| Abzu | |
|---|---|
| Genealogy | |
| Consort | Tiamat |
| Children | Kingu (Babylonian religion),Lahamu,Lahmu,Anu (Sumerian religion) |
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| Religion in Mesopotamia |
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Abzû orApsû (Sumerian:𒀊𒍪lit.ab = 'water'zû = 'deep', is the name for fresh water from undergroundaquifers which was given a religious fertilising quality inancient near eastern cosmology, includingSumerian andAkkadian mythology. It was believed that all lakes, springs, rivers, fountains, rain, and even theFlood, as described inAtrahasis, originated from the Abzû. In Mesopotamiancosmogony, it is referred to as the freshwater primordial ocean below and above the earth; indeed the Earth itself was regarded as a goddessNinhursag that was conceived from the mating of male Abzu with female saltwater streamTiamat. In this worldview, our divine Mother Earth —equipped in her upper half with a bubble of air from the breath of the most ingenious god "Lord Wind"Enli— thus is surrounded by cosmic freshwater and encircled at her edge by that saltwater river. Through the underground of her body, which also contains theIrkalla as a special compartment for the dead's live on there as shadows, runs a tunnel drilled by the sun godShamash himself, allowing his burning fire during night to rush dry-footed from west to east, where he begins to rise again between the peaks of the Zagros Mountains.
Abzû inSumerian is also calledengar (Cuneiform:𒇉,LAGAB×HAL); inAkkadianEngar (𒀊𒍪), and inAkkadian:engurru. In Greek Abzû is recorded asἈπασώνApasṓn.[1]
In the city ofEridu,Enki's temple was known asE2-abzû (house of the deep waters) and was located at the edge of a swamp – an abzû.[2]Certain tanks ofholy water inBabylonian andAssyrian temple courtyards were also called abzû (apsû).[3]Typical in religious washing, these tanks were similar toJudaism'smikvot,the washing pools ofIslamicmosques, or thebaptismal font inChristianchurches.
TheSumerian godEnki (Ea in theAkkadian language) was believed to have keen eyes and appeared out of the abzû since before human beings were created. His wifeDamgalnuna, his motherNammu, his advisorIsimud and a variety of subservient creatures, such as the gatekeeperLahmu, also lived in the abzû.[4][5][6][7][8]
Abzû (apsû) is depicted as adeity[9]only in the Babyloniancreationepic, theEnūma Eliš, taken from the library ofAssurbanipal(c. 630BCE) but which is about 500 years older. In this story, he was a primal being made of fresh water and a lover to another primal deity,Tiamat, a creature of salt water. TheEnūma Eliš begins:
The act of procreation led to the birth of the younger gods:Enki,Enlil, andAnu. Anchored in theTablet of Destinies, they founded an organisation to make Mesopotamia fertile through agriculture, but got into a dispute and consequently created the first humans as labour slaves, to peacefully resolve the conflict. The humans multiplieden masse and disturbed the gods around Enlil and Anu with their noise, so that they wanted to use the cosmic freshwater ocean to trigger thegreat flood and destroy the humans (cf.Athrahasis epic). Enraged by the devastation of earth, Tiamat gave birth to monsters whose bodies she filled with "poison instead of blood" and waged war against her traitorous children. OnlyMarduk, the founder of Babylon, was able to kill Tiamat and mould the final constitution of heaven and earth from her corpse.
Abzû is a 2016 adventure game that was influenced by Sumerian mythology of Abzû.[10]
Quotations related toAbzu at Wikiquote| Primordial beings | _-_EnKi_(Sumerian).jpg) | |
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