En-men-dur-ana (also Emmeduranki) of Zimbir (the city now known as

Sippar Sippar ( Sumerian: , Zimbir) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its '' tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah near Yusufiyah in Iraq's Baghdad Governorate, som ...

) was an ancient

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of ...

ian king, whose name appears in the

Sumerian King List The ''Sumerian King List'' (abbreviated ''SKL'') or ''Chronicle of the One Monarchy'' is an ancient literary composition written in Sumerian that was likely created and redacted to legitimize the claims to power of various city-states and king ...

as the seventh pre-dynastic king of Sumer. He was said to have reigned for 21,000 years.

Name

His name means "chief of the powers of Dur-an-ki", while "Dur- an- ki" in turn means "the meeting-place of heaven and earth" (literally "bond of above and below").

City

En-men-dur-ana's city Sippar was associated with the worship of the

sun-god A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The ...

Utu, later called

Shamash Utu (dUD " Sun"), also known under the Akkadian name Shamash, ''šmš'', syc, ܫܡܫܐ ''šemša'', he, שֶׁמֶשׁ ''šemeš'', ar, شمس ''šams'', Ashurian Aramaic: 𐣴𐣬𐣴 ''š'meš(ā)'' was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god ...

in the Semitic language. Sumerian and Babylonian literature attributed the founding of Sippar to Utu.

Myth

A myth written in a Semitic language tells of Emmeduranki, subsequently being taken to heaven by the gods Shamash and

Adad Hadad ( uga, ), Haddad, Adad ( Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm and rain god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions. He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. ...

, and taught the secrets of heaven and of earth. In particular, Emmeduranki was taught arts of

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history ...

, such as how to inspect oil on water and how to discern messages in the liver of animals and several other divine secrets. En-men-dur-ana, held significance among the Pre-Sumerians as he was the ancestor from whom all priests of the Sun God had to be able to trace descent. Enmeduranki is sometimes considered a Mesopotamian model for the biblical patriarch

Enoch Enoch () ''Henṓkh''; ar, أَخْنُوخ ', Qur'ān.html"_;"title="ommonly_in_Qur'ān">ommonly_in_Qur'ānic_literature__'_is_a_biblical_figure_and_Patriarchs_(Bible).html" "title="Qur'ānic_literature.html" ;"title="Qur'ān.html" ;"title="o ...

. Enmeduranki appears as the seventh name on the Sumerian King List, whereas Enoch is the seventh figure in the list of patriarchs in Genesis. Both of them were also said to have been taken up into heaven. Sippar, the city of which Enmeduranki is king of, is associated with sun worship, while the 365 years that Enoch is stated to have lived may be linked to the number of days in the solar calendar. R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 2 volumes., tr J. McHugh (New York: McGraw-Hill, repr, 1965), 1:188.

References

, - {{Sumerian King List Antediluvian Sumerian kings Primordial teachers Sumerian rulers Entering heaven alive Divination Legendary progenitors Enoch (ancestor of Noah) Sippar #Enmenduranki is on the Sumerians Kings List. The Sumerians are Non-semitic

Name

City

Myth

See also

References