En-men-dur-ana (also Emmeduranki) of Zimbir (the city now known as Sippar) was an ancient Sumerian king, whose name appears in the Sumerian King List as the seventh pre-dynastic king of Sumer. He was said to have reigned for 21,000 years. Name His name means "chief of the powers of Dur-an-ki", while "Dur-an-ki" in turn means "the meeting-place of heaven and earth" (literally "bond of above and below"). City En-men-dur-ana's city Sippar was associated with the worship of the sun-god Utu, later called Shamash in the Semitic language. Sumerian and Babylonian literature attributed the founding of Sippar to Utu. Myth A myth written in a Semitic language tells of Emmeduranki, subsequently being taken to heaven by the gods Shamash and Adad, and taught the secrets of heaven and of earth. In particular, Emmeduranki was taught arts of divination, such as how to inspect oil on water and how to discern messages in the liver of animals and several other divine secrets. En-men-dur-ana, held significance among the Pre-Sumerians as he was the ancestor from whom all priests of the Sun God had to be able to trace descent. Enmeduranki is sometimes considered a Mesopotamian model for the biblical patriarch Enoch. Enmeduranki appears as the seventh name on the Sumerian King List, whereas Enoch is the seventh figure in the list of patriarchs in Genesis. Both of them were also said to have been taken up into heaven. Sippar, the city of which Enmeduranki is king of, is associated with sun worship, while the 365 years that Enoch is stated to have lived may be linked to the number of days in the solar calendar. See also Apkallu History of Sumer Mesopotamian mythology References |- Antediluvian Sumerian kings Primordial teachers Sumerian rulers Entering heaven alive Divination Legendary progenitors Enoch (ancestor of Noah) Sippar Enmenduranki is on the Sumerians Kings List. The Sumerians are Non-semitic