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  THE SEVEN TABLETS OF CREATION
  by Leonard William
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William Leonard King's translation and analysis of newly discovered Babylonian
creation tablets, with comparisons to the Hebrew Genesis account and discussions
of Mesopotamian cosmology.

  Chapters: 14

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 000
    2. 001
    3. 002
    4. 003
    5. 004
    6. 005
    7. 006
    8. 007
    9. 008
   10. 009
   11. 010
   12. 011
   13. 012
   14. 013

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The Seven Tablets of Creation by Leonard William King Luzac’s Semitic text and
translation series. vol. xii-xiii

Luzac and Co.

London

[1902]

Scanned at sacred-texts.com, December, 2002. J.B. Hare, Redactor. This text is
in the public domain. This file may be used for any non-commercial purpose,
provided that this attribution is left intact.


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Preface

PERHAPS no section of Babylonian literature has been more generally studied than
the legends which record the Creation of the world. On the publication of the
late Mr. George Smith’s work, "The Chaldean Account of Genesis," which appeared
some twenty-seven years ago, it was recognized that there was in the Babylonian
account of the Creation, as it existed in the seventh century before Christ,
much which invited comparison with the corresponding narrative in the Book of
Genesis. It is true that the Babylonian legends which had been recovered and
were first published by him were very fragmentary, and that the exact number and
order of the Tablets, or sections, of which they were composed were quite
uncertain; and that, although they recorded the creation of the heavens and of
the heavenly bodies, they contained no direct account of the creation of man. In
spite of this, however, their resemblance to the Hebrew narrative was
unmistakable, and in consequence they at once appealed to a far larger circle of
students than would otherwise have been the case.

After the appearance of Mr. Smith’s work, other scholars produced translations
of the fragments which he had published, and the names of Oppert, Schrader, and
Sayce will always be associated with those who were the first to devote
themselves to the interpretation of the Creation Legends. Moreover, new
fragments of the legends have from time to time been acquired by the Trustees of
the British Museum, and of these the most important is the fine text of the
Fourth Tablet of the Creation Series, containing the account of the fight
between the god Marduk and the dragon Tiamat, which was published in 1887 by Dr.
Wallis Budge, and translated by Professor Sayce in the same year. Professor
Sayce’s translation of the Creation Legends marked a distinct advance upon those
of his predecessors, and it was the most complete, inasmuch as he was enabled to
make use of the new tablet which restored so much of the central portion of the
story. In the year 1890, in his important work Die Kosmologie der Babylonier,
Professor Jensen of Marburg gave a translation of the legends together with a
transliteration and commentary; in 1895 Professor Zimmern of Leipzig translated
all the fragments then known, and a year later Professor Delitzsch of Berlin
also published a rendering. Finally, two years ago, Professor Jensen issued a
new and revised translation of the Creation Legends in the opening pages of the
first part of his work Mythen and Epen, the second part of which, containing his
notes and commentary, appeared some months ago. In the course of the year 1900,
the writer was entrusted with the task of copying the texts of a number of
Babylonian and Assyrian legends for publication in the series of Cuneiform Texts
from Babylonian Tablets, etc., in the British Museum, and, among the documents
selected for issue, were those relating to the Creation of the world. Several of
the texts of the Creation Legends, which had been used by previous translators,
had never been published, and one tablet, which Mr. George Smith had consulted
in 1876, had not been identified by subsequent workers. During my work I was so
fortunate as to recognize this tablet, and was enabled to make copies of all the
texts, not only of those which were previously known, but also of a number of
new duplicates and fragments which I had meanwhile identified. These copies
appeared in Cuneiform Texts, Part XIII (1901), Plates 1-41. The most interesting
of the new fragments there published was a tablet which restored a missing
portion of the text of the Second Tablet of the Creation Series, and of this, on
account of its interest, I gave a translation in a note to the plate on which
the text appeared. It was not my intention at that time to publish anything
further upon the subject of the Creation Legends.

While I was engaged, however, in searching for fragments of other Babylonian
legends for publication officially, it was my good fortune to come across a fine
duplicate of the Second Tablet of the Creation Series. A further prolonged
search was rewarded by the finding of other fragments of the poem, and a study
of these showed me that the earlier portions of the text of the Creation Story,
as already known, could be considerably augmented. Among them, moreover, was a
fragment of the poem which refers to the Creation of Man; this fragment is
extremely important, for in addition to its valuable contents it also settles
the disputed question as to the number of Tablets, or sections, of which the
Creation Series was composed. In view of the additional information as to the
form and contents of the poem which this new material afforded, it was clearly
necessary that a new translation of the Creation Legends should be made, and
this I undertook forthwith. The new fragments of the poem which I had identified
up to the summer of last year are inscribed upon tablets of the Neo-Babylonian
period. At the conclusion of the examination of tablets of this class, I
lithographed the newly identified texts in a series of plates which are
published in the second volume of the present work. These plates were already
printed off, when, at the beginning of the present year, after my return from
Assyria, I identified a fresh group of fragments of the poem inscribed, not upon
Neo-Babylonian, but upon Assyrian tablets. At that time I was engaged on making
a detailed catalogue, or hand-list, of the smaller fragments in the various
collections of Assyrian tablets from Kuyunjik, and, as a result of previous
study of the legends themselves and of the Assyrian commentaries to the Seventh
Tablet of the series, I was enabled to identify ten new fragments of the poem
which are inscribed upon tablets from the library of Ashur-bani-pal at Nineveh.
In order to avoid upsetting the arrangement of the plates in Vol. II, the texts
of the new Assyrian fragments are published by means of outline blocks in
Appendices I and II to the present volume.

Those who have studied the published texts of the Creation Series will remember
that the material used by previous translators of the legends has consisted of
some twenty-one tablets and fragments inscribed with portions of the poem. The
number of new tablets and fragments belonging to the Creation Series which are
here used and translated for the first time reaches the total of thirty-four,
but, as I have joined up six of these to other similar fragments, this total has
been reduced to twenty-eight. Thus, in place of the twenty-one tablets
previously known, forty-nine separate tablets and fragments have now been
identified as containing portions of the text of the Creation Series. The new
information, furnished by the recently discovered material regarding the Story
of Creation, may here be briefly summarized. Hitherto our knowledge of the
contents of Tablets I and II of the series has been very fragmentary. After the
narrative of the creation of the great gods in the opening lines of the poem,
and a fragmentary reference to the first symptoms of revolt exhibited by the
primeval monsters, Apsû and Tiamat, and Mummu, the minister of Apsû, there
occurred a great gap in the text, and the story began again with the account of
how Tiamat prepared to wage war against the gods. Apsû and Mummu have at this
point entirely disappeared from the narrative, and the ally of Tiamat is the god
Kingu, whom she appoints to command her forces. What followed the creation of
the great gods, what was the cause of the revolt, what was the fate of Apsû and
Mummu, and what were the events which led up to Tiamat’s preparations for
battle, are questions that have hitherto remained unanswered. We now know that
the account of the creation of the gods was no fuller than that which has come
down to us from Damascius. After the birth of Lakhmu and Lakhamu, Anshar and
Kishar, Anu, Bêl (i.e., Enlil, or Illil), and Ea (Nudimmud), the text does not
proceed to narrate in detail the coming forth of the lesser deities, but plunges
at once into the story of the revolt of the primeval forces of chaos. We now
know also that it was Apsû, and not Tiamat, who began the revolt against the
gods; and that, according to the poem, his enmity was aroused, not by the
creation of light as has been previously suggested, but by the disturbance of
his rest in consequence of the new "way" of the gods, which tended to produce
order in place of chaos.

One of the most striking facts which the new fragments furnish with regard to
the contents of the legends is the prominent part played by the god Ea in the
earlier episodes of the story. After Apsû and Mummu had repaired to Tiamat and
had hatched with her their plot against the gods, it was the god Ea, who,
abounding in all wisdom, detected their plan and frustrated it. The details of
Ea’s action are still a matter of uncertainty, but, as I have shown in the
Introduction, it is clear that Apsû and Mummu were overthrown, and that their
conqueror was Ea. Moreover, it was only after their downfall, and in order to
avenge them, that Tiamat began her preparations for battle. She was encouraged
in her determination by the god Kingu, and it was in consequence of the
assistance he then gave her that she afterwards appointed him leader of her
host.

Another point which is explained by the new fragments concerns the repetitions
in Tablets I, II, and III of the lines containing the account of Tiamat’s
preparations for battle. The lines describing this episode are given no less
than four times: in Tablet I, in Tablet II, and twice in Tablet III. We now know
that the first description of Tiamat’s preparations occurs after the account of
her determination to avenge her former allies; and in the Second Tablet the
lines are put into the mouth of Ea, who continues to play a prominent part in
the narrative, and carries the tidings to Anshar. How Anshar repeated the lines
to Gaga, his messenger, and how Gaga delivered the message to Lakhmu and
Lakhamu, is already well known.

Perhaps the most striking of all the new fragments of the poem here published is
that which contains the opening and closing lines of the Sixth Tablet, and, at
last, furnishes us with a portion of the text describing the Creation of Man. We
now know that, as in the Hebrew narrative, the culminating act of Creation was
the making of man. Marduk is here represented as declaring to Ea that he will
create man from his own blood, and from bone which he will form; it is important
to note that the Assyrian word here used for "bone," issimtu, which has not
hitherto been known, corresponds to the Hebrew word ’esem, "bone," which occurs
in Gen. ii, 2 3, in connection with the account of the creation of woman. The
text thus furnishes another point of resemblance between the Babylonian and the
Hebrew stories of Creation. The new fragment also corroborates in a remarkable
degree the account given by Berossus of the Babylonian version of the creation
of man. According to the writer’s rendering of the passage, Marduk declares that
he will use his own blood in creating mankind, and this agrees with the
statement of Berossus, that Bêl directed one of the gods to cut off his (i.e.
Bêl’s) head, and to form mankind from his blood mixed with earth. This subject
is discussed at length and in detail in the Introduction, as well as a number of
new points of resemblance between the Babylonian and the Hebrew accounts of the
Creation which are furnished by other recently identified fragments of the poem.
With regard to the extent and contents of the Creation Series, we now know that
the Tablets of which the series was composed are seven in number; and we also
possess the missing context or frame-work of the Seventh Tablet, which contains
addresses to Marduk under his fifty titles of honour. From this we learn that,
when the work of Creation was ended, the gods gathered together once more in
Upshukkinakku, their council-chamber; here they seated themselves in solemn
assembly and proceeded to do honour to Marduk, the Creator, by reciting before
him the remarkable series of addresses which form the contents of the last
Tablet of the poem. Many of the missing portions of the Seventh Tablet,
including the opening lines, it has been found possible to restore from the new
fragments and duplicates here published. In the following pages a
transliteration of the text of the Creation Series is given, which has been
constructed from all the tablets and fragments now known to be inscribed with
portions of the poem, together with a translation and notes. For comparison with
the legends contained in the Creation Series, translations have been added of
the other Babylonian accounts of the history of Creation, and of some texts
closely connected therewith. Among these mention may be made of the extracts
from a Sumerian text, and from a somewhat similar one in Babylonian, referring
to the Creation of the Moon and the Sun; these are here published from a
so-called "practice-tablet," or student’s exercise. A remarkable address to a
mythical river, to which the creation of the world is ascribed, is also given.
In the first Appendix the Assyrian commentaries to the Seventh Tablet are
examined in detail, and some fragments of texts are described which bear a
striking resemblance to the Seventh Tablet, and are of considerable interest for
the light they throw on the literary history of the poem. Among the texts dealt
with in the second Appendix one of the most interesting is a Babylonian
duplicate of the tablet which has been supposed to contain the instructions
given by Marduk to man after his creation, but is now shown by the duplicate to
be part of a long didactic composition containing moral precepts, and to have
nothing to do with the Creation Series. Similarly, in the fourth Appendix I have
printed a copy of the text which has been commonly, but erroneously, supposed to
refer to the Tower of Babel. The third Appendix includes some hitherto
unpublished astrological texts of the period of the Arsacidae, which contain
astrological interpretations and explanations of episodes of the Creation story;
they indicate that Tiamat, in her astrological character, was regarded as a star
or constellation in the neighbourhood of the ecliptic, and they moreover furnish
an additional proof of the identification of her monster brood with at any rate
some of the Zodiacal constellations.

During the preparation of this work I have, of course, consulted the
translations and renderings of the Creation Legends which have been made by
other workers on the subject, and especially those of Professors Jensen,
Zimmern, and Delitzsch. I have much pleasure in expressing here my indebtedness
to their published works for suggestions which I have adopted from them. To Mr.
R. Campbell Thompson I am indebted for the ready assistance he has afforded me
during my search for new fragments and duplicates of the legends. In conclusion,
my thanks are due to Dr. Wallis Budge for his friendly suggestions which I have
adopted throughout the progress of the work.

L. W. KING.

LONDON, July 31st, 1902.


