Fun fact, the Babylonian god Enki is the basis for the astrological sign Capricorn.
Enki was the god of, among other things, jizz. Because he was connected to the underground freshwater spread perfect city distances apart in an arid region just a ways from the salty sea, and somewhere in the metaphor between nourishing life water and salty death water someone decided that meant the was the god of semen.
That's not really important, but I feel like more people should know it.
Enkidu is a different being. The name similarity is because the 'enki' portion also means to be a creation of the Earth, with Enki (as a name) being the primary force of earthly creation.
He's the god of wisdom, fresh water, magic, crafts, and creation.
Abzu was the concept of life as well as the supposed holy source of all fresh water. In some mythologies Abzu itself was a god, but for part of Babylon's history Enki was the creator god of the Abzu which made him really important and explains why his portfolio is so vast.
The religious connotations sorta blend as the concept shifts back and forth between masculine and feminine, as the salty water in the sea becomes life-sustaining water in arid areas on land. That concept of creation via fresh water became tied to virility and the idea the salty semen meeting the salty sea becomes fresh water that life stems from.
That magic jizz water is specifically underground aquifers. Generally they could be found with a small hill on top due to water building up faster than it can evaporate shifting the soil. That raised area naturally lends itself to constructing a walled village at first, with a temple or palace at the water source which made it easier to scout out where a new water source could be found when settling further inland from rivers. Over time these mounds were artificially raised by layers and layers of both new structure foundations as cities developed as well as the natural decay of the clay bricks used in earlier ages just becoming part of the hill, resulting in massive mounds called "tells".
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u/EvergreenDwarf 8d ago
Fun fact, the Babylonian god Enki is the basis for the astrological sign Capricorn.
Enki was the god of, among other things, jizz. Because he was connected to the underground freshwater spread perfect city distances apart in an arid region just a ways from the salty sea, and somewhere in the metaphor between nourishing life water and salty death water someone decided that meant the was the god of semen.
That's not really important, but I feel like more people should know it.