Below, a cylinder seal impression of the god Enki or Ea (?) standing in a shallow-draft boat (two streams of water erupting from his shoulders from which leap 5 fish) which is being propelled through reed-filled marshlands by two servants, each of whom has a punting pole in his hands. At the boat's fore and aft are possibly fish leaping into the air joyously greeting their creator (?), tall reeds appear at the fore and aft ends of the craft suggesting Enki is in a marshland setting. In myths Adapa was a servant of Enki who prepared daily fresh bread and fished for his god so perhaps one of these servants is Adapa? In hymns Enki mentions his delight is to navigate the nearby "snake marsh" in his boat called the Ibex of the Abzu. To this day snakes still glide across the water's surface in the marshes east of Eridu where Enki lived in his Sea House which cast its shade over "the Sea" and/or "snake marsh" according to other hymns. That is to say "the "sea" was probably a euphemism for the snake marsh.
Please click here for Professor Potts' comments on the term "sea" being applied to marshlands in ancient texts. (For the below photo cf. figure II-7. Described as of Akkadian style ca. 2300-2000 B.C. Green jasper. The Louvre, Paris, France Collection: "God with streams and plants standing in a boat poled by two attendants." Edith Porada, Editor. Ancient Art in Seals: Essays by Pierre Amiet, Nimet Ozgus and John Boardman. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press. 1980)
