Contents of this article
I. Introductory Remark
II. Outline of The Enuma-Elish
II. Contents of The Enuma-Elish
III. What Scholars are Saying About The Enuma-Elish
IV. The Importance of the Enuma-Elish
INTRODUCTION
The Enuma-Elish is an ancient creation myth which has relevance to anyone studying creation myths or, more specifically, anyone with interests in Biblical studies. There are significant parallels between the Enuma and the Genesis creation myth.OUTLINE OF THE ENUMA-ELISH
The Enuma-Elish, or Babylonian Creation Epic (1st millenium, B.C.), is a poem divided into seven cantos, or verses by being written on seven tablets and was repeated on the fourth day of the Babylonian New Year’s Festival. The Enuma Elish, (translated: "When on High", 900-200 B.C.E.) was first discovered in Ashurbanipal’s library at Nineveh in approximately 1850. It is written on seven tablets and, like the seven days of Genesis 1, has seven divisions. Here is an overview of the contents of each tablet:<4>Tablet 1: Describes primordial setting in which only Tiamat and Apsu exist. Marduk and other gods are created, discontentment arises between younger and older gods. Apsu decides to destroy them and Tiamat joins his cause.
Tablet 2: The older gods seek a warrior-champion. Marduk steps up as the warrior, but states that he wants the be head of the pantheon in exchange for his services.
Tablet 3: Marduk’s proposal is presented to Lahmu and Lahamu, Tiamat and Apsu’s oldest children. Marduk performs miracles to garner their approval. His proposal is accepted.
Tablet 4: Marduk and Tiamat’s battle is described. Marduk is victorious. He splits Tiamat’s carcass into two halves and uses them create the cosmos (heaven and earth).
Tablet 5: Marduk lays out the sun, stars, moon and constellations in the heavens and is crowned king of the gods.
Tablet 6: Humans are created to do the god’s bidding. Kingu, Tiamat’s consort and ally in the war, is slain and his blood is used to create lullu, the savage man.<5>
Tablet 7: Hymn of praise to Marduk chronicling his great works and accomplishments.
CONTENTS OF THE ENUMA-ELISH
Acknowledged as one of the oldest and most famous creation myths in existence, the Enuma is a combination of Mesopotamian creation traditions, showing influences from Sumeria (i.e. the primordial male/female water elements of Tiamat and Apsu are derived from the Sumerian primordials Nammu and Namma). <1>
The Enuma also shows influences from Babylon’s other cultural ancestors: Akkadia (the language of original Enuma, which also had seven divisions), and Assyria (which had an older creation myth of a man created from clay). Most of these belief systems are formally incorporated into Babylonian culture under the rule of Hammurabi (1728 B.C.E.). <2>
The Enuma records the rise to power of Marduk, the patron deity of the city of Babylon, who destroys a primordial monster (Tiamat), wins the favor of the other gods, creates the cosmos, creates humanity, and then establishes his kingdom of paradise (Babyl. Esagila) in his "crowning glory", the city of Babylon. The epic ends with an admonition for all to acknowledge Marduk and his accomplishments and praise him for his great works.<3>
Water (Apsu/Tiamat) is the prime element in the Enuma, but unlike the "gender-less" water (tehom) of Genesis, Apsu is male and Tiamat is the female water counterpart. Also unlike the primordial tehom of Genesis which is neither salt nor fresh water, Tiamat is salt water and Apsu is fresh. The union of these two primordial beings is how the deities, (especially Marduk) are created:
"…In the heart of Apsu was Marduk created…
In the heart of Holy Apsu was Marduk created
He who begat him was Ea, his father…". <6>There was also a version of the Enuma in Akkadian culture (the old Babylonian period, approx. 2,000 B.C.).<7> This document is the precursor to the version incorporated under Hammurabi’s rule. This earlier version of the creation epic chronicled the struggle between cosmic order and chaos, which and also narrates the creation of humanity by The Mother Goddess. <8>
"…When on high the Heaven had not been named, firm ground had
not been called by name, naught but primordial Apsu their begetter
(and) Mumm-Tiamat, she who bore them all, their waters
commingling as a single body…no reed hut had been made, no
marsh land had appeared….When no gods whatever had been
brought into being, uncalled by name, their destinies undetermined,
then it was that the gods were formed within them…" <9>In the creation of man narrative (tablet six), the basic theme is the creation of a man out of clay (Babyl. lullu "savage man", i.e. Adam), which is then mixed with the flesh and blood of a slain god. The primary deity in this story however is not Marduk, but his father, Enki:
"…The midwife of the Gods, the wise Mami: thou art the mother-
womb, the one who creates mankind! Create then, Lullu and let him
bear the yoke!….the work of god man shall bear!…with me the
doing of (this) not suitable; with Enki is (this) work (proper)
He purifies everything….
