Abzu Apsu
The Primordial Water
The Water Serpent Dragon
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Dragons of Fame Apsu
Source: https://www.blackdrago.com/fame/apsu.htm
Over time, Apsu gained many names. In one of his original incarnations, the dragon was feminine, which was why he had the name Zigarun, which was Akkadian for "The Mother who has Begotten Heaven and Earth."
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Apsu was another Akkadian name, and he was also known as Apason and Rishtu. In Assyro-Babylonian mythology, he was known as Apzu, in Sumerian mythology, Abzu. To the Babylonians, he was Aphson.
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According to the ancient wisdom of Mesopotamia, all life came from the water. At first, Apsu was perceived as a feminine entity, but he later became a personal god, the husband-dragon of Tiamat and the father of the first deities. Apsu was the personification of the sweet water ocean that ran under the earth, for he was the ruler of all fresh water.
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In the great creation myth recounted in the Enuma Elish, in the beginning, there was no earth or sky, only the waste and confusion of the primordial oceans existed. Apsu was the sweet water that encircled the earth, and he fused with the female principle, Tiamat, the personification of salt water. This was the beginning of creation:
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“When sweet and bitter mingled together,
No reed was plaited, no rushes muddied the water,
The gods were nameless, natureless, futureless,
...from Apsu and Tiamat,
in the waters gods were created,
in the waters silt precipitated.” - Enuma Elish
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As their children, the gods, flourished, their numbers increased, and they attempted to make order from the primordial chaos.
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In some accounts, Apsu and Tiamat could not bear the noise and uproar caused by the younger gods, and so Apsu planned to eliminate them. But other versions claimed that the rebelliousness of the new deities angered Apsu and his wife or that Apsu overheard his children plotting to kill him.
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Whatever the cause for his alarm, Apsu decided to stop his children, and he and his wife called upon Mummu for assistance. Tiamat, despite her anger, declined to kill her descendants when Mummu and Apsu joined forces.
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Thus, the struggle between the old, primordial deities and the new order began. In the Babylonian creation epic, Enki killed Apsu with either magic weapons or a magic incantation, then locked Mummu away. In other versions, Enki cast a spell on Apsu, setting him into a deep sleep, so that the deity could kill the monstrous dragon-god.
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In wake of his victory, Enki established his new home on the corpse of Apsu. He lived in his new abode thereafter with his spouse, Damkina (Ninhursag), and there they became parents of the deity Marduk.
Read More Enki God of Water Lord of The Earth click
Read More Enlil God of Air Storm King of The Gods click
Read More Ninhursag Lady of The Mountain Goddess of Fertility click
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“Pulled down the bar and posted guards.
He squared Apsu's quarter, the abode of Nudimmud,
As the lord measured the dimensions of Apsu.
The Great Abode, its likeness, he fixed as Esharra,
The Great Abode, Esharra, which he made as the firmament.
Anu, Enlil, and Ea he made occupy their places.” - Enuma Elish
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Other versions attribute the restructuring of Apsu to Marduk, who kept Apsu at his foot after defeating Tiamat in battle. Apsu's death caused his wife Tiamat to revolt with an army of monsters and renegade gods to avenge her spouse's death.
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Apsu as a Sacred Place
The word 'apsu' sometimes referred to a sacred place in the watery depths, where Apsu the dragon dwelled and later the god Enki resided. As a place name, apsu was used to refer to the extensive sweet waters that produced the southern Mesopotamian marshlands when it became the home to the wise god Enki and the birthplace of Marduk. In one Sumerian myth, apsu was a river or sea from which Enki gathered clay and shaped the deities; in another, it was where the goddesss Nammu formed the first human being from clay.
Read More Inanna Ishtar The Queen of Heaven click
Read More Ereshkigal Queen of The Underworld Irkalla click
Read More Apkallu Saptarishis The Seven Sages Angels click
Read More Sebitti The Seven Gods Children of The Anunnaki The Seven Evil Spirits click
Martyrium - Into The Labyrinths Of The Absu
Lyrics
In a dream of a twisted reality...
