Introduction
Apsu is the primordial god of fresh water in the Babylonian creation epic the Enuma Elish, whose mingled waters with the salt-sea goddess Tiamat produced the first generation of gods.
Family
Death at Ea's Hands
Annoyed by the noise and disorder of the younger gods descended from him, Apsu plotted with his vizier Mummu to destroy them. Learning of the plan, the god Ea (Enki) cast a spell to put Apsu into a deep sleep, then killed him and built his own dwelling directly upon Apsu's body — the site where the chief god Marduk would later be born. Apsu's death is the first act of violence in the Enuma Elish's chain of generational conflict, setting up Tiamat's own later war of vengeance.
Mesopotamian religion spans Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian sources composed and recopied across nearly three thousand years, so names, genealogies, and even a deity's role often shift between traditions (Sumerian An/Enki/Inanna alongside their Akkadian/Babylonian forms Anu/Ea/Ishtar); the account above follows the most widely attested version, usually as consolidated in the Babylonian Enuma Elish or the standard Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh.