Enki ( Sumerian : 𒀭𒂗𒆠 D EN-KI ) is the Sumerian god of water , knowledge ( gestú ), crafts ( gašam ), and creation ( nudimmud ), and one of the Anunnaki . He was later known as Ea ( Akkadian : 𒀭𒂍𒀀 ) or Ae [5] in Akkadian ( Assyrian - Babylonian ) religion , and is identified by some scholars with Ia in Canaanite religion . The name was rendered Aos in Greek sources (e.g. Damascius ). [6]
He was originally the patron god of the city of Eridu , but later the influence of his 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 ( Square of Pegasus ). [7] 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". [8] [9] The plane
Many myths about Enki have been collected from various sites, stretching from Southern Iraq to the Levantine 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 .