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[Alexandr Korol]

4. Ancient Mesopotamia — Ea (Enki) and the Apsu

• The god Ea (Sumerian Enki) is the lord of fresh waters and the master of all
wisdom and magic.
• When the god Apsu wanted to destroy the younger gods, it was Enki who
put him to sleep with a spell and took all the wisdom of the world from him
(the myth of Enuma Elish).

5. Slavic and Finno-Ugric Mythology — Veles

• Veles (or Väinämöinen among the Finns) is the sorcerer-god who knows
all the secrets of the world.
• He obtains wisdom through spell-songs and journeys to the world of the dead.

6. Indian Mythology — Ganesha and Vyasa

• Ganesha is the elephant-headed god, the patron of wisdom and writing.
• When the sage Vyasa dictated the Mahabharata, Ganesha recorded it in
one breath. He broke off his own tusk to continue writing with it — a symbol
that true wisdom stops at nothing.

7. Celtic Mythology — The Cauldron of Dagda and the Salmon of Wisdom

• In Ireland, there is a myth about the Salmon of Wisdom (Eó Feasa), which
ate nine nuts from a sacred tree and absorbed all the world’s wisdom.
• The hero Finn MacCool accidentally burned his thumb while cooking this salmon;
upon sucking his thumb to soothe it, he received all the world’s wisdom forever.

8. African (Yoruba) — Orunmila

• The god Orunmila is the master of Ifá (the system of divination); all the wisdom
of fate belongs to him. People turn to him to discover the “right path.”