Let him give me the clay, then I will do (it)!…
…Let one god be slain….And let the gods be purified by immersion
In his flesh and blood….Let Nintu mix clay…..God and Man
Let them together be smeared with clay…" <10>Every Sumerian city had it’s own patron deity. As Babylon rose in power and influence, the priests of Babylon wanted to exalt their local god, Marduk as the head of the pantheon. The Enuma then, was used to achieve that end.<11> While the chronological superiority of the Sumerian gods was accepted, the Enuma tells the story of how Marduk, the son of Ea (Babylon), defended the older gods from the primeval monster, Tiamat (i.e. sea, chaos) and achieved his great glory as a warrior deity.<12> This would make the Enuma primarily a political document and a secondary theological text. As Babylon rose in its political might, Marduk’s might, ability and authority also grew in an effort to acknowledge his approval of Babylon’s increasing prosperity and reputation as a power in the Ancient Near Eastern world.
WHAT THE SCHOLARS SAY ABOUT THE ENUMA-ELISH
According to J.B. Pritchard, there are approximately 30 Near Eastern Creation Myths that are known about with the bulk of them being Egyptian (9) and Akkadian (11) in origin.<13> All of these texts can be found in Pritchard’s Ancient Near Eastern Texts, (Princeton University Press), 1969. Pritchard not only gives the translation of the texts, but also acknowledges missing and unclear sections, and catalogs all of the variations of any text that have been discovered.Pritchard lists a number of Sumerian creation myths (1732-1969 B.C.), which was the parent culture of Babylon. The Sumerian myths include: 1.The Paradise Myth of Enki and Ninhursag, 2.The Deluge, 3.Dumuzi and Enkidu, 4.Gilgamesh and Agga, 5.The myth of origin of the duties and powers of the gods.
There are also quite a few Akkadian creation myths (2000 B.C.E.) as well. These include: 1.The Akkadian creation epic (The original Enuma text); 2. A tablet of additions and variations to the creation epic (incomplete); 3. The epic of Gilgamesh; 4. A tablet of additions and variations to the Gilgamesh epic; 5. The creation of man by the Mother Goddess; 6. A cosmological incantation used in the creation; 7. A Babylonian Theogony; 8. Etana; 9. The Myth of Zu; and 10. Atrahasis, (which has three versions).
Freedman (1992) believes that to refer to The Enuma as "The (Babylonian) Creation Epic" is misleading because it needs to be read within the context of other Babylonian and Sumerian texts of the time. He also refers to the belief once held by some scholars that Marduk’s defeat of Tiamat is paralleled in the OT with Yahweh’s’ defeat of leviathan, Rahab, and other "monsters" of the OT. Freedman discounts these ideas also due to the flawed scholarship of reading them outside of their own cultural and historical context. <14>
Freedman also notes that Marduk and the city of Babylon do not achieve notoriety until Hammurabi’s rise to power in 1750 B.C. when he unifies Sumer and makes Babylon the capitol. He believes that The Enuma can be traced to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, in which it was used to justify the elevation of Marduk to the head of the Babylonian pantheon.<15> For Freedman then, the Enuma is a political document first and foremost and a theological document secondarily.
Keck (1994) ties the Enuma to earlier Akkadian texts such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, which deals with Marduk-warrior-type heroes (Enkidu and Gilgamesh) who are on a search for immortality. The authorship of the text is dated sometime in the second millenium.<16> Keck also ties The Enuma text to Atrahasis, which is a primeval deluge myth from Sumeria (2nd Millenium) which was written in Akkadian, the dominant language at the time.
These similarities are referred to as parallels, and there are two types. One is a cognate parallel, which means that both texts share a common origin or source. Another type of parallel is a typological parallel, such as a common element at the initiation of creation in the myth (i.e. primordial water, land, light, etc), a common deity, etc.<17> The parallels with the Enuma, Atrahasis, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and Genesis cover both types. All texts deal with the issues of intentional, creative acts by good-willed deity, and a opposing force that tries to destroy these acts, all have water as a prime element, and two deal with younger deities attempting to overthrow the older, more powerful deities.
