Semi-divine beings sent by the gods to teach humanity the arts of civilization.
apkallū (primeval sages).
“It was said in Sumeria that the Apkallu gave us rules, laws, and codes of conduct in order to help us advance as a species. The Apkallu were not gods....but were messengers of the gods. The Sumerian cuneiform tablets record references to them under the title “the sages.” They were referred to in the Bible as Nephilim - the “heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.” As to their role as messengers of the gods....messenger is the word that would be rendered as “angelos” in the Greek, and eventually into English as “angel.” In the book of Enoch, one of the books left out of the Bible, lists of things taught to humanity by what it calls the “watchers” is given. It covers everything from makeup and astronomy, to sorcery and metal smithing. These same skills were said to have been given to mankind by the Apkallu in ancient Sumeria. The story of a great flood is not unique to Christianity and Judaism. It’s told in much earlier Sumerian tablets in a slightly different version. It says that humanity takes the skills learned from the Apkallu and began to grow unchecked. The din made by a rapidly multiplying species as it built a world empire eventually began to disturb Enlil. He then sent a flood, to cleanse the earth. This is not meant to be understood as a wrathful god destroying civilization. The name Enlil represents the vast and powerful intelligence behind the constellations near the north celestial pole. These stories tell us that it was the shift of this pole which resulted in massive flooding at some point in our history.” - Damien Echols, From his Patreon
“In Mesopotamia, the apkallū are primeval mediators: semi-divine sages tied to the Apsû, carriers of antediluvian knowledge, sometimes even imagined as protective guardians whose presence keeps disorder away. They represent a prestigious claim: our arts are old, revealed, and authorized. The Watchers take that same basic profile: antediluvian teachers who stand between heaven and earth, and reverse its moral meaning. They are what the apkallū become once they are demonized: From culture-bringers to culture-breakers; from wardens to betrayers and destroyers; from legitimate transmitters of wisdom to leakers of dangerous expertise. That’s why their fall looks the way it does. It’s not only a descent from heaven. It’s a demotion of a whole category of authority. The Watchers are a polemical reclassification of the old apkallū sage template: the same kind of beings who, in Mesopotamia, guarantees civilization—recast as the beings who explains its corruption.” -
On the Origin of Watchers: A Comparative Study of the Antediluvian Wisdom in Mesopotamian and Jewish Traditions - AMAR ANNUS