Mythology Book

188

T

he Enuma Elish (“When

on High”) is a collection of

seven tablets recovered in

1849 from King Ashurbanipal II’s

library in Nineveh, Iraq. The tablets

shed light on Babylonian beliefs

about creation. Their purpose,

however, in charting the rise of

Marduk as the chief god of Babylon

was also to reinforce the power

of the city’s king as the god’s

representative on earth. The title

Enuma Elish comes from the

opening line, which acted as

a declaration of spatial location,

expressing the belief that the gods

were above everything that would

exist. There are also frequent

reminders that of all the things in

heaven and on earth, “none bore a

name.” To the Babylonians, nothing

in the world could exist unless the

gods had named it.

Family of gods

According to the Enuma Elish, in

the beginning there was nothing

except sweet water and salt water.

The sweet water was the god

Apsu, and the salt water was the

goddess Tiamat. When the two

waters mixed together, they gave

birth to the first generation of gods.

Disturbed by the noisy chatter of

the new gods, Apsu decided to kill

what he and Tiamat had created.

When the most intelligent god,

Ea, discovered his father’s plot, he

preempted it by killing Apsu and

built a water temple out of his body.

IN BRIEF

THEME

Order over chaos

SOURCES

Enuma Elish (“When on

High”), Anonymous, 17th–11th

century bce; Before the Muses:

An Anthology of Akkadian

Literature, Ben Foster, 1993.

SETTING

The heavens and Babylon.

KEY FIGURES

Apsu Father of the gods.

Tiamat Mother of the gods;

goddess of the sea.

Qingu Tiamat’s warrior

husband.

Ea Husband of Damkina and

father of Marduk.

Marduk King of the gods in

the Babylonian religion; son

of Ea and Damkina.

Marduk kills Tiamat, the sea

goddess in dragon form, in this

illustration by Evelyn Paul from

Lewis Spence’s Myths and Legends

of Babylonia and Assyria (1916).

COMMAND AND BRING

ABOUT ANNIHILATION

AND RE-CREATION

MARDUK AND TIAMAT

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ASIAASIA 189

Marduk-balatsu-ikbi, one of several

Babylonian kings who bore the god’s

name, and his dagger bearer Adad-etir

on a 9th-century bce stone stela

dedicated to the king by his eldest son.

See also: The war of the gods and Titans 32–33 ■ The epic of Gilgamesh 190–97 ■ Ahura Mazda and Ahriman 198–99

When Tiamat discovered that Apsu

had been killed, she made terrible

monsters and demons rise up and

vowed to destroy every one of the

gods. She created a warrior named

Qingu, made him her husband, and

gave him the Tablet of Destinies

that held the fate of all living

things. Fearing their mother’s

power, the gods needed someone

to defeat Tiamat. Ea and his wife,

Damkina, had a son, Marduk, who

was filled with greater strength and

wisdom than either of his parents.

He was also said to have a divine

radiance—called melammu in

Akkadian, the language of Babylon.

A new leader

Marduk convinced the other gods

that he could defeat Tiamat if they

gave him their power and made

him their king. After much debate,

they agreed. Marduk attacked

Tiamat, capturing her in his net

and killing her. Marduk then ripped

her body in two, and made the

heavens from one half, and the

Earth from the other. Marduk used

her eyes to form the Tigris and

Euphrates rivers—hence the Greek

name, “Mesopotamia,” which

means “between the rivers.” After

defeating Tiamat, Marduk attacked

and destroyed her husband, Qingu,

Akitu festival

The city of Babylon celebrated

the Akitu festival at their New

Year in the month of March or

April. The word Akitu means

“barley,” which was harvested

in spring. During this festival,

which occurred over 12 days, an

elaborate enactment of the

Enuma Elish was performed.

The statue of Marduk, the city’s

main deity, was paraded around

the streets and taken to a

“house” outside the city to the

north. This was to signify the

time in which chaos ruled. To

reestablish order, Marduk was

marched back into the city from

the house to his throne in the

Esagila, his temple in the center

of Babylon. The king would go

to the temple to greet Marduk

and kneel before his statue. The

high priest would then strike

the king on the cheek, hard

enough to bring tears to his

eyes—a sign of the king’s

humility and a reminder that the

king ruled by Marduk’s authority

and was subject to the god.

Everyone in Babylon took

part in the festival, regardless of

their class. In doing so, people

came together to reaffirm their

beliefs. The Akitu rituals date

back to the 2nd millennium ce or

even earlier, and continued into

the Common Era. The Roman

emperor Elagabalus, a Syrian

(r. 212–222 ce), is said to have

introduced the festival into Italy.

and made humankind from his

blood. The gods were puzzled by

this, but Marduk explained that

humans would be useful servants.

He then created Babylon to be the

earthly home of the gods and their

entrance to earth from the heavens;

Babylon (or Babilim in A kkadian),

means “gateway of the gods.”

In contrast with its initial

emphasis on the namelessness of

everything, the myth ended by

declaring Marduk king of all the

gods and proclaiming all of his 50

names, many of which were related

to gods whose power he had taken.

Its dominant theme of Marduk’s

supremacy may mean that the work

dates from the 17th century bce,

when Babylon was the great capital

of Mesopotamia, or later, when the

city was being rebuilt and seeking

to reestablish its status. As a text,

the Enuma Elish illustrates how the

Babylonians viewed creation as a

triumph of the gods over chaos. ■

If indeed I am to champion

you, subdue Tiamat, and save

your lives, convene the

assembly, nominate me

for supreme destiny!

Before the Muses

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