Enki

Enki by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin

**Enki**, also known as **Ea**, was the Mesopotamian god crafts, water, fertility, semen, magic, and mischief, as well as a culture hero.

## Mythology

### Family

He was usually seen as the son of An, the the personification of the sky, and brother of Enlil, king of the gods. His spouse was the earth-goddess Ninhursag and they lived on the island Dilmun. The two gods lived happily, but the marriage was strained as Enki started to be attracted to their daughters, which led to various catastrophes between them, varying from myth to myth. As the Babylonian Ea he was also seen as the father Marduk.

Enki, like most Mesopotamian deities, is served by a sukkal (a vizier or minister), with his sukkal being the two-faced Isimud.

He is one of the great gods in the Mesopotamian pantheon.

### Function

Enki was also associated with the Abzu, the underwater source of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, and he was often seen as the creator of the human race, alongside his wife, using primeval clay and sometimes also blood as ingredients, and served as a teacher of crafts, agriculture, writing, laws, architecture, and magic for the humans. He served as the patron deity for the city of Eridu.

## Mythology

### Flood-myths

He was also an important figure in the various flood myths of ancient Mesopotamia (Ziusudra, Atrahasis, and Utnapishtim), where would stand up for the human-race against Enlil will to destroy them. It was him who guided the humans how to survive the famines and plagues send by Enlil, and he would also guide the hero of the flood in how to built the ark in order to survive the flood.

## Gallery

Ea (in the Middle), alongside other deities from Mesopotamia
## Pop Culture

* Enki, being an ancient trickster deity, connected with the creation of humanity, is often connected to the ancient aliens-theory, according to which he created humans through genetic engineering instead of clays and blood. He is even mentioned in the title of *The Lost Book of Enki: Memoirs and Prophecies of an Extraterrestrial God* by Zecharia Sitchin.
* Within the *Nephlim Chronicles*-book series by author Brian Godawa, Enki, alongside all other pagan deities of the world, was a Watcher-angel who rebelled against the God of the Bible. Within the book Enoch Primordial he is connected Arakiel, an angel that is connected with the "signs of the earth", which is possibly geomancy.
* Within the universe of the SCP-Foundation Enki is connected with SCP-2404, which are two entities, one a powerful reality-bender and the other an ancient alien, who both claim to be the Mesopotamian god, though the article implies that neither is the Enki.
* Ea, alongside many other deities such as Anu, Shamash, Utu, Baal-Hadad, Marduk, Durga, Zeus, Archangel Michael and God were invoked in a exorcism by the character Ota Benga in Mike Mignola's *B.P.R.D.: 1947*-comic.

## References

1. ↑ Espak, Peeter. *The god Enki in Sumerian royal ideology and mythology.* PhD diss., Tartu University, 2010.
2. ↑ Leick, Gwendolyn. *A Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Mythology.* Philosophy East and West 43, no. 2 (1993): 354.
3. ↑ Cotterell, Arthur. *The Macmillan illustrated encyclopedia of myths & legends.* Macmillan, 1989.
4. ↑ Black, Jeremy, and Anthony Green. *Gods, demons and symbols. Ancient Mesopotamia: an Ilustrated Dictionary* (1992).
5. ↑ Black, Jeremy, and Anthony Green. *Gods, demons and symbols. Ancient Mesopotamia: an Ilustrated Dictionary* (1992).
6. ↑ Wiggermann, Frans AM. *The Mesopotamian Pandemonium.* Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni 77 (2011): 298-322.
7. ↑ Cotterell, Arthur. *The Macmillan illustrated encyclopedia of myths & legends.* Macmillan, 1989.
8. ↑ Espak, Peeter. *The god Enki in Sumerian royal ideology and mythology.* PhD diss., Tartu University, 2010.
9. ↑ Espak, Peeter. *Was Eridu The First City in Sumerian Mythology.* Studia in Honorem Tarmo Kulmar. When Gods Spoke: Researches and Reflections on Religious Artefacts(2015): 53-70.
10. ↑ Cotterell, Arthur. *The Macmillan illustrated encyclopedia of myths & legends.* Macmillan, 1989.