E-A

E-A, or Ea, was leader of the first group of Anunnaki to arrive on Earth. He was given the title Enki, and dictated his memoir to Endubsar on fourteen tablets (See Attestation).

Semantics
In the Sumerian language, E-A means "the house of water". It has been suggested that this was the original name for the shrine dedicated to the god of Eridu, at the main temple E-abzu. The cult of the EA god was adapted by the Canaanites, namely the Hittites and Hurrians and flourished in later Akkadian and Babylonian mythologies. The West-Semitic root *hyy meaning "life" as related to "spring", "running water" has been compared to 'Ea'.

Historiography
‘Ea’ can be traced 6,500 years ago in the Sumerian language as E-A, meaning “the house of water”. E-A was the original name of the shrine at Eridu, in connection with the E-abzu temple. proposed that the original non-anthropomorphic divinity at Eridu was Abzu.

The emergence of Enki, in Eridu mythology, was possibly originally depicted as high priest. P. Steinkeller suggests that Enki had a subordinate position to a goddess (possibly Ninhursag), taking the role of divine consort. Enki, as a divine lover of Ninhursag, along with the divine battle between the younger Igigi divinities and Abzu, may have inspired the E-abzu (the underground waters of the Aquifer), to become the place in which the foundations of the temple were built. The attributes of Abzu (Ea) became later absorbed as Enki. The, a people of , are thought to be the earliest nation to adopt the name ‘Ea’ and his cult. Eventually, use of Enki declined, and was replaced as ‘Ea’ in later Akkadian and Babylonian mythologies.