1969|p=64-65}}

==== Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta ====

In a passage of the sumerian myth [[Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta]], with relates the rivalry between [[Uruk]] and [[Aratta]] and the contests between Uruk’s king [[Enmerkar]] and the king of Aratta,{{Sfn|Vanstiphout|2003|p=49-50}} Enmerkar instructs his messenger to Aratta to recite ‘’the spell of Nudimmud’’ (line 135). This is followed by a section that most scholars have interpreted as the evocation of this spell (lines 136-155).{{Sfn|Mittermayer|2009|p=57}} 

{{Poem quote|text=Once, there was no snake, there was no scorpion
There was no hyena, there was no lion,
There was neither dog nor wolf,
There was neither fear nor terror,
Mankind had no rival -
At that time, the lands of Subartu (and) Hamazi,
(Lands now of) contrasting-corresponding tongues : Sumer
the great land of the princely attributes
(and) Akkad, the distinguished land,
The land of the Amorites who sleep in the open,
In all of heaven and earth the 'civilized’ people
Verily were able to address Enlil in one language.
Thereupon the one who is at the same time lord, prince and king,
Enki who is at the same time lord, prince and king,
He who is at the same time lord, prince and king,
Enki the lord of abundance, the lord who fulfils (his) promises,
The lord of understanding, the wisest of the nation,
The leader of the gods
Displaying wisdom, the lord of Eridu,
In their mouths placed confused languages (and) contention -
The language of mankind which had been one.{{Sfn|Hallo|1991|p=123-124}}|source=W.W. Hallo (1991), lines 136-155, translation following the interpretation of the ‘’Confusion of tongues’’.}}The translation and interpretation of this passage is the subject of much discussion and debate.{{Sfn|Vanstiphout|1994|p=135-136}}{{Sfn|Vanstiphout|2003|p=93-94}} Some scholars argue that lines 136-155 are not the evocation of the spell of Nudimmud, and that they are therefore not part of Enmerkar’s speech.{{Sfn|Mittermayer|2009|p=58}}

One subject of debate in this passage of the myth concerns the actions of Enki. One interpretation, followed by the majority of scholars, is that the passage contains an aetiological story explaining why mankind speaks different languages.{{Sfn|Mittermayer|2009|p=61}}{{Sfn|Vanstiphout|1994|p=136}}{{Sfn|Uehlinger|1990|p=418}} According to this interpretation, the past is envisioned as a ‘’Golden Age’’ where mankind spoke the same language, before Enki changed the speech in their mouths and caused the emergence of a multilingual world.{{Sfn|Mittermayer|2009|p=58}} The reason for his actions in this context is also debated.{{Sfn|Mittermayer|2009|p=61-62}}

Another interpretation is that the passage refers to an unification of languages.{{Sfn|Uehlinger|1990|p=418}} Alster Bendt and H.L.J. Vanstiphout argue that the incantation calls upon Enki to restore the unity of languages in the future, and specifically to have mankind speak in [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]].{{Sfn|Vanstiphout|1994|p=151-154}} An unification of the languages, but taking place in the past, has also been proposed by Christoph Uehlinger.{{Sfn|Mittermayer|2009|p=57,61}}{{Sfn|Uehlinger|1990|p=425}}
==== Myth of Anzû ====
In the standard Akkadian version of this myth, Ea devises a plan to defeat the [[Anzû]] bird ,who stole the tablets of destinies from Enlil , after the gods [[Adad]], [[Gibil|Girra]], and [[Shara (god)|Shara]] refuse to fight him.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=207-210}} Under his advice, the gods summon Ninurta’s mother Mami, cover her with honors, name her <nowiki>''Mistress of all the gods''</nowiki>, [[Ninhursag|Belet-ili]], and name her son Ninurta champion of the gods. Belet-ili orders him to go fight the Anzû bird and retrieve the tablets.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=555}} Ninurta confronts the Anzû bird, however, he is able to use the powers of the tablets to deflect the arrows that Ninurta shoots at him.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=214}} Ninurta sends [[Sharur (mythological weapon)|Sharur]] back to Ea to ask for help.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=215}} Ea instructs him to cut off the feathers of his wings and throw them around, telling him that the Anzû will call the detached feathers back to his wings with a cry, and at this moment, Ninurta’s arrows will be able to reach him.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=571-572}} Ninurta accomplishes the instructions and is able to kill Anzû.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=573}}

==== Ninurta and the turtle ====
Enki plays one of the main roles in this [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] text, which is the only preserved episode of a larger literary composition{{Sfn|Kramer|1984|p=231}} connected to the later Akkadian Anzû myth. It differs from this narrative in certain aspects, notably in the fact that here the [[Anzû|Anzû bird]] has stolen the tablet of destinies from Enki instead of [[Enlil]].{{Sfn|Alster|1972|p=120}} In this composition, Enki outmaneuvers Ninurta, who, unsatisfied with the reward he received for defeating the Anzû, was plotting against him.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=231}}  

The beginning of the text preserves a short speech of the Anzû, who tells the victorious [[Ninurta]] that when Ninurta attacked him at the orders of an unnamed god, likely Enki,{{Sfn|Alster|1972|p=122}} the tablets of destinies fell from his grasp and were returned to the [[Abzu|Abzû]].{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=84}} Ninurta regrets that he couldn't take possession of the tablets and their powers for himself.{{Sfn|Alster|1972|p=121}} From his abode, Enki learns of Ninurta’s thoughts.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=418}} The Anzû bird brings Ninurta to the Abzû. Enki first flatters him, lauding him as the victor over the mythical bird, and offers him fame as a reward.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=419}} Unhappy with his promises, Ninurta begins to secretly plot against Enki, who becomes aware of his plans. After Ninurta raises his hand against Enki’s [[sukkal]] [[Isimud]] in an altercation, Enki fashions a turtle from the clay of the Abzû and stations it next to the gates of the Abzu.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=85}} He lures Ninurta to this location, and pretends to be ignorant of the situation when he is attacked by the turtle.{{Sfn|Alster|1972|p=122}}{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=420,422}} The turtle digs a pit and pushes Ninurta into it. He is unable to ascend from the pit and Enki taunts him. The mother of Ninurta, who appears here under the name Ninmena, comes to ask for her son’s release.{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=420}} Ninmena is identified by [[Samuel Noah Kramer|Kramer]] as a name of [[Ninhursag]] in this context.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=84}} [[Joan Goodnick Westenholz]] remarks that while in literary texts the name [[Ninmena]] was used to refer to her, they were otherwise regarded as distinct goddesses.{{Sfn|Asher-Greve|Goodnick Westenholz|2013|p=90}} Here Ninmena refers to Enki as ‘’my Uruku’’, an unknown epithet of his, the translation of which is uncertain according to [[Jean Bottéro|Bottéro]].{{Sfn|Bottéro|Kramer|1989|p=423}} Kramer translates this epithet as ‘’my plant-eater’’ and connects it to the myth Enki and Ninhursag.{{Sfn|Kramer|Maier|1989|p=84}}