Flanders (1963) focuses on the sense of order that the Enuma focuses on. In the Enuma, Marduk creates a well-ordered universe from a disorganized, chaotic cosmos by destroying the opposition and using their essence as a catalyst for his own creative efforts.<18> This is unlike the creation story of Genesis in which Yahweh creates the cosmos "ex nihilo", or from nothing (Heb. bara’: "acts that only God can do" or ‘asa: "make").<19>
Flanders goes on to point out the presence of a constant theme: A chaotic force that is diametrically opposed to the will of the gods and is constantly trying to destroy their work. Flanders notes that the theme of chaos personified is similar to the theme in the OT, but the difference lies in the fact that the in OT, this destructive force is always subject to the superior power and might of Yahweh, who always renders the opposition powerless. Such a theme in the Ancient Near East would be beneficial for a monarch in that the myth tells of the rewards of serving and obeying the king, and of the punishments associated with disobedience.
Beebe (1970) notes that that Enuma was part of a sacred ritual in Babylon that was associated with the spring planting season. The New Year opened with a 12-day festival that focused on the myth in which the king would be ritually humiliated before Marduk. Afterwards, the priests would pray for prosperity and fertility for Babylon and its people. Then the king and priests would reenact Marduk’s battle with Tiamat in a ritual. Afterwards, the king and a priestess of his choosing would reenact Marduk and Ishtar’s sacred marriage and consummation. <20>
While the king was consummating this symbolic and ritualistic marriage, the priests would be outside chanting and dramatizing Marduk’s conquest of Tiamat in battle. The king and another priestess would repeat this ceremony at the beginning of the next year.<21> Therefore, for Beebe, the Enuma served more as a sacred, ritualistic text than a political one. The King, acting as Marduk, and the Priestess as Ishtar, attempted to make the king’s castle Marduk’s castle, thereby making Babylon Marduk’s home of Esagila. The ceremony then, would create "heaven on earth" and usher in an age of limitless prosperity and fertility.
Bonnefoy (1991) focuses on the dualities which are interwoven throughout the Enuma. Initially Bonnefoy says that even though Tiamat and Apsu are opposites, they are both parts of a whole. Somehow therefore, the existence of opposites is both desirable and pleasurable since there is a sense of peace and tranquility during this primordial period. This duality however, produces a second generation of gods who bring even more opposition into the cosmos. Now, instead of having the calmer opposition of fresh and salt water, there are also more violent oppositions of youth and age, agitation versus peace, and finally, there is the creative conflict between Tiamat and Marduk.
Bonnefoy sees Tiamat as representing a more savage and primordial time with dragons, mad dogs, and giant vipers being her allies in battle. Marduk on the other hand represents change and progress. His allies are the four winds, his four-horse chariot, with the allies of Combat and Battle on his right side and Assualt on his left. The climax of the epic is not Marduk’s cosmic creative efforts, but when his building of the city of Babylon, his "crowning glory" and the fact that he and the gods rest there for eternity. For Bonnefoy, the Enuma is purely a literary work, which artfully depicts a story using a variety of literary devices, and he celebrates this aspect of the work over any political or theological aspects.
Leeming (1994) notes that the Enuma is probably part of an earlier Akkadian text based on some 2nd millenium Sumerian documents. Leeming is also fascinated with the fact that one god, Marduk does the tasks that are traditionally reserved for many other gods in the Babylonian pantheon, which makes the Enuma a unique text within Babylonian polytheistic cosmology.<22>
At the same time, Leeming notes that the Enuma also differs from the Genesis myth in that the Enuma concentrates more on the process of creation rather than on the results from it. In Babylonian culture, any type of craftsmanship was creation, and therefore the creative process itself would be of great importance.<23> Leeming also notes that for a people living by one river and also adjacent to the Persian Gulf, life had to be somewhat unpredictable. The Enuma therefore, by establishing Marduk as the divine creator, making him superior to both fresh and salt water, and making his abode in Babylon, brought a sense of predictability to their lives, and gave the people of Babylon a process appeal against acts of nature. <24>
Andrews (1998) makes note of the sense of cosmic order in the Enuma. Andrews sees the myth as a text that documents how Marduk, a powerful dragon-slayer deity, created the universe from chaos, and forms the earth, sea and sky from a primordial sea monster (Tiamat).<25> Andrews also notes the connective universal theme in the Enuma: everything "good" is created from "bad" Tiamat: Marduk uses her body to form heaven and earth, her spittle to form the clouds and her eyes to make the great Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
As a result, Marduk, who Andrews believes was initially god of water and/or the sun, is made chief-god of Babylon. As Babylon rose in fame and stature, Marduk’s power increased, and the worship of Marduk eventually approached the point of monotheism. This is important commentary to Andrews for the influence of Babylon and the perceived power of one deity in a polytheistic culture of the Ancient Near East.<26>
Brandon (1970) sees the Enuma as primarily a politically document which elevates the city of Babylon as the focal point of Ancient Sumerian culture, and Hammurabi (1728 B.C.) as the supreme of monarch of the region. When Babylon becomes the capitol of the provinces of Sumer and Akkad, they inherit the religion, culture, and literary traditions of Sumer.
