Enki (;
Sumerian: ) is a
god in
Sumerian mythology, later known as
Ea in Akkadian and
Babylonian mythology. He was originally 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 the
deity of
crafts (
gašam); mischief; water,
seawater,
lakewater (
a,
aba,
ab),
intelligence (
gestú, literally "ear") and
creation (
Nudimmud:
nu, likeness,
dim mud, make beer). 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). 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." The planet Mercury, associated with Babylonian
Nabu (the son of
Marduk) was in
Sumerian times, identified with Enki.
