Religion and humanity in mesopotamian myth and epic. Unfortunately, gilgameshs assets have gone to his head, and he spends all his time wearing out the young men of the city with endless athletic contests and sexually exploiting the. The enuma elish is a babylonian epic poem from the late second millennium, bce. Clifford, creation accounts in the ancient near east and in the bible, the catholic biblical quarterly monograph series 26, 1994, although his comments on the biblical texts include more theologically liberal assumptions than we feel are justified or helpful. Ashurbanipal 668627 bce had the copy made for his library at nineveh. Around 1100 bee the enuma elish stories were compiled from different sumerian and amorite stories to celebrate the military and political accomplishments of babylon and its rulers. Marduk, the supreme god of babylon, in a myth called the enuma elish, after slaying tiamat who personifies the flooding salt sea ocean, holds his bow up for praise and places it in the heavens as a bow star constellation, a type of memorial to his ending the threat of a flood to destroy the gods who dwelt on the earth. In this way, enuma elish shows a focus on structure, order, and division that is a common feature of many ancient near eastern creation accounts. Tiamat decided to take vengeance for the death of her husband so eas. It has also been hypothesized that this is a legend about the overthrow of the matriarchy or records of some cosmic catastrophe. Enuma elish stories g in 1849, austin henry layard, a collector of artifacts for the british museum, recovered a copy of the enuma elish stories from ashur at kouiuniik, iraq. The old babylonian creation concept as it is found in the enuma elish j. The apkallus play an important role in the poem of erra, which according to most scholars is babylonian. Oh, and hes also the strongest and most handsome man in the world.
It was recited on the fourth day of the babylonian new years festival. The following is a list of the gods of the mesopotamian pantheon but, as the mesopotamian people worshipped between 300 and different gods, it is by no means a complete listing. Enuma elish summary from litcharts the creators of. Parallels to the enuma elish stories appear in the book of genesis as well as in the books of exodus and psalms pss 8, 19, 50, 104. At dawn, a black cloud is seen on the horizon, thundering within where adad, lord of the storm was riding.
Marduk is akin to zeus in that he, like zeus, emerges as chief god. Ea and damkina beget marduk, whose physical splendor suggests his promise. Obviously the enuma elish was written well after the actual facts had started to fade. Enuma elish the babylonian creation myth 4 theories.
Selected texts with a minimum of commentary are available in bill t. The epic of gilgamesh quotes and analysis gradesaver. This is a myth written in akkadian cuneiform wedgeshaped script, comprising about 1,000 lines and recorded on seven clay tablets discovered in the 1800s. Semitic mythology myth encyclopedia greek, god, story. The creation of humans by a divine ruler, from the body of a dead god, demonstrates the close ties between creation, humanity, and religion in mesopotamian literature. The babylonian epic of creation enuma elish is written on seven tablets, each are between 115 and 170 lines long. Lambert and is used under creative commons license from the etana website. Freemasonry and the origins of modern temple ordinances. While marduk was venerated highly in babylon, enlil held that place in sumer. Thorkild jacobsen, in his work the treasures of darkness.
Ea then killed apsu and established himself as chief god. Creation accounts and ancient near eastern religions. Description of their contents 12420 sacred texts ancient near east index previous next the babylonian legends of creation, by e. Thus too, i understand that as the political fortunes of israel waxed and she triumphed over the canaanites, their gods and goddesses powers, epithets and feats were ascribed to yahweh. It tells the story of how the universe came into being, a great struggle among the gods, and the. The enuma elish has long been considered by scholars to be primary source material for the book of genesis. Its specific purpose and use was liturgical contrast, e. It is probable that every great city in babylonia, whilst accepting the general form of the creation legend, made the greatest of its local gods the hero of it.
Oh, and he s also the strongest and most handsome man in the world. The enuma elish the first tablet before the heavens had been named before the earth below had been named none but apsu the allfather, oldest of beings and mummutiamat mother who bore them, existed. Mesopotamian culture varied from region to region, from citystate to citystate and, because of this, marduk should not be regarded as king of the gods in the same way zeus ruled in greece. Despite the importance of this new retelling of the drama, the fact that jupiter shamash, zeus, jove, the most important god of antiquity, had returned from the dead in three days was long remembered parts of this. When the younger gods get together, their noisy clamor disturbs apsu and tiamat. Out of this mass there were evolved two orders of beings, namely, demons and gods.
How the serpent became satan biblical archaeology society. According to heidel its main purpose was as a praise of marduk, and was important in making that babylonian god head of the entire pantheon, through his deeds in defeating tiamat, and in creation of the universe. The god nabu, who was first marduks minister, later became identified as his son and then became his coregent at the helm of the babylonian pantheon. In time, more gods are begotten out of the mixing of the two gods watersnotably lahmu and lahamu, anshar, anu, and nudimmud, or ea. The poem consisted of some nine hundred and ninetyfour lines, and was divided into seven sections, each of which was inscribed upon a separate. The two verbs correspond to the postscript about how the composition came into being in the poem of erra itself. Moreover, it was only after their downfall, and in order to avenge them, that tiamat began her preparations for battle. Enuma elish the babylonian creation myth 5 separation of. One of the few scholars able to read and interpret ancient sumerian and akkadian clay tablets, zecharia sitchin 19202010 based his bestselling the 12th planet on texts from the ancient civilizations of the near east. In order to explain how marduk seized power, enuma elish, was written, which tells the story of marduks birth, heroic deeds, and becoming the ruler of the gods. In the beginning nothing whatever existed except apsu, which may be described as a boundless, confused and disordered mass of watery matter. Drawing both widespread interest and criticism, his controversial theories on the anunnaki origins of humanity have been translated into more than 20. Marduk at this telling of the enuma elish has become a creator god.