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CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE

XI

INTRODUCTION:--

XXV

I. DESCRIPTION AND LITERATURE OF THE POEM ENUMA ELISH

XXV

II. CONTENTS OF THE POEM AND DISCUSSION OF NEW MATERIAL

XXX

III. COMPOSITION OF THE POEM

LXVI

IV. DATE AND ORIGIN OF THE BABYLONIAN CREATION LEGENDS

LXXII

V. INFLUENCE OF THE BABYLONIAN CREATION LEGENDS AND PARALLELS IN HEBREW
LITERATURE

LXXX

VI. AUTHORITIES FOR THE TEXT OF THE POEM ENUMA ELISH AND THE ASSYRIAN
COMMENTARIES

XCVII

VII. RECONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE TEXT

CXX

TRANSLITERATIONS AND TRANSLATIONS:--

I. THE SEVEN TABLETS OF THE HISTORY OF CREATION.

I. THE FIRST TABLET

2

II. THE SECOND TABLET

22

III. THE THIRD TABLET

38

IV. THE FOURTH TABLET

58

V. THE FIFTH TABLET

78

VI. THE SIXTH TABLET

86

VII. THE SEVENTH TABLET

92

EPILOGUE

110

II. OTHER ACCOUNTS OF THE HISTORY OF CREATION.

I. ANOTHER VERSION OF THE DRAGON-MYTH

116

II. A REFERENCE TO THE CREATION OF THE CATTLE AND THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD

122

III. A REFERENCE TO THE CREATION OF THE MOON AND THE SUN

124

IV. AN ADDRESS TO THE RIVER OF CREATION

128

V. ANOTHER VERSION OF THE CREATION OF THE WORLD BY MARDUK

130

VI. THE "CUTHAEAN LEGEND OF THE CREATION"

140

APPENDICES:--

I. ASSYRIAN COMMENTARIES AND PARALLEL TEXTS TO THE SEVENTH TABLET OF THE
CREATION SERIES

157

II. ON SOME FRAGMENTS OF THE SERIES ENUMA ELISH, AND ON SOME TEXTS RELATING TO
THE HISTORY OF CREATION

182

III. ON SOME TRACES OF THE HISTORY OF CREATION IN RELIGIOUS AND ASTROLOGICAL
LITERATURE

204

IV. SUPPOSED ASSYRIAN LEGENDS OF THE TEMPTATION AND THE TOWER OF BABEL

219

V. A "PRAYER OF THE RAISING OF THE HAND" TO ISHTAR

222

INDICES, GLOSSARY, ETC.:--

I. INDEX TO TEXTS.

A. CUNEIFORM TEXTS FROM BABYLONIAN TABLETS, ETC., IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM, PART
XIII (1901), PLATES 1-41

239

B. SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS, PUBLISHED IN VOL. II, PLATES, I-LXXXIV

241

C. SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS, PUBLISHED IN APPENDICES I, II, AND III.

244

II. INDEX TO REGISTRATION NUMBERS

245

III. GLOSSARY OF SELECTED WORDS

251

IV. INDEX TO NAMES OF DEITIES, STARS, PLACES, ETC.

266

PLATES:--

I. THE SIXTH TABLET OF THE CREATION SERIES

VIII

II. THE FIRST TABLET OF THE CREATION SERIES

XXXV

III. THE SECOND TABLET OF THE CREATION SERIES

XLIII

IV. THE FOURTH TABLET OF THE CREATION SERIES

XLVII

V. THE FIFTH TABLET OF THE CREATION SERIES

LI

VI. THE SEVENTH TABLET OF THE CREATION SERIES

LXI


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INTRODUCTION. THE great Assyrian poem, or series of legends, which narrates the
story of the Creation of the world and man, was termed by the Assyrians and
Babylonians Enuma elish, "When in the height," from the two opening words of the
text. The poem consisted of some nine hundred and ninety-four lines, and was
divided into seven sections, each of which was inscribed upon a separate Tablet.
The Tablets were numbered by the Assyrian scribes, and the separate sections of
the poem written upon them do not vary very much in length. The shortest Tablet
contains one hundred and thirty-eight lines, and the longest one hundred and
forty-six, the average length of a Tablet being about one hundred and forty-two
lines. The poem embodies the beliefs of the Babylonians and Assyrians concerning
the origin of the universe; it describes the coming forth of the gods from
chaos, and tells the story of how the forces of disorder, represented by the
primeval water-gods Apsû and Tiamat, were overthrown by Ea and Marduk
respectively, and how Marduk, after completing the triumph of the gods over
chaos, proceeded to create the world and man. The poem is known to us from
portions of several Assyrian and late-Babylonian copies of the work, and from
extracts from it written out upon the so-called "practice-tablets," or students’
exercises, by pupils of the Babylonian scribes. The Assyrian copies of the work
are from the great library which was founded at Nineveh by Ashur-bani-pal, king
of Assyria from B.C. 668 to about B.C. 626; the Babylonian copies and extracts
were inscribed during the period of the kings of the Neo-Babylonian and Persian
periods; and one copy of the Seventh Tablet may probably be assigned to as late
a date as the period of the Arsacidae. All the tablets and fragments, which have
hitherto been identified as inscribed with portions of the text of the poem, are
preserved in the British Museum. From the time of the first discovery of
fragments of the poem considerable attention has been directed towards them, for
not only are the legends themselves the principal source of our knowledge of the
Babylonian cosmogony, but passages in them bear a striking resemblance to the
cognate narratives in the Book of Genesis concerning the creation of the world.
The late Mr. George Smith, who was the first to publish an account of the poem,
recognized this resemblance and emphasized it in his papers on the subject in
1875. In the following year in his work "The Chaldean Account of Genesis" he
gave translations of the fragments of the poem which had been identified, and
the copies which he had made of the principal fragments were published. After
Smith’s death the interest in the texts which he had published did not cease,
and scholars continued to produce renderings and studies of the legends. In 1883
Dr. Wallis Budge gave an account of a fine Babylonian duplicate of what proved
to be the Fourth Tablet of the Creation Series; this document restored
considerable portions of the narrative of the fight between Marduk and the
dragon Tiamat, and added considerably to our knowledge of the story of Creation
and of the order in which the events related in the story took place. In the
Hibbert Lectures for 1887 Professor Sayce translated the new fragment of the
text, and in the following year published a complete translation of all
fragments of the Creation Legends which had up to that time been identified. In
1890 Professor Jensen, in his studies on the Babylonian cosmogony, included a
translation of the legends together with a transliteration and a number of
valuable philological notes and discussion. In 1895 Professor Zimmern published
a translation of the legends, similar in plan to Sayce’s earlier edition; in it
he took advantage of some recently identified fragments and duplicates, and put
forward a number of new renderings of difficult passages. In 1896 a third German
translation of the legends made its appearance; it was published by Professor
Delitzsch and included transliterations and descriptions of the various tablets
and fragments inscribed with portions of the text. Finally, in 1900 Professor
Jensen published a second edition of his rendering of the legends in his Mythen
und Epen; this work was the best which could be prepared with the material then
available. In the most recent translations of the Creation Series, those of
Delitzsch and Jensen, use was made in all of twenty-one separate tablets and
fragments which had been identified as inscribed with portions of the text of
the poem. In the present work thirty-four additional tablets and fragments,
inscribed with portions of the text of the Creation Series, have been employed;
but, as six of these join other similar fragments, the number of separate
tablets and fragments here used for the first time is reduced to twenty-eight.
The total number of separate fragments of the text of the Creation Series is
thus brought up to forty-nine. The new material is distributed among the Seven
Tablets of the Creation Series as follows:--To the four known fragments of the
First Tablet may now be added eight others, consisting of two fragments of an
Assyrian tablet and four Babylonian fragments and two extracts inscribed upon
Babylonian "practice-tablets." To the three known fragments of the Second Tablet
may be added four others, consisting of parts of one Assyrian and of three
Babylonian tablets. To the four known fragments of the Third Tablet may be added
five other, consisting of fragments of one Assyrian and one Babylonian tablet
and extracts inscribed upon three Babylonian "practice-tablets." To the five
known fragments of the Fourth Tablet only one new duplicate can be added, which
is inscribed upon a Babylonian "practice-tablet." To the three known fragments
of the Fifth Tablet may be added two others, consisting of parts of two Assyrian
tablets. Of the Sixth Tablet no fragment has previously been known, and its
existence was only inferred from a fragment of the catch-line preserved on
copies of the Fifth Tablet; fragments of the text of the Sixth Tablet are
published for the first time in the present work from part of a Babylonian
tablet. Finally, to the two known fragments of the Seventh Tablet may now be
added seven other inscribed upon five Assyrian fragments and portions of two
Babylonian tablets. The new fragments of the text of the First and Second
Tablets of the Creation Series throw light on the earlier episodes in the story
of Creation, and enable us to fill up some of the gaps in the narrative. By the
identification of the Tablet K. 5,419 c, George Smith recovered the opening
lines of the First Tablet, which describes the condition of things before
Creation when the primeval water-gods, Apsû and Tiamat, personifying chaos,
mingled their waters in confusion. The text then briefly relates how to Apsû and
Tiamat were born the oldest of the gods, the first pair, Lahmu and Lahamu, being
followed after a long interval by Anshar and Kishar, and after a second interval
by other deities, of whose names the text of K. 5,419 c only preserves that of
Anu. George Smith perceived that this theogony had been reproduced by Damascius
in his summary of the beliefs of the Babylonians concerning the creation of the
world. Now, since Damascius mentions Ἴλλινος and Ἀόσ along with Ἀνόσ, it was
clear that the text of the poem included a description of the birth of the elder
Bel (i.e. Enlil or Illil) and of Ea in the passage in which Anu’s name occurs.
But as the text inscribed upon the obverse of K. 5,419 c, to Apsû, Κισσαρή to
Kishar, Ἀσσωρόσ to Anshar, and Ἀνόσ to Anu; Μωϋμῖσ corresponds to Mummu (see
below, p. xxxviii, note 1).} and of its Neo-Babylonian duplicate 82-7-14, 402,
breaks off at l. 15, the course of the story after this point has hitherto been
purely a matter for conjecture. It appeared probable that the lines which
followed contained a full account of the origin of the younger gods, and from
the fact that Damascius states that Βῆλος, the Creator of the world, was the son
of (i.e. Ea) and Δαύκη (i.e. Damkina), it has Seen concluded that at any rate
special prominence was given to the birth of Bel, i.e. Marduk, who figures so
prominently in the story from the close of the Second Tablet onwards. The new
fragments of the First Tablet show that the account of the birth of the gods in
the Creation Series is even shorter than that given by Damascius, for the poem
contains no mention of the birth and parentage of Marduk. After mentioning the
birth of Nudimmud (i.e. Ea), <\l > the text proceeds to describe his marvellous
wisdom and strength, and states that he had no rival among the gods; the birth
of no other god is recorded after that of Ea, and, when Marduk is introduced
later on, his existence, like that of Mummu and of Gaga, appears to be tacitly
assumed. It would seem, therefore, that the reference made by Damascius to
Marduk’s parentage was not derived from the text of the Creation Series, but was
added by him to complete his summary of the Babylonian beliefs concerning the
origin of the gods. This omission of Marduk’s name from the earlier lines of the
First Tablet and the prominence given to that of Ea may at first sight seem
strange, but it is in accordance with the other newly recovered portions of the
text of the First and Second Tablets, which indirectly throw an interesting
light on the composite character and literary history of the great poem. It will
be seen that of the deities mentioned in these earlier lines Nudimmud (Ea) is
the only god whose characteristics are described in detail; his birth, moreover,
forms the climax to which the previous lines lead up, and, after the description
of his character, the story proceeds at once to relate the rebellion of the
primeval gods and the part which Ea played in detecting and frustrating their
plans. In fact, Ea and not Marduk is the hero of the earlier episodes of the
Creation story. The new fragments of the text show, moreover, that it was Apsû
and not Tiamat who began the rebellion against the gods. While the newly created
gods represented the birth of order and system in the universe, Apsû and Tiamat
still remained in confusion and undiminished in might. Apsû, however, finding
the earlier part that his slothful rest was disturbed by the new order of beings
whom he had begotten, summoned Mummu, his minister, and the two went together to
Tiamat, and lying down before her, took counsel with her regarding the means to
be adopted to restore the old order of things. It may be noted that the text
contains no direct statement that it was the creation of light which caused the
rebellion of the primeval gods. Apsû merely states his hatred of the alkatu or
"way" of the gods, in consequence of which he can get no rest by day or night;
and, from the fact that he makes use of the expressions "by day" and "by night,"
it may be inferred that day and night were vaguely conceived as already in
existence. It was therefore the substitution of order in place of chaos which,
according to the text of the poem, roused Apsû’s resentment and led to his
rebellion and downfall Our knowledge of the part played by Ea in the overthrow
of Apsû and Mummu is still fragmentary, but we know from l. 60 of the First
Tablet that it was he who detected the plot against the gods; it is also certain
that the following twenty lines recorded the fate of Apsû and his minister, and
there are clear indications that it was Ea to whom their overthrow was due. In
Tablet II, ll. 53 E, Anshar, on learning from Ea the news of Tiamat’s
preparations for battle, contrasts the conquest of Mummu and Apsû with the task
of opposing Tiamat, and the former achievement he implies has been accomplished
by Ea. It is clear, therefore, that Ea caused the overthrow of Apsû and the
capture of Mummu but in what way he brought it about, whether by actual fighting
or by "his pure incantation," is still a matter for conjecture. In view of the
fact that Anshar at first tried peaceful means for overcoming Tiamat before
exhorting Marduk to wage battle against her, the latter supposition is the more
probable of the two. The subjugation of Apsû by Ea explains his subsequent
disappearance from the Creation story. When Apsû is next mentioned, it is as
"the Deep," and not as an active and Tiamat’s malevolent deity.

After the overthrow of Apsû, Tiamat remained unconquered, and she continued to
represent in her own person the unsubdued forces of chaos. But, as at first she
had not herself begun the rebellion, so now her continuation of the war against
the gods was due to the prompting of another deity. The speech in which this
deity urges Tiamat to avenge Apsû and Mummu occurs in Tablet I, ll. 93-104, and,
inasmuch as she subsequently promoted Kingu to be the leader of her forces
’because he had given her support," it may be concluded that it was Kingu who
now prompted her to avenge her former spouse. Ea, however, did not cease his
active opposition to the forces of disorder, but continued to play the chief
rôle on the side of the gods. He heard of Tiamat’s preparations for battle, he
carried the news to Anshar, his father, and he was sent by him against the
monster. It was only after both he and Anu had failed in their attempts to
approach and appease Tiamat that Anshar appealed to Marduk to become the
champion of the gods.

Another point completely explained by the new fragments of the text is the
reason for the repetitions which occur in the first three tablets of the series.
It will be seen that Tablet I, ll. 109-142, are repeated in Tablet II, ll.
15-48; that Tablet II, ll. 1. 1-48, are repeated in Tablet III, ll. 15-52; and
that Tablet III, ll. 15-66, are repeated in the same Tablet, II. 73-124. The
lines which are repeated have reference to Tiamat’s preparations for battle
against the gods, and to Anshar’s summons of the gods in order that they may
confer power on Marduk as their champion. From the new fragments of the text we
now know that the lines relating to Tiamat’s preparations occur on the First
Tablet in the form of narrative, immediately after she had adopted Kingu’s
suggestion that she should avenge the overthrow of Apsû and Mummu; and that in
the Second Tablet they are repeated by Ea in his speech to Anshar, to whom he
carried the news. The context of the repetitions in the Third Tablet is already
known; Anshar first repeats the lines to his minister Gaga, when telling him to
go and summon the gods to an assembly, and later on in the Tablet Gaga repeats
the message word for word to Lahmu and Lahamu. The constant repetition of these
lines was doubtless intended to emphasize the terrible nature of the opposition
which Marduk successfully overcame; and the fact that Berossus omits all mention
of the part played by Ea in the earlier portions of the story is also due to the
tendency of the Babylonian priests to exalt their local god at the expense of
other deities. The account which we have received from Berossus of the
Babylonian beliefs concerning the origin of the universe is largely taken up
with a description of the mythical monsters which dwelt in the deep at a time
when the world had not come into being and when darkness and water alone
existed. Over these monsters, according to Berossus, reigned a woman named
Ὀμόρκα, who is to be identified with Tiamat, while the creatures themselves
represent the monster-brood which Tiamat formed to aid her in her fight against
the gods. Compared with the description of the monsters, the summary from
Berossus of the incidents related on the Fourth Tablet is not very full; the
text states that Βῆλος (i.e. Bel) slew Ὀμόρκα, and having cleft her in twain,
from one half of her he made the earth, and from the other the heavens, while he
overcame the creatures that were within her, i.e. the monsters of the deep. The
actual account of the creation of the world by Marduk, as related in the
Creation Series, begins towards the end of the Fourth Tablet, where the
narrative closely agrees with the summary from Berossus. Marduk is there related
to have split Tiamat into halves, and to have used one half of her as a covering
for heaven. The text then goes on to state that he founded heaven, which is
termed E-shara, a mansion like unto the Deep in structure, and that he caused
Anu, Bêl, and Ea to inhabit their respective districts therein. The Fifth Tablet
does not begin with the account of the creation of the earth, but records the
fixing of the constellations of the Zodiac, the founding of the year, and
Marduk’s charge to the Moon-god and the Sun-god, to the former of whom he
entrusted the night, his instructions relating to the phases of the Moon, and
the relative positions of the Moon and the Sun during the month. The new
fragments of the Fifth Tablet contain some interesting variants to this portion
of the text, but, with the exception of the last few lines of the text, they
throw no light on what the missing portions of the Tablet contained. In view,
however, of the statement of Berossus that from one half of Tiamat Bêl formed
the earth, we may conjecture that an account of the creation of the earth
occurred upon some part of the Fifth Tablet. It is also probable that the Fifth
Tablet recorded the creation of vegetation. That. this formed the subject of
some portion of the poem is certain from the opening lines of the Seventh
Tablet, where Marduk is hailed as "Asari, ’Bestower of planting,’ ’[Founder of
sowing],’ ’Creator of grain and plants,’ ’who caused [the green herb to spring
up]!’"; and the creation of plants and herbs would naturally follow that of the
earth. From the new fragment of the Sixth Tablet, No. 92,629, we know that this
portion of the poem related the story of the creation of man. As at the
beginning of his work of creation Marduk is said to have "devised a cunning
plan" while gazing upon the dead body of Tiamat, so now, before proceeding to
man’s creation, it is said that "his heart prompted him and he devised [a
cunning plan]." In the repetition of this phrase we may see an indication of the
importance which was ascribed to this portion of the story, and it is probable
that the creation of man was regarded as the culmination of Marduk’s creative
work. It is interesting to note, however, that the creation of man is not
related as a natural sequel to the formation of the rest of the universe, but
forms the solution of a difficulty with which Marduk has been met in the course
of his work as Creator. To overcome this difficulty Marduk devised the "cunning
plan" already referred to; the context of this passage is not very clear, but
the reason for man’s creation may be gathered from certain indications in the
text.

