of clay mixed with spit and the blood of the god Aw-ilu, who
dies in the process.
Enki, who regards humans as his creation because he
proposed creating them, warns Atrahasis, whose name means
“extremely wise,” to tear down his reed house and build a
boat to escape a great fl ood that Enlil is planning to send to
destroy humankind—aft er already having sent a plague, a
drought, and a famine. Th roughout, Enki acts as a savior to
humankind, fi lling the river with fi sh, for example, to feed
the people during the famine. Atrahasis complies, builds an
elaborate boat similar to Noah’s ark, and boards the boat with
his family and animals.
Th e fl ood rages for seven days. When it ends, Atrahasis
off ers sacrifi ces to the gods, who realize that by destroying
humans, they also have destroyed their labor force and the
source of food off erings to them. Enlil, who had been upset
by the noise of the cities that disturbed his sleep, is angry,
for he had planned to eliminate humans, but Enki stands up
to him; eventually the two reach an agreement about how
they will control the human population in the future. At this
point the story breaks off , and readers never learn the fate of
Atrahasis.
Th e Atrahasis epic closely parallels the story of the Great
Flood narrated in the 11th book of the Epic of Gilgamesh. In
comparing the two versions, scholars note many similarities
in language and detail, but they also see diff erences that show
the hand of an editor, who changed details. In particular, the
Atrahasis epic depicts the gods as having human character-
istics, such as the ability to experience hunger, thirst, and
fear. In the Epic Gilgamesh, these particulars are changed or
omitted, thereby giving the gods more divine, all-powerful
qualities.
THE ENÛMA ELISH
So far, the focus has been on myths of destruction, with
fl ooding as an important motif. Th e ancient Sumerians also
had a creation myth, one that, like the fl ood story, has many
parallels with the biblical account of Creation in the book
of Genesis. Th is creation myth, called Enûma Elish from
its fi rst words, meaning “when on high,” dates probably to
around the eighth century b.c.e. It was written in Akkadian
and, like the Gilgamesh epic, was found in fragmentary form
at the ruined library of Ashurbanipal. It consists of about
1,000 lines on seven tablets. While most of the fi ft h tablet is
lost, most of the rest of the text is relatively complete. Histo-
rians have concluded that the text was used in religious cer-
emonies and probably was read aloud to mark the beginning
of the new year.
Th e Enûma Elish focuses on Marduk, the greatest of the
gods. His greatness is attested to by the sixth and seventh tab-
lets, which record the 50 names by which he was known. Th e
origins of the world, at a time before the sky and the earth
were separated, are described in the fi rst tablet. Again, bibli-
cal historians note the similarly between this myth and the
account in Genesis, when “the earth was without form and
void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” At that
time, there were two gods, a male god named Apsu and a fe-
male goddess named Tiamat. Apsu is the god of freshwater
and Tiamat the goddess of the salt ocean waters, and it was as
bodies of water that these two gods existed.
Th ese two give birth to Lahmu and Lahamu, who are de-
picted as snakes and represent the life-giving silt of the riv-
ers, in much the same way that God in Genesis ordered “the
dry land appear” and separated the land from the water. Th ey
give birth to Anshar and Kishar, who in turn give birth to a
son named Anu, who gives birth to Ea. Although each new
generation of gods has more power than the previous genera-
tion, the younger gods become unruly and ill behaved. Th ey
refuse to listen to their father, Apsu, while the matriarch, Tia-
mat, does nothing to restrain them.
In disgust, Apsu decides to dispose of his progeny, but Ea
learns of his plans, casts a spell on him, and kills him while
he sleeps. Ea then builds a temple on the body of Apsu, where
he lives with his consort Damkina, who gives birth to a son,
Marduk, destined to be a hero-king. For Marduk’s amuse-
ment, Anu creates the four winds, which continuously dis-
turb Tiamat, the ocean, and fi nally goad her into action, with
the backing of the other gods. She decides to declare war on
Marduk, so she gathers an army of monsters and gods to fi ght
Marduk. Th is army was lead by Kingu, variously described as
her son and lover.
At this point, portions of the text are missing, so scholars
can only infer details, but when the story resumes, Marduk
has agreed to fi ght Tiamat, but only if his backers name him
the supreme god if he emerges victorious from the battle.
Armed with a bow, one arrow, a mace, lightning, a net, and
seven hurricanes and with his body fi lled with fi re, Mar-
duk goes off to do battle in his chariot. With his hurricanes
churning up the ocean, he challenges Tiamat to a battle and
then throws the net over her and her army. When she tries to
swallow him, he uses the hurricanes to split open her jaw and
a single arrow to rend her body. Now the supreme god, he sets
about creating the world, including humankind, doomed to
physical labor so that the gods can live in leisure.ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
BY JUSTIN CORFIELD
Literature in the Asia and Pacifi c regions of the ancient world
was well advanced, and many works survive from the period
either in original form or, more oft en, in later copies. During
the late 19th century and the early 20th centuries many of
these works were translated into European languages, mainly
English, and provide historians with an understanding of so-
ciety in the respective areas at the time.INDIA
Although some writing survives from the period of the In-
dus Valley civilizations from between 2500 and 1800 b.c.e.,
it comes from seals and short inscriptions and cannot reallyliterature: Asia and the Pacific 649