Skip to content
Wellsprings
cosmos-godsWe're still mapping where this idea was first discussed. Key passages and related ideas below.

Enki / Ea, God of Wisdom & the Sweet Waters

When the gods decree humanity's doom, it is the clever water-god who whispers the way out.

Enki, called Ea in Akkadian, dwells in the Apsu, the sweet groundwater beneath the earth. He is the god of wisdom, craft, and magic — the clever one who orders the practical world, devises the arts of civilization, and again and again outwits harsher decrees to rescue humanity. It is Enki who warns the Flood-hero, who fashions or saves humankind, and who supplies the incantations that heal. Where Enlil commands, Enki contrives; he is the patron of cunning intelligence.

Key passages(20)

Enki and the world order

Very high

A tigi to Enki for Ur-Ninurta (Ur-Ninurta B)

Very high

A hymn to Enki (?) for Išme-Dagan (Išme-Dagan X)

Very high

A prayer to Enki for Ḫammu-rābi (Ḫammu-rābi B)

Very high

An adab (?) to Enki for Išme-Dagan (Išme-Dagan D)

Very high
Very high

A hymn to Ninurta for Išme-Dagan

High

A balbale to Enki for Išme-Dagan (Išme-Dagan E)

High

A hymn to Enki for Išme-Dagan

High
High
High
High

A praise poem of Ḫammu-rābi (Ḫammu-rābi C)

High
High

The debate between Bird and Fish

High

A hymn to Asarluḫi (Asarluḫi A)

High