The Abzu or Apsu (
Sumerian: ;
Akkadian: ), also called (
Cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...
:, ;
Sumerian: ;
Akkadian: — ='water' ='deep', recorded in Greek as ), is the name for fresh water from underground
aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteris ...
s 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 Sumerian and Akkadian mythology, it is referred to as the primeval sea below the void space of the underworld (
Kur) and the earth (
Ma) above.
In Sumerian culture
In the city of
Eridu
Eridu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , NUN.KI/eridugki; Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''irîtu''; modern Arabic language, Arabic: Tell Abu Shahrain) is an archaeological site in southern Mesopotamia (modern Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq). Eridu was l ...
,
Enki's temple was known as
E2-abzu (house of the deep waters) and was located at the edge of a swamp, an abzu. Certain tanks of
holy water
Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from ...
in
Babylonian and
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...
n temple courtyards were also called abzu (''apsû''). Typical in religious washing, these tanks were similar to
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
's
mikvot,
the washing pools of
Islamic
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
s, or the
baptismal font in
Christian church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
es.
In Sumerian cosmology
The
Sumerian god
Enki (Ea in the
Akkadian language
Akkadian (, Akkadian: )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages''. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218-280 is an extinct East Semitic language th ...
) 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 only in the Babylonian
creation epic, the
, taken from the library of
Assurbanipal
Ashurbanipal ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning " Ashur is the creator of the heir") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669 BCE to his death in 631. He is generally remembered as the last great king of Assyria. Inheriting the throne a ...
(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
In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( akk, or , grc, Θαλάττη, Thaláttē) is a primordial goddess of the sea, mating with Abzû, the god of the groundwater, to produce younger gods. She is the symbol of the chaos of primordial crea ...
, a creature of salt water. The 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 murdered 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.
In popular culture
''
Abzû'' is a 2016 adventure game that was influenced by Sumerian mythology of Abzu.
See also
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Notes
External links
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{{Sumerian mythology
Mesopotamian gods
Sea and river gods
Creator gods
Sumer
Snake gods
Tiamat
Characters in the Enūma Eliš
Killed deities