Apkallu
Encyclopedia
The Apkallu or Abgal, (Sumerian
) are seven Sumerian demigods said to have been created by the god Enki
(Akkadian
: Ea) to give civilization to mankind. They served as priests of Enki
and as advisors or sages to the earliest "kings" or rulers of Sumeria before the flood. They are credited with giving mankind the Me
(moral code), the crafts, and the arts. They were seen as fish-like men who emerged from the sweet water Apsu. They are commonly represented as having the lower torso of a fish, or dressed as a fish. They have also been depicted with wings, having either a human head or an eagle's head.
Adapa
(U-an, Oannes) was the first of the Apkallu. The others were U-an-dugga, En-me-duga, En-me-galanna, En-me-buluga, An-enlilda, and Utu-abzu
.
Sumerian language
Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer, which was spoken in southern Mesopotamia since at least the 4th millennium BC. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism...
) are seven Sumerian demigods said to have been created by the god Enki
Enki
Enki 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...
(Akkadian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
: Ea) to give civilization to mankind. They served as priests of Enki
Enki
Enki 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...
and as advisors or sages to the earliest "kings" or rulers of Sumeria before the flood. They are credited with giving mankind the Me
Me (mythology)
In Sumerian mythology, a me or ñe or parşu is one of the decrees of the gods foundational to those social institutions, religious practices, technologies, behaviors, mores, and human conditions that make civilization, as the Sumerians understood it, possible...
(moral code), the crafts, and the arts. They were seen as fish-like men who emerged from the sweet water Apsu. They are commonly represented as having the lower torso of a fish, or dressed as a fish. They have also been depicted with wings, having either a human head or an eagle's head.
Adapa
Adapa
Adapa was a Babylonian mythical figure who unknowingly refused the gift of immortality. The story is first attested in the Kassite period .-Roles:...
(U-an, Oannes) was the first of the Apkallu. The others were U-an-dugga, En-me-duga, En-me-galanna, En-me-buluga, An-enlilda, and Utu-abzu
Abzu
The abzu also called engur, literally, ab='ocean' zu='to know' or 'deep' was the name for fresh water from underground aquifers that was given a religious quality in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology...
.