[781] I.e., Apsu.
[782] City sacred to Ea at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.
[783] Lit., 'totality of lands.'
[784] Zimmern's rendering (Gunkel, Schöpfung und Chaos, p. 419) "sacred" (instead of 'bright') misses the point.
[785] Cf. S. A. Smith, Miscellaneous, K. 2866, l. 8, "the great gods dwelling in the heaven of Anu." The reference, therefore, cannot be to "the gathering place of the gods," where the fates of mankind are decided.
[786] The original has ratum. Delitzsch, Assyr. Handwörterbuch, p. 663, compares Hebrew rahat, "trough." Zimmern (Gunkel, Schöpfung und Chaos, p. 419) translates "Bewegung," but on what grounds I do not know. The passage is obscure; the text possibly defective.
[787] If the reading E-Sagila is original. It is here used as the name of Ea's temple in Eridu, but it is of course possible that E-Sagila has been deliberately introduced to enhance the glory of Marduk's temple in Babylon.
[788] Ea.
[789] Gen. i. 9.
[790] See Haupt, Wo lag das Paradies, p. 7 (Ueber Land und Meer, 1894-95, no. 15, Sonderabdruck), who furnishes numerous illustrations of the indefinite geographical notions of the ancients.