Enki Deity - God of Water and Creation

In Sumerian mythology, Enki is a god of creation, intelligence, crafts, water, fertility, magic and mischief. He is also known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology. Many people from Canaanites, Hittites and Hurrians cultures also believed in Enki. Enki is connected with the planet Mercury and with the constellations called stars of Ea and AŠ-IKU (Square of Pegasus). He is the son of Anu, the sky lord and Nammu, the mother goddess and the goddess of the primeval creative matter. Enki has a twin sister, and her name is Ereshkigal. Enki’s children are Ninsar, Ninkurra, Uttu, and Ninti. In the beginning, he was the guardian of the city of Eridu but later he had an impact on all of the Mesopotamia. We could say that Enki is equivalent to the Greek titan Prometheus.

There are a lot of stories and myths about Enki. These stories originated from territories of Southern Iraq all the way to the Levantine coast from the third millennium down to Hellenistic times.

Nobody knows for sure the meaning of Enki name. En is the title of High Priests and means “lord” in Sumerian and Ki means “earth” so the most used translation is "Lord of the Earth".

Enki’s powers are: powers of the sweet waters in rivers, he is the one who gives shape to all, the power of ritual lustration and purification, empathy and depth of feeling, the power of joy and sexiness and many other.

E-abzu is the main temple of Enki, and it is located near the ancient Persian Gulf coastline at Eridu. E-abzu means “abzu temple” and it is a ziggurat temple. That temple is the first to have been built in Southern Iraq. E-abzu is expanded 18 times in the last four thousand and five hundred years. It was abandoned during the Persian period. This temple had a pool of fresh water at the entrance, and it is decorated with lapis lazuli, carnelian, silver, and gold. All subsequent Sumerian temples are built to look similar like E-abzu. Enki is the keeper of the divine power also known as Me, he is the god of wisdom and all of magic and lord of the Abzu (primeval sea below the void space of the underworld).

In the third millennium BCE, there are some royal inscriptions which mention “the reeds of Enki”. IN that time reeds were common and important material for building. Symbols of Enki are a goat and a fish. Those two were later combined into a single creature, the goat Capricorn which is identical to the Zodiacal constellation Capricornus. His sacred number is 40, and the astrological number is 12 degrees south. Enki’s follower was Isimud who is also connected with the planet Mercury.

Enki is often represented with two streams of water that flow into his shoulders. One of these streams represents the Euphrates and the other the Tigris. Next to him were trees, which represents male and female aspects of nature and life. Enki is mixing male and female aspects of life and create several other beings.