==== Nergal and Ereshkigal ====
In this Akkadian myth, which relates how [[Nergal]] became [[Ereshkigal]]’s husband and the King of the [[Underworld]], Ea helps the god elude the dangers of the Underworld.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=506-509}} The myth is known from two slightly different versions, a shorter one attested from a [[Middle Babylonian period|Middle Babylonian]] Manuscript, and a much longer one known from a seventh century source and one from [[Neo-Babylonian Empire|Neo Babylonian]] Uruk.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=163}}

After Nergal fails to pay his respects to the [[Namtar|vizier]] of the queen of the Underworld, Ereshkigal, at a banquet where he represented her, she demands that Nergal be brought before her. In the later version, Ea gives him instructions so he can elude the dangers of the Underworld; he tells him to fashion a chair from different species of wood,{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=167}} and then warns Nergal not to sit, eat, drink or bathe while he is there.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=515-516}} Stephanie Dalley proposes that the chair that Nergal takes with him to the Underworld in this version may have had the same purpose as a type of chair called a ‘’ghosts chair’’, whose purpose, as described in a ritual text, was to prevent seizure by ghosts.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=163}} While Nergal follows most of Ea’s advice, he fails to follow the last one and has sex with Ereshkigal.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=171}} On the seventh day, while Ereshkigal is asleep, Nergal leaves the Underworld.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=508}} When Ereshkigal realizes that Nergal has left, she is distraught, and sends her vizier Namtar to ask the gods to send him back, threatening to raise the dead to eat the living if they do not comply.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=173}} Ea has disguised Nergal,{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=171-172}} so Namtar does not recognize him, and he goes back to his mistress empty handed. Ereshkigal sees through Ea’s scheme, however, and she tells Namtar to seize the disguised god.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=174}} This time, for an uncertain reason, Namtar fails to identify him.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=508}} At this point the text breaks. When it resumes, Nergal receives advice from a god, perhaps Ea.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=508}} He returns to the underworld and reunites with Ereshkigal.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=175-176}}  

In the Middle Babylonian version, Ereshkigal plans to kill Nergal at his arrival,{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=510}} and Ea gives him seven plagues which he stations by each of the gates of the Underworld. While they hold the gates open, he rushes to the palace and is about to kill Ereshkigal when, to save her life, she offers him her hand in marriage and the rulership of the Underworld, which he accepts.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=511-512}}
==== Adapa and the South Wind ====
This myth is known from fragmentary tablets from [[Amarna|Tell al-Amarna]] dating to the fifteenth or fourteenth century BCE, and from [[Assur]] dating to the late second millennium BCE.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=183}}

The myth begins by introducing [[Adapa]], a priest of Ea. He is described as a sage who expertly accomplishes the rites of [[Eridu]] and to whom Ea gave wisdom, but not immortal life.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=184}} One day he embarks on his boat into the sea. The South Wind blows strongly and sinks his boat, and frustrated, Adapa curses it and breaks its wing.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=184-185}} On the seventh day, [[Anu]] demands to his [[sukkal]] [[Ilabrat]] where the South Wind has gone, and Ilabrat answers that Adapa broke its wing.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=527}} Angered, Anu demands that Adapa be brought before him. Ea, made aware of Anu’s plans, instructs Adapa to go see the gods [[Dumuzid|Dumuzi]] and [[Ningishzida|Gizzida]] who stand before the Gate of Anu while wearing mourning garnments, and to tell them that he is mourning them and their seasonal absence from the earth.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=525}} This will put them in a good mood, they will accompany him to Anu and put a good word for him.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=185-186}} Further, Ea tells Adapa that he must not eat or drink anything that Anu gives him, because it will kill him.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=528}} Adapa accomplishes the instructions, and ingratiates himself to Dumuzi and Gizzida, who bring him before Anu.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=186}} Anu demands to know why he broke the South Wind’s wing. Adapa answers that he was catching fish for the temple of Ea but that the South Wing created a storm and sank his boat. Dumuzi and Gizzida speak in his favour.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=187}} Appeased, Anu decides to give him the water and bread of eternal life.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=529}} However, following the instructions of Ea, Adapa doesn't drink or eat anything, and loses his chance to obtain immortality.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=529}} Following this, there is a gap of unknown length to the end of the story.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=187}} An alternate version of the ending of the story preserved on another fragment has Anu give Adapa eternal fame instead of eternal life.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=530}}  

The meaning of the myth is debated among scholars, and many different interpretations have been proposed.{{Sfn|Dalley|1989|p=182-183}}{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=525}} In Mesopotamia, the tale was later incorporated into incantations invoking Adapa’s powers for curative purposes{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=525}} against illnesses caused by the South Wind.{{Sfn|Foster|2005|p=530}}
==== Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld ====
The second section of the prologue of this [[Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld|sumerian poem]] describes Enki’s journey into the Underworld by boat, in an unnamed body of water, when he is suddenly attacked.{{Sfn|Gadotti|2014|p=14-15}} The reason for Enki’s journey is unknown, and it’s outcome is not told by the poet, either because it was so well known that it didn't need to be told, or because it was unimportant to the narrative of this poem.{{Sfn|Gadotti|2014|p=17}} At the end of the composition, when [[Enkidu]] is trapped in the [[Underworld]] after not following the instructions for the proper behaviour there, [[Gilgamesh]] appeals to the gods to bring him back. Enlil refuses to help him, but Enki accepts, and asks [[Shamash|Utu]] to open a passage so Enkidu is able to leave the Underworld.{{Sfn|Gadotti|2014|p=5}}

==== The Death of Gilgamesh ====
In this sumerian poem, Enki sends a vision to the protagonist, who lies sick on his deathbed. In the vision, he sees the assembly of the gods.{{Sfn|George|2003|p=15}} They debate over his fate, as while he is a mortal, he is also the son of the goddess [[Ninsun]]. Enki says that the only man to receive immortality, [[Ziusudra]], the flood survivor, received it in exceptional circumstances, and that Gilgamesh should therefore remain a mortal. The gods decree that while he is to die, he should have a preeminent position in the Underworld, similar to that of [[Ningishzida]] and [[Dumuzid|Dumuzi]], and that a wrestling festival should be set up in his honor.{{Sfn|George|2003|p=15}} In another passage of the poem, with the advice of Enki, Gilgamesh organizes the building of his tomb with the help of the people of [[Uruk]]. The tomb is built in stone in the river bed of the [[Euphrates]], which was diverted for the construction.{{Sfn|George|2003|p=15}} 

