Enki

Enki was the Sumerian god of creation, crafts, and wisdom, and he plays a central role in several Mesopotamian creation stories. In the Atrahasis epic and the Sumerian flood myth, Enki is the deity who warns the hero (Atrahasis or Ziusudra) of the great flood sent by other gods to destroy humanity, helping ensure human survival. He was also credited with creating humans from clay to relieve the lesser gods of their labor, and with organizing the world's natural and social order.

Enki's primary cult center was the ancient city of Eridu, located in southern Mesopotamia in what is now Iraq. Eridu was considered by the Sumerians to be the world's first city, and its temple, the E-abzu (House of the Subterranean Waters), was dedicated to Enki and his domain over the Abzu—the freshwater ocean believed to exist beneath the earth. The archaeological site of Eridu contains some of the earliest temple structures in Mesopotamia, dating back to the Ubaid period.

Enki and Ea are the same deity—Enki is the Sumerian name, while Ea is the Akkadian and Babylonian name for the god. As Sumerian civilization was absorbed into the Akkadian and later Babylonian empires, the god's name was adapted into the Semitic language while his core attributes as god of water, wisdom, and creation remained largely the same. In later Babylonian tradition, Ea became the father of Marduk, the chief god of Babylon.

The Abzu, also known as Apsu in Akkadian, was the subterranean freshwater ocean that the ancient Mesopotamians believed lay beneath the earth. Enki was the god associated with the Abzu, and his temple at Eridu was called the E-abzu, meaning 'House of the Abzu.' In the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish, Apsu is personified as a primordial deity of fresh water who is killed by the younger god Ea (Enki), who then establishes his dwelling upon the body of Apsu.