Apsu (Absu, Apason, Apsu-Rishtu) (sweet water ocean) In Near Eastern mythology (Babylonian), primordial god of fresh water, husband of Tiamat, or chaos. In the Babylonian epic of creation Enuma Elish, Apsu’s nature is described:

There was a time when above the heaven was not named Below, the earth bore no name. Apsu was there from the first, the source of both. And raging Tiamat the mother of heaven and earth. But Apsu and Tiamat were gathered together in a mass.

Apsu represents the male and Tiamat the female principle of the primeval universe. In the poem, however, Ea, the son of Apsu, castrates his father and takes over his role as god of fresh water. The worship of Ea as god of fresh water was even found in the temple of King Solomon, where water jars stood near the great altar in the large court. The great basin in the court was called Apsu.