giance. And even after the demands of
other centres had been conceded, no deity ever quite gave up his local
claims.

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