The Babylonians speak of Oannes and the Apkallu
Babylonian narratives describe beings like Oannes and the Apkallu, who emerged from the sea to teach humans agriculture, writing, and city-building.
Oannes and the Apkallu: In Sumerian and Babylonian traditions, Oannes and the Apkallu were half-human, half-fish beings who brought knowledge, writing, and civilization to humanity.
The seven sages, referred to as Apkallu, are depicted in myths and art as having both human and non-human.
Apkallu were said to possess profound wisdom and were credited with teaching mankind various aspects of civilization, such as rituals, medicine, and crafts.
The first is that Jonah is the same figure as Oannes of the Apkallu.
The second is that the Apkallu are Atlantean emissaries.
For context, the Apkallu are known as a civilising people.
Oannes is often associated with the Apkallu, a group of wise beings or demigods believed to have imparted knowledge to humanity.
In the cuneiform lists of the seven sages, the Apkallu, the first sage is called Uanna, and Oannes is a Greek form of that name.
The Apkallu are seven sages, sometimes shown as part man and part fish or bird.
The word apkallu, "wise one", is also used as an epithet of the god Ea.
Assyrian palace reliefs and cylinder seals show Apkallu figures as fish-men or bird-men.
One relief, probably of an Apkallu, comes from the temple of Ninurta at Nimrud.
"Apkallu" (also spelled "apkallū") and "Abgal" are terms from ancient Mesopotamian mythology, particularly in Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian culture.
Apkallu is the Akkadian word and Abgal the Sumerian one.
The Apkallu were mythological beings shown as sages or demigods, closely linked to the god Ea (Enki in Sumerian), the god of wisdom and of the waters.
The seven Apkallu are named in cuneiform texts.
The same text calls them "the seven apkallus, born in the river, who keep in order the plans of heaven and earth".
The seven Apkallu lived before the Great Flood.
The seven Apkallu stand for the work of civilizing humanity before the Flood.
Bīt mēseri goes on to name four later Apkallu "of human descent": Nungalpiriggaldim, the sage of Enmerkar; Piriggalnungal, born in Kish; Piriggalabzu, born in Adab View Map; and Lu-Nanna, "two-thirds apkallu".
The Enuma Elish: the Apkallu are not named in it, but they are linked to the divine order through Ea.
After the Flood, the Apkallu were followed by human priest-sages, the ummânū.
Apkallu figurines were buried in the foundations of buildings for protection.
The Apkallu are often compared with the Nephilim of Judeo-Christian texts, because of their divine and human nature.
The Apkallu stand for the passing on of knowledge, the balance between order and chaos, and the importance of divine wisdom in human progress.
Kvanvig (Primeval History: Babylonian, Biblical, and Enochic, Brill, 2011), the seven apkallu sages appear in two cuneiform lists: an incantation series called Bīt Mēseri, first published by E.
The names of the apkallus and their successions are identical in Bīt Mēseri and the Uruk tablet, with small variations in spelling.
Some scholars (for example Greenfield) compare negative aspects of the Mesopotamian Apkallu culture-hero tradition to Nephilim lore.
The Apkallu are antediluvian sages praised for wisdom, sometimes called sons of Ea.