Oannes (Adapa)

<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en" >Adapa</h1>

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<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable" >For other uses, see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa_(surname)" title="Adapa (surname)" >Adapa (surname)</a>.</div>

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<td >Part of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Mesopotamian_mythology" title="Category:Mesopotamian mythology" >a series</a> on</td>

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<th ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Mesopotamian_religion" title="Ancient Mesopotamian religion" >Ancient

Mesopotamian religion</a></th>

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<div class="NavHead" >Primordial beings<a class="NavToggle" id="NavToggle1" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#" >[show]</a></div>

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<div class="NavHead" >Seven gods who decree<a class="NavToggle" id="NavToggle2" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#" >[show]</a></div>

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<div class="NavHead" >Other major deities<a class="NavToggle" id="NavToggle3" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#" >[show]</a></div>

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<div class="NavHead" >Minor deities<a class="NavToggle" id="NavToggle4" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#" >[hide]</a></div>

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<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agasaya" title="Agasaya" >Agasaya</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anunnaki" title="Anunnaki" >Anunnaki</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asaruludu" title="Asaruludu" >Asaruludu</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashnan" title="Ashnan" >Ashnan</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enbilulu" title="Enbilulu" >Enbilulu</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isimud" title="Isimud" >Isimud</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahar_(god)" title="Lahar (god)" >Lahar</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mami_(goddess)" title="Mami (goddess)" >Mami/Nintu</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamitu" title="Mamitu" >Mamitu</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namtar" title="Namtar" >Namtar</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanshe" title="Nanshe" >Nanshe</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nidaba" title="Nidaba" >Nidaba</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ningal" title="Ningal" >Ningal</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninkasi" title="Ninkasi" >Ninkasi</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninlil" title="Ninlil" >Ninlil</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninshubur" title="Ninshubur" >Ninshubur</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninsun" title="Ninsun" >Ninsun</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nusku" title="Nusku" >Nusku</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarpanit" title="Sarpanit" >Sarpanit</a></li>

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<div class="NavHead" >Demigods and heroes<a class="NavToggle" id="NavToggle5" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#" >[show]</a></div>

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<div class="NavHead" >Spirits and monsters<a class="NavToggle" id="NavToggle6" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#" >[show]</a></div>

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<div class="NavHead" >Tales<a class="NavToggle" id="NavToggle7" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#" >[show]</a></div>

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<th >Related topics</th>

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<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religions_of_the_ancient_Near_East" title="Religions of the ancient Near East" >Ancient Near Eastern religions</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_religion" title="Sumerian religion" >Sumerian religion</a></li>

<li ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_religion" title="Babylonian religion" >Babylonian religion</a></li>

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<i>Oannès – Adapa</i> from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon_Redon" title="Odilon Redon" >Odilon Redon</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kr%C3%B6ller-M%C3%BCller_Museum" title="Kröller-Müller Museum" >Kröller-Müller Museum</a></div>

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<p ><b>Adapa</b>, the first of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamian" class="mw-redirect" title="Mesopotamian" >Mesopotamian</a> seven sages (<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apkallu" title="Apkallu" >apkallu</a></i><sup id="cite_ref-abgallu-etym_1-0" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_note-abgallu-etym-1" >[a]</a></sup>), was a mythical figure who unknowingly refused the gift of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortality" title="Immortality" >immortality</a>. The story is first attested in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kassites" title="Kassites" >Kassite</a> period (14th century BC), in fragmentary tablets from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_el-Amarna" class="mw-redirect" title="Tell el-Amarna" >Tell el-Amarna</a>, and from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assur" title="Assur" >Assur</a>, of the late second millennium BC. Mesopotamian myth tells of seven <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antediluvian" title="Antediluvian" >antediluvian</a> sages, who were sent by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enki" title="Enki" >Ea</a>, the wise god of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eridu" title="Eridu" >Eridu</a>, to bring the arts of civilisation to humankind. The first of these, Adapa, also known as Uan, the name given as Oannes by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berossus" title="Berossus" >Berossus</a>, introduced the practice of the correct rites of religious observance as priest of the E'Apsu temple, at Eridu. The sages are described in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia" title="Mesopotamia" >Mesopotamian</a> literature as 'pure <i>parādu</i>-fish, probably <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carp" title="Carp" >carp</a>, whose bones are found associated with the earliest shrine, and still kept as a holy duty in the precincts of Near Eastern <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque" title="Mosque" >mosques</a> and monasteries. Adapa as a fisherman was iconographically portrayed as a fish-man composite.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_note-2" >[1]</a></sup>

