En-men-dur-ana

En-men-dur-ana of Zimbir was an ancient Sumerian king, whose name appears in the Sumerian King List as the seventh pre-dynastic king of Sumer. He was also the topic of myth and legend, said to have reigned for around 21,000 years.

Name

His name means "chief of the powers of Dur-an-ki", while "Dur-an-ki" in turn means "the meeting-place of heaven and earth".

City

En-men-dur-ana's city Sippar was associated with the worship of the sun-god Utu, later called Shamash in the Akkadian language. Sumerian and Babylonian literature attributed the founding of Sippar to Utu.

Myth

A myth written in a Semitic language tells of Emmeduranki, subsequently being taken to heaven by the gods Shamash and Adad, and taught the secrets of heaven and of earth. In particular, Emmeduranki was taught arts of divination, such as how to inspect oil on water and how to discern messages in the liver of animals and several other divine secrets.