We learn from the beginning of the Sixth Tablet that Marduk devised his cunning
plan after he had "heard the word of the gods," and from this it is clear that
the Fifth Tablet ends with a speech of the gods. Now in Tablet VI, l. 8, Marduk
states that he will create man "that the service of the gods may be
established"; in l. 9. f., however, he adds that he will change the ways of the
gods, and he appears to threaten them with punishment. It may be conjectured,
therefore, that after Marduk had completed the creation of the world, the gods
came to him and complained that there were no shrines built in their honour, nor
was there anyone to worship them. To supply this need Marduk formed the device
of creating man, but at the same time he appears to have decided to vent his
wrath upon the gods because of their discontent. It is possible, however, that
Ea dissuaded Marduk from punishing the gods, though he no doubt assisted him in
carrying out the first part of his proposal. In ll. 5 ff. of the Sixth Tablet
Marduk indicates the means he will employ for forming man, and this portion of
the text corroborates in a remarkable manner the account given by Berossus of
the method employed by Bêl for man’s creation. The text of the summary from
Berossus, in the form in which it has come down to us, is not quite
satisfactory, as the course of the narrative is confused. The confusion is
apparent in the repetition of the description of man’s creation and in the
interruption of the naturalistic explanation of the slaying of Omorka. An
ingenious but simple emendation of the text, however, was suggested by von
Gutschmidt which removes both these difficulties. The passage which interrupts
the naturalistic explanation, and apparently describes a first creation of man,
he regarded as having been transposed; but if it is placed at the end of the
extract it falls naturally into place as a summary by Eusebius of the preceding
account of man’s creation which is said by Alexander Polyhistor to have been
given by Berossus in the First Book of his History. By adopting this emendation
we obtain the text a clear and consecutive account of how Bêl, after the
creation of heaven and earth, perceived that the land was desolate; and how he
ordered one of the gods to cut off his (i.e. Bêl’s) head, and, by mixing the
blood which flowed forth with earth, to create men and animals. This passage
from Berossus has given rise to considerable discussion, and more than one
scholar has attempted to explain away the beheading of Bêl, the Creator, that
man might be formed from his blood. Gunkel has suggested that in the original
legend the blood of Tiamat was used for this purpose; Stucken, followed by
Cheyne, has emended the text so that it may suggest that the head of Tiamat, and
not that of Bel, was cut off; while Zimmern would take the original meaning of
the passage to be that the god beheaded was not Bel, but the other deity whom he
addressed. In l. 5 of the Sixth Tablet, however, Marduk states that he will use
his own blood for creating man; the text of this passage from Berossus is thus
shown to be correct, and it follows that the account which he gave of the
Babylonian beliefs concerning man’s creation does not require to be

Jensen has already suggested that the god whom Bel addressed was Ea, and the new
fragment of. the Sixth Tablet proves that this suggestion is correct. In the
Sixth Tablet Marduk recounts to Ea his intention of forming man, and tells him
the means he will employ. We may therefore conclude that it was Ea who beheaded
Marduk at his request, and, according to his instructions, formed mankind from
his blood. Ea may thus have performed the actual work of making man, but he
acted under Marduk’s directions, and it is clear from Tablet VII, ll. 29 and 32,
that Marduk, and not Ea, was regarded as man’s Creator.

According to Berossus, man was formed from the blood of Bêl mixed with earth.
The new fragment of the Sixth Tablet does not mention the mixing of the blood
with earth, but it is quite possible that this detail was recounted in the
subsequent narrative. On the other hand, in the Babylonian poem Marduk declares
that, in addition to using his own blood, he will create bone for forming man.
Berossus makes no mention of bone, but it is interesting to note that issimtu,
the Assyrian word here used for "bone," is doubtless the equivalent of the
Hebrew word ’esem, "bone," which occurs at the end of the narrative of the
creation of woman in Gen 2:23. The blood of Bêl, according to Berossus, was
employed not only in man’s creation but in that of animals also, and it is
possible that this represents the form of the legend as it was preserved upon
the Sixth Tablet. Though, in that case, the creation of animals would follow
that of man, the opening lines of the Sixth Tablet prove that man’s creation was
regarded as the culmination of Marduk’s creative work. The "cunning plan," which
Marduk devised in order to furnish worshippers for the gods, concerned the
creation of man, and if that of animals followed it must have been recorded as a
subsidiary and less important act. In this connection it may be noted that the
expression τὰ δυμάμενα τὸν ἀέρα φέρειν, which Berossus applies to the men and
animals created from the blood of Bel, was probably not based on any description
or episode in the Creation story as recorded on the Seven Tablets, but was
suggested by the naturalistic interpretation of the legend furnished by Berossus
himself. With reference to the creation of man, it was suggested by George Smith
that the tablet K. 3,364 was a fragment of the Creation Series, and contained
the instructions given to man after his creation by Marduk. This view has been
provisionally adopted by other translators of the poem, but in Appendix II I
have shown by means of a duplicate, No. 33,851, that the suggestion must be
given up. Apart from other reasons there enumerated, it may be stated that there
would be no room upon the Sixth Tablet of the Creation Series for such a long
series of moral precepts as is inscribed upon the tablets K. 3,364 and No.
33,851. It may be that Marduk, after creating man, gave him some instructions
with regard to the worship of the gods and the building of shrines in their
honour, but the greater part of the text must have been taken up with other
matter. The concluding lines of the Sixth Tablet are partly preserved, and they
afford us a glimpse of the filial scene in the Creation story. As the gods had
previously been summoned to a solemn assembly that they might confer power upon
Marduk before he set out to do battle on their behalf, so now, when he had
vanquished Tiamat and had finished his work of instructions to creation, they
again gathered together in Upshukki-naku, their council-chamber, and proceeded
to magnify him by every title of honour. We thus obtain the context or setting
of the Seventh, and last, Tablet of the Creation Series, the greater part of
which consists of the hymn of praise addressed by the gods to Marduk as the
conqueror of Tiamat and the Creator of the world. The hymn of the gods takes up
lines 1-124 of the Seventh Tablet, and consists of a series of addresses in
Creation which Marduk is hailed by them under fifty titles of honour. The titles
are Sumerian, not Semitic, and each is followed by one or more Assyrian phrases
descriptive of Marduk, which either explain the title or are suggested by it. Of
the fifty titles which the hymn contained, the following list of eleven occur in
the first forty-seven lines of the text:-- Asari: ilu Asar-ri, Tabl. VII, l. 1;
p. 92 f.

Asaru-alim: ilu Asaru-alim, Tabl. VII, l. 3; p. 92 f.

Asaru-alim-nuna: ilu Asaru-alim-nun-na, Tabl. VII, l. 5; p. 92 f.

Tutu: ilu Tu-tu, Tabl. VII, l. 9; p. 92 f.

Zi-ukkina: ilu Zi-ukkin-na, var. ilu Zi-ukkin, Tabl. VII, l. 15; p. 94f.

Zi-azag: ilu Zi-azag, Tabl. VII, l. 19; p. 36 f.; var. ilu Na-zi-azag-g[a], p.
161.

Aga-azag: ilu Aga-azag, Tabl. VII, l. 25; p. 96 f.

Mu-azag: ilu Mu(i.e. KA + LI)-azag, Tabl. VII, l. 33; var. ilu Mu(i.e.
SHAR)-azag, p. 173.

Shag-zu: ilu Shag-zu, Tabl. VII, l. 35; p. 98 f.

Zi-si: ilu Zi-si, Tabl. VII, l. 41; p. 100 f.

Sub-kur: ilu Suh-kur, Tabl. VII, l. 43; p. 100 f . In the gap in the text of the
Seventh Tablet, between ll. 47 and 105, occur the following ten titles of
Marduk, which are taken from the fragments K. 13,761 and K. 8,519 (and its
duplicate K. 13,337), and from the commentary K. 4,406:-- Agi[l . . . . ]; ilu
A-gi[l- . . . . ], Tabl. VII (K. 13,761); p. 102 f.; var. ilu Gil[ ], p. 163.

Zulummu: ilu Zu-lum-mu, Tabl. VII (K. 13,761); p. 102 f.

Mummu: ilu Mu-um-mu, Tabl. VII (K. 13,761); p. 102 f.

Mulil: ilu Mu-lil, Tabl. VII (K. 13,761); p. 102 f.

Gishkul: ilu Gish-kul, Tabl. VII (K. 13,761); p. 102 f.

Lugal-ab[ . . . . ]: ilu Lugad-ab-[ . . . . ], Tabl. VII (K. 13,761); p. 102 f.

Pap-[ . . . . ]: ilu Pap-[ . . . . ], Tabl. VII (K. 13,761); p. 102 f.

Lugal-durmah: ilu Lugal-dur-mah, Tabl. VII (K. 8,519), and K. 4,406, Rev., col.
ii, l. 8; pp. 104f., 165.

Adu-nuna: ilu A-du-nun-na, Tabl. VII (K. 8,519) and K. 4,406, Rev., col. ii, l.
23; pp. 104f., 166.

Lugal-dul(or du)-azaga: ilu Lugal-dul-azag-ga, Tabl. VII (K. 8,519); p. 106 f.

Four other titles, occurring in the concluding portion of the text of the
Seventh Tablet, are:-- Nibiru: ilu Ni-bi-ru, var. [ilu] Ne-bi-ri, Tabl. VII, l.
109; p. 108 f.

Bêl-mâtâti: be-el mâtâti, var. ilu Bêl mâtâti, Tabl. VII, l. 116, p. 110 f.; cf.
also EN KUR-KUR (i.e. bêl mâtâti), p. 168.

Ea: ilu E-a, Tabl. VII, l. 120; p. 100 f.

Hansha: Hanshâ A-AN, var. Ha-an-sha-a, Tabl. VII, l. 123, p. 110 f.; cf. also
ilu Hanshâ, p. 178. From the above lists it will be seen that the recovered
portions of the text of the Seventh Tablet furnish twenty-five out of the fifty
names of Marduk. From the list of the titles of Marduk preserved on K. 2,107 +
K. 6,086, and from No. 54,228, a parallel text to the Seventh Tablet, seven
other names may be obtained, which were probably among those occurring in the
missing portion of the text; these are:-- Lugal-en-ankia: ilu Lugal-en-an-ki-a,
K. 210, col. ii, l. 19; p. 173.

Gugu: ilu Gu-gu, K. 2,107, col. ii, l. 22; p. 173.

Mumu: ilu Mu-mu, K. 2,107, col. ii, l. 23; p. 173.

Dutu: ilu Du-tu, K. 2,107, col. ii, l. 24; p. 173.

Dudu: ilu Du-du, K. 2,107, col. ii, l. 25; p. 173.

Shag-gar(?): Shag-gar, No. 54,228, Obv., l. 13; p. 177.