In version B of the sumerian poem '''Gilgamesh and Huwawa''', Enki provides Gilgamesh with advice on how to defeat [[Humbaba|Huwawa]], apparently speaking it through [[Enkidu]].{{Sfn|George|2003|p=11}}

In an atypical variant of the '''Epic of Gilgamesh''' preserved from the fragment of a tablet dated to the beginning of the [[Middle Babylonian period|Middle Babylonian Period]] and perhaps originating in the realm of the [[First Sealand dynasty|First Sealand Dynasty]],{{Sfn|George|2007|p=63}} the name of Enkidu is replaced by ''<sup>d</sup>''40, elsewhere used to represent Ea, and the name of Gilgamesh is replaced by ''<sup>d</sup>''30, elsewhere used to represent [[Sin (mythology)|Sîn]]. [[Uruk]] is replaced by [[Ur]] in this variant. The reason for these substitutions is unclear.{{Sfn|George|2007|p=60}} The preserved parts of the story are the passages relating Enkidu’s initiation into human culture and the interpretation of Gilgamesh’s dreams by his mother.{{Sfn|George|2007|p=60}}

==== Others ====

Enki plays a supporting role in the sumerian literary composition on the [[Gudea cylinders|Gudea Cylinders]],{{Sfn|Suter|2000|p=111}} which relates the building of the temple of Ningirsu by Gudea of Lagash.{{Sfn|Suter|2000|p=83-102}} As a wisdom and craftsmanship god, he plays an active role in the construction process, and alongside deities of his circle, he makes the final preparations for the temple before the arrival of Ningirsu.{{Sfn|Suter|2000|p=111}} He blesses the E-ninnu at the inauguration banquet.{{Sfn|Suter|2000|p=111}}

Ea appears in a portion of a myth focused on [[Sarpanit|Zarpānītum]] preserved from a small fragment of a tablet of uncertain date. He tells his son [[Marduk]] that she is suited to be his bride and that they should rule the sea together.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=299}}

Ea is mentioned under the hellenized form of his name, Aos, in an extract from a text composed by [[Eudemus of Rhodes]] and preserved in the writings of Damascius. According to Eudemus, in Babylonian cosmology Aos was regarded as the brother of Anos ([[Anu]]) and Ilinos ([[Enlil]]), as well as the father of Bēlos (Marduk) with Daukē ([[Damgalnuna|Damkina]]). His parents are here Kissarē ([[Kishar]]) and Assōros ([[Anshar]]).{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=422}} The account given by Eudemus offers parallels to that of the [[Enūma Eliš]], though they are not identical; Aos is notably the brother of Anos as opposed to his son. The source that Eudemus used was likely related to the Babylonian Epic.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=423}}

A Babylonian text preserved from fragments dating either to the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] or the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] period possibly attests of a succession myth between an older and a younger generation of gods involving Ea.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=316-317}} Here he is the son of Anu and the brother of Ninamakalla.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=316}} He and his sister are seemingly responsible for the murder of Anshar, a god of the older generation.{{Sfn|Lambert|2013|p=317}}

=== Hurrian myths ===
Ea plays a supporting role in the '''Kumarbi cycle'''.{{Sfn|Rutherford|2011|p=217}} The cycle includes several compositions in both [[Hittite language|Hittite]] and [[Hurrian language|Hurrian]]. Alfonso Archi argues that these compositions were transmitted from the [[Hurrians]] to the [[Hittites]] around the fourteenth century BCE, at a time where Hittite culture was significantly influenced by that of its neighbours.{{Sfn|Archi|2009|p=209-210}} Its story centers on the conflict between the god [[Kumarbi]] and his son [[Teshub]] for kingship over the gods.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=41}} Ea’s characterization is the same as in [[Babylonia|Babylonian]] myths;{{Sfn|Archi|2013|p=10-11}} he appears as a resourceful god who finds solutions to difficult situations.{{Sfn|Archi|2009|p=216}} His behavior changes in the different compositions; he appears as an ally of Kumarbi in the Song of LAMMA, criticizes both sides for the destruction they cause in the Song of Hedammu, and finally helps Teshub in the Song of Ullikummi.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=41-42}} 

In the '''Song of Emergence''', Ea helps facilitate the birth of several deities, including that of the future king of the gods, Teshub. The composition begins by relating the succession of three kings of the gods, [[Alalu]], [[Anu]], and Kumarbi, each overthrown by the previous one.{{Sfn|Beckman|2011|p=26}} After Kumarbi becomes pregnant with several deities, including Teshub, as a result of biting off Anu's genitals during their fight,{{Sfn|Beckman|2011|p=27}} he seeks the help of Ea in Nippur.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=43}} A conversation takes place between Ea, Kumarbi, Anu and Teshub to determine how he should exit Kumarbi’s body.{{Sfn|Beckman|2011|p=26}} Teshub is finally born from Kumarbi’s head while the god of the river [[Aranzaḫ|Tigris]] is born from another place.{{Sfn|Beckman|2011|p=29}} Kumarbi then tells Ea to give him Teshub so he can devour him.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=44}} In a broken section of the narrative, a rock is substituted for Teshub, and he escapes death.{{Sfn|Beckman|2011|p=30}} In a later section of the text, a discussion takes place between the gods to determine who will become their king. Teshub is frustrated by the turn of the conversation and he curses several gods, including Ea. His bull [[Šeri and Ḫurri|Šeri]] cautions him against cursing the gods, singling out Ea in particular.{{Sfn|Beckman|2011|p=31}}{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=44-45}} The fact that Šeri singles out Ea among the gods which Teshub should not curse may indicate that either he was at the time not aligned with Kumarbi and could still be won over, or that Sheri judges him to be an especially dangerous opponent.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=77}} Another god later tells Ea about Teshub’s curses, and Ea answers by an expression which perhaps means that any god cursing him does so at their own risk.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=45,77}} After a large gap, another fragmentary section of the composition deals with the labours of a pregnant Earth, and Ea rewards the messenger who brings him the news of the successful birth of her children.{{Sfn|Beckman|2011|p=31}}  

