Legendary sage of the Sumerian city of Eridu .
Endowed with great intelligence by Ea but still mortal, he was the hero of the Sumerian myth of the Fall of Man. Adapa was fishing when he was blown into the sea by the southern wind, whose wings he broke in rage. The heavenly doorkeepers Tammuz and Ningishzida interceded for him when he was summoned before Anu for punishment, but when Anu offered him the bread and water of eternal life, he refused, and humankind thus became mortal.