Enki
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Enki was a deity in Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea. The main temple to Enki was in Eridu. He was the keeper of the holy Me. His symbols included a goat and a fish, which later combined into a single beast, the Capricorn, which became one of the signs of the zodiac. Contrary to the translation of his name ("en" meaning lord, and "ki" meaning earth), he is the lord of the Abzu, the watery abyss. His name is possibly an epithet bestowed on him for the creation of the first man, Adamu, or Adapa.
Male presence, deity of water and the creation. He had sexual relations with his female offspring during various generations. Marriages between relatives have always been a ordinary practice among deities.
According to Sumerian mythology, the Lord Enki allowed humanity to survive the Deluge designed to kill them. After Enlil, Anu and the rest of the apparent Council of Deities, decided that Man would suffer total annihilation, he covertly rescued the human man Ziusudra by either instructing him to build some kind of an ark for his family, or by bringing him into the heavens in a magic boat. This is similar to the story of Noah's Ark in the Bible, though the Ziusudra myth in itself may be rooted in yet older myths.
Enki was the Elder who created life and replenishment and the 'human being' project, and was often depicted with streams of water emanating from his shoulders. Alongside him were trees symbolising the male and female aspects of nature, each holding the male and female aspects of the 'Life Essence', which he, as a super magician and alchemist and leader of the pantheon of The Elders, would masterfully mix to create several beings that would live upon the face of the earth.
Enki created a being called LU.LU. by mixing the Life Essence of animals with the Life Essence of The Elders. This LU.LU. (which means mixed), would go on to receive more Elder-like attributes as a result of Enki's creator-ambitions, and subsequently humans were created.
Enki intended human beings to develop into 'daemons' (the Greek word 'daimon' means a spirit that is endowed with powers of a deity, and acts as an intermediary between The Elders and humanity.)
References in popular culture
- In the science fiction book Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson, Enki is portrayed as a proto-hacker.