In the '''Song of LAMMA''', Ea plays the role of a kingmaker. At the beginning, he and Kumarbi raise the eponymous deity to the kingship of the gods.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=41-42}} The goddess Kubaba proposes that LAMMA meets the Primeval Gods, but he refuses.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=46}} Ea and Kumarbi become dissatisfied with their choice of LAMMA as king.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=47}} Ea enters in communication with the Primeval Gods Nara-Napsara down in the [[Underworld]], and tells them of a scheme to overthrow him.{{Sfn|Archi|2009|p=216}} In the end, LAMMA is defeated by Teshub, but due to the badly preserved nature of this portion of the narrative, it is uncertain how exactly the Storm-god succeeded.{{Sfn|Archi|2009|p=216}}

In the '''Song of Hedammu''', Ea becomes troubled by the destruction caused to mortals by the conflict between Kumarbi and Teshub.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=51}} He reprimands both sides, pointing out the necessity of human worship of the gods and their offerings.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=52}} Kumarbi is furious that Ea has admonished him in the assembly of the gods.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=52-53}} Hoffner suggests that this moment may be the turning point in the narrative where Ea and Kumarbi’s alliance breaks off, as in the Song of Ullikummi, Ea instead helps Teshub defeat Kumarbi’s champion [[Ullikummi]].{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=42}} 

In the '''Song of Ullikummi''', following his previous attempts to raise a ruler in order to supplant Teshub, Kumarbi engenders [[Ullikummi]] with a giant rock.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=55-56}} Teshub and his allies confront Ullikummi, but they are defeated. [[Tašmišu]] advises Teshub to travel to the [[Abzu|Abzû]] and ask Ea for help.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=63}} Ea uncovers the source of Ullikummi’s strength; he grows on the right shoulder of the giant [[Upelluri|Ubelluri]], ‘’on whom the heaven and earth are built’’. He was placed there as an infant by the [[Irsirra|Irsirra deities]] to hide him from Teshub and his allies.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=56,58,59}} Ubelluri was unaware of the identity of the god on his shoulder, and he did not notice his presence at first, until he began to feel pain. In order to cut off Ullikummi from Ubelluri, Ea and the Primeval Gods use the primeval copper cutting tool which was used to cut apart heaven and earth.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=64}} After a break in the text, Ea expresses sadness for the many lives lost during the conflict.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=56}} Teshub is then apparently able to defeat Ullikummi, though the end of the text is partially broken.{{Sfn|Hoffner|1991|p=64}}

In the poem '''Ea and the Beast''', Ea is engaged in a dialogue with an animal of unknown nature, the ''suppalanza''.{{Sfn|Rutherford|2011|p=217}}

The beast makes a prophetic speech announcing the birth and rise of a new god who will become the ruler of the gods, while Ea asks him questions in return.{{Sfn|Archi|2002|p=2}} Ea is here depicted as seemingly ignorant of the situation, a portrayal which differs from his usual role as a knowledgeable counselor to the gods.{{Sfn|Rutherford|2011|p=219-220}}

Archi argues that the poem is a part of the Kumarbi cycle due to similarities between their narratives, including the impregnation of someone with several deities and the manner of their conception and birth.{{Sfn|Archi|2002|p=2-3}} He proposes that the new god prophesied by the beast is Teshub.{{Sfn|Rutherford|2011|p=218-219}} Ian Rutherford remarks that the beast’s question to Ea ‘’don’t you know?’’, parallels Ea’s question to [[Upelluri|Ubelluri]] in the song of [[Ullikummi]] ‘’don’t you know, Ubelluri?’’ and proposes that Ea’s behaviour here is explained by the poet‘s intention to create a parallel with the song of Ullikummi. He suggests that this might be an argument in favour of classifying the poem as part of the Kumarbi cycle, as it would explain Ea’s apparent character development in the different ''songs'', from an ally of Kumarbi to an ally of Teshub.{{Sfn|Rutherford|2011|p=220}}
==Influence==
[[File:God Ea.jpg|upright|thumb|God Ea, a statue from Khorsabad, late 8th century BCE, Iraq, now in the Iraq Museum]]
[[File:God Ea, seated, holding a cup. From Nasiriyah, southern Iraq, 2004-1595 BCE. Iraq Museum.jpg|upright|thumb|God Ea, seated, holding a cup. From Nasiriyah, southern Iraq, 2004–1595 BCE. Iraq Museum]]
Enki and later Ea were apparently depicted, sometimes, 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 (mythology)|Oannes]]). Around the excavation of the 18 shrines found on the spot, thousands of [[carp]] bones were found, consumed possibly in feasts to the god. Of his cult 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 head house" (''[[É (temple)|E]]'', house, ''sag'', head, ''ila'', high; or Akkadian goddess = Ila), a name shared with Marduk's temple in Babylon, pointing to a staged tower or [[ziggurat]] (as with the temple of [[Enlil]] at [[Nippur]], which was known as ''E-kur'' (''kur'', hill)), 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 poetry|epic]] of the [[hieros gamos]] or sacred [[marriage]] of Enki and Ninhursag (above), which seems an [[etiology|etiological]] myth of the fertilisation of the dry ground by the coming of irrigation water (from Sumerian ''a'', ''ab'', water or semen). The early inscriptions of [[Urukagina]] in fact go so far as to suggest that the divine pair, Enki and Ninki, were the progenitors of seven pairs of gods, including Enki as god of [[Eridu]], [[Enlil]] of [[Nippur]], and Su'en (or [[Sin (mythology)|Sin]]) of [[Ur]], and were themselves the children of An (sky, heaven) and Ki (earth).{{Sfn|Espak|2006}}{{Page needed|date=March 2021}} The pool of the Abzu at the front of his temple was adopted also at the temple to Nanna ([[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] [[Sin (mythology)|Sin]]) the Moon, at [[Ur]], and spread from there throughout the Middle East. It is believed to remain today as the sacred pool at [[Mosques]], or as the holy water font in Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches.{{sfn|Bottéro |1992}}{{page needed|date=September 2020}}

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]] in [[Hittites|Hittite]] [[Anatolia]]. As Ea, Enki had a wide influence outside of Sumer, being equated with [[El (god)|El]] (at [[Ugarit]]) and possibly [[Names of God in Judaism#Yah|Yah]] (at [[Ebla]]) in the [[Canaanite mythology|Canaanite]] [[Elohim|'ilhm]] [[Pantheon (gods)|pantheon]]. He is also found in [[Hurrian]] and [[Hittites|Hittite]] mythology as a god of contracts, and is particularly favourable to humankind. It has been suggested that etymologically the name Ea comes from the term ''*hyy'' (life), referring to Enki's waters as life-giving.<ref name=Opening>{{cite book|author1=Alfonso Archii|editor1-last=Melville|editor1-first=Sarah|editor2-last=Slotsky|editor2-first=Alice|editor2-link= Alice Slotsky |title=Opening the Tablet Box: Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Benjamin R. Foste|date=2012|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-18652-1|pages=15–16, 25|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2aq43z3at0wC&pg=PA35|access-date=19 June 2014|chapter=The God Hay(Y)A (Ea / Enki) At Ebla}}</ref> 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 version of Ea 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 rises 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]], and, similarly, the hymns to Marduk betray traces of the transfer to Marduk of attributes which originally belonged to Ea.

