Editing Enki (section)

{{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 BC<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 creation, intelligence, crafts, [[fertility]], [[semen]], magic, mischief
| symbol = [[Goat]], [[fish]], [[Sea goat|goat-fish]], chimera
| consort = [[Ninhursag]], Damkina
| siblings = [[Enlil]]
| children = [[Marduk]], [[Dumuzid]], [[Ninsar]], [[Ninkurra]], [[Uttu]], [[Ninti]]
| parents = [[Anu|An]] and [[Nammu]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Leick|first=Dr Gwendolyn|title=A Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Mythology|date=2002-09-11|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-64103-1|pages=41|language=en}}</ref>
| Greek_equivalent = [[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 "calque" of the Sumerian EN.KI, 'lord of the earth'".</ref> [[Prometheus]]<ref name="auto2">Stephanie West. "Prometheus Orientalized" page 147 Museum Helveticum Vol. 51, No. 3 (1994), pp. 129–149 (21 pages)</ref>
| equivalent1 = [[Ptah]]
| equivalent1_type = Egyptian
}}{{Mesopotamian myth (7)}}
{{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''), 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 [[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".<ref>{{cite book |first1=Jeremy |last1=Black |first2=Anthony |last2=Green <!-- |contributor1-first=Tessa |contributor-last1=Rickards |contribution=Illustrator --> |title=Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RukgvgAACAAJ |date=1992 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-70794-8 |page=145}}</ref><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,<ref>{{citation|last1=Black|first1=Jeremy|first2=Anthony|last2=Green|title=Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary|publisher=The British Museum Press|year=1992|isbn=978-0-7141-1705-8 |page=133}}</ref> 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]].