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<h2 >Contents</h2>

  [<a role="button" tabindex="0" class="togglelink" >hide</a>] </div>

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<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#Roles" >1Roles</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#As_Oannes" >2As Oannes</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#Notes" >3Notes</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#Bibliography" >4Bibliography</a></li>

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<h2 >Roles[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adapa&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Roles" >edit</a>]</h2>

<p >Adapa was a mortal man from a godly lineage, a son of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ea_(Babylonian_god)" class="mw-redirect" title="Ea (Babylonian god)" >Ea</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enki" title="Enki" >Enki</a> in Sumerian), the god of wisdom and of the ancient city of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eridu" title="Eridu" >Eridu</a>, who brought the arts of civilization to that city (from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilmun" title="Dilmun" >Dilmun</a>, according to some versions). He broke the wings of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninlil" title="Ninlil" >Ninlil</a> the South Wind, who had overturned his fishing boat, and was called to account before <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anu" title="Anu" >Anu</a>. Ea, his patron god, warned him to apologize humbly for his actions, but not to partake of food or drink while he was in heaven, as it would be the food of death. Anu, impressed by Adapa's sincerity, offered instead the food of immortality, but Adapa heeded Ea's advice, refused, and thus missed the chance for immortality that would have been his.

Vague parallels can be drawn to the story of Genesis, where <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam" title="Adam" >Adam</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve" title="Eve" >Eve</a> are expelled from the Garden of Eden by Yahweh, after they eat from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_the_knowledge_of_good_and_evil" title="Tree of the knowledge of good and evil" >tree of the knowledge of good and evil</a>, thus gaining death.<sup id="cite_ref-Mark.2C_Joshua_3-0" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_note-Mark.2C_Joshua-3" >[2]</a></sup> Parallels are also apparent (to an even greater degree) with the story of Persephone visiting Hades, who was warned to take nothing from that kingdom. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Dalley" title="Stephanie Dalley" >Stephanie Dalley</a> writes “From Erra and Ishum we know that all the sages were banished ... because they angered the gods, and went back to the Apsu, where Ea lived, and ... the story ... ended with Adapa's banishment."<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_note-4" >[3]</a></sup>

Adapa is often identified as an adviser to the mythical first (antediluvian) king of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eridu" title="Eridu" >Eridu</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alulim" title="Alulim" >Alulim</a>. In addition to his advisory duties, he served as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest" title="Priest" >priest</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcist" title="Exorcist" >exorcist</a>, and upon his death took his place among the Seven Sages or <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apkallu" title="Apkallu" >Apkallū</a></i>. (<i>Apkallu</i> "sage", comes from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_language" title="Sumerian language" >Sumerian</a> <i>AB.GAL</i> "great water", a reference to Adapa the first sage's association with water.)</p>

<h2 >As Oannes[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adapa&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: As Oannes" >edit</a>]</h2>

<p ><b>Oannes</b> (Ὡάννης) was the name given by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon" title="Babylon" >Babylonian</a> writer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berossus" title="Berossus" >Berossus</a> in the 3rd century BC to a mythical being who taught mankind wisdom. Berossus describes Oannes as having the body of a fish but underneath the figure of a man. He is described as dwelling in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Gulf" title="Persian Gulf" >Persian Gulf</a>, and rising out of the waters in the daytime and furnishing mankind instruction in writing, the arts and the various sciences. Oannes and the Semitic god <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagon" title="Dagon" >Dagon</a> were considered identical, but not until long after those gods were formally worshiped – this belief was popularized by the medieval Jewish commentator Rashi and in Dante's Inferno, but has been discarded by modern scholars.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_note-5" >[4]</a></sup>

The name "Oannes" was once conjectured to be derived from that of the ancient Babylonian god <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ea_(Babylonian_god)" class="mw-redirect" title="Ea (Babylonian god)" >Ea</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_note-6" >[5]</a></sup> but it is now known that the name is the Greek form of the Babylonian <i>Uanna</i> (or <i>Uan</i>) a name used for Adapa in texts from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Ashurbanipal" title="Library of Ashurbanipal" >Library of Ashurbanipal</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Dalley_7-0" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_note-Dalley-7" >[6]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_note-8" >[7]</a></sup> The Assyrian texts attempt to connect the word to the Akkadian for a craftsman <i>ummanu</i> but this is merely a pun.<sup id="cite_ref-Dalley_7-1" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_note-Dalley-7" >[6]</a></sup></p>

<h2 >Notes[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adapa&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Notes" >edit</a>]</h2>

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<dt >Explanatory notes</dt>

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<li id="cite_note-abgallu-etym-1" ><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_ref-abgallu-etym_1-0" >Jump up^{</a></b>&#160};The word Abgallu, <i>sage</i> (Ab = water, Gal = great, Lu = man, <i>Sumerian</i>) survived into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabatean" class="mw-redirect" title="Nabatean" >Nabatean</a> times, around the 1st century, as <i>apkallum</i>, used to describe the profession of a certain kind of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest" title="Priest" >priest</a>.</li>

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<dt >Citations</dt>

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<li id="cite_note-2" ><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_ref-2" >Jump up^{</a></b> Dalley}, Stephanie (2008), "Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgemesh, and Others" (Oxford World's Classics), p. 182</li>

<li id="cite_note-Mark.2C_Joshua-3" ><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_ref-Mark.2C_Joshua_3-0" >Jump up^{</a></b> Mark}, Joshua (2011), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ancient.eu.com/article/216/" >"The Myth of Adapa"</a>, Ancient History Encyclopedia</li>

<li id="cite_note-4" ><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_ref-4" >Jump up^{</a></b> Dalley}, Stephanie (2008), "Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgemesh, and Others" (Oxford World's Classics), p. 182</li>

<li id="cite_note-5" ><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_ref-5" >Jump up^{</a></b> }<cite class="citation book" >Baring-Gould, S. (1877). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/stream/curiousmythsofmi00bariuoft#page/494/mode/2up" ><i>Curious Myths of the Middle Ages</i></a>. London: Rivingtons.</cite></li>

<li id="cite_note-6" ><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_ref-6" >Jump up^{</a></b> Sayce}, Archibald H. (1897) <i>The Hibbert Lectures, 1887. Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated by the Religion of the Ancient Babylonians</i>, Wiliams & Norgate, London</li>

<li id="cite_note-Dalley-7" >^ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_ref-Dalley_7-0" >Jump up to:<sup ><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_ref-Dalley_7-1" ><sup ><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> Dalley, Stephanie (1989) <i>Myths from Mesopotamia</i>, Oxford World's Classics</li>

<li id="cite_note-8" ><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa#cite_ref-8" >Jump up^{</a></b>&#160};van der Toorn, K.; Becking, Bob and van der Horst, Pieter Willem (1999) <i>Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible Edition 2, revised</i>, B. Eerdmans Publishing.</li>

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<h2 >Bibliography[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adapa&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Bibliography" >edit</a>]</h2>

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<li >Jean Bottero, <i>Everyday Life In Ancient Mesopotamia</i></li>

<li >Donald A. Mackenzie, <i>Myths of Babylonia and Assyria</i></li>

<li >Stephanie Dalley, "Myths from Mesopotamia" p. 326</li>

<li ><cite id="CITEREFCotterell1997" class="citation" >Cotterell, Arthur, ed. (1997), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.enotes.com/wm-encyclopedia/adapa" >"Adapa"</a>, <i>Oxford Dictionary of World Mythology</i>, Oxford: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_University_Press" title="Oxford University Press" >Oxford University Press</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number" >ISBN</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-217747-8" title="Special:BookSources/0-19-217747-8" >0-19-217747-8</a></cite></li>

<li >Black, Jeremy, Andrew George & Nicholas Postgate, eds. 1999: <i>A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian</i>, SANTAG, 5 (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number" >ISBN</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/3-447-04225-7" title="Special:BookSources/3-447-04225-7" >3-447-04225-7</a>)</li>

<li >Miller, Douglas & R Mark Shipp 1993: <i>An Akkadian Handbook</i> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number" >ISBN</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-931464-86-2" title="Special:BookSources/0-931464-86-2" >0-931464-86-2</a>)</li>

<li >Verbrugghe Gerald & John Wickersham 2000: <i>Berossos & Manetho Introduced & Translated; Native Traditions in Mesopotamia & Egypt</i> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number" >ISBN</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-472-08687-1" title="Special:BookSources/0-472-08687-1" >0-472-08687-1</a>)</li>

<li >Hancock, Graham – Underworld</li>

<li >Shklovskiĭ, I. S., and Carl Sagan. 1966. <i>Intelligent life in the universe</i>. San Francisco: Holden-Day, p. 461.</li>

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<div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category" >Categories</a>: 

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Oannes (Adapa)

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