It is, however, as the third figure in the triad (the two other members of which were [[Anu]] and [[Enlil]]) 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 ''[[bêlu|shar]] apsi''; i.e. king of the Apsu or "the abyss". 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 (cuneiform)|En]] [[En-Ki|-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]]. We find temples and shrines erected in his honour, e.g. at [[Nippur]], [[Girsu]], [[Ur]], [[Babylon]], [[Sippar]], and [[Nineveh]], 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]], "big lady of the waters", originally was fully equal with Ea, but in more [[patriarchy|patriarchal]] 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]]. In his character, he prefers persuasion to conflict, which he seeks to avoid if possible.

==Ea and West Semitic deities==
In 1964, a team of Italian archaeologists under the direction of [[Paolo Matthiae]] of the [[University of Rome La Sapienza]] performed a series of excavations of material from the third-millennium BCE city of [[Ebla]]. Much of the written material found in these digs was later translated by [[Giovanni Pettinato]]. Among other conclusions, he found a tendency among the inhabitants of Ebla, after the reign of [[Sargon of Akkad]], to replace the name of [[El (god)|El]], king of the gods of the [[Canaanite pantheon]] (found in names such as Mikael and Ishmael), with ''Ia'' (Mikaia, Ishmaia).<ref>Freeman, Tzvi. "Is there evidence of Abraham's revolution? – The Big Picture". Chabad.org. Retrieved 2011-06-06.</ref>

Jean Bottéro (1952)<ref>Bottero, Jean. "Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia" (University of Chicago Press, 2004) {{ISBN|0-226-06718-1}}</ref> and others<ref>Boboula, Ida. "The Great Stag: A Sumerian Deity and Its Affiliations", ''Fifty-Third General Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (1951)'' in ''American Journal of Archaeology'', Vol. 56, No. 3 (Jul. 1952) 171–178, {{JSTOR|500533}}</ref> suggested that ''Ia'' in this case is a West Semitic (Canaanite) way of pronouncing the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] name ''Ea''. Scholars largely reject the theory identifying this ''Ia'' with the Israelite theonym ''[[YHWH]]'',<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&pg=PA226 |title= Mercer Dictionary of the Bible |author1= Watson E. Mills |author2= Roger Aubrey Bullard |page=226 |year=1990 |publisher= Mercer University Press |isbn= 9780865543737}}</ref> while explaining how it might have been misinterpreted.<ref>"Yahweh" in K. van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst, ''[[Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible]]'' (1999), {{ISBN|978-90-04-11119-6}}, p. 911: "his cult at Ebla is a chimera."</ref> ''Ia'' has also been compared by William Hallo with the [[Ugarit]]ic god ''[[Yam (god)|Yam]]m'' ("Sea"), (also called Judge Nahar, or Judge River) whose earlier name in at least one ancient source was ''Yaw'' or ''Ya'a''{{failed verification |date= April 2024}}.{{clarify |Quoted sorce doesn't mention anywhere either Yam/Yamm, Yaw, or Nahar. Neither the text here as is, nor reverted edit by Temerarius, are supported by source. Maybe the actual book is meant, not its review referenced here? |date= April 2024}}<ref>{{cite journal |first=William W. |last=Hallo |title=Review: Enki and the Theology of Eridu |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=116 |issue=2 |pages=231–34 |date=April–June 1996 |doi=10.2307/605698 |jstor=605698 }}</ref>

Ea was also known as ''[[Dagon]]'' and ''[[Apkallu|Uanna]]'' (Grecised ''Oannes''), the first of the Seven Sages.<ref name="Duke 1971 320–327"/>

==See also==
*[[Ancient Near East]]
*[[Azazel]]
*[[Barbar Temple]], a [[Dilmun]]-era temple in [[Bahrain]] devoted to the worship of Enki
* [[Capricorn (astrology)]]
*[[Capricornus]]
*[[Aquarius (astrology)]]
*[[Iah]]
*[[Jah]]
*[[Me (mythology)|''Me'' (mythology)]]
*[[Mesopotamian mythology]]
*[[Ahura Mazda]]
*[[El (deity)]]

