As a water-god, and more particularly as the god to whom the largest body of water known to the Babylonians was sacred, Ea was regarded as the source and giver of wisdom.

Fountains everywhere were sacred to him; and so he becomes also the giver of fertility and plenty.

Berosus tells us of a mystic being, half man, half fish, who spent his nights in the waters of the gulf, but who would come out of the waters during the day to give instruction to the people, until that time steeped in ignorance and barbarism.

This 'Oannes,' as Berosus is said[140] to have called him, was none other than Ea.

As the great benefactor of mankind, it is natural that Ea should have come to be viewed as the god whose special function it is to protect the human race, to advance it in all its good undertakings, to protect it against the evil designs of gods or demons.
In this role, he appears in the religious literature--in the epics, the cosmogony, and the ritual--of Babylonia.