A distorted vision of an unknown land
Blazed in darkness under deserts of sand
In the berth of all evil I pace, speechless
The winds speak my name
For I am the messenger of the Gods
The one who found the formula
To pass Arzir against all odds
One thousand moons I've seen
I'm the prophet
Alsi ku nushi ya! Kia mass ssaratu!
Chosen to seek the serpent's children
To battle forth the liers-in-wait
Int he spaces where no mortal walks
Where the old ones sleep, in chaos, in hate
Ensnared by the unwelcoming hand
Of he who made the stars!
Charms against my spellbound path
Enki protect your ones!
I descend with the Three Seals of Masshu
Into the labyrinths of the Absu...
A column of fire with a blazing head of stone
It watches me as in the pit I am blown
From felon winds abominations come forth
Plague-wielder Pazuzu and Magick Lord Azag Thoth!
Lord of all fevers angel with four wings
Controls the storms controls the four winds
They haul me down in their realm
And lunged their curses against my charm
I dive the depths of the ancient sea
Gods! Hear your servant and come for me
The ancient mother I witness sleeping
Awaiting the necromancer's calling
For Tiamat ever seeks to conquer the stars
For the Battle of Old has left its scars
Ensnared by the unwelcoming hand
Of he who made the stars!
Charms against my spellbound path
Enki protect your ones!
Descended with the Three Seals of Masshu
Into the labyrinths of the Absu...
Absu - Ontologically, It Became Time & Space
Lyrics
Yawning benthos came first, terra firma, next Desire
Erebus of old Night, Day of Aethyr
Neither of these were Being, reality, nor Non-being
Perdurability, neither of death
[Chorus:]
The Wanderers of the Waste infested plateaus:
Time and Space
Then, Sirius prearranged calendars of lone
Continuum
Astral sketch was not self-incandescent
Its light was produced by rays of the Sun
Eyeless void felt generations of heat
The first seed of Mind – The Light of the South
Breath by itself
Without wind, pyramids…
Concentrated
Cyclic flux, triangles…
Air nor Earth nor were protected as of yet.
The water was not deep, yet unfathomable
Nonentity occurred
Darkness swathed in darkness: unmanifestation
[Decree:]
Chaos never dies
Sothis hides beyond the aeon
Locked forever
Unfaltering
The Sun behind the Sun spawns twin aspects of tide
Up, down was beginning to frame itself
Casters of the second seed gained control (of the Deep)
Energy was beneath - impulse above.
[Chorus]
Source: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/b5Xneg
Pictures Videos Music and Additional Reading
ABZU OST / Soundtrack from the Video Game ➜ http://www.abzugame.com/
Abzu
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abzu
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The Abzu or Apsu (Sumerian: 𒀊𒍪 abzu; Akkadian: apsû), also called engur (Cuneiform:𒇉, LAGAB×HAL; Sumerian: engur; Akkadian: engurru—lit. ab='water' zu='deep', recorded in Greek as Ἀπασών Apasṓn), is the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was given a religious fertilising quality in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. Lakes, springs, rivers, wells, and other sources of fresh water were thought to draw their water from the abzu. In Sumerian and Akkadian mythology, it is referred to as the primeval sea below the void space of the underworld (Kur) and the earth (Ma) above.
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Sumerian culture
In the city of Eridu, Enki's temple was known as E-abzu (house of the deep waters) and was located at the edge of a swamp, an abzu. Certain tanks of holy water in Babylonian and Assyrian temple courtyards were also called abzu (apsû). Typical in religious washing, these tanks were similar to Judaism's mikvot, the washing pools of Islamic mosques, or the baptismal font in Christian churches.
