== シューメル文化 ==
エリドゥの都市では、エンキの神殿は「E2-abzu(深い水の家)」と呼ばれ、沼地の端、アブズ(abzu)に位置していたそうである<ref>Green, Margaret Whitney (1975). ''Eridu in Sumerian Literature''. University of Chicago: Ph.D. dissertation. pp. 180–182.</ref>。バビロニアやアッシリアの神殿の中庭にある聖水のタンクも「アプスー」と呼ばれていた<ref>Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, 1992. ''Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: an illustrated dictionary'', ''s.v.'' "abzu, apsû". ISBN:0-292-70794-0.</ref>。 In the city of [[Eridu]], [[Enki]]'s temple was known as [[É (temple)#List of specific temples|E<sub>2</sub>-abzu]] (house of the deep waters) and was located at the edge of a swamp, an abzu. Certain tanks of [[holy water]] in [[Babylon]]ian and [[Assyria]]n temple courtyards were also called abzu (''apsû''). Typical in religious washing, these tanks were similar to [[Judaism]]'s [[mikve|mikvot]], [[Ghusl|the washing pools]] of [[Islam]]ic [[mosque]]s, or the [[baptismal font]] in [[Christianity|Christian]] [[church (building)|church]]es.。ユダヤ教のミクボ、イスラム教のモスクの洗い場、キリスト教の教会の洗礼盤に似た、宗教的な洗い場の代表的なものである。
== In Sumerian cosmology ==