==References==
===Notes===
{{reflist|group=note}}

=== Citations ===
{{reflist|25em}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin|25em|small=y}}
* {{Citation |last=Horry |first=Ruth |title=Enki/Ea (god) |date=2019 |work=Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses |url=https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/enki/index.html |publisher=Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, UK Higher Education Academy}}
* {{Cite book |last=Galter |first=Hannes D. |url=https://www.academia.edu/45092567 |title=Der Gott Ea/Enki in der akkadischen Überlieferung: eine Bestandsaufnahme des vorhandenen Materials |date=1983 |publisher=dbv-Verl. für die Techn. Univ |isbn=978-3-7041-9018-5 |series=Dissertationen der Universität Graz |location=Graz |language=german}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Kramer |first1=Samuel Noah |title=Myths of Enki, the Crafty God |last2=Maier |first2=John R. |date=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9781725282896 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite thesis |last=Green |first=Margaret W. |title=Eridu in Sumerian literature |date=1975 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Chicago}}
* {{Cite book |last=Archi |first=Alfonso |title=Opening the Tablet Box : Near Eastern Studies in honor of Benjamin R. Foster |date=2010 |publisher=Brill Academic Pub |isbn=978-9004186521 |editor-last=Melville |editor-first=Sarah C. |chapter=The god Hay(y)a (Ea/Enki) at Ebla |editor-last2=Slotsky |editor-first2=Alice L. |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/98043392}}
* {{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Jimmy J.M. |title=The earliest semitic pantheon; a study of the Semitic deities attested in Mesopotamia before Ur III |date=1972 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=9780801813887 |location=Baltimore}}
* {{Citation |last1=Cavigneaux |first1=Antoine |title=Nudimmud, Nadimmud |date=1998a |work=Reallexikon der Assyriologie |url=https://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#9146 |access-date=2025-05-24 |language=german |last2=Krebernik |first2=Manfred}}
* {{Citation |last=Galter |first=Hannes D. |title=Nagbu |date=1998 |work=Reallexikon der Assyriologie |url=https://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#8169 |access-date=2025-05-24 |language=german}}
* {{Citation |last1=Cavigneaux |first1=Antoine |title=Niššīku |date=1998b |work=Reallexikon der Assyriologie |url=https://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#9117 |access-date=2025-05-24 |language=german |last2=Krebernik |first2=Manfred}}
* {{Cite book |last=Black |first=Jeremy |title=The literature of ancient Sumer |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-last=Cunningham |editor-first=Graham |editor-last2=Robson |editor-first2=Eleanor |editor-last3=Zólyomi |editor-first3=Gábor}}
* {{Cite book |last=Foster |first=Benjamin R. |title=Before the Muses : An Anthology of Akkadian Literature |date=2005 |publisher=CDL Press |isbn=9781883053765 |location=Bethesda, MD}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dalley |first=Stephanie |title=Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others |date=1989 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=9780199538362 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Bottéro |first1=Jean |title=Lorsque les dieux faisaient l'homme. Mythologie mésopotamienne. |last2=Kramer |first2=Samuel Noah |date=1989 |publisher=Editions Gallimard |location=Paris}}
* {{Cite book |last=Leick |first=Gwendolyn |title=A Dictionary Of Ancient Near Eastern Mythology |date=1991 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0415198110}}
* {{Cite book |last=Leick |first=Gwendolyn |title=Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature |date=1994 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780415065344}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hoffner |first=Harry A. |title=Hittite Myths, Second Edition |date=1991 |publisher=The Society of Biblical Literature |isbn=9780788504884 |editor-last=Beckman |editor-first=Gary M.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mittermayer |first=Catherine |url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/139535/1/Mittermayer_2009_Enmerkara_und_der_Herr_von_Arata.pdf |title=Enmerkara und der Herr von Arata: Ein ungleicher Wettstreit |date=2009 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-3525543597 |location=Fribourg |language=german}}
* {{Cite book |last=Al-Fouadi |first=Abdul-Hadi A. |title=Enki's Journey to Nippur: The Journeys of the Gods. |date=1969 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Lambert |first1=Wilfred G. |title=Atra-ḫasīs : the Babylonian story of the flood |last2=Millard |first2=Alan R. |last3=Civil |first3=Miguel |date=1969 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=9781575061849}}
* {{Cite book |last=Foster |first=Benjamin R. |title=Essays on the ancient near east in the memory of Jacob Joel Finkelstein |isbn=9780020817147 |editor-last=deJong Ellis |editor-first=Maria |edition=Archon Books |location=Hamden, Connecticut |publication-date=1977 |chapter=Ea and Ṣaltu |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/4768408}}
* {{Citation |last=Jacobsen |first=Thorkild |title=The Eridu Genesis |date=1981 |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |volume=100 |issue=4 |pages=513–529 |doi=10.2307/3266116 |jstor=3266116 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3266116}}
* {{Citation |last=Streck |first=Michael P. |title=Notes on the Old Babylonian Hymns of Agušaya |date=2010 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=130 |issue=4 |pages=561–571 |jstor=23044558 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23044558}}
* {{Cite web |last=Gomes de Almeida |first=Isabel |date=2024-04-05 |title=Enki and Ninmaḫ |url=https://zenodo.org/records/12574553 |access-date=2025-07-06 |website=The Database of Religious History |publisher=University of British Columbia |place=Vancouver, BC}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Civil |first=Miguel |date=1983 |title=Enlil and Ninlil: The Marriage of Sud |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/601859 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=103 |issue=1 |pages=43–66 |doi=10.2307/601859 |jstor=601859|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Lambert |first1=Wilfred G. |title=Atra-Ḫasīs: the Babylonian story of the Flood |last2=Millard |first2=Alan R. |date=1969 |publisher=Clarendon |isbn=9780198131533 |location=Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |last=George |first=Andrew R. |title=The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts. |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198149224}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gadotti |first=Alhena |title=Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld and the Sumerian Gilgamesh Cycle. |date=2014 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9781614517085}}
* {{Citation |last=George |first=Andrew R. |title=The civilizing of Ea-Enkidu : An unusual tablet of the Babylonian Gilgameš Epic |date=2007 |work=Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale |volume=101 |pages=59–80 |jstor=23281273 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23281273?seq=1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hallo |first=William W. |title=The Book of the People |date=1991 |series=Brown Judaic Studies 225 |location=Winona Lake |chapter=X The Context of Scripture: Selections from Ancient Near Eastern Literature |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvzgb9g4.15?seq=7}}
* {{Citation |last=Vanstiphout |first=H.L.J. |title=Another Attempt at the 'Spell of Nudimmud' |date=1994 |work=Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale |volume=88 |issue=2 |pages=135–154 |jstor=23281640 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23281640?read-now=1&seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents}}
* {{Cite book |last=Vanstiphout |first=H.L.J. |title=Epics of Sumerian Kings |date=2003 |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |isbn=9781589838468 |editor-last=Cooper |editor-first=Jerrold S. |location=Atlanta, Georgia}}
