Editing Enki (section)

===Making of man===
After six generations of gods, in the Babylonian ''[[Enûma Eliš]]'', in the seventh generation, (Akkadian ''"shapattu"'' or sabath), the younger [[Igigi]] gods, the sons and daughters of Enlil and Ninlil, go on strike and refuse their duties of keeping creation working. [[Abzu]], god of fresh water, co-creator of the cosmos, threatens to destroy the world with his waters, and the gods gather in terror. Enki promises to help and puts Abzu to sleep, confining him in irrigation canals and places him in the Kur, beneath his city of [[Eridu]]. But the universe is still threatened, as [[Tiamat]], angry at the imprisonment of Abzu and at the prompting of her son and vizier [[Kingu]], decides to take back creation herself. The gods gather again in terror and turn to Enki for help, but Enki – who harnessed [[Abzu]], Tiamat's consort, for irrigation – refuses to get involved. The gods then seek help elsewhere, and the patriarchal [[Enlil]], their father, god of [[Nippur]], promises to solve the problem if they make him King of the Gods. In the Babylonian tale, Enlil's role is taken by [[Marduk]], Enki's son, and in the Assyrian version it is [[Ashur (god)|Ashur]]. After dispatching Tiamat with the "arrows of his winds" down her throat and constructing the heavens with the arch of her ribs, Enlil places her tail in the sky as the Milky Way, and her crying eyes become the source of the Tigris and Euphrates. But there is still the problem of "who will keep the cosmos working". Enki, who might have otherwise come to their aid, is lying in a deep sleep and fails to hear their cries. His mother [[Nammu]] (creatrix also of Abzu and Tiamat) "brings the tears of the gods" before Enki and says

{{poemquote|Oh my son, arise from thy bed, from thy (slumber), work what is wise,
Fashion servants for the Gods, may they produce their (bread?).}}

Enki then advises that they create a servant of the gods, humankind, out of clay and blood.<ref>{{harvnb|Kramer|1963|pp=149–151}}; {{harvnb|Kramer|1961|pp=69–72}}; Christopher B. Siren (1999) based on John C. Gibson's ''Canaanite Mythology'' and S. H. Hooke's ''Middle Eastern Mythology''</ref> Against Enki's wish, the gods decide to slay Kingu, and Enki finally consents to use Kingu's blood to make the first human, with whom Enki always later has a close relationship, the first of the seven sages, seven wise men or ''"Abgallu"'' (''ab'' = water, ''gal'' = great, ''lu'' = man), also known as [[Adapa]]. Enki assembles a team of divinities to help him, creating a host of "good and princely fashioners". He tells his mother:

{{poemquote|Oh my mother, the creature whose name thou has uttered, it exists,
Bind upon it the (will?) of the Gods;
Mix the heart of clay that is over the Abyss,
The good and princely fashioners will thicken the clay
Thou, do thou bring the limbs into existence;
[[Ninmah]] (Ninhursag, his wife and consort) will work above thee
([[Nintu]]?) (goddess of birth) will stand by thy fashioning;
Oh my mother, decree thou its (the new born's) fate.}}

Adapa, the first man fashioned, later goes and acts as the advisor to the King of Eridu, when in the Sumerian King-List, the ''[[Me (mythology)|me]]'' of "kingship descends on Eridu".

[[Samuel Noah Kramer]] believes that behind this myth of Enki's confinement of Abzu lies an older one of the struggle between Enki and the Dragon Kur (the underworld).<ref name="Kramer 1961" />{{Page needed|date=March 2021}}

The Atrahasis-Epos has it that Enlil requested from Nammu the creation of humans. And Nammu told him that with the help of Enki (her son) she can create humans in the image of gods.