ORIGIN: Mesopotamian (Babylonian-Akkadian)
TYPE: God of Primordial waters.
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: circa 1900 BCE to circa 200 BCE
SYNONYMS: Ea-sarru; Enki (Sumerian)
ART REFERENCES: glyptics and other carvings
LITERARY SOURCES: Cuneiform texts including Enuma Elis, Epic of Gilgames, Nergal and Ereskigal, etc.
SYMBOL: Goat, fish, goat-fish, chimera.
PARENTS: An and Nammu
CONSORT: Ninhursag, Damkina
CHILDREN: Marduk, Dumuzid, Ninsar, Ninkurra, Utta, Ninti
EQUIVALENTS:
INFORMATION: One of the major deities in the old Babylonian-Akkadian pantheon who evolved from the mode of Enki. God of sweet water and of wisdom. His consort is Damkina and his temple is the Apsu house or E-engurra in Eridu (lost). By the neo-Babylonian period his popularity as a major deity had wanded and he was relegated to the role of father of the god Marduk.