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Sumerian Cosmology
The Sumerian god Enki (Ea in the Akkadian language) was believed to have lived in the abzu since before human beings were created. His wife Damgalnuna, his mother Nammu, his advisor Isimud and a variety of subservient creatures, such as the gatekeeper Lahmu, also lived in the abzu.
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As a Deity
Abzu (apsû) is depicted as a deity only in the Babylonian creation epic, the Enūma Eliš, taken from the library of Assurbanipal (c. 630 BCE) but which is about 500 years older. In this story, he was a primal being made of fresh water and a lover to another primal deity, Tiamat, a creature of salt water. The Enūma Eliš begins:
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"When above the heavens (e-nu-ma e-liš) did not yet exist nor the earth below, Apsu the freshwater ocean was there, the first, the begetter, and Tiamat, the saltwater sea, she who bore them all; they were still mixing their waters, and no pasture land had yet been formed, nor even a reed marsh."
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This resulted in the birth of the younger gods, who later murdered Apsu in order to usurp his lordship of the universe. Enraged, Tiamat gives birth to the first dragons, filling their bodies with "venom instead of blood", and made war upon her treacherous children, only to be slain by Marduk, the god of Storms, who then forms the heavens and earth from her corpse.
Sinister - Awaiting The Absu
Lyrics
I invoke thee, nameless beings
Children of the underworld
Covered with blood
Embraced by fire, ANNU spawned
Call upon the dead
They were and once more will be
Warriors of KUR
Rulers of the black earth
Screaming demons
Children of the serpent god
VENGEANCE IS SWORN!
Wreak vengeance upon them
Secret covenant will have revenge
From the depths the nameless will rise
The seven lords reborn in UR
The cold burning sword beholds the wrath
Suffer - in pain
Suffer - bleeding
Suffer - to dream
Covered with blood
Embraced by fire, ANNU spawned
Screaming demons
Children of the serpent god
VENGEANCE IS SWORN!
Call upon the dead
They were and once more will be
Warriors of KUR
Rulers of the black earth
Secret covenant will have revenge
From the depths the nameless will rise
The seven lords reborn in UR
The cold burning sword beholds the wrath
Suffer - in pain
Suffer - bleeding
Suffer - to dream
AWAITING THE ABSU
AWAITING THE ABSU
AWAITING THE ABSU
VENGEANCE IS SWORN!
Invocation in unknown words
Screamed in forgotten tongue
Ruins of UR rumbling
The seed of rebellion reborn
Necromantic art from the kingdom of Woe
CTHULHU sleeps and dreams the burning pain
PAZUZU plague gods, shaped from the blood of KINGU
Calling of the spirits who dwell in the lost
Dark shining world of the ancient horde
Covered with blood
Embraced by fire, ANNU spawned
Screaming demons
Children of the serpent god
VENGEANCE IS SWORN!
Wreak vengeance upon them
Secret covenant will have revenge
From the depths the nameless will rise
The seven lords reborn in UR
The cold burning sword beholds the wrath
Suffer - in pain
Suffer - bleeding
Suffer - to dream
AWAITING THE ABSU
AWAITING THE ABSU
Berossus cites fish-man, Oannes, who imparted "wisdom and knowledge" to mankind (rather like Adam imparts knowledge of good and evil to mankind), is Sumerian U-an, Adapa's Sumerian name:
"...Adapa (Read More Adapa Son of Enki First Apkallu Click), one of the Seven Sages ...They often appear in magic texts and incantations as the abgal (Akkadian apkallu), fish-like creatures under the command of Enki/Ea. The masks worn by some priests represented on seals and a number of Assyrian reliefs are connected with the power of the Apkallu to ward off evil. They were personified as traditionally seven 'culture heroes', sent by Ea to teach mankind the arts of civilization. In the late Babylonian compositon known as the Erra epic. they are called 'the seven sages' of the Apsu, the pure paradu fish, who, just as their lord Ea, have been endowed with sublime wisdom.”