Ea

   Ea, who was known as Nudimmud, or Nidim, was the first of the Babylonian new order of gods, as opposed to Tiamat, Apsu, and Mommu, in the Babylonian Creation Legend. Ea, as the champion of purity, fought and defeated Apsu and Mommu by the utterance of a powerful spell. He then divided Apsu, who was his mother and whose name means ‘the Fresh Water Sea’, into chambers and made a resting place for himself. Later, when Tiamat assembled the forces of evil to avenge the death of Apsu, Ea called in the aid of Anshar, who appointed Marduk as champion of the new gods. From the blood of Kingu, the defeated leader, he created mankind.

   Ea was the water god of Eridu, and also the god of wisdom whose jealousy deprived humanity of eternal life. He was third of the Great Triad of Gods with Anu and Enlil. One of his daughters was Nina. He is the same as the Sumerian Enki.