Oannes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section does not cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) This article has been tagged since August 2006.

Oannes was the name given by the 3rd century BC Babylonian writer Berossus to a mythical being who taught mankind wisdom.

Berossus describes Oannes as having the body of a fish but underneath the figure of a man. He is described as dwelling in the Persian Gulf, and rising out of the waters in the daytime and furnishing mankind instruction in writing, the arts and the various sciences.

Once thought to be based on the ancient Babylonian god Ea, it is now known that Oannes is in fact based on Uan (Adapa) - the first of the seven antediluvian sages or Abgallu (Ab=water, Gal=Great, Lu=man (Sumerian)),who were sent by Ea to deliver the arts of civilization to mankind in ancient Sumerian mythology, at Eridu, the oldest city of Sumer.

In the television show Stargate SG-1, the Oannes were an aquatic alien race who came to earth thousands of years ago to help overthrow the Goa'uld.