En-bilulu: ilu En-bi-lu-lu, No. 54,228, Obv., l. 14; p. 178. By these titles of
honour the gods are represented as conferring supreme power upon Marduk, and the
climax is reached in ll. 116 ff. of the Seventh Tablet, when the elder Bêl and
Ea, Marduk’s father, confer their own names and power upon him. Marduk’s name of
Hanshâ, "Fifty," by which he is finally addressed, in itself sums up and
symbolizes his fifty titles. At the conclusion of these addresses there follows
an epilogue of eighteen lines, in which the study of the poem is commended to
mankind, and prosperity is promised to those that rejoice in Marduk and keep his
works in remembrance. The story of the Creation, in the form in which it has
come down to us upon tablets of the seventh and later centuries before Christ,
is of a distinctly composite character, and bears traces of a long process of
editing and modification at the hands of the Babylonian priests. Five principal
strands may be traced which have been combined to form the poem; these may be
described as (1) The Birth of the gods; parts (2 ) The Legend of Ea and Apsû;
(3) The Dragon-Myth; (4) The actual account of Creation; and (5) The Hymn to
Marduk under his fifty titles. Since the poem in its present form is a
glorification, of Marduk as the champion of the gods and the Creator of the
world, it is natural that more prominence should be given to episodes in which
Marduk is the hero than is assigned to other portions of the narrative in which
he plays no part. Thus the description of Tiamat and her monster-brood, whom
Marduk conquered, is repeated no less than four times, and the preparations of
Marduk for battle and his actual fight with the dragon take up the greater part
of the Fourth Tablet. On the other hand, the birth of the older gods, among whom
Marduk does not figure, is confined to the first twenty-one lines of the First
Tablet; and not more than twenty lines are given to the account of the
subjugation of Apsû by Ea. That these elements should have been incorporated at
all in the Babylonian version of the Creation story may be explained by the fact
that they serve to enhance the position of prominence subsequently attained by
Marduk. Thus the description of the birth of the older gods and of the
opposition they excited among the forces of disorder, was necessarily included
in order to make it clear how Marduk was appointed their champion; and the
account of Ea’s success against Apsû served to accentuate the terrible nature of
Tiamat, whom he was unable to withstand. From the latter half of the Second
Tablet onwards, Marduk alone is the hero of the poem. The central episode of the
poem is the fight between Marduk and Tiamat, and there is evidence to prove that
this legend existed in other forms than that under which it occurs in the
Creation Series. The conquest of the dragon was ascribed by the Babylonian
priests to their local god, and in the poem the death of Tiamat is made a
necessary preliminary to the creation of the world. On a fragment of a tablet
from Ashur-bani-pal’s library we possess, however, part of a copy of a legend
which describes the conquest of a dragon by some deity other than Marduk.
Moreover, the fight is there described as taking place, not before creation, but
at a time when men existed and cities had been built. In this version men and
gods are described as equally terrified at the dragon’s appearance, and it was
to deliver the land from the monster that one of the gods went out and slew him.
This fragmentary tablet serves to prove that the Dragon-Myth existed in more
than one form in Babylonian mythology, and it is not improbable that, many of
the great cities of Babylonia possessed local versions of the legend in each of
which the city-god figured as the hero. In the Creation Series the creation of
the world is narrated as the result of Marduk’s conquest of the dragon, and
there is no doubt that this version of the story represents the belief most
generally held during the reigns of the later Assyrian and Babylonian kings. We
possess, however, fragments of other legends in which the creation of the world
is not connected with the death of a dragon. In one of these, which is written
both in Sumerian and Babylonian, the great Babylonian cities and temples are
described as coming into existence in consequence of a movement in the waters
which alone existed before the creation of the world. Marduk in this ersion also
figures as the Creator, for, together with the goddess Aruru, he created man by
laying a reed upon the face of the waters and forming dust which he poured out
beside it; according to this version also he is described as creating animals
and vegetation. In other legends which have come down to us, not only is the
story of Creation unconnected with the Dragon-Myth, but Marduk does not figure
as the Creator. In one of these "the gods" generally are referred to as having
created the heavens and the earth and the cattle and beasts of the field; while
in another the creation of the Moon and the Sun is ascribed to Anu, Bel, and Ea.
From the variant accounts of the story of Creation and of the Dragon-Myth, which
are referred to in the preceding paragraphs, it will be clear that the priests
of Babylon made use of independent legends in the composition of their great
poem of Creation; by assigning to Marduk the conquest of the Dragon and the
creation of the world they justified his claim to the chief place among the
gods. As a fit ending to the great poem they incorporated the hymn to Marduk,
consisting of addresses to him under his fifty titles. This portion of the poem
is proved by the Assyrian commentary, R. 366, etc., as well as by fragments of
parallel, but not duplicate, texts to have been an independent composition which
had at one time no connection with the series Enuma elish. In the poem the hymn
is placed in the mouth of the gods, who at the end of the Creation have
assembled together in Upshukkinaku; and to it is added the epilogue of eighteen
lines, which completes the Seventh Tablet of the series. In discussing the
question as to the date of the Creation legends, it is necessary to distinguish
clearly between the date at which the legends assumed the form in which they
have come down to us upon the Seven Tablets of the series Enuma elish, and the
date which may be assigned to the legends themselves before they were
incorporated in the poem. Of the actual tablets inscribed with portions of the
text of the Creation Series we possess none which dates from an earlier period
than the seventh century B.C. The tablets of this date were made for the library
of Ashur-bani-pal at Nineveh, but it is obvious that the poem was not composed
in Assyria at this time. The legends in the form in which we possess them are
not intended to glorify Ashur, the national god of Assyria, but Marduk, the god
of Babylon, and it is clear that the scribes of Ashur-bani-pal merely made
copies for their master of older tablets of Babylonian origin. T o what earlier
date we may assign the actual composition of the poem and its arrangement upon
the Seven Tablets, is still a matter for conjecture; but it is possible to offer
a conjecture, with some degree of probability, after an examination of the
various indirect sources of evidence we possess with regard to the age of
Babylonian legends in general, and of the Creation legends in particular. With
regard to the internal evidence of date furnished by the Creation legends
themselves, we may note that the variant forms of the Dragon-Myth and of the
account of the Creation, to which reference has already been made, presuppose
many centuries of tradition during which the legends, though derived probably
from common originals, were handed down independently of one another. During
this period we may suppose that the same story was related in different cities
in different ways, and that in course of time variations crept in, with the
result that two or more forms of the same story were developed along different
lines. The process must have been gradual, and the considerable differences
which can be traced in the resultant forms of the same legend may be cited as
evidence in favour of assigning an early date to the original tradition from
which they were derived.

Evidence as to the existence of the Creation legends at least as early as the
ninth century B.C. may be deduced from the representations of the fight between
Marduk and the dragon Tiamat, which was found sculptured upon two limestone
slabs in the temple of Ninib at Nimrûd. The temple was built by Ashur-nasir-pal,
who reigned from B.C. 884 to B.C. 860, and across the actual sculpture was
inscribed the text of a dedication to Ninib by this king. The slab therefore
furnishes direct proof of the existence of the legend more than two hundred
years before the formation of Ashur-bani-pal’s library. Moreover, the fight
between Marduk and Tiamat is frequently found engraved upon cylinder-seals, and,
although the majority of such seals probably date from the later Assyrian and
Persian periods, the varied treatment of the scene which they present points to
the existence of variant forms of the legend, and so indirectly furnishes
evidence of the early origin of the legend itself. From an examination of the
Babylonian historical inscriptions which record the setting up of statues and
the making of temple furniture, we are enabled to trace back the existence of
the Creation legends to still earlier periods. For instance, in a text of Agum,
a Babylonian king who reigned not later than the seventeenth century B.C., we
find descriptions of the figures of a dragon and of other monsters which he set
up in the temple E-sagil at Babylon; and in this passage we may trace an
unmistakable reference to the legend of Tiamat and her monster-brood. Agum also
set up in the temple beside the dragon a great basin, or laver, termed in the
inscription a tâmtu, or "sea." From the name of the laver, and from its position
beside the figure of the dragon, we may conclude that it was symbolical of the
abyss of water personified in the Creation legends by Tiamat and Apsû. Moreover,
in historical inscriptions of still earlier periods we find allusions to similar
vessels termed apsê, i.e. "deeps" or "oceans," the presence of which in the
temples is probably to be traced to the existence of the same traditions. The
three classes of evidence briefly summarized above tend to show that the most
important elements in the Creation legends were not of late origin, but must be
traced back in some form or other to remote periods, and may well date from the
first half of the third millennium B.C., or even earlier. It remains to consider
to what date we may assign the actual weaving together of these legends into the
poem termed by the Babylonians and Assyrians Enuma elish. Although, as has
already been remarked, we do not possess any early copies of the text of the
Creation Series, this is not the case with other Babylonian legends. Among the
tablets found at Tell el-Amarna, which date from the fifteenth century B.C.,
were fragments of copies of two Babylonian legends, the one containing the story
of Nergal and Ereshkigal, and the other inscribed with a part of the legend of
Adapa and the South Wind. Both these compositions, in style and general
arrangement, closely resemble the legends known from late Assyrian copies, while
of the legend of Adapa an actual fragment, though not a duplicate, exists in the
library of Ashur-bani-pal. Fragments of legends have also been recently found in
Babylonia which date from the end of the period of the First Dynasty of Babylon,
about B.C. 2100, and the resemblance which these documents bear to certain
legends previously known from Assyrian copies only is not only of a general
nature, but extends even to identity of language. Thus one of the recovered
fragments is in part a duplicate of the so-called "Cuthaean Legend of Creation";
two others contain phrases found upon the legend of Ea and Atar-hasis, while
upon one of them are traces of a new version of the Deluge-story. Still more
recently the Trustees of the British Museum have acquired three fragments of
Babylonian legends inscribed upon tablets which date from a still earlier
period, i.e. from the period of the kings of the Second Dynasty of Ur, before
B.C. 2200; and to the same period is to be assigned the fragment of a legend
which was published a few weeks ago by Dr. Meissner, and probably also the new
fragment of the Etana-myth, published last year by Father Scheil. These five
fragments are of peculiar interest, for they show that early Semitic, as opposed
to Sumerian, legends were in existence, and were carefully preserved and studied
in other cities of Mesopotamia than Babylon, and at a period before the rise of
that city to a position of importance under the kings of the First Dynasty. The
evidence furnished by these recently discovered tablets with regard to the date
of Babylonian legends in general may be applied to the date of the Creation
legends. While the origin of much of the Creation legends may be traced to
Sumerian sources, it is clear that the Semitic inhabitants of Mesopotamia at a
very early period produced their own versions of the compositions which they
borrowed, modifying and augmenting them to suit their own legends and beliefs.
The connection of Marduk with the Dragon-Myth, and with the stories of the
creation of the world and man, may with considerable probability be assigned to
the subsequent period during which Babylon gradually attained to the position of
the principal city in Mesopotamia. On tablets inscribed during the reigns of
kings of the First Dynasty we may therefore expect to find copies of the
Creation legends corresponding closely with the text of the series Enuma elish.
It is possible that the division of the poem into seven sections, inscribed upon
separate tablets, took place at a later period; but, be this as it may, we may
conclude with a considerable degree of confidence that the bulk of the poem, as
we know it from late Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian copies, was composed at a
period not later than B.C. 2000. The political influence which the Babylonians
exerted over neighbouring nations during long periods of their history was
considerable, and it is not surprising that their beliefs concerning the origin
of the universe should have been partially adopted by the races with whom they
came in contact. That Babylonian elements may be traced in the Phoenician
cosmogony has long been admitted, but the imperfect, and probably distorted,
form in which the latter has come down to us renders uncertain any comparison of
details. Some of the beliefs concerning the creation of the world which were
current among the Egyptians bear a more striking resemblance to the
corresponding legends of Babylonia. Whether this resemblance was due to the
proto-Semitic strain which probably existed in the ancient Egyptian race, or is
to be explained as the result of later Babylonian influence from without, is yet
uncertain. But, whatever explanation be adopted, it is clear that the conception
of chaos as a watery mass out of which came forth successive generations of
primeval gods is common to both races. It is in Hebrew literature, however, that
the most striking examples of the influence of the Babylonian Creation legends
are to be found. The close relation existing between the Babylonian account of
the Creation and the narrative in Gen 1:1-11, 4a has been recognized from the
time of the first discovery of the former, and the old and new points of
resemblance between them may here be briefly discussed. According to each
account the existence of a watery chaos preceded the creation of the universe;
and the Hebrew word tehôm, translated "the deep" in Gen 1:2, is the equivalent
of the Babylonian Tiamat, the monster of the deep personifying chaos and
confusion. In the details of the Creation there is also a close resemblance
between the two accounts. In the Hebrew narrative the first act of creation is
that of light (Gen 1:3-5), and it has been suggested that a parallel possibly
existed in the Babylonian account, in that the creation of light may have been
the cause of the revolt of Tiamat. From the new fragments of the poem we now
know that the rebellion of the forces of disorder, which was incited by Apsû and
not Tiamat, was due, not to the creation of light, but to his hatred of the way
of the gods which produced order in place of chaos A parallelism may still be
found, however; in the original form of the Babylonian myth, according to which
the conqueror of the dragon was undoubtedly a solar deity. Moreover, as has been
pointed out above, day and night are vaguely conceived in the poem as already in
existence at the time of Apsû’s revolt, so that the belief in the existence of
light before the creation of the heavenly bodies is a common feature of the
Hebrew and the Babylonian account. The second act of creation in the Hebrew
narrative is that of a firmament which divided the waters that were under the
firmament from the waters that were above the firmament (Gen 1:6-8). In the
Babylonian poem the body of Tiamat is divided by Marduk, and from one-half of
her he formed a covering or dome for heaven, i.e. a firmament, which kept her
upper waters in place. Moreover, on the fragment S. 2,013 we find mention of a
Ti-amat e-Zi-ti and a Ti-amat shap-li-ti, that is, an Upper Tiamat (or Ocean)
and a Lower Tiamat (or Ocean), which are the exact equivalents of the waters
above and under the firmament. The third and fourth acts of creation, as
narrated in Gen 1:9-13, are those of the earth and of vegetation. Although no
portion of the Babylonian poem has yet been recovered which contains the
corresponding account, it is probable that these acts of creation were related
on the Fifth Tablet of the series. Berossus expressly states that Bel formed the
earth out of one half of Omorka’s body, and as his summary of the Babylonian
Creation story is proved to be correct wherever it can be controlled, it is
legitimate to assume that he is correct in this detail also. More- over, in
three passages in the Seventh Tablet the creation of the earth by Marduk is
referred to: l. 115 reads, "Since he created the heaven and fashioned the firm
earth"; the new fragment K. 12,830 (restored from the commentary K. 8,299)
states, "He named the four quarters (of the world)"; and another new fragment,
K. 13,761 (restored from the commentary K. 4,4061, definitely ascribes to Marduk
the title "Creator of the earth." That the creation of vegetation by Marduk was
also recorded in the poem may be concluded from the opening lines of the Seventh
Tablet, which are inscribed on the new fragment K. 2,854, and (with restorations
from the commentary S. II, etc.) ascribe to him the titles "Bestower of
planting," "Founder of sowing," " Creator of grain and plants," and add that he
"caused the green herb to spring up." To the fifth act of creation, that of the
heavenly bodies (Gen 1:14-15), we find an exceedingly close parallel in the
opening lines of the Fifth Tablet of the series. In the Hebrew account, lights
were created in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night, and to
be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. In the Babylonian poem
also the stars were created and the year was ordained at the same time; the
twelve months were to be regulated by the stars; and the Moon-god was appointed
"to determine the days." As according to the Hebrew account two great lights
were created in the firmament of heaven, the greater light to rule the day and
the lesser to rule the night, so according to the Babylonian poem the night was
entrusted to the Moon-god, and the Moon-god’s relations to the Sun-god are
described in detail. On the Seventh Tablet, also, the creation of heaven and the
heavenly bodies is referred t o; in l. 16 Marduk is stated "to have established
for the gods the bright heavens," and l. 111 f. read, "For the stars of heaven
he upheld the paths, he shepherded all the gods like sheep!" To the sixth and
seventh acts of creation, i.e., the creation of creatures of the sea and winged
fowl, and of beasts and cattle and creeping things (Gen 1:20-25), the Babylonian
poem as yet offers no parallel, for the portion of the text which refers to the
creation of animals is still wanting. But since Berossus states that animals
were created at the same time as man, it is probable that their creation was
recorded in a missing portion either of the Fifth or of the Sixth Tablet. If the
account was on the lines suggested by Berossus, and animals shared in the blood
of Bel, it is clear that their creation was narrated, as a subsidiary and less
important episode, after that of man. But, although this episode is still
wanting in the poem, we find references on other Assyrian Creation fragments to
the creation of beasts. Thus, for the creation of the creatures of the sea in
Genesis, we may compare the fragmentary text K. 3445+R. 396, which records the
creation of nahirê; "dolphins (?)." And for the creation of beasts of the earth
and cattle, we may compare the tablet D.T. 41, which, after referring generally
to the creation of "living creatures" by "the gods," proceeds to classify them
as the cattle and beasts of the field, and the creatures of the city, the two of
animals classes referring respectively to wild and domesticated animals. The
account of the creation of man, which is recorded as the eighth and last act of
creation in the Hebrew account (Gen 1:26-31), at length finds its parallel in
the Babylonian poem upon the new fragment of the Sixth Tablet, No. 92,629. It
has already been pointed out that the Babylonian account closely follows the
version of the story handed down to us from Berossus, and it may here be added
that the employment by Marduk, the Creator, of his own blood in the creation of
man may perhaps be compared to the Hebrew account of the creation of man in the
image and after the likeness of Elohim. Moreover, the use of the plural in the
phrase "Let us make man" in Gen 1:26, may be compared with the Babylonian
narrative which relates that Marduk imparted his purpose of forming man to his
father Ea, whom he probably afterwards instructed to carry out the actual work
of man’s creation. A parallel to the charge which, according to the Hebrew
account, Elohim gave to man and woman after their creation, has hitherto been
believed to exist on the tablet K. 3,364, which was supposed to contain a list
of the duties of man as delivered to him after his creation by Marduk. The new
Babylonian duplicate of this text, No. 33,851, proves that K. 3,364 is not part
of the Creation Series, but is merely a tablet of moral precepts, so that its
suggested resemblance to the Hebrew narrative must be given up. It is not
improbable, however, that a missing portion of the Sixth Tablet did contain a
short series of instructions by Marduk to man, since man was created with the
special object of supplying the gods with worshippers and building shrines in
their honour. That to these instructions to worship the gods was added the gift
of dominion over beasts, birds, and vegetation is possible, but it must be
pointed out that the Babylonian version of man’s creation is related from the
point of view of the gods, not from that of man. Although his creation forms the
culmination of Marduk’s work, it was conceived, not as an end and aim in itself,
but merely as an expedient to satisfy the discontented gods. This expedient is
referred to in the Seventh Tablet, l. 29, in the phrase "For their forgiveness
(i.e., the forgiveness of the gods) did he create mankind," and other passages
in the Seventh Tablet tend to show that Marduk’s mercy and goodness are extolled
in his relations, not to mankind, but to the gods. In one passage marl’s
creation is referred to, but it is in connection with the charge that he forget
not the deeds of his Creator. The above considerations render it unlikely that
the Babylonian poem contained an exact parallel to the exalted charge of Elohim
in which He placed the rest of creation under man’s dominion. It is possible,
however, that upon the new fragment of the Seventh Tablet, K. 12,830 (restored
from the commentary K. 8,299) we have a reference to the superiority of man over
animals, in the phrase "mankind [he created], [and upon] him understanding [he
bestowed (?) . . .]"; and if this be so, we may compare it to Gen 1:28 6.
Moreover, if my suggested restoration of the last word in l. 7 of the Sixth
Tablet be correct, so that it may read "I will create man who shall inhabit [the
earth], " we may compare it to Gen 1:28 in which man is commanded to be
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. A suggestion has been made that
the prominence given to the word of the Creator in the Hebrew account may have
found its parallel in the creation by a word in the Babylonian poem. It is true
that the word of Marduk had magical power and could destroy and create alike;
but Marduk did not employ his word in any of his acts of creation which are at
present known to us. He first conceived a cunning device, and then proceeded to
carry it out by hand. The only occasion on which he did employ his word to
destroy and to create is in the Fourth Tablet, ll. 19-26, when, at the
invitation of the gods, he tested his power by making a garment disappear and
then appear again at the word of his mouth. The parallelism between the two
accounts under this heading is not very close. The order of the separate acts of
creation is also not quite the same in the two accounts, for, while in the
Babylonian poem the heavenly bodies are created immediately after the formation
of the firmament, in the Hebrew account their creation is postponed until after
the earth and vegetation have been made. It is possible that the creation of the
earth and plants has been displaced by the writer to whom the present form of
the Hebrew account is due, and that the order of creation was precisely the same
in the original forms of the two narratives. But even according to the present
arrangement of the Hebrew account, there are several striking points of
resemblance to the Babylonian poem. These may be seen in the existence of light
before the creation of the heavenly bodies; in the dividing of the waters of the
primeval flood by means of a firmament also before the creation of the heavenly
bodies; and in the culminating act of creation being that of man.

