Abzu

The Abzu or Apsu (Sumerian: 𒀊𒍪 abzu; Akkadian: 𒀊𒍪 apsû), also called engur (Cuneiform:𒇉, LAGAB×HAL; Sumerian: engur; Akkadian: engurru—lit. ab='water' zu='deep', recorded in Greek as Ἀπασών Apasṓn^[1]), is the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was given a religious fertilising quality in ancient near eastern cosmology, including Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. It was believed that all lakes, springs, rivers, fountains, rain and even the Flood, as described in Atrahasis, originated from the Abzu. In Mesopotamian cosmogony, it is referred to as the freshwater primordial ocean below and above the earth; indeed our planet itself is regarded as a goddess Ninhursag that was conceived from the mating of male Abzu with female saltwater ocean Tiamat. Thus our divine Mother Earth - on her surface equipped with a bubble of breathable air - is surrounded by Abzu, and her interior harbours the realm of the dead (Irkalla).

Not to be confused with Anzû.

"Apsu" redirects here. For the university, see Austin Peay State University.

For other uses, see Abzu (disambiguation).

Abzu
Genealogy
Consort	Tiamat
Children	Kingu (Babylonian religion), Lahamu, Lahmu, Anu (Sumerian religion)

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.^[2] Certain tanks of holy water in Babylonian and Assyrian temple courtyards were also called abzu (apsû).^[3] 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 keen eyes and appeared out of 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.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

As a deity

The Sumerian Genesis describes how the cosmic freshwater ocean surrounds our planet (created in its midst) on all sides. Salt sea serpent Tiamat is indicated by the green areas. The sketch shows the same as Babylon's world map, but now in side view. A breathable air bubble clings to the erarth's surface, with the Abzu as a roof like on Athrahasis' (Noah's) lifeboat. Other details, such as Noah's island ‘’Dilmun‘’, are taken from the Epic of Gilgamesh. An important technical detail are the gate sluices built into sky. Through them, the gods around Enlil, who knew very well how to construct irrigation systems, supplied their land Eden with rain, but also unleashed the great flood.It is not unlikely that Abzu, Tiamat and the flood represent the source of Levithan, a human-devouring cosmic sea monster.

Abzu (apsû) is depicted as a deity^[9] only in the Babylonian creation epic, the Enūma Eliš, 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 Enūma Eliš 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, one, Enki, would later contain Apsu when he plotted to kill them because of their noise. Enraged, Tiamat gives birth to monsters, filling their bodies with "venom instead of blood", and made war upon her treacherous children, only to be slain by Enki's son Marduk, the god of Storms, who then forms the heavens and earth from her corpse.

In popular culture

Abzû is a 2016 adventure game that was influenced by Sumerian mythology of Abzu.^[10]

See also

• Abyzou – Name of a female demon
• Cosmic ocean – Mythological motif
• Firmament – Solid dome dividing the primal waters
• Nu – Ancient Egyptian personification of the primordial watery abyss
• Varuna – Hindu deity associated with water
• Wuji – The primordial in Chinese philosophy

Notes

1. Maul, Stefan (October 2006). "Apsȗ". In Francis G. Gentry (English edition) (ed.). Brill's New Pauly. Brill. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e129820. ISBN 9789004122598.
2. Green, Margaret Whitney (1975). Eridu in Sumerian Literature. University of Chicago: Ph.D. dissertation. pp. 180–182.
3. 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.
4. Orlin, Eric (2015-11-19). Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions. Routledge. p. 8. ISBN 978-1134625529.
5. Horowitz, Wayne (1998). Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography. Eisenbrauns. p. 308. ISBN 0931464994.
6. Putthoff, Tyson (2020). Gods and Humans in the Ancient Near East. Cambridge University Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-1108490542.
7. Eppihimer, Melissa (2019). Exemplars of Kingship: Art, Tradition, and the Legacy of the Akkadians. Oxford University Press. p. 188. ISBN 978-0190903015.
8. N. Pope, Charles (2016). Living in Truth: Archaeology and the Patriarchs (Part I): Early Pharaohs. DomainOfMan.com. p. 17.
9. Jordan, Michael (1993). Encyclopedia of gods: over 2,500 deities of the world. New York: Facts on File. p. 2. ISBN 9780816029099 – via Internet Archive.
10. Haske, Steve (2016-09-27). "Exploring the Hidden Depths of 'Abzû'". Inverse. Archived from the original on 2017-03-09. Retrieved 2017-04-22.

External links

• Quotations related to Abzu at Wikiquote