In Mesopotamian religion , the god of water.
He formed a triad of deities with Anu and Bel . Originally a local deity in the city of Eridu, he evolved into the lord of the fresh waters beneath the earth, the god of ritual purification, and a patron of sorcery and incantations. Akkadian mythology makes him the father of Marduk . His counterpart among the Sumerians was Enki, from whose half-fish, half-goat form the astrological figure of Capricorn is derived.
Ea (seated) and attendant deities, Sumerian cylinder seal, c. 2300 BC; in the Pierpont Morgan ...
By courtesy of the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York