Through the Gilgamesh Epic, with is sense of futility at the end, Brandon believes that Sumerians had a very pessimistic eschatology.<27> The Enuma then, with its glorious ending and ritualistic praise of not only of Marduk, but also of Babylon, served as a theological counterbalance for the people of the time. Brandon believes that the Enuma also associated the people of Babylon with Marduk’s rewards of long life, prosperity, fertility, and protection from demons.<28>
Matthews (1991) reaffirms the opinions of Freedman, Keck, and Leeming as he focuses primarily on the parallels between the Enuma, Atrahasis, and the Genesis creation narrative. Matthews also notes parallels to the Enuma found in the book of Exodus, and also in Psalms 8, 19, 50 and 104.<29> Matthews believes that Israel saw Yahweh (Heb. "The One who causes things to be") as their divine creator and warrior deity in much the same way that Babylon saw Marduk as theirs.
Matthews believes that once Yahweh is established and accepted as the cosmic creator through confronting the Red Sea and battling Pharaoh, creation stories began to appear in Hebrew Bible text. Tiamat in her dragon form, and her taunting of Marduk and his armies as they approach for battle is compared to Ps 74: 13-14:
"…You divided the sea by your might;
You broke the heads of the dragons in the waters
You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness…" <30>Matthews believes that Marduk’s defeat of Tiamat and him using her body to create heaven and earth parallels the text in Gen. 1:6-7:
"…And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters,
and let it separate the waters from the waters. So God made the
dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the
waters that were above the dome…"After this section in the Enuma, Marduk assigns the moon god to guard the night and "…mark the month with it’s phases…."<31> Matthews parallels this passage to the text of Gen. 1:15-16:
"…Let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the
earth….God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day
and the lesser light to rule the night---and the stars…"Matthews seems to be concerned with showing that the neither the Bible, nor any other sacred text from the Ancient Near East was created without being influenced by other traditions and other cultures. His approach is very anthropological and he doesn’t seem to be concerned about whether the Enuma or the Genesis myth were predominately political or theological texts, only that they both were written and influenced by people from other cultures.
IMPORTANCE OF THE ENUMA-ELISH
Why study this stuff? Why discuss these issues? Why write this document at all? As we study the Bible, whether we see it as Holy writ to live our lives by, or as a text that others hold sacred, we must keep a few things in mind in our thought processes:
- It is highly probable that Israel did not deny the existence of other deities. They simply chose to worship only one and that was Yahweh.<32>
- Many other Near Eastern Cultures acknowledged a supreme deity, or head of the pantheon, but Israel claimed that only Yahweh was to be Worshipped.<33>
Neither the Bible nor any other text sacred was created in a vacuum. Many times, even those of us who can be called "budding" scholars tend to cling to the belief that our particular sacred text was simply dropped from the sky in its present form. We need to be cognizant of the fact that these texts have gone through many changes, translations, and have been influenced by other cultures. This process not only influences the text, but the beliefs of the people as well.
As we have seen, The Enuma was influenced by Babylon’s rise to power in Sumeria, and the influence of its King, Hammurabi. Elevating their god, Marduk was meant to show their "manifest destiny" to become a world power. The Bible was also influenced by Ancient Near Eastern Cultures since Israel was a common trade route for all major countries. That means that the merchants who believed these various doctrines, traveled through Israel and brought their beliefs with them and tried to convince others of what they believed. What we see in the Bible is Israel’s attempt to assert their deity as being more powerful than any one else’s. This may be difficult to accept initially, but let me ask you: Are Christians any different in the way that different denominations attempt to show the superiority of their doctrines?
ENDNOTES
<1> Hastings James et al., Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. 2, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1967, p. 314.
<2> Brandon, S.G.F., et al. A Dictionary of Comparative Religion, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970, p. 124.
