Apkallu

Apkallu or and Abgal (𒉣𒈨; Akkadian and Sumerian, respectively[1]) are terms found in cuneiform inscriptions that in general mean either "wise" or "sage".

[10] A collation of the names and "titles" of theses seven sages in order can be given as:[11] Uanna, "who finished the plans for heaven and earth", Uannedugga, "who was endowed with comprehensive intelligence", Enmedugga, "who was allotted a good fate", Enmegalamma, "who was born in a house", Enmebulugga, "who grew up on pasture land", An-Enlilda, "the conjurer of the city of Eridu", Utuabzu, "who ascended to heaven".

Both Adapa and the Apkallu have legends that place them halfway between the world of men and gods; but additionally just as Oannes in the Greek version passes all the knowledge of civilization to humans, so Adapa is described as having been "[made] perfect with broad understanding to reveal the plans of the land."

Nungalpiriggaldim, the wise (King) of Enmerkars, who had the goddess Innin/Ishtar descend from heaven into the sanctuary, Piriggalnungal, who was born in Kish, who angered the god Ishkur/Adad in heaven, so that he allowed neither rain nor growth in the land for three years, Piriggalabzu, who was born in Adab/Utab, who hung his seal on a "goat-fish"† and thereby angered the god Enki/Ea in the fresh water Sea, so that a fuller struck him dead with his own seal, fourth Lu-Nanna, who was two-thirds a sage, who drove a dragon out of the temple E-Ninkiagnunna, the Innin/Ishtar Temple of (King) Schulgi, (altogether) four Sages of human descent, whom Enki/Ea, the Lord, endowed with comprehensive understanding.

[24] Nudimmud became angry and summoned the seven sages of Eridu in high tones, "Bring the document of my Anuship that it may be read before me, That I may decree the destiny for Mu'ait, The son who makes me happy, and grant him his desire."

Additionally the sage Anenlilda is the maker of the 'twenty-one poultices' -- these items are then given to Nudimmud to bring to the "upper world" to gain merit.

However, chaos breaks out; though some of the text is missing it seems that the subsequent outcome was that instead, earthly ummanus are given the task of cleansing Marduk's shrine.

[30] According to Scott B. Noegel this epic also contains several clever etymological wordplays on the names of apkallu, both textual and phonetic.

[27] The seven sages were also associated with the founding of the seven cities of Eridu, Ur, Nippur, Kullab, Kesh, Lagash, and Shuruppak; and in the Epic of Gilgamesh (Gilg.

[36][21] Berossus' original book is now lost,[37] but parts have survived via the abridgment and copying of historians including Alexander Polyhistor, Josephus, Abydenus, and Eusebius.

[38][37] Mayer Burstein suggests that Berossus' work was partly metaphorical, intended to convey wisdoms concerning the development of man—a nuance lost or uncommented on by later copyists.

[37] What remains of Berossos' account via Apollodorus begins with a description on Babylonia, followed by the appearance of a learned fish-man creature named Oannes.

Then succeeded Megalarus from the city of Pantibiblon; and he reigned eighteen sari: and after him Daonus the shepherd from Pantibiblon reigned ten sari; in his time (he says) appeared again from the Erythraean sea a fourth Annedotus, having the same form with those above, the shape of a fish blended with that of a man.

Then reigned Euedoreschus from Pantibiblon, for the term of eighteen sari; in his days there appeared another personage from the Erythraean sea like the former, having the same complicated form between a fish and a man, whose name was Odacon.

And upon the death of Otiartes, his son Xisuthrus reigned eighteen sari: in his time happened the great deluge.

[Background of Berossus, followed by an introduction to the accounts of Babylon, and a geographical description of it] In the first year there made his appearance, from a part of the Erythraean sea which bordered upon Babylonia, an animal (...) who was called Oannes.

This being in the day-time used to converse with men; but took no food at that season; and he gave them an insight into letters and sciences, and every kind of art.

He taught them to construct houses, to found temples, to compile laws, and explained to them the principles of geometrical knowledge.

Moreover Oannes wrote concerning the generation of humans; of their different ways of life, and of their civil polity; and the following is the purport of what he said: [follows a truncated account of what is essentially the enuma elis] In the second book was the history of the ten kings of the Chaldeans, and the periods of each reign, which consisted collectively of an hundred and twenty sari, or four hundred and thirty-two thousand years; reaching to the time of the Deluge.

For Alexander, as from the writings of the Chaldteans, enumerating the kings from the ninth Ardates to Xisuthrus, [an account essentially the same as that of the Biblical Flood] [Accounts then follow of Abraham, of Nabonasar, of the Destruction of the Jewish Temple, of Nebuchadnezzar, of the Chaldean Kings after Nebuchadnezzar, and of the Feast of Sacea]

In summary, Berossus' Babylonian history recounts ten kings before a deluge (followed by the reigns of later kings), with a record or myth of prehistoric man receiving civilization via the Oannes; it also contains a paraphrasing of the myth the Enuma Elis, which was said to have been recounted by the Oannes.

There are texts that associates a set of seven sages with the city Kuar-Eridu or Eridu, while in the Epic of Gilgamesh there is a reference to seven counselors as founders of Uruk.

Another list of seven sages used in a ritual differs from the description and names give in the Bit meseri text.

[47] Representations of 'apkallu' were used in apotropaic rituals; in addition to fish-headed ones (similar to descriptions of the seven sages), other hybrids were used as 'apkallu' in this context (generally bird-headed humans).

[48] Apkallu reliefs appear prominently in Neo-Assyrian palaces, notably the constructions of Ashurnasirpal II of the 9th century BC.

[49] Probable depictions of Apkallu The spread of the 'seven sage' legend westwards during the 1st and 2nd millennia has been speculated to have led to the creation of the tale of the Nephilim (Genesis 6:1-4) as recounted in the Old Testament,[50][51] and may have an echo in the text of the Book of Proverbs (Prov 9:1): "Wisdom built her house.