Adapa or Adamu son of Ea (according to Sayce) was a Sumerian and Babylonian mythical figure who accidentally rejected the gift of immortality. The story is first attested in the Kassite period (14th century BC).
Roles
Adapa was a mortal from a godly lineage, a son of Ea (Enki in Sumerian), the god of wisdom and of the ancient city of Eridu, who brought the arts of civilisation to that city (from Dilmun, according to some versions). He broke the wings of Ninlil the South Wind, who had overturned his fishing boat, and was called to account before Anu. Ea, his patron god, warned him to apologise 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.
Adapa is often identified as advisor to the mythical first (antediluvian) king of Eridu, Alulim. In addition to his advisory duties, he served as a priest and exorcist, and upon his death took his place among the Seven Sages (Apkallū).
He is also merged with the Kassite-period apkalU-an, who is most familiar though Berossus' recounting of the myth of Oannes. (Apkal, "sage", comes from SumerianAbgallu (Ab=water, Gal=Great, Lu=man) a reference to Adapa, the first sage's association with water.)
He was portrayed as a man wearing the skin of a fish.
Bibliography
Black, Jeremy, Andrew George & Nicholas Postgate, eds. 1999: A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, SANTAG, 5 (ISBN 3-447-04225-7)
Miller, Douglas & R Mark Shipp 1993: An Akkadian Handbook (ISBN 0-931464-86-2)
Verbrugghe Gerald & John Wickersham 2000: Berossos & Manetho Introduced & Translated; Native Traditions in Mesopotamia & Egypt (ISBN 0-472-08687-1)