* {{Cite book |last=Uehlinger |first=Christoph |url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/149989/1/Uehlinger_1990_Weltreich_und_eine_Rede.pdf |title=Weltreich und "eine Rede": Eine neue Deutung der sogenannten Turmbauerzählung (Gen 11, 1-9) |date=1990 |publisher=Universitätsverlag |isbn=978-3525537336 |location=Freiburg}}
* {{Citation |last=Crisostomo |first=Jay |title=The Sumerian discourse markers u₄-ba and u₄-bi-a |date=2017 |work=Journal of Cuneiform Studies |volume=69 |doi=10.5615/jcunestud.69.2017.0049 |jstor=10.5615/jcunestud.69.2017.0049 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5615/jcunestud.69.2017.0049}}
* {{Citation |last=Archi |first=Alfonso |title=Orality, Direct Speech and the Kumarbi Cycle |date=2009 |work=Altoriental, Forsch |volume=36 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6637130 |publisher=Akademie Verlag}}
* {{Cite book |last=Beckman |first=Gary |title=Hethitische Literatur. Überlieferungsprozesse, Textstrukturen, Ausdrucksformen und Nachwirken. |date=2011 |publisher=Ugarit-Verlag |isbn=978-3868350630 |editor-last=Hutter |editor-first=Manfred |location=Münster |chapter=Primordial Obstetrics. "The Song of Emergence" (CTH 344) |editor-last2=Hutter-Braunsar |editor-first2=Sylvia |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/48247742}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Lambert |first=Wilfred G. |date=1989 |title=Reviewed Work: Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language. Vol. I by Cyrus H. Gordon, Gary A. Rendsburg, Nathan H. Winter |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/617916?read-now=1&seq=2 |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |volume=52 |issue=1 |jstor=617916}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lambert |first=Wilfred G. |title=Babylonian Creation Myths |date=2013 |publisher=Eisenbraums |isbn=9781575062471}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Lambert |first1=Wilfred G. |title=An = Anum and Related Lists: God Lists of Ancient Mesopotamia |last2=Winters |first2=Ryan D. |date=2023 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |isbn=9783161613821 |editor-last=George |editor-first=Andrew |editor-last2=Krebernik |editor-first2=Manfred}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lisman |first=Jan W. |title=Cosmogony, Theogony and Anthropogeny in Sumerian texts. |date=2013 |publisher=Ugarit-Verlag |isbn=9783868350951 |location=}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sollberger |first=Edmond |title=The Business and Administrative Correspondence under the Kings of Ur |date=1966 |publisher=J.J. Augustin |location=Locust Valley}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Sollberger |first1=Edmond |title=Inscriptions royales sumériennes et akkadiennes |last2=Kupper |first2=Jean-Robert |publisher=CERF |year=1971 |location=Paris}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Thorkild |title=Sha'arei Talmon Studies in the Bible, Qumran, and the Ancient Near East Presented to Shemaryahu Talmon |date=1992 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-0931464614 |editor-last=Fishbane |editor-first=Michael |location=Winona Lake |chapter=The Spell of Nudimmud |editor-last2=Tov |editor-first2=Emanuel}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Thorkild |title=The Treasures Of Darkness : A History Of Mesopotamian Religion |date=1976 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9780300022919}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Thorkild |title=Toward the Image of Tammuz and Other Essays on Mesopotamian History and Culture |date=1970 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674898103}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Thorkild |title=The Harps that Once...: Sumerian Poetry in Translation |date=1987 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9780300039061}}
* {{Cite book |last=Boivin |first=Odette |title=The first dynasty of the Sealand in Mesopotamia |date=2018 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9781501516399 |location=Boston}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Kramer |first=Samuel Noah |date=1960 |title=Sumero-Akkadian Interconnections: Religious Ideas |journal=Genava |volume=8 |issn=0072-0585}}
*{{cite book |last1=Bottéro |first1=Jean |title=Mesopotamia : writing, reasoning, and the gods |date=1992 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=978-0-226-06727-8 |edition=1st paperback}}
*{{cite book |last1=Bottéro |first1=Jean |title=Religion in ancient Mesopotamia |date=2001 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=0-226-06718-1}}
*{{Citation |last=Espak |first=Peeter |title=The God Enki in Sumerian Royal Ideology and Mythology |date=2010 |work=Dissertationes Theologiae Universitatis Tartuensis 19 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1034652 |publisher=Tartu University Press |isbn=9789949195220}}
*{{Cite book |last=Archi |first=Alfonso |title=Beyond Hatti : A tribute to Gary Beckman |date=2013 |publisher=Lockwood Press |isbn=9781937040116 |editor-last=Collins |editor-first=Billie Jean |location=Atlanta |chapter=The West Hurrian Pantheon and Its Background |editor-last2=Michalowski |editor-first2=Piotr |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/7003610/The_West_Hurrian_Pantheon_and_Its_Background}}
*{{Cite book |last=Archi |first=Alfonso |title=Silva Anatolica: Anatolian Studies Presented to Maciej Popko on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday |date=2002 |publisher=Agade |isbn=9788387111120 |editor-last=Taracha |editor-first=Piotr |chapter=Ea and the Beast : A song related to the Kumarpi cycle}}
*{{Cite book |last=Rutherford |first=Ian |title=Hethitische Literatur. Überlieferungsprozesse, Textstrukturen, Ausdrucksformen und Nachwirken |date=2011 |publisher=Ugarit-Verlag |isbn=9783868350630 |editor-last=Hutter |editor-first=Manfred |location=Münster |chapter=Ea and the Beast. The Hittite Text and its Relation to the Greek Poetry |editor-last2=Hutter-Braunsar |editor-first2=Sylvia |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/22512516}}
* {{Cite thesis |last=Espak |first=Peeter |title=Ancient Near Eastern Gods Ea and Enki; Diachronical analysis of texts and images from the earliest sources to the Neo-Sumerian period |date=2006 |degree=master |publisher=Tartu University, Faculty of Theology, Chair for Ancient Near Eastern Studies |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28581203}}
* {{cite book |last=Kramer |first=Samuel Noah |title=The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1963 |url=https://archive.org/details/sumerianstheirhi00samu |url-access=registration |isbn=0-226-45238-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kramer |first=Samuel Noah |title=Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C |date=1944 |isbn=9798622502514}}
* {{Citation |last=Weeden |first=Mark |title=The Akkadian Words for "Grain" and the God Ḫaya |date=2009 |journal=Die Welt des Orients |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=77–107 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25684169 |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (GmbH & Co. KG) |jstor=25684169 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Lambert |first=Wilfred G. |title=Sumerian gods and their representations |date=1997 |publisher=Styx Publications |isbn=978-9056930059 |editor-last=Finkel |editor-first=Irving L. |location=Groningen |chapter=Sumerian Gods: Combining the Evidence of Texts and Art |editor-last2=Geller |editor-first2=Markham J.}}
* {{Citation |last=Wiggermann |first=F.A.M |title=Mischwesen A. Philologisch. Mesopotamien · Hybrid creatures A. Philological. In Mesopotamia. |date=1997 |work=Reallexikon der Assyriologie |url=https://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#7855 |access-date=2025-06-07}}
* {{Citation |last=Green |first=Anthony |title=Mischwesen B. Archäologie. Mesopotamien · Hybrid creatures B. Archaeological. In Mesopotamia |date=1997 |work=Reallexikon der Assyriologie |url=https://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#7856 |access-date=2025-06-07}}