The first thing he did was an attempt to rewrite history to erase all the knowledge humans had of their own history and origins, putting himself in the position as god almighty. The story in genesis 23 contains no hint that he embodies the devil, satan or any other evil power. 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. 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. The enuma elis is the primary source for mesopotamian cosmology. The details of ea s action are still a matter of uncertainty, but, as i have shown in the introduction, it is clear that apsu and mummu were overthrown, and that their conqueror was ea. The bible is the book that we refer to as the holy scriptures.
Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read. This article about the enuma elish babylonian creation myth was originally written in the year 2007 for a seminar at the department of history of ideas, lund university, as a part of my dissertation in progress on creation myths and their patterns of thought. This can be viewed as a form of mesopotamian apologetics. Enuma elish excerpts enuma elish stories g in 1849. The absu, of which nothing more is heard of in all of the enuma elish after initial mention, becomes one of marduk s weapons, the net, along with another, called the flood. He catches the huge tiamat in a net, forces a fierce wind inside her mouth that distends her insides, and kills her with an arrow through her belly and heart. King translator from the seven tablets of creation, london 1902 a more complete etext of the seven tablets of creation is also available here. The first tablet when in the height heaven was not named, and the earth beneath did not yet bear a name, and the primeval apsu, who begat them. He even took on the task to rewrite the babylonian enuma elish sitchin 1985. In fact, the relevance of enuma elish is considerably less than has normally been thought, as an important paper by w.
I quote from civilisations of the ancient near east chapter theologies, priests, and worship in ancient mesopotamia by f. Scripture is a word that means that which is written. The importance of very long hair was that it afforded an appropriate veil of modesty even when in a naked state. Each of the early citystates had as its patron one of the deities of the pantheon, and the importance of the god rose and fell with the fortunes of its city. The gods gather in terror, but enlil his place in the enuma elish is later taken by enkis son marduk subdues and slays tiamat with the arrows of his winds which he shoots down her throat. The powers had no names their destinies had not been fixed. Recitation although enuma elish was clearly written to be read and not listened to, it may very possibly be based on stories that were originally orally transmitted, and it was recited at babylonian festivals. Saltwater tiamat warned the most powerful of these gods, ea, of apsus plan. The noun satan, hebrew for adversary or accuser, occurs nine times in the hebrew bible.
Schipper eds, imagining creation ijs studies in judaica 5. Enuma elish has more to do with the creation of the gods than the creation of humanity. A complete pdf of this rare book with illustrations can be found at etana. There were no fields or marshes before any gods came into being. The serpent in the garden of eden is portrayed as just that. In numbers 22, the prophet balaam, hired to curse the israelites, is stopped by a messenger from israels god yhwh, described as the satan acting on gods behalf. The gods of the mesopotamian region were by no means uniform in name, power, provenance or status in the hierarchy. But there is also little doubt that this story was written much earlier, during the time of the sumerians.
The bible is divided into categories in both the english and hebrew traditions. This motif is generally well attested in late babylonian representations. Enuma elish excerpts enuma elish stories g in 1849 austin. The gods are terrified, but then ea s son marduk, even stronger than ea, agrees to help in return for being appointed king of the gods. The gods gather in terror, but enlil his place in the enuma elish is later taken by enki s son marduk subdues and slays tiamat with the arrows of his winds which he shoots down her throat. The word bible comes from the greek word biblios, which means book. The brotherhood may have adopted the snake as its logo because eas first home on earth was said to have been constructed by a serpentinfested swampland which ea called snake. It is the cosmogonic myth that tells how the cosmos came into existence. The following translation comes from mesopotamian creation stories by w.
Marduk became a leader of the gods, just as babylon rose to power in the region. The origin and transmission of the bible home page. Enumaelish is not really a creation account at all. Berossos knows the reliefs of fishapkallus existed.
The serpent in the garden of eden and its background. Whether youve loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will find new books that are right for them. And if we superimpose the latter and in particular the epilogue of ghilgamesh, atrahasis, and enuma elish, to the biblical accounts, we are able to recognize very well in these characters the same personalities, the same attributes, the same gestures and the same familial diatribes of sumerians anunnaki, and in particular the two brother in. At babylon during the course of the akitu ceremony, which was performed during the last days of the year that was ending and the first days of the new year, the poem of creation, the enuma elish, was solemnly recited. Most important is ea s emphasis of seeking life instead of riches. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Gilgamesh, the son of a man and a goddess, is king of the ancient sumerian citystate of uruk. This translation of enuma elish is courtesy of by w. A history of mesopotamian religion, states, the gods who formed the assembly of the gods were legion. The tendency to ascribe compositions to apkallus is also attested in babylonian sources.
Easily share your publications and get them in front of issuus. So, components belonging to oral form may still be. Wiggermann the