It would be tempting to trace the framework of the Seven Days of Creation, upon
which the narrative in Genesis is stretched, to the influence of the Seven
Tablets of Creation, of which we now know that the great Creation Series was
composed. The reasons for the employment of the Seven Days in the Hebrew account
are, however, not the same which led to the arrangement of the Babylonian poem
upon Seven Tablets. In the one the writer’s intention is to give the original
authority for the observance of the Sabbath; in the other there appears to have
been no special reason for this arrangement of the poem beyond the mystical
nature of the number "seven." Moreover, acts of creation are recorded on all of
the first six Days in the Hebrew narrative, while in the Babylonian poem the
creation only begins at the end of the Fourth Tablet. The resemblance,
therefore, is somewhat superficial, but it is possible that the employment of
the number "seven" in the two accounts was not fortuitous. Whether the Sabbath
was of Babylonian origin (as seems probable) or not, it is clear that the writer
of the narrative in Genesis was keenly interested in its propagation and its due
observance. Now in Exilic and post-Exilic times the account of the Creation most
prevalent in Babylonia was that in the poem Enuma elish, the text of which was
at this time absolutely fixed and its arrangement upon Seven Tablets invariable.
That the late revival of mythology among the Jews was partly due to their actual
study of the Babylonian legends at this period is sufficiently proved by the
minute points of resemblance between the accounts of the Deluge in Genesis and
in the poem of Gilgamesh. It is probable, therefore, that the writer who was
responsible for the final form of Gen. 1-2, 4a, was familiar with the Babylonian
legend of Creation in the form in which it has come down to us. The supposition,
then, is perhaps not too fanciful, that the connection of the Sabbath with the
story of Creation was suggested by the mystical number of the Tablets upon which
the Babylonian poem was inscribed.

Further resemblances to the Babylonian Creation legends may be traced in the
second Hebrew account of the Creation which follows the first in Gen 2:4-7.
According to this version man was formed from the dust of the ground, which may
be compared to the mixing of Bel’s blood with earth according to the account of
Berossus, the use of the Creator’s blood in the one account being paralleled by
the employment of His breath in the other for the purpose of giving life to the
dust or earth. Earth is not mentioned in the recovered portion of the Sixth
Tablet, but its use in the creation of men is fully in accordance with
Babylonian beliefs. Thus, according to the second Babylonian account of the
Creation, Marduk formed man by pouring out dust beside a reed which he had set
upon the face of the waters. Clay is also related to have been employed in the
creation of special men and heroes; thus it was used in Ea-bani’s creation by
Arum, and it is related to have been mixed with divine blood for a similar
purpose in the fragmentary legend Bu. 91-5-9, 269. To the account of the
creation of woman in Gen 2:18 ff. we find a new parallel in l. 5 of the Sixth
Tablet of the Creation Series, in the use of the word issimtu, " bone,"
corresponding to the Hebrew ’esem which occurs in the phrase "bone of my bones "
in Gen 2:23. In addition to the Babylonian colouring of much of the story of
Paradise we may now add a new parallel from the Babylonian address to a mythical
River of Creation, inscribed on S. 1704 and the Neo-Babylonian Tablet 82-9-18,
5311. This short composition is addressed to a River to whom the creation of all
things is ascribed, and with this river we may compare the mythical river of
Paradise which watered the garden, and on leaving it was divided into four
branches. That the Hebrew River of Paradise is Babylonian in character is clear;
and the origin of the Babylonian River of Creation is also to be found in the
Euphrates, from whose waters southern Babylonia derived its great fertility. The
life-giving stream of Paradise is met with elsewhere in the Old Testament, as,
for instance, in Ezekiel 47 and it is probable that we may trace its influence
in the Apocalypse.

It is unnecessary here to discuss in detail the evidence to prove that the
Hebrew narratives of the influence on Creation were ultimately derived from
Babylonia, and mythology. were not inherited independently by the Babylonians
and Hebrews from a common Semitic ancestor. For the local Babylonian colouring
of the stories, and the great age to which their existence can be traced,
extending back to the time of the Sumerian inhabitants of Mesopotamia, are
conclusive evidence against the second alternative. On the other hand, it is
equally unnecessary to cite the well-known arguments


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 5: 004
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Redactors note: The transliteration of the Babylonian and most of the footnotes
in this section have been omitted for technical reasons. All ellipsis have been
turned into three periods, no matter how long in the original document. -- JBH.

I. The Seven Tablets of the History of Creation. The First Tablet 1. When in the
height heaven was not named, 2. And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name,
3. And the primeval Apsû, who begat them, 4. And chaos, Tiamat, the mother of
them both,-- 5. Their waters were mingled together, 6. And no field was formed,
no marsh was to be seen;

7. When of the gods none had been called into being, 8. And none bore a name,
and no destinies [were ordained];

9. Then were created the gods in the midst of [heaven], 10. Lahmu and Lahamu
were called into being [...].

11. Ages increased, [...], 12. Then Anshar and Kishar were created, and over
them [...].

13. Long were the days, then there came forth [...] 14. Anu, their son, [...]
15. Anshar and Anu [...] 16. And the god Anu [...] 17. Nudimmud, whom his
fathers [his] begetters [...] 18. Abounding in all wisdom, [...] 19. He was
exceeding strong [...] 20. He had no rival [...] 21. (Thus) were established and
[were ... the great gods (?)].

22 . But T[iamat and Âpsû] were (still) in confusion [...], 23. They were
troubled and [...] 24. In disorder(?) ... [...] 26. And Tiamat roared [...] 25.
Apsû was not diminished in might [...] 27. She smote, and their deeds [...] 28.
Their way was evil ... [...] ...

29. Then Apsû, the begetter of the great gods, 30. Cried unto Mummu, his
minister, and said unto him:

31. "O Mummu, thou minister that rejoicest my spirit, 32. "Come, unto Tiamat let
us [go]!"

33. So they went and before Tiamat they lay down, 34. They consulted on a plan
with regard to the gods [their sons].

35. Apsû opened his mouth [and spake], 36. And unto Tiamat, the glistening one,
he addressed [the word]:

37. "[...] their way [...], 38. "By day I cannot rest, by night [I cannot lie
down (in peace)].

39. "But I will destroy their way, I will [...], 40. "Let there be lamentation,
and let us lie down (again in peace)."

41. When Tiamat [heard] these words, 42. She raged and cried aloud [...].

43. [She ...] grievously [...], 44. She uttered a curse, and unto [Apsû she
spake]:

45. "What then shall we [do]?

46. "Let their way be made difficult, and let us [lie down (again) in peace]."

47. Mummu answered, and gave counsel unto Apsû, 48. [...] and hostile (to the
gods) was the counsel Mu[mmu gave]:

49. "Come, their way is strong, but thou shalt destroy [it];

50. "Then by day shalt thou have rest, by night shalt thou lie down (in peace)."

51. Apsû [hearkened unto] him and his countenance grew bright, 52. [Since] he
(i.e. Mummu) planned evil against the gods his sons.

53. [...] he was afraid [...], 54. His knees [became weak(?)], they gave way
beneath him, 55. [Because of the evil] which their first-born had planned.

56. [...] their [...] they altered(?).

58. Lamentation [...] they sat in [sorrow] ’

57. [...] they [...],

59. [...] 60. Then Ea, who knoweth all that [is], went up and he beheld their
muttering.

61. [...] 62. [...] ... his pure incantation 63. [...] ... [...]

64. [...] 65. [...] misery

66. [...]

67. [...] [Lines 68-82 are wanting.]

83. [...]

84 [...] ...

85. [...] the god Anu, 86. [... an aven]ger.

87. [...] 88. [...] and he shall confound Tiamat.

89. [...] Hebrews ...

90. [...] for ever.

91. [...] the evil, 92. [...] ... he spake:

93. "[...] thy [...] he hath conquered and 94. " [...] he [weepeth] and sitteth
in tribulation(?).

95. "[...] of fear, 96. "[...] we shall not lie down (in peace).

97. "[...] Apsû is laid waste(?), 98. "[...] and Mummu, who were taken captive,
in [...] 99. "[...] thou didst, ...

100. "[...] let us lie down (in peace).

101. "[...] ... they will smite (?) [...].

102. " [...] let us lie down (in peace).

103. "[...] thou shalt take vengeance for them, 104. "[...]unto the tempest
shalt thou [...]!"

105. [And Tiamat hearkened unto] the word of the bright god, (and said):

106. "[...] shalt thou entrust! let us wage [war]!"

107. [...] the gods in the midst of [...] 108. [...] for the gods did she
create.’

109. [They banded themselves together and] at the side of Tiamat [they]
advanced;

110. [They were furious, they devised mischief without resting] night and [day].

111. [They prepared for battle], fuming and raging;

112. [They joined their forces] and made war.

113. [Ummu-Hubu]r, who formed all things, 114. [Made in addition] weapons
invincible, she spawned monster-serpents, 115. [Sharp of] tooth, and merciless
of fang;

116. [With poison instead of] blood she filled [their] bodies.

117. Fierce [monster-vipers] she clothed with terror, 118. [With splendour] she
decked them, [she made them] of lofty stature.

119. [Whoever beheld] them, terror overcame him, 120. Their bodies reared up and
none could withstand [their attack].

121. [She set] up vipers, and dragons, and the (monster) [Lahamu], 122. [And
hurricanes], and raging hounds, and scorpion-men, 123. And mighty [tempests],
and fish-men, and[rams];

124. [They bore] cruel weapons, without fear of [the fight].

125. Her commands [were mighty], [none] could resist them;

126. After this fashion, huge of stature, [she made] eleven (monsters).

127. Among the gods who were her sons, inasmuch as he had given [her support],
128. She exalted Kingu; in their midst [she raised] him [to power].

129. To march before the forces, to lead [the host], 130. To give the
battle-signal, to advance to the attack, 131. To direct the battle, to control
the fight, 132. Unto him she entrusted; in [costly raiment] she made him sit,
(saying):

133. "I have uttered thy spell, in the assembly of the gods I have raised thee
to power.

134. "The dominion over all the gods [have I entrusted unto him].

135. "Be thou exalted, thou my chosen spouse, 136. "May they magnify thy name
over all [of them ... the Anunnaki]."

137. She gave him the Tablets of Destiny, on [his] breast she laid them,
(saying):

138. "Thy command shall not be without avail, and[the word of thy mouth shall be
established]."

139. Now Kingu, (thus) exalted, having received [the power of Anu], 140.
[Decreed] the fate among the gods his sons, (saying):

141. "Let the opening of your mouth [quench] the Fire-god;

142. "Whoso is exalted in the battle, let him [display (his) might]!"


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  CHAPTER 6: 005
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The Second Tablet 1. Tiamat made weighty her handiwork, 2. [Evil] she wrought
against the gods her children.

3. [To avenge] Apsû, Tiamat planned evil, 4. But how she had collected her
[forces, the god ...] unto Ea divulged.

5. Ea [hearkened to] this thing, and 6. He was [grievous]ly afflicted and he sat
in sorrow.

7. [The days] went by, and his anger was appeased, 8. And to [the place of]
Anshar his father he took[his way].