* {{Citation |last=Seidl |first=Ursula |title=Göttersymbole und attribute A. I. Archäologisch. Mesopotamien · Divine symbol and attributes A. I. Archaeological. Mesopotamia |date=1971 |work=Reallexikon der Assyriologie |url=https://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#4720 |access-date=2025-06-07 |language=german}}
* {{Citation |last=Zgoll |first=Annette |title=Ningal A. I. In Mesopotamien · Ningal A. I. In Mesopotamia |date=1998 |work=Reallexikon der Assyriologie |url=https://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#8648 |access-date=2025-06-07}}
* {{Cite book |last=Boehmer |first=Rainer Michael |title=Die Entwicklung der Glyptik während der Akkad-Zeit |date=1965 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9783110001013 |location=Berlin}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Black |first1=Jeremy |title=Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia |last2=Green |first2=Anthony |date=1992 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0292707948}}
* {{Citation |last=Wiggermann |first=F.A.M. |title=Exit Talim! Studies in Babylonian Demonology, I |date=1981 |work=Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap Ex Oriente Lux |volume= |issue=27 |url=https://www.academia.edu/252787 |chapter-url=}}
* {{Citation |last=Rogers |first=John H. |title=Origins of the ancient constellations: I. The Mesopotamian traditions |date=1998 |work=Journal of the British Astronomical Association |volume=108 |issue=1}}
* {{Citation |last=West |first=Stephanie |title=Prometheus Orientalized |date=1994 |journal=Museum Helveticum |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=129–149 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24818292 |jstor=24818292}}
* {{Cite book |last=Duchemin |first=Jacqueline |title=Prométhée, Histoire du mythe, de ses origines orientales à ses incarnations modernes |date=1974 |publisher=Les Belles Lettres |isbn=9782251324326 |location=Paris}}
* {{Citation |last=Caduff |first=Gian Andrea |title=Antike Sintflutsagen |date=1986 |series=Hypomnemata. Untersuchungen zur Antike und zu ihrem Nachleben |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht}}
* {{Citation |last=Garrison |first=Mark B. |title=God on serpent throne |date=2009 |work=Iconography of Deities and Demons in the Ancient Near East |url=https://www.religionswissenschaft.uzh.ch/idd/prepublications/e_idd_god_on_serpent_throne.pdf |access-date=2025-06-07 |publisher=Swiss National Science Foundation}}
* {{Citation |last=Katz |first=Dina |title=Enki and Ninḫursaĝa, Part One: The Story of Dilmun |date=2007 |work=Bibliotheca Orientalis |volume=64 |url=https://www.academia.edu/235215}}
* {{Citation |last=Katz |first=Dina |title=Enki and Ninhursaga, Part Two |date=2008-01-01 |work=Bibliotheca Orientalis |volume=65 |issue= |url=https://www.academia.edu/314373}}
* {{cite journal |last=Dickson |first=Keith |title=Enki and Ninhursag: The Trickster in Paradise |journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies |volume=66 |issue=1 |date=2007-01-01 |issn=0022-2968 |doi=10.1086/512211 |pages=1–32 |s2cid=161657064 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249102817 |access-date=2025-06-30}}
* {{Citation |last=Postgate |first=J. Nicholas |title=Dismembering Enki and Ninhursaga |date=2010 |work=Your Praise is Sweet. A Memorial Volume for Jeremy Black from Students, Colleagues and Friends}}
* {{Citation |last=Kikawada |first=Isaac |title=The Double Creation of Mankind in "Enki and Ninmah", "Atrahasis" I 1-351, and "Genesis" 1-2 |date=1982 |journal=Iraq |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=43–45 |doi=10.2307/4200176 |jstor=4200176 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4200176?read-now=1&seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents}}
* {{Citation |last=Cooley |first=Jeffrey L. |title=Inana and Šukaletuda: A Sumerian Astral Myth |date=2008 |work=KASKAL : Rivista di storia, ambienti e culture del Vicino Oriente Antico |volume=5 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1247599}}
* {{Citation |last=Alster |first=Bendt |title="Ninurta and the Turtle", UET 6/1 2 |date=1972 |journal=Journal of Cuneiform Studies |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=120–125 |doi=10.2307/1359631 |jstor=1359631 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1359631?seq=2}}
* {{Citation |last=Kramer |first=Samuel Noah |title=Ninurta's Pride and Punishment |date=1984 |work=Aula Orientalis |volume=2 |url=https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/19842AuOrKramer.pdf}}
* {{Citation |last=Wiggermann |first=F.A.M. |title=Nammu |date=1998 |work=Reallexikon der Assyriologie |url=https://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#8223 |access-date=2025-06-07}}
* {{Citation |last=Shwemer |first=Daniel |title=The Storm-Gods of the Ancient Near East: Summary, Synthesis, Recent Studies. Part I |date=2008 |work=Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions |volume=7 |issue=2 |url=https://www.academia.edu/14077702}}
* {{Citation |last=Krebernik |first=Manfred |title=Muttergöttin A. I. In Mesopotamien |date=1997 |work=Reallexikon der Assyriologie |url=https://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#8082 |access-date=2025-06-07 |language=german}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tugendhaft |first=Aaron |title=Canonical Texts and Scholarly Practices A Global Comparative Approach |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-last=Grafton |editor-first=Anthony |chapter=Gods on clay: Ancient Near Eastern scholarly practices and the history of religions |editor-last2=Most |editor-first2=Glenn W. |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/28102179}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Asher-Greve |first1=Julia M. |url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/135436/1/Asher-Greve_Westenholz_2013_Goddesses_in_Context.pdf |title=Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources |last2=Goodnick Westenholz |first2=Joan |date=2013 |publisher=Academic Press |location=Göttingen}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gabbay |first=Uri |title=SAOC 62. Proceedings of the 51st Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Held at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, July 18–22, 2005 |publisher=The University of Chicago |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-885923-54-7 |editor-last=Biggs |editor-first=Robert D. |chapter=The Akkadian Word For Third Gender: The Kalû (Gala) Once Again. |editor-last2=Myers |editor-first2=Jennie |editor-last3=Roth |editor-first3=Martha T.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Suter |first=Claudia E. |title=Gudea's Temple Building: The Representation of an Early Mesopotamian Ruler in Text and Image (Cuneiform Monographs, 17) |date=2000 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789056930356}}
* {{Cite book |last=Edzard |first=Dietz-Otto |title=Gudea and His Dynasty |date=1997 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9781442675551}}
{{Refend}}


==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{commons category|Enki}}
*[http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/enki/ Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses: Enki/Ea (god)]
*[http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.1.1&charenc=j# Enki and Ninhursag]
*[http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.1.2&charenc=j# Creation of Man]
*[http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.3.1&charenc=j# Enki and Inanna]

{{Sumerian mythology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Mesopotamian gods]]
[[Category:Wisdom gods]]
[[Category:Sea and river gods]]
[[Category:Water gods]]
[[Category:Creator gods]]
[[Category:Earth gods]]
[[Category:Fertility gods]]
[[Category:Characters in the Enūma Eliš]]
[[Category:Magic gods]]
[[Category:Knowledge gods]]
[[Category:Primordial teachers]]
[[Category:Time and fate gods]]
[[Category:Mercurian deities]]
[[Category:Trickster gods]]
[[Category:Scribes]]
[[Category:Piscine and amphibian humanoids]]