Enlil, the second of the four Sumerian creating deities, eventually ousted his rivals.  It has indeed long been recognized that the role played by Marduk in the Babylonian Version of Creation had been borrowed from Enlil of Nippur; and in the Atrakhasis legend Enlil himself appears as the ultimate ruler of the world and the other gods figure as “his sons”.  Anu, who heads the list and plays with Enlil the leading part in the Sumerian narrative, was clearly his chief rival.  And though we possess no detailed account of Anu’s creative work, the persistent ascription to him of the creation of heaven, and his familiar title, “the Father of the Gods”, suggest that he once possessed a corresponding body of myth in Eanna, his temple at Erech.  Enki, the third of the creating gods, was naturally credited, as God of Wisdom, with special creative activities, and fortunately in his case we have some independent evidence of the varied forms these could assume.

According to one tradition that has come down to us,(1) after Anu had made the heavens, Enki created Apsu or the Deep, his own dwelling-place.  Then taking from it a piece of clay(2) he proceeded to create the Brick-god, and reeds and forests for the supply of building material.  From the same clay he continued to form other deities and materials, including the Carpenter-god; the Smith-god; Arazu, a patron deity of building; and mountains and seas for all that they produced; the Goldsmith-god, the Stone-cutter-god, and kindred deities, together with their rich products for offerings; the Grain-deities, Ashnan and Lakhar; Siris, a Wine-god; Ningishzida and Ninsar, a Garden-god, for the sake of the rich offerings they could make; and a deity described as “the High priest of the great gods,” to lay down necessary ordinances and commands.  Then he created “the King”, for the equipment probably of a particular temple, and finally men, that they might practise the cult in the temple so elaborately prepared.

     (1) See Weissbach, Babylonische Miscellen, pp. 32 ff.

     (2) One of the titles of Enki was “the Potter”; cf. Cun. 
     Texts in the Brit.  Mus., Pt.  XXIV, pl. 14 f., ll. 41, 43.

It will be seen from this summary of Enki’s creative activities, that the text from which it is taken is not a general Creation myth, but in all probability the introductory paragraph of a composition which celebrated the building or restoration of a particular temple; and the latter’s foundation is represented, on henotheistic lines, as the main object of creation.  Composed with that special purpose, its narrative is not to be regarded as an exhaustive account of the creation of the world.  The incidents are eclective, and only such gods and materials are mentioned as would have been required for the building and adornment of the temple and for the provision of its offerings and cult.  But even so its mythological background is instructive.  For while Anu’s creation