Abzu

The Abzu or Apsu (Cuneiform: 𒍪 𒀊, ZU.AB; Sumerian: abzu; Akkadian: apsû, ), also
called engur (Cuneiform:𒇉, LAGAB×HAL; Sumerian: engur; Akkadian: engurru—lit., ab='water'
zu='deep'), is the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was given a religious fertilising
quality in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. Lakes, springs, rivers, wells, and other sources of fresh water
were thought to draw their water from the abzu. In this respect, in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology it
referred to the primeval sea below the void space of the underworld (Kur) and the earth (Ma) above.

Contents
In Sumerian culture
In Sumerian cosmology
As a deity
See also
Notes
External links

In Sumerian culture
In the city of Eridu, Enki's temple was known as E2-abzu (house of the deep waters) and was located at the
edge of a swamp, an abzu.[1] Certain tanks of holy water in Babylonian and Assyrian temple courtyards
were also called abzu (apsû).[2] Typical in religious washing, these tanks were similar to Judaism's mikvot,
the washing pools of Islamic mosques, or the baptismal font in Christian churches.

In Sumerian cosmology
The Sumerian god Enki (Ea in the Akkadian language) was believed to have lived in the abzu since before
human beings were created. His wife Damgalnuna, his mother Nammu, his advisor Isimud and a variety of
subservient creatures, such as the gatekeeper Lahmu, also lived in the abzu.

As a deity
Abzu (apsû) is depicted as a deity[3] only in the Babylonian creation epic, the Enûma Elish, taken from the
library of Assurbanipal (c. 630 BCE) 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. The Enuma Elish
begins: "When above the heavens (e-nu-ma e-liš) did not yet exist nor the earth below, Apsu the freshwater
ocean was there, the first, the begetter, and Tiamat, the saltwater sea, she who bore them all; they were still
mixing their waters, and no pasture land had yet been formed, nor even a reed marsh." This resulted in the
birth of the younger gods, who later murder Apsu in order to usurp his lordship of the universe. Enraged,
Tiamat gives birth to the first dragons, filling their bodies with "venom instead of blood", and made war
upon her treacherous children, only to be slain by Marduk, the god of Storms, who then forms the heavens
and earth from her corpse.

See also
Cosmic ocean
Eridu

Notes
1. Green, Margaret Whitney (1975). Eridu in Sumerian Literature. University of Chicago: Ph.D.
dissertation. pp. 180–182.
2. Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, 1992. Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient
Mesopotamia: an illustrated dictionary, s.v. "abzu, apsû". ISBN 0-292-70794-0.
3. Jordan, Michael (1993). Encyclopedia of gods: over 2,500 deities of the world (https://archive.o
rg/details/encyclopediaofgo00jord). New York: Facts on File. p. 2 (https://archive.org/details/en
cyclopediaofgo00jord/page/2) – via Internet Archive.

External links
Quotations related to Abzu at Wikiquote

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This page was last edited on 17 March 2020, at 15:16 (UTC).

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