9. [He went] and standing before Anshar, the father who begat him, 10. [All
that] Tiamat had plotted he repeated unto him, 11. [Saying, "Ti]amat our mother
hath conceived a hatred for us, 12. "With all her force she rageth, full of
wrath.

13. "All the gods have turned to her, 14. "[With] those, whom ye created, they
go at her side.

15. "They are banded together and at the side of Tiamat they advance;

16. "They are furious, they devise mischief without resting night and day.

17. "They prepare for battle, fuming and raging;

18. "They have joined their forces and are making war.

19. "Ummu-Hubur, who formed all things, 20. "Hath made in addition weapons
invincible, she hath spawned monster-serpents, 21. "Sharp of tooth, and
merciless of fang.

22. "With poison instead of blood she hath filled their bodies.

23. "Fierce monster-vipers she hath clothed with terror, 24. "With splendour she
hath decked them, she hath made them of lofty stature.

25. "Whoever beholdeth them is overcome by terror,"

26. "Their bodies rear up and none can withstand their attack.

27. "She hath set up vipers, and dragons, and the 28. "And hurricanes and raging
hounds, and scorpion-men, 29. "And mighty tempests, and fish-men and rams;

30. "They bear cruel weapons, without fear of the fight.

31. "Her commands are mighty, none can resist them;

32. "After this fashion, huge of stature, hath she made eleven (monsters).

33. "Among the gods who are her sons, inasmuch as he hath given her support, 34.
She hath exalted Kingu; in their midst she hath raised him to power.

35. "To march before the forces, to lead the host, 36. "To give the
battle-signal, to advance to the attack, 37. "[To direct] the battle, to control
the fight, 38. "Unto him [hath she entrusted]; in costly raiment she hath made
him sit, (saying):

39. "’[I have uttered] thy [spell], in the assembly of the gods I have raised
thee to power, 40. "’[The dominion over all] the gods have I entrusted [unto
thee].

41. "’[Be thou exalted], thou [my chosen spouse], 42. "’[May they magnify thy
name over all of them ...] ...’

43. "[She hath given him the Tablets of Destiny, on his breast she] laid them,
(saying):

44. "’[Thy command shall not be without avail], and the [word] of thy mouth
shall be established.’

45. "[Now Kingu, (thus) exalted], having received the power of Anu, 46. "Decreed
the fate [for the gods, her sons], (saying):

47. "’Let [the opening of your mouth] quench the Fire-god;

48. "’[Whoso is exalted in the battle], let him display (his) might!’"

49. [When Anshar heard how Tiamat] was mightily in revolt, 50. [...], he bit his
lips, 51. [...], his mind was not at peace, 52. His [...], he made a bitter
lamentation:

53. [...] battle, 54. "[...] thou ....

55. "[Mummu and] Apsû thou hast smitten, 56. "[But Tiamat hath exalted Kin]gu,
and where is one who can oppose her?"

57. [...] deliberation 58. [ ... the ... of] the gods, N[u]di[mmud] [A gap of
about ten lines occurs here.]

(69) [...]

(70) [...]

(71) [...] (72) [Anshar unto] his son addressed [the word]:

(73) "[...] ... my mighty hero, (74) "[Whose] strength [is great] and whose
onslaught cannot be withstood, (75) "[Go] and stand before Tiamat, (76) "[That]
her spirit [may be appeased], that her heart may be merciful.

(77) "[But if] she will not hearken unto thy word, (78) "Our [word] shalt thou
speak unto her, that she may be pacified."

(79) [He heard the] word of his father Anshar (80) And [he directed] his path to
her, towards her he took the way.

(81) Anu [drew nigh], he beheld the muttering of Tiamat, (82) [But he could not
withstand her], and he turned back.

(83) [...] Anshar (84) [...] he spake unto him:

(85) "[...] upon me [A gap of about twenty lines occurs here.]

(104) [...] (105) [...] an avenger [...] (106) [...] va[liant] (107) [...] in
the place of his decision (108) [...] he spake unto him:

(109) "[...] thy father (110) "Thou art my son, who maketh merciful his heart.

(111) " [...] to the battle shalt thou draw nigh, (112) "[...] he that shall
behold thee shall have peace."

(113) And the lord rejoiced at the word of his father, (114) And he drew nigh
and stood before Anshar.

(115) Anshar beheld him and his heart was filled with joy, (116) He kissed him
on the lips and his fear departed from him.

(117) "[O my father], let not the word of thy lips be overcome, (118) "Let me
go, that I may accomplish all that is in thy heart.

(119). "[O Anshar], let not the word of thy lips be overcome, (120) ". [Let me]
go, that I may accomplish all that is in thy heart."

(121) "What man is it, who hath brought thee forth to battle?

(122) "[...] Tiamat, who is a woman, is armed and attacketh thee."

(123) "[...] ... rejoice and be glad;

(124) "The neck of Tiamat shalt thou swiftly trample under foot.

(125) "[...] ... rejoice and be glad;

(126) "[The neck] of Tiamat shalt thou swiftly trample under foot.

(127) "O my [son], who knoweth all wisdom, (128) "Pacify [Tiama]t with thy pure
incantation.

(129) "Speedily set out upon thy way, (130) "For [thy blood (?)] shall not be
poured out, thou shalt return again."

(131) The lord rejoiced at the word of his father, (132) His heart exulted, and
unto his father he spake:

(133) "O Lord of the gods, Destiny of the great gods, (134) "If I, your avenger,
(135) "Conquer Tiamat and give you life, (136) "Appoint an assembly, make my
fate preeminent and proclaim it.

(137) "In Upshukkinaku seat yourselves joyfully together, (138) "With my word in
place of you will I decree fate.

(139) "May whatsoever I do remain unaltered, (140) "May the word of my lips
never be changed nor made of no avail."


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 7: 006
========================================================================

The Third Tablet 1. Anshar opened his mouth, and 2. [Unto Gaga], his [minister],
spake the word:

3. "[O Gaga, thou minis]ter that rejoicest my spirit, 4. ’[Unto Lahmu and
Lah]amu will I send thee.

5. "[...] thou canst attain, 6. ’[...] thou shalt cause to be brought before
thee.

7. [... let] the gods, all of them, 8. "[Make ready for a feast], at a banquet
let them sit, 9. "[Let them eat bread], let them mix wine, 10. ’[That for
Marduk], their avenger, they may decree the fate.

11. "[Go,] Gaga, stand before them, 12. ’[And all that] I, tell thee, repeat
unto them, (and say):

13. "[Anshar], your son, hath sent me, 14. "[The purpose] of his heart he hath
made known unto me.

15. "[He saith that Tia]mat our mother hath conceived a hatred for us, 16.
"[With all] her force she rageth, full of wrath.

17. "All the gods have turned to her, 18. "With those, whom ye created, they go
at her side.

19. ’They are banded together, and at the side of Tiamat they advance;

20 . "They are furious, they devise mischief without resting night and day.

21. ’They prepare for battle, fuming and raging;

22. "They have joined their forces and are making war.

23. "Ummu-Hubur, who formed all things, 24. "Hath made in addition weapons
invincible, she hath spawned monster-serpents, 25. "Sharp of tooth and merciless
of fang.

26. "With poison instead of blood she hath filled heir bodies.

27. "Fierce monster-vipers she hath clothed with terror, 28. "With splendour she
hath decked them, she hath made them of lofty stature.

29. "Whoever beholdeth them, terror overcometh him, 30. "Their bodies rear up
and none can withstand their attack.

31. "She hath set up vipers, and dragons, and the (monster) Lahamu, 32. "And
hurricanes, and raging hounds, and scorpion-men, 33. "And mighty tempests, and
fish-men, and rams;

34. They bear merciless weapons, without fear of the fight.

35. "Her commands are mighty, none can resist them;

36. "After this fashion, huge of stature, hath she made eleven (monsters).

37. "Among the gods who are her sons, inasmuch as he hath given her [support],
38. "She hath exalted Kingu; in their midst she hath raised [him] to power.

39. ’To march before the forces, [to lead the host], 40. "[To] give the
battle-signal, to advance [to the attack], 41. "[To direct] the battle, to
control the [fight], 42. "Unto him [hath she entrusted; in costly raiment] she
hath made him sit, (saying):

43. "’[I have] uttered thy spell, in the assembly of the gods [I have raised
thee to power], 44. "’[The] dominion over all the gods [have I entrusted unto
thee].

45. "’[Be] thou exalted, [thou] my chosen spouse, 46. "’ May they magnify thy
name over all of [them ... the Anunnaki].’

47. "She hath given him the Tablets of Destiny, on his breast she laid them,
(saying):

48. "’Thy command shall not be without avail, and the word of [thy] mouth shall
be established.’

49. "Now Kingu, (thus) exalted, having received [the power of Anu], 50. "Decreed
the fate for the gods, her sons, (saying):

51. "’Let the opening of your mouth quench the Fire-god;

52. "’Whoso is exalted in the battle, let him display (his) might! ’

53. ’I sent Anu, but he could not withstand her;

54. "Nudimmud was afraid and turned back.

55. "But Marduk hath set out, the director of the gods, your Song of Solomon;
56. ’To set out against Tiamat his heart hath prompted (him).

57. "He opened his mouth and spake unto me, (saying):

58. "’If I, your avenger, 59. "’Conquer Tiamat and give you life, 60. "’Appoint
an assembly, make my fate preeminent and proclaim it.

61. "’In Upshukkinaku seat yourselves joyfully together;

62. "’With my word in place of you will I decree fate.

63. "’May whatsoever I do remain unaltered, 64. "’May the word of my lips never
be changed nor made of no avail.’

65. "Hasten, therefore, and swiftly decree for him the fate which you bestow,
66. "That he may go and fight your strong enemy!"

67. Gaga went, he took his way and 68. Humbly before Lahmu and Lahamu, the gods,
his fathers, 69. He made obeisance, and he kissed the ground at their feet.

70. He humbled himself; then he stood up and spake unto them, (saying):

71. "Anshar, your son, hath sent me, 72. ’The purpose of his heart he hath made
known unto me.

73. "He saith that Tiamat our mother hath conceived a hatred for us, 74. "With
all her force she rageth, full of wrath.

75. "All the gods have turned to her, 76. "With those, whom ye created, they go
at her side.

77. "They are banded together and at the side of Tiamat they advance;

78. ’They are furious, they devise mischief without resting night and day.

79. "They prepare for battle, fuming and raging;

80. ’They have joined their forces and are making war.

81. ’Ummu-Hubur, who formed all things, 82. "Hath made in addition weapons
invincible, she hath spawned monster-serpents, 83. "Sharp of tooth and merciless
of fang.

84. "With poison instead of blood she hath filled their bodies.

85. ’Fierce monster-vipers she hath clothed with terror, 86. "With splendour she
hath decked them, she hath made them of lofty stature.

87. ’Whoever beholdeth them, terror overcometh him, 88. "Their bodies rear up
and none can withstand their attack.

89. ’She hath set up vipers, and dragons, and the (monster) Lahamu, 90. "And
hurricanes, and raging hounds, and scorpion-men, 91. ’And mighty tempests, and
fish-men, and [rams];

92. "They bear merciless weapons, without fear of the fight.

93. "Her commands are mighty, none can resist them;

94. ’After this fashion, huge of stature, hath she made eleven (monsters).

95. ’Among the gods who are her sons, inasmuch as he hath given her support, 96.
"She hath exalted Kingu; in their midst she hath raised him to power.

97. "To march before the forces, to lead the host, 98. ’To give the
battle-signal, to advance to the attack, 99. "To direct the battle, to control
the fight, 100. ’Unto him hath she entrusted; in costly raiment she hath made
him sit, (saying):

101. "’I have uttered thy spell, in the assembly of the gods I have raised thee
to power, 102. "’The dominion over all the gods have I entrusted unto thee.

103. "’Be thou exalted, thou my chosen spouse, 104. "’May they magnify thy name
over all of them ... the Anunna[ki].’

105. "She hath given him the Tablets of Destiny, on [his] breast [she laid
them], (saying):

106. "’Thy command shall not be without avail, [and the word of thy mouth shall
be established].

107. "Now Kingu, (thus) exalted, [having received the power of Anu], 108.
"[Decreed the fate] for the gods, her sons, (saying):

109. "’Let the opening of your mouth [quench] the Fire-god;

110. "’Whoso is exalted in the battle, [let him display] (his) might!’

111. "I sent Anu, but he could not [withstand her];

112. "Nudimmud was afraid and [turned back].

113. "But Marduk hath set out, the director of the[gods, your son];

114. "T o set out against Tiamat [his heart hath prompted (him)].

115. "He opened his mouth [and spake unto me], (saying):

116. "’If I, [your avenger], 117. "’Conquer Tiamat and [give you life], 118.
"’Appoint an assembly, [make my fate preeminent and proclaim it].

119. "’In Upshukkinaku [seat yourselves joyfully together];

120. "’With my word in place of [you will I decree fate].

121. "’May whatsoever [I] do remain unaltered, 122. "’May the word of [my lips]
never be changed nor made of no avail.’

123. ’Hasten, therefore, and swiftly [decree for him] the fate which you bestow,
124. "That he may go and fight your strong enemy!"

125. Lahmu and Lahamu heard and cried aloud, 126. All of the Igigi wailed
bitterly, (saying):

127. ’What has been altered so that they should ... [...] 128. ’We do not
understand the d[eed] of Tiamat!"

129. Then did they collect and go, 130. The great gods, all of them, who decree
[fate].

131. They entered in before Anshar, they filled [...];

132. They kissed one another, in the assembly [...].

133. They made ready for the feast, at the banquet [they sat];

134. They ate bread, they mixed [sesame-wine].

135. The sweet drink, the mead, confused their [...], 136. They were drunk with
drinking, their bodies were filled.

137. They were wholly at ease, their spirit was exalted;

138. Then for Marduk, their avenger, did they decree the fate.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 8: 007
========================================================================

The Fourth Tablet 1. They prepared for him a lordly chamber, 2 . Before his
fathers as prince he took his place.

3. "Thou art chiefest among the great gods, 4. "Thy fate is unequalled, thy word
is Anu!

5. "O Marduk, thou art chiefest among the great gods, 6. "Thy fate is
unequalled, thy word is Anu!

7. "Henceforth not without avail shall be thy command, 8. "In thy power shall it
be to exalt and to abase.

9. "Established shall be the word of thy mouth, irresistible shall be thy
command;

10. "None among the gods shall transgress thy boundary.

11. "Abundance, the desire of the shrines of the gods, 12. "Shall be established
in thy sanctuary, even though they lack (offerings).

13. "O Marduk, thou art our avenger!

14. "We give thee sovereignty over the whole world.

15. "Sit thou down in night, be exalted in thy command.

16. "Thy weapon shall never lose its power, it shall crush thy foe.

17. "O lord, spare the life of him that putteth his trust in thee, 18. "But as
for the god who began the rebellion, pour out his life."

19. Then set they in their midst a garment, 20. And unto Marduk their first-born
they spake:

21. "May thy fate, O lord, be supreme among the gods, 22. "To destroy and to
create; speak thou the word, and (thy command) shall be fulfilled.