<3>Pritchard, James B., et al, Ancient Near Eastern Texts; Relating to the Old Testament, 3rd ed. with supplement, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969. p. 60-74.
<4>Walton John H., Ancient Israelite Literature in its own Cultural Context: A survey of parallels between Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Texts, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing, 1990, pp. 21-22.
<5> Out of the 17 scholars cited in this work, 70% of them agree that the deity slain was Kingu. However, the identity of the deity is not totally conclusive.
<6> Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p.60.
<7> ANET., p.60.
<8> Pritchard notes that much of this text is incomplete and poorly preserved.
<9> IBID., pp. 81-85.
<10> IBID.
<11> Brandon S.G.F., Dictionary of Comparative Religion, p. 260.
<12> IBID., p.262.
<13> ANET., pp. 55-64.
<14> Freedman, ABD, p.526.
<15> Lambert, W.G., "The Reign of Nebuchadnezzar I", The Seed of Wisdom, ed. W.S. McCullough, Toronto, 1964, pp. 3-13.
<16> Keck Leander, et al., The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 1, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994, p.232.
<17> Freedman, The Anchor Bible Dictionary., p. 939.
<18> Flanders Henry J., People of The Covenant: An Introduction To The Old Testament, New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1963, p. 58.
<19> Keck, NIB.,p.343.
<20> Beebe H. Keith, The Old Testament: An Introduction To Its Literary, Historical and Religious Traditions, Belmont, CA: Dickenson Publishing Company, 1970, p. 165.
<21> Beebe (1970), P. 164.
<22> Leeming David A., et al., Encyclopedia of Creation Myths, Santa Barbara, Ca: ABC-CLIO, 1994, p. 23.
<23> IBID., p. 24.
<24> Leeming (1994), p. 24.
<25> Andrews Tamara, Legends of Earth, Sea, and Sky: An Encyclopedia of Nature Myths, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1998, p.134.
13 Brandon S.G.F., Dictionary of Comparative Religion, p.126.
14 IBID.
15 Matthews Victor, Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East, New York: Paulist Press, 1991, p.7.
<26> Andrews (1998), p. 136.<27> Brandon S.G.F., Dictionary of Comparative Religion, p.126.
<28> IBID.
<29> Matthews Victor, Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East, New York: Paulist Press, 1991, p.7.
<30> All Biblical texts are taken from The Harper Collins Study Bible, Meeks, (1993).
<31> ANET, p. 64. <32> Placher William C., A History of Christian Theology: An Introduction, Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1983, p.20.<33> IBID.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Andrews Tamara, Legends of Earth, Sea, and Sky: An Encyclopedia of Nature Myths, (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO), 1998.Beebe H. Keith, The Old Testament: An Introduction to its Literary, Historical and Religious Traditions, (Belmont, CA: Dickenson Publishing Company), 1970.
Bonnefoy Yves, et al., Mythologies: A restructured translation of "Dictionaire des Mythologies et des Religions des Societes Traditionelles et du Monde Antique", vol. 1, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), 1991.
Brandon S.G.F., at al., A Dictionary of Comparative Religion, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons), 1970.
Eliade Mircea, et al., The Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 5, (New York: MacMillan Publishing), 1987.
Flanders Henry J., People of The Covenant: An Introduction to the Old Testament, (New York: The Ronald Press Company), 1963.
Freedman David Noel, et al., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 2, (New York: Doubleday), 1992.
Hastings James, et al., A Dictionary of the Bible: Dealing with its Language, Literature and Contents including Biblical Theology, vol. 1, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons), 1969.
________________, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. 2, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons), 1967.
Keck Leander, et al., The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 1, (Nashville: Abingdon Press), 1994.
Leeming David A., et al., Encyclopedia of Creation Myths, (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO) 1994.
Lambert W.G., "The Reign of Nebuchadnezzar I", The Seed of Wisdom, ed. W.S. McCullogh, (Toronto), 1964.
Matthews Victor H., Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from The Ancient Near East, (New York: Paulist Press), 1991.
Meeks Wayne A. et al., The Harper Collins Study Bible, (New York: Harper Collins Publishers), 1993.
Placher William C., A History of Christian Theology: An Introduction, (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press), 1983.
Pritchard James B. et al., Ancient Near Eastern Texts: Relating to the Old Testament, 3rd ed. (with supplement), (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press), 1969.
Walton John H., Ancient Israelite Literature in its own Cultural Context: A survey of parallels between Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Texts, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing) 1990.