Enki plays a leading role in another Akkadian/Babylonian myth, the Atrahasis, a Mesopotamian version of the Great Flood. In this myth, Enki is responsible for the creation of humanity, destined to serve the gods.
This race of humans multiplied rapidly, and Enlil, chief of the gods, became irritated by the noise the humans made. In this way, he decided to reduce the number of humans by sending catastrophes to Earth to cause their death. In each of them, the humans appealed to Enki, hoping that he would tell them what to do in order to survive. Finally, Enlil decides to exterminate humanity once and for all with a great flood.
Enki is unable to stop Enlil's plans, so he decides to go down to earth to save at least one good man, Atrahasis. Enki orders Atrahasis to build an ark so that he can escape Enlil's wrath. The rest of the human race, however, is destroyed. Enlil then suggests that the human being be created anew, although the new human creatures will be less fertile, their life will be shorter and they will be more vulnerable than their predecessors.
Reproduction of a Mesopotamian seal representing the Sumerian god Enlil and his wife, the goddess Ninlil. (Public domain)
In some myths, Enki is considered the father of the goddess Inanna, another important deity in the Sumerian pantheon. For example, in the famous myth of Inanna's Descent, Enki hatches a plan to rescue her daughter from her Underworld when Ereshkigal, Inanna's sister, kills her. Enki then sends demons to trick Ereshkigal into giving them Inanna's corpse, which they would then resurrect.
-The god Enki, the mother goddess Inanna and the deformed humans of Sumerian myths
-Seven main gods of the Sumerian pantheon
-Fearsome Enlil: lord of the wind and storms of Sumerian mythology
In another myth entitled Inanna and Enki, the two gods compete to see which of them can drink more. In the course of this challenge, Enki, completely drunk, grants his daughter all the Mes, that is, the gifts of civilization. The next morning, Enki realizes what he has done and sends his followers to retrieve the Mes. Inanna, however, had managed to return safely to her city, Uruk. Realizing that he had been tricked, Enki has no choice but to make peace with Inanna and the city of Uruk...
In the myths already mentioned, it could be said that Enki is described as a wise and benevolent god who took care of humanity. On the other hand, we can also say of him that his strength lay in his cunning and his gift for deceit. In any case, as the last myth we talked about demonstrates, even the best deceiver can be deceived at some point.
In Sumerian myths, Enki bears the epithet ushumgal, which means "great serpent-dragon." Enki, a water deity, embodies the god of wisdom, lord of construction, arts, design and creation, represented by the symbol of the serpent.
In a Sumerian poem called "Adapa and the South Wind", it is described that Adapa (the model man "created" by Enki), who obtained the "knowledge" granted by Enki, but not the gift of eternal life:.
And this coincides with what happens in the story of the Torah, in which Adam and Eve obtained "knowledge" by eating the fruit of that tree, but they did not access "eternal life" for not eating the fruit of the tree. of life, despite the fact that, strikingly, he was also in the "orchard" and on top of that it was not prohibited:
Gen.2.9. And the Eternal God caused to be born from the earth every tree delicious to the sight, and good to eat; also the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
We can also find in the Sumerian tradition a link between the serpent and "eternal life" in the Gilgamesh poem. Towards the end of the poem, Siuzudra tells him:
I will reveal to you, oh Gilgamesh, a hidden thing, and I will tell you a secret of the gods: There is a plant, like the shrimp. His thorns will prick your hands like the rose. If your hands get the plant, you will be young again.
As soon as Gilgamesh heard this... he went down into the depths, where the plant was, and took it... this plant is a plant against decay, by which a man can win back the breath of his life... Then I will eat (it) myself and thus I shall return to the state of my youth.
After twenty leagues... Gilgamesh saw a well whose water was cool. He went down to bathe in the water. A snake sniffed the fragrance of the plant; he came out of the water and snatched up the plant. When he retired, he shed his skin ". In this poem, the serpent takes away from Gilgamesh the plant of eternal youth, and with it the possibility of being "immortal", in the same way that the biblical serpent does implicitly by tempting Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge. more not that of life.
The Sumerian tablets found in Nineveh in the 19th century
tell stories that curiously the Bible has written in its book The first copy/paste of history? Of course! If not, explain it to the Antediluvian Patriarchs. The Sumerian civilization is dated between 2,600 B.C. up to 18,000 years B.C. So it's obvious that the Bible borrowed from the Sumerian stories.
In the Bible they mention that the Nephilim are giants, just as for the Sumerians the Anunnaki were giants, although it is not really known if it is in a literal or figurative sense. The Bible tells that the Nephilim were children of evil angels, although for them anyone who opposes their truth will be an evil being.
According to the Bible, the Nephilim disappear along with the flood dragged by the force of Jehovah, this is because they did not enter Noah's ark. All the cultures of the world coincide with a universal deluge, but this data comes from a primitive document such as the Sumerian tables.
For the Sumerians, the appearance of the Anunnakis is very similar to ours, hence the famous phrase "we were created in the image and likeness". The difference is that they were much bigger than us and their lives were much longer.