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Enki, a MythSource painting
Mesopotamian

Enki

Lord of the Abzu · Lord of Wisdom · Creator of Humankind

01Identity

Enki in Mesopotamian tradition

Enki won a contest with Ninmah that centred on the creation of human beings and the presence of physical defects. He is a Mesopotamian deity associated with wisdom, freshwater, magic, crafts, and the creation of humankind. The name Enki belongs to Sumerian tradition, while Ea is his Akkadian counterpart and alternate name.

Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who is Enki?

    Enki is a Mesopotamian deity associated with wisdom and intelligence, freshwater and the abzu, magic, incantation, and ritual knowledge, crafts and technology, creation and humanity.
    Source

    Source

    • Essential Visual History of World Mythology
    • The Oxford Companion to World Mythology
    • Babylonian Creation Myths

  • What is Enki the god of?

    wisdom and intelligence, freshwater and the abzu, magic, incantation, and ritual knowledge, crafts and technology, creation and humanity
    Source

    Source

    • Essential Visual History of World Mythology
    • The Oxford Companion to World Mythology

  • What family links are recorded for Enki?

    Spouse: Ninhursag, 4 children, 1 sibling.
02Family

Enki’s family, at a glance

Parents above, children below, and the figure’s consorts named in between, the same family data as the fact box, laid out as a chart instead of a field list.

EnkiEnlil

with Ninhursag

AsalluhiGibilNansheNingal
03The names

The names Enki answers to

Ea

Akkadian name for Enki

SourceThe Oxford Companion to World Mythology

Nudimmud

The Fashioner or Creator

SourceThe Oxford Companion to World Mythology

Ninsiku

Lord of the pure or holy

SourceThe Oxford Companion to World Mythology

Enkig

Variant spelling of Enki's name

SourceBabylonian Creation Myths

04The myths

The myths of Enki

2 myths, each traced to its primary text and corpus sources.

Enki and Ninhursag

Enki and Ninhursag came together in Dilmun, a land imagined as green, fertile, and free from disease and suffering. Twin rivers irrigated its plains, making it a suitable place for creation. Ninhursag, the Lady of the Mountain, was also known as Nintu, Mamma, and Aruru. She was an ancient mother goddess who roamed the countryside and watched over wild animals. In Babylonian tradition, Enki was also called Ea.

Their sexual union produced a daughter, Ninsar. She became an adult in only nine days. Enki was attracted to her beauty and mated with her. Their union produced another goddess. Enki then mated with further goddesses in Dilmun, and plants sprang from these unions. The account links the growth of vegetation with the birth of divine beings.

Enki consumed the plants that had been produced. Ninhursag disapproved of his unrestrained desire and his use of the plants. She cursed him, and he became ill. In one part of the account, his suffering took the form of eight pains that arose when he and Ninhursag made love again. Each pain affected a different part of his body, and a new god was born from each one. Enki still remained afflicted.

Ninhursag eventually returned to him. She created eight healing deities, one for each painful part of his body, and they cured his illnesses. Satisfied that Enki had learned his lesson, she built him a house. They fell into each other’s arms and kissed.

Enki and Ninhursag, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

3 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1Babylonian mythologyT1
  2. 2the ancient sourcesT1

    Quote

    “The account tells how Enki's unions in Dilmun produce divine beings and plants, his consumption of the plants brings illness, and Ninhursag heals him through eight deities associated with his pains.”

    the ancient sources

  3. 3Babylonian mythologyT1

Enki and Ninmah Make Humankind

The lesser gods laboured, and the gods made humans to relieve them. Humans also procreated and provided food for the gods. Enki and Ninmah then made human creation a contest.

Ninmah declared that she decided whether a human body was good or bad. She assigned each person a good or bad destiny according to her decision. Enki accepted the challenge. He said that he assessed every destiny she assigned, whether good or bad, and answered her judgements with his own.

Ninmah took clay from above the Apsû and shaped a defective man. The man could not perform an unnamed action. When Enki saw him, he assigned him a destiny. Ninmah then made more humans with bodily defects, and Enki continued to assign them destinies. One creation received a destiny to attend on the king.

Ninmah eventually threw the clay remaining in her hand onto the ground and became silent. Enki told her that he had assigned destinies to her creations and given them bread. He then offered to fashion something for her, so that she could assign the destiny of his offspring. Enki fashioned the body of his female slave with an abnormality already in her womb. He told Ninmah that, after fertilising semen entered the woman’s womb, she gave birth to the abnormal offspring.

The contest ended with Enki victorious. Ninmah claimed that she was being persecuted and driven from house and home. Enki began to undertake to help her, but his answer ended before it was complete.

Enki and Ninmah Make Humankind, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

2 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1Babylonian Creation MythsT1
  2. 2the ancient sourcesT1

    Quote

    “The account tells how Enki and Ninmah shape humans from clay, assign destinies to beings with bodily defects, and end their contest when Enki creates an abnormal unborn child for Ninmah to judge.”

    the ancient sources

Also appears in

The myths across MythSource where Enki features, each on that figure’s page.

The film

The Underdrawing video on Enki embeds here once it publishes.