If Eridu was not the "cradle" of the Sumerian race, it was possibly the cradle of Sumerian civilization. Here, amidst the shifting rivers in early times, the agriculturists may have learned to control and distribute the water supply by utilizing dried-up beds of streams to irrigate the land. Whatever successes they achieved were credited to Ea, their instructor and patron; he was Nadimmud, "god of everything".
[[28]] 2 Kings, xviii, 32.
[[29]] Herodotus, i, 193.
[[30]] Peter's Nippur, i, p. 160.
[[31]] A Babylonian priest of Bel Merodach. In the third century a.c. he composed in Greek a history of his native land, which has perished. Extracts from it are given by Eusebius, Josephus, Apollodorus, and others.
[[32]] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 140, 141.
[[33]] The Religion of the Semites, pp. 159, 160.
[[34]] Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, M. Jastrow, p. 88.
[[35]] The Seven Tablets of Creation, L.W. King, vol. i, p. 129.