Under Enki’s Lordship: Water and Its Powers in the Ritual Sphere of First-Millennium BC Mesopotamia

The study analyses how water, its symbolism related to the god Enki and the mythical Abzu, and associated cultural meanings deeply shaped Syro-Mesopotamian societies and their worldviews. After an introduction concerning water in Mesopotamian cosmology, the study focuses on the mythical dimension of this element and its role as the conceptual background of ritual practitioners in the 1st millennium BC. As examples of the practical use of water as a ritual substance, the use of water is analysed in the evidence of Assyrian ritual practices of the 1st millennium BC.