23. "Command now and let the garment vanish;

24. "And speak the word again and let the garment reappear!"

25. Then he spake with his mouth, and the garment vanished;

26. Again he commanded it, and the garment reappeared.

27. When the gods, his fathers, beheld (the fulfilment of) his word, 28. They
rejoiced, and they did homage (unto him, saying), " Marduk is king! "

29. They bestowed upon him the sceptre, and the throne, and the ring, 30. They
give him an invincible weapon, which overwhelmeth the foe.

31. "Go, and cut off the life of Tiamat, 32. "And let the wind carry her blood
into secret places."

33. After the gods his fathers had decreed for the lord his fate, 34. They
caused him to set out on a path of prosperity and success.

35 . He made ready the bow, he chose his weapon, 36. He slung a spear upon him
and fastened it . . .

37. He raised the club, in his right hand he grasped (it), 38. The bow and the
quiver he hung at his side.

39. He set the lightning in front of him, . With burning flame he filled his
body.

41. He made a net to enclose the inward parts of Tiamat, 42. The four winds he
stationed so that nothing of her might escape;

43. The South wind and the North wind and the East wind and the West wind 44. He
brought near to the net, the gift of his father Anu.

45. He created the evil wind, and the tempest, and the hurricane, 46. And the
fourfold wind, and the sevenfold wind, and the whirlwind, and the wind which had
no equal;

47. He sent forth the winds which he had created, the seven of them;

48. T o disturb the inward parts of Tiamat, they followed after him.

49. Then the lord raised the thunderbolt, his mighty weapon, 50. He mounted the
chariot, the storm unequalled for terror, 51. He harnessed and yoked unto it
four horses, 52. Destructive, ferocious, overwhelming, and swift of pace;

53. [...] were their teeth, they were flecked with foam;

54. They were skilled in [...], they had been trained to trample underfoot.

55. [...], mighty in battle, 56. Left and [right ...

57. His garment was [...], he was clothed with terror, 58. With overpowering
brightness his head was crowned.

59. Then he set out, he took his way, 60. And towards the [rag]ing Tiamat he set
his face.

61. On his lips he held [...], 62. ... [...] he grasped in his hand.

63. Then they beheld him, the gods beheld him, 64. The gods his fathers beheld
him, the gods beheld him.

65. And the lord drew nigh, he gazed upon the inward parts of Tiamat, 66. He
perceived the muttering of Kingu, her spouse.

67. As (Marduk) gazed, (Kingu) was troubled in his gait, 68. His will was
destroyed and his motions ceased.

69. And the gods, his helpers, who marched by his side, 70. Beheld their
leader’s [...], and their sight was troubled.

71. But Tiamat [...], she turned not her neck, 72. With lips that failed not she
uttered rebellious words:

73. "[...] thy coming as lord of the gods, 74. "From their places have they
gathered, in thy place are they!"

75. Then the lord [raised] the thunderbolt, his mighty weapon, 76. [And against]
Tiamat, who was raging, thus he sent (the word):

77. "[Thou] art become great, thou hast exalted thyself on high, 78. "And thy
[heart hath prompted] thee to call to battle.

79. "[...] their fathers [...], 80. "[...] their [...] thou hatest [...].

81. "[Thou hast exalted King]u to be [thy] spouse, 82. "[Thou hast . . . ] him,
that, even as Anu, he should issue decrees.

83. "[...] thou hast followed after evil, 84. "And [against] the .gods my
fathers thou hast contrived thy wicked plan.

85. "Let then thy host be equipped, let thy weapons be girded on!

86. "Stand! I and thou, let us join battle!"

87. When Tiamat heard these words, 88. She was like one possessed, she lost her
reason.

89. Tiamat uttered wild, piercing cries, 90. She trembled and shook to her very
foundations.

91. She recited an incantation, she pronounced her spell, 92. And the gods of
the battle cried out for their weapons.

93. Then advanced Tiamat and Marduk, the counsellor of the gods;

94. To the fight they came on, to the battle they drew nigh.

95. The lord spread out his net and caught her, 96. And the evil wind that was
behind (him) he let loose in her face.

97. As Tiamat opened her mouth to its full extent, 98. He drove in the evil
wind, while as yet she had not shut her lips.

99. The terrible winds filled her belly, 100. And her courage was taken from
her, and her mouth she opened wide.

101. He seized the spear and burst her belly, 102. He severed her inward parts,
he pierced (her) heart.

103. He overcame her and cut off her life;

104. He cast down her body and stood upon it.

105. When he had slain Tiamat, the leader, 106. Her might was broken, her host
was scattered.

107. And the gods her helpers, who marched by her side, 108. Trembled, and were
afraid, and turned back.

109. They took to flight to save their lives;

110. But they were surrounded, so that they could not escape.

111. He took them captive, he broke their weapons;

112. In the net they were caught and in the snare they sat down.

113. The [...] ... of the world they filled with cries of grief.

114. They received punishment from him, they were held in bondage.

115. And on the eleven creatures which she had filled with the power of striking
terror, 116. Upon the troop of devils, who marched at her [...], 117. He brought
affliction, their strength [he ...];

118. Them and their opposition he trampled under his feet.

119. Moreover, Kingu, who had been exalted over them, 120. He conquered, and
with the god Dug-ga he counted him.

121. He took from him the Tablets of Destiny that were not rightly his, 122. He
sealed them with a seal and in his own breast he laid them.

123. Now after the hero Marduk had conquered and cast down his enemies, 124. And
had made the arrogant foe even like ..., 125. And had fully established Anshar’s
triumph over the enemy, 126. And had attained the purpose of Nudimmud, 127. Over
the captive gods he strengthened his durance, 128. And unto Tiamat, whom he had
conquered, he returned.

129. And the lord stood upon Tiamat’s hinder parts, 130. And with his merciless
club he smashed her skull.

131. He cut through the channels of her blood, 132. And he made the North wind
bear it away into secret places.

133. His fathers beheld, and they rejoiced and were glad;

134. Presents and gifts they brought unto him.

135. Then the lord rested, gazing upon her dead body, 136. While he divided the
flesh of the ..., and devised a cunning plan.

137. He split her up like a flat fish into two halves;

138. One half of her he stablished as a covering for heaven.

139. He fixed a bolt, he stationed a watchman, 140. And bade them not to let her
waters come forth.

141. He passed through the heavens, he surveyed the regions (thereof), 142. And
over against the Deep he set the dwelling of Nudimmud.

143. And the lord measured the structure of the Deep, 144. And he founded
E-shara, a mansion like unto it.

145. The mansion E-shara which he created as heaven, 146. He caused Anu, Bêl,
and Ea in their districts to inhabit.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 9: 008
========================================================================

The Fifth Tablet 1. He.(i.e. Marduk) made the stations for the great gods;

2. The stars, their images, as the stars of the Zodiac, he fixed.

3. He ordained the year and into sections he divided it;

4. For the twelve months he fixed three stars.

5. After he had [...] the days of the year [...] images, 6. He founded the
station of Nibir <\l >to determine their bounds;

7. That none might err or go astray, 8. He set the station of Bêl and Ea along
with him.

9. He opened great gates on both sides, 10. He made strong the bolt on the left
and on the right.

11. In the midst thereof he fixed the zenith;

12. The Moon-god he caused to shine forth, the night he entrusted to him.

13. He appointed him, a being of the night, to determine the days;

14. Every month without ceasing with the crown he covered(?) him, (saying):

15. "At the beginning of the month, when thou shinest upon the land, 16. "Thou
commandest the horns to determine six days, 17. "And on the seventh day to
[divide] the crown.

18. "On the fourteenth day thou shalt stand opposite, the half [...].

19. "When the Sun-god on the foundation of heaven [...] thee, 20. "The [...]
thou shalt cause to ..., and thou shalt make his [...].

21. "[...] ... unto the path of the Sun-god shalt thou cause to draw nigh, 22.
"[And on the ... day] thou shalt stand opposite, and the Sun-god shall ... [...]
23. "[...] to traverse her way.

24. "[...] thou shalt cause to draw nigh, and thou shalt judge the right.

25. "[...] to destroy 26. "[...] me.

"..."

[The following twenty-two lines are taken from K. 3,449a, and probably form part
of the Fifth Tablet.]

(66 ). [...]

(67) [...] (68 ) From [...] (69) In E-sagil [...] (70) To establish [...] (71)
The station of [...] (72) The great gods [...] (73) The gods [...] (74) He took
and [...] (75) The gods [his fathers] beheld the net which he had made, (76)
They beheld the bow and how [its work] was accomplished.

(77) They praised the work which he had done [...] (78) Then Anu raised [the
...] in the assembly of the gods.

(79) H e kissed the bow, (saying), "It is [...]!"

(80) And thus he named the names of the bow, (saying), (81) "’Long-wood’ shall
be one name, and the second name [shall be ...] (82) "And its third name shall
be the Bow-star, in heaven [shall it ...]"

(83) Then he fixed a station for it [...] (84) Now after the fate of [...] (85)
[He set] a throne [...] (86) [...] in heaven [...] (87) [...] ... [...]

[The following traces of the last thirteen lines of the Fifth Tablet are taken
from the reverse of K. 11,641 and from the reverse of K. 8,526.] (128) "[...]
him [...]"

(129) "[...] them [...]"

(130) "[...] him [...]"

(131) "[...] them [...]"

(132) "[...] their [...] may [...]"

(133) [...] the gods spake, (134) [...] the heavens [...]:

(135) "[... your] son [...]"

(136) "[...] our [...] hath he [...]"

(137) "[...] he hath caused to live [...]"

(138) "[...] splendour [...]"

(139) "[...] not [...]!"

(140) "[...] we [...]!"

Footnotes

77:1 Jupiter

85:1 In the speech that follows it may be conjectured that the gods complained
that, although Marduk had endowed the heavens with splendour and had caused
plants to live upon the earth, yet there were no shrines built in honour of the
gods, and there were no worshippers devoted to their service; see below, p. 88,
note 1


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 10: 009
========================================================================

The Sixth Tablet 1. When Marduk heard the word of the gods, 2. His heart
prompted him and he devised [a cunning plan].

3. He opened his mouth and unto Ea [he spake], 4. [That which] he had conceived
in his heart he imparted [unto him]:

5. "My blood will I take and bone will I [fashion], 6. "I will make man, that
man may ... [...].

7. "I will create man who shall inhabit [the earth],"

8. "That the service of the gods may be established, and that [their] shrines
<\l > [may be built].

9. "But I will alter the ways of the gods, and I will change [their paths];

10. "Together shall they be oppressed <\l >, and unto evil shall [they ...]."

11. And Ea answered him and spake the word:

12. "[...] the [...] of the gods I have [changed] 13. [...] ... and one ...
[...] 14. [...shall be de]stroyed and men will I [...] 15. [...] and the gods
[...] 16. [...] ... and they [...] 17. [...] ... and the gods [...] 18. [...]
.... [...] 19. [...] the gods [...] 20. [...] the Anunnaki [...] 21. [...] ...
[...] [The rest of the text is wanting with the exception of the last few lines
of the tablet, which read as follows.] 138. [...] ... [...] 139. [...] ... [...]
140. When [...] ... [...] 141. They rejoiced [...] ... [...] 142. In
Upshukkinnaku they set [their dwelling].

143. Of the heroic son, their avenger, [they cried]:

144. "We, whom he succoured, ... [...]!"

145. They seated themselves and in the assembly they named [him ...], 146. They
all [cried aloud (?), they exalted [him ...].

Footnotes

89:1 ... literally the line reads "Let the service of the gods be established,
and as for them let [their] shrines be built. It is interesting to note the
reason that is here implied for the creation of mankind, i.e., that the gods my
have worshipers. There is clearly a reference to this in l. 29 of the Seventh
Tablet, where, after referring to Marduk’s mercy upon the gods, the text goes on
... "For their forgiveness did he create mankind."

89:2 It seems preferable to assign to the Piel of [kabâtu] its usual meaning "to
oppress," rather than to render the passage as "Together shall they be
honoured." The sense seems to be that Marduk, by the creation of man, will
establish the worship of the gods, but at the same time will punish the gods for
their complaints. It is possible that in his speech that follows Ea dissuades
Marduk from carrying out the second part of his proposal.

91:1 It is probable that the missing portion of the text corresponded closely
with the account of the creation of man and animals given by Berossus; for a
further discussion of this subject, see the Introduction. The tablet K. 3,364
(Cun. Texts, part xiii, pl. 24 f.) has been thought to belong to the Creation
Series, and to contain the instructions given by Marduk to man after his
creation. Had this been so, it would have formed part of the Sixth Tablet. On
plates lxiv ff. of Vol. II is published the text of a Neo-Babylonian tablet, No.
33,851, which gives a duplicate text to K. 3,364; and in Appendix II I have
given reasons for believing that the text inscribed upon K. 3,364 and No. 33,851
has no connection with the Creation Series, but is part of a long composition
containing moral precepts. Another fragment which it has been suggested belongs
to one of the later tablets of the Creation Series is K. 3,445 + R. 396 (Cun.
Texts, part xiii, pl. 24 f.; cf. also its duplicate K. 14,949, pl. 24); but
there are strong reasons against the identification of the text as a fragment of
the series Enuma elish, though it may well be part of a parallel version of the
Creation story (see further, Appendix II).

91:2 The address of the gods to Marduk forms the subject of the Seventh Tablet
of the series.


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  CHAPTER 11: 010
========================================================================

The Seventh Tablet 1. O Asari, "Bestower of planting," "[Founder of sowing],"

2. "Creator of grain and plants," "who caused [the green herb to spring up]!"

3. O Asaru-alim, "who is revered in the house of counsel," "[who aboundeth in
counsel],"

4. The gods paid homage, fear [took hold upon them]!

5. O Asaru-alim-nuna, "the mighty one," "the Light of [the father who begat
him],"

6. Who directeth the decrees of Anu, Bel, [and Ea]!"

7. He was their patron, he ordained [their . . . . ];

8. He, whose provision is abundance, goeth forth [...]!

9. Tutu [is] "He who created them anew;"

10. Should their wants be pure, then are they [satisfied];

11. Should he make an incantation, then are the gods [appeased];

12 . Should they attack him in anger, he withstandeth [their onslaught]!

13. Let him therefore be exalted, and in the assembly of the gods [let him ...];

14. None among the gods can [rival him]!

15. Tutu is Zi-ukkina, "the Life of the host [of the gods],"

16. Who established for the gods the bright heavens.

17. He set them on their way, and ordained [their path (?)] 18. Never shall his
[...] deeds be forgotten among men.

19. Tutu as Zi-azag thirdly they named, "the Bringer of Purification,"

20. "The God of the Favouring Breeze," "the Lord of Hearing and Mercy,"

21. "The Creator of Fulness and Abundance," "the Founder of Plenteousness,"

22. "Who increaseth all that is small."

