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14 The biblical term Nefilim, the sons of the Elohim who were then upon the Earth, parallels the Sumerian Anunnaki ("Those Who from Heaven to Earth Came"); the Bible itself (Numbers 13:33) explains that by pointing out that the Nefi- lim were "sons of Anak" (Hebrew rendering of Anunnaki). The time preceding the Deluge was thus a time when the young Anunnaki males began to have sex with young human females; and being compatible, had children by them—off- spring part mortal and part "divine": demigods. That such demigods were present on Earth is amply at- tested in Near Eastern texts, be it in regard to individuals (such as the Sumerian Gilgamesh) or long dynasties (such as the reported dynasty of thirty demigods in Egypt that pre- ceded the Pharaohs); both instances, however, pertain to post- Diluvial times. But in the biblical preamble to the Deluge tale we have an assertion that the "taking of wives" from among the human females by the "sons of the Elohim"— sons of the DIN.GIR—had already begun well before the Deluge. The Sumerian sources that deal with pre-Diluvial times and the origins of Humankind and civilization include the tale of Adapa, and we have already touched upon the question whether having been called "offspring of Ea" simply meant that he was a human descended of The Adam whom Ea had helped create, or more literally (as many scholars hold) an actual son born to Ea by intercourse with a human female, which would make Adapa a demigod. If that would have required Ea/Enki to have sex with a female other than his official spouse, the goddess Ninki, no eyebrows should be raised: several Sumerian texts detail the sexual prowess of Enki. In one instance he was after Inanna/Ishtar, the grand- daughter of his half brother Enlil. Among other escapades was his determination to attain a son by his half sister Nin- mah; but when only a daughter was born, he continued the sexual relationship with the next and next and next genera- tions of goddesses. Was Enmeduranki, by all accounts, the seventh and not the last (tenth) ruler of a City of the Gods well before the Deluge, such a demigod? The point is not clarified by the Sumerian texts, but we suspect that he was (in which case DIVINE ENCOUNTERS