23. "In sore distress we felt his favouring breeze,"

24. Let them say, let them pay reverence, let them bow in humility before him!

25. Tutu as Aga-azag may mankind fourthly magnify!

26. "The Lord of the Pure Incantation," "the Quickener of the Dead,"

27. "Who had mercy upon the captive gods,"

28. "Who removed the yoke from upon the gods his enemies,"

29. "For their forgiveness did he create mankind,"

30. "The Merciful One, with whom it is to bestow life!"

31. May his deeds endure, may they never be forgotten 32. In the mouth of
mankind whom his hands have made!

33. Tutu as Mu-azag, fifthly, his "Pure Incantation" may their mouth proclaim,
34. "Who through his Pure Incantation hath destroyed all the evil ones!"

35. Shag-zu, "who knoweth the heart of the gods," "who seeth through the
innermost part!"

36. "The evil-doer he hath not caused to go forth with him!"

37. "Founder of the assembly of the gods," "[who ...] their heart! "

38. "Subduer of the disobedient," "[...]!"

39. "Who rebellion and [...]!"

41. Tutu as Zi-si, "the [...], 42. "Who put an end to anger," "[who ...]!"

43. Tutu as Suh-kur, thirdly, "the [Destroyer of the foe],"

44. "Who put their plans to confusion," "[...],"

45. "Who destroyed all the wicked," "[...],"

46. [...] let them [...]!

47. [...] ... [...] [The following lines are taken from the fragment K. 12,830,
but their position in the text is uncertain.] [He named the four quarters (of
the world)], mankind [he created], [And upon] him understanding [...]

[...] ... [...] [...] Tiamat [...]

[...] ... [...] [...] distant [...] [...] may [...].

[The following lines are taken from the fragment K. 13,761.]

[...]

(10) [...] "The mighty one [...]!"

... Agi[l ...], "The Creator of [the earth ...]!"

Zulummu ... [...], "The Giver of counsel and of whatsoever [...]!"

Mummu, "the Creator [of ...]!"

Mulil, the heavens [...], "Who for ... [...]!"

Gishkul, let [...], (10) "Who brought the gods to naught[...]!"

Lugal-ab-[...], "Who in [ ............ ]!"

Pap-[...], "Who in [...]!"

[...]

[The following lines are taken from the fragment K. 8,519 and its duplicate K.
13,337; this portion of the text was not separated by much from that preserved
by K. 13,761.]

[...].

[...] ...

[... the Chief (?) of] all lords,"

[... supreme] is his might!

[Lugal-durmah, "the King] of the band of the gods," "the Lord of rulers,"

"Who is exalted in a royal habitation,"

"[Who] among the gods is gloriously supreme!"

[Adu-nuna], "the Counsellor of Ea," who created the gods his fathers, Unto the
path of whose majesty [No] god can ever attain!

[... in] Dul-azag he made it known, [...] pure is his dwelling!

[... the ...] of those without understanding is Lugal-dul-azaga!

[...] supreme is his might!

[...] their [...] in the midst of Tiamat, [...] ... of the battle!

[The numbering of the following lines is based on the marginal numbers upon No.
91,139. + 93,073.] 105. [...] ... [...] him, 106. [...] ... the star, which
[shineth in the heavens].

107. May he hold the Beginning and the Future , may they pay homage unto him,
108. Saying, "He who forced his way through the midst of Tiamat [without
resting], 109. "Let his name be Nibiru, ’the Seizer of the Midst’!

110. "For the stars of heaven he upheld the paths, 111. "He shepherded all the
gods like sheep!

112. "He conquered Tiamat, he troubled and ended her life,"

113. In the future of mankind, when the days grow old, 114. May this be heard
without ceasing, may it hold sway for ever!

115. Since he created the realm (of heaven) and fashioned the firm earth, 116.
"The Lord of the World," the father Bêl hath called his name.

117. (This) title, which all the Spirits of Heaven proclaimed, 118. Did Ea hear,
and his spirit was rejoiced, (and he said):

119. "He whose name his fathers have made glorious, 120. "Shall be even as I,
his name shall be Ea!

121. "The binding of all my decrees shall he control, 122. "All my commands
shall he make known! "

123. By the name of "Fifty" did the great gods 124. Proclaim his fifty names,
they made his path pre-eminent."

Epilogue 125. Let them be held in remembrance, and let the first man proclaim
them;

126. Let the wise and the understanding consider them together!

127. Let the father repeat them and teach them to his Song of Solomon;

128. Let them be in the ears of the pastor and the shepherd!

129. Let a man rejoice in Marduk, the Lord of the gods, 130. That he may cause
his land to be fruitful, and that he himself may have prosperity!

131. His word standeth fast, his command is unaltered;

132. The utterance of his mouth hath no god ever annulled.

133. He gazed in his anger, he turned not his neck;

134. When he is wroth, no god can withstand his indignation.

135. Wide is his heart, broad is his compassion;

136. The sinner and evil-doer in his presence [...].

137. They received instruction, they spake before him, 138. [...] unto [...].

139. [...] of Marduk may the gods [...].

140. [May] they [... his ] name [...]!

141. [...] they took and [...];

142. [...]!

Footnotes

93:1 The title Tutu is there explained as ba-a-nu, " creator," while its two
component parts (TU + TU) occur in the Sumerian version of the line as the
equivalents of la-nu-u and e-di-shu.

97:1 The text of the commentary read mu-kin, i.e. "the Founder of Purification";
for other variant readings in the line, see Appendix I.

99:1 Literally, "the black-headed ones."

103:1 In the margin of the fragment K. 13,761 every tenth line is indicated by
the figure "10."

105:1 The word durmahu was employed as a Babylonian priestly title. It may here
be rendered by some such general phrase as "ruler," unless it is to be taken as
a proper name.

107:1 ... The expression rêshu-arkât, literally "the beginning--the future," may
be taken as implying Marduk’s complete control over the world, both at its
creation and during its subsequent existence. It is possible that s’u-nu is the
pronominal suffix and should be attached to the preceding word, i.e.
rêsh-arkâtu-shu-nu, "their beginning and future," that is, "the beginning and
future of mankind."

107:2 I.e., mankind.

111:1 From the commentary R. 366, etc., and the explanatory text S. 747, it may
be concluded that the Seventh Tablet, in its original form, ended at 1. 124. It
is probable that ll. 125-142 were added as an epilogue at the time when the
composition was incorporated in the Creation Series (see Appendix I).

111:2 I.e., the names of Marduk.

115:1 This is probably the last line of the tablet. It may here be noted that,
for the text of the Seventh Tablet given in the preceding pages, only those
fragments have been used which are proved by the commentaries to contain missing
portions of the text. Several other fragments, which from their contents and
style of writing may possibly belong to copies of the text, have not been.
included. The text of one such fragment (S. 2,013) is of peculiar interest and
is given in Appendix II; in l. 10 f. it refers to Ti-amat e-li-ti and Ti-amat
shap-li-ti, "The Ocean (Tiamat) which is above" and "The Ocean (Tiamat) which is
beneath," a close parallel to "the waters which were above the firmament" and
"the waters which were under the firmament" of Gen 1:7; see the Introduction.


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II.

Other Accounts of the History of Creation I. Another Version of the Dragon-Myth

OBV.

I. The cities sighed, men [...], 2. Men uttered lamentation, [they ...], 3. For
their lamentation there was none [to help], 4. For their grief there was none to
take [them by the hand].

5. Who was the dragon [...]?

6. Tiamat was the dragon [...]!

7. Bêl in heaven hath formed [...].

8. Fifty kaspu in his length, one kaspu [his height], 9. Six cubits is his
mouth, twelve cubits [his ...], 10. Twelve cubits is the circuit of his [ears
...];

11. For the space of sixty cubits he [...] a bird;

12. In water nine cubits deep he draggeth [...].

13. He raiseth his tail on high [...];

14. All the gods of heaven [...].

15. In heaven the gods bowed themselves down before [the Moon-god ...];

16. The border of the Moon-god’s robe they hasti[ly grasped]:

17. "Who will go and [slay] the dragon, 18. "And deliver the broad land [from
...], 19. "And become king [over ...]?"

20. "Go, Tishhu, [slay] the dragon, 21. "And deliver the broad land [from ...],
22. "And become king [over ...]?"

23. "Thou hast sent me, O lord, [to ...] the raging (creatures) of the river,
24. "But I know not the [...] of the Dragon!"

[The rest of the Obverse and the upper part of the Reverse of the tablet are
wanting.] Rev 1:1-20. [And ...] opened his mouth and [spake] unto the god [...]:

2 . "Stir up cloud, and storm [and tempest]!

3. "The seal of thy life [shalt thou set] before thy face, 4. "Thou shalt grasp
it, and thou shalt [slay] the dragon."

5. He stirred up cloud, and storm [and tempest], 6. He [set] the seal of his
life before his face, 7. He grasped it, and [he slew] the dragon.

8. For three years and three months, one day and [one night] 9. The blood of the
dragon flowed [...]}

Footnotes

117:1 For the text, see Cuneiform Texts, part xiii, pl. 33 f., Romans 282; for a
previous publication, cf. Delitzsch, Assyrisches Wörterbuch, p. 390 f.;
translations have been given by Zimmern in Gunkel’s Schöpfung und Chaos, pp. 417
ff., and by Jensen in Schrader’s Keilins. Bibl., vi, pp. 44 ff. Strictly
speaking, the text is not a creation legend, though it gives a variant form of
the principal incident in the history of creation according to the version Enuma
elish. In the tablet Romans 282 the fight with the dragon did not precede the
creation of the world, but took place after men had been created and cities had
been built; see further the Introduction.

117:2 The form of the name here used is Tâmtu, i.e., the Sea."

117:3 The kaspu is the space that can be covered in two hours travelling, i.e.,
about six or seven miles. These general dimensions of the size of the dragon are
in accordance with the statement made in l. 8f. of the reverse to the effect
that after the dragon had been slain his blood flowed for more than three years.
The. second measurement in the line is taken by Zimmern to refer to the dragon’s
breadth, but, as Jensen points out, this is not consistent with the measurement
of the mouth given in the following line. Even Zimmern’s readings of 60 GAR in
l. 10 and 65 GAR in l. 11 do not explain, but render still more anomalous, the ½
GAR in l. 9. Without going into the question of the probable length of the
Babylonian cubit, it is obvious that the dragon’s breadth can hardly have been
given as so many miles, if its mouth only measures so many feet. This difficulty
can be got over by restoring sîrûtishu in place of the suggested rupussu at the
end of l. 8. We then have a consistent picture of the dragon as a long thin
snake, rearing his head on high; his coils might well have been believed to
extend for three hundred or three hundred and fifty miles, and the raising of
his head in the air to a height of six or seven miles would not be inconsistent
with the measurement of his mouth as six cubits, i.e., some ten feet or more
across.

119:1 Lines 17-19 are the appeal of the gods to the Moon-god; ll. 20-22 contain
the address of the Moon-god to Tishhu; and ll. 23 ff. give Tishhu’s answer to
the Moon-god.

119:2 Jensen, ri-hu-ut, which he renders as "moisture." The plural, dalhûti, may
perhaps be explained by supposing that, according to this version also, the
dragon had other creatures to help her in the fight.

121:1 Jensen suggests the restoration ilu B[êl], which he deduces from the
traces upon the tablet as published by Delitzsch; for, as he states, the only
other restoration possible would be ilu I[shtaar], and this is rendered unlikely
by the masculine form of the imperatives in ll. 2 and 4. This would prove that
the slayer of the dragon was Bêl, or Marduk, in both the versions of the story.
As a matter of fact, the traces are incorrectly given by Delitzsch; they
represent the sign AN and not the conflate sign AN +EN (cf. Cun. Txts., pt.
xiii, pl. 34), and it is not possible to conclude from the text who is the hero
of this version.

121:2 Jensen suggests the restoration u [ . KAS-PU], i.e., "for three years,
three months, a day and [ . hours]." The trace of the next character after u is
the single diagonal wedge (cf. Cun. Txts., pt. xiii, pl. 34); according to
Jensen’s restoration this sign can only be the number "10," i.e. X KAS-PU,
"twenty hours," a not very probable reading. The diagonal wedge is more probably
the beginning of the sign MI, i.e. mûshu, and the end of the line may be
restored as umu IKAN u [mûshu IKAN]; this may be rendered "one day and one
night," or possibly, as Zimmern in his translation suggests, "day and night."

121:3 The lower part of the tablet is taken up with the common colophon found
upon tablets from Ashur-bani-pal’s palace.


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II. A Reference to the Creation of the Cattle and the Beasts of the Field 1.
When the gods in their assembly had made [the world], 2. And had created the
heavens, and had formed [the earth], 3. And had brought living creatures into
being [...], 4. And [had fashioned] the cattle of the field, and the beasts of
the field, and the creatures [of the city],-- 5. After [they had ...] unto the
living creatures [...], 6. [And between the beasts] of the field and the
creatures of the city had divided [...] 7. [And had ...] all creatures, the
whole of creation [...], 8. [And had ...], which in the whole of my family
[...], 9. [Then did] Nin-igi-azag [fashion] two small creatures [...].

10. [Among] all the beasts he made [their form] glorious 11. [...] the goddess
Gula ... [...] 12. [...] ... one white [and one black ...] 13. [...] ... one
white and one black [...] 14. [...] ... [...] [The rest of the text is wanting.]

Footnotes

123:1 For the text, see Cuneiform Texts, part xiii, pl. 34, D.T. 41; for a
previous publication, cf. Delitzsch, Assyrische Lesestücke, 3rd ed., p. 34 f.;
and for previous translations, see George Smith, The Chaldean Account of
Genesis, p. 76f., Zimmern in Gunkel’s Schöpfung und Chaos, and Jensen in
Schrader’s Keilins. Bibl., vi, p. 42 f. This fragment, which George Smith
suggested might be part of the Seventh Tablet of the Creation Series, does not
belong to that series; it contains the introduction or opening lines of a text,
and describes the creation of two small creatures by Nin-igi-azag, "The lord of
clear vision." The reference to the creation of cattle and beasts of the field
is merely incidental; it occurs in the long opening sentence and indicates the
period at which the two small creatures were made; see further the Introduction.

123:2 It is probable, that the second section of the text also dealt with the
two small creatures whose creation is described in the first paragraph.


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III. A reference to the Creation of the Moon and the Sun 1. When the gods Ana,
Enlil, and Enki 2. Through their sure counsel and by their great commands 3.
Ordained the renewal of the Moon-god, 4. The reappearance of the moon, and the
creation of the month, 5. And ordained the oracle of heaven and earth, 6. The
New Moon did Ana cause to appear, 7. In the midst of heaven he beheld it come
forth.

8. [Version]. When Anu, Bêl and Ea, 9. The great gods, through their sure
counsel 10. Fixed the bounds of heaven and earth, 11. (And) to the hands of the
great gods entrusted 12. The creation of the day and the renewal of the month
which they might behold, 13. (And) mankind beheld the Sun-god in the gate of his
going forth, 14. In the midst of heaven and earth they duly created (him).

Footnotes

127:1 I is interesting to note that in the Semitic version the creation of the
sun is substituted for that of the moon, although in the preceding line the
renewal of the month is referred to.


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/william-leonard-the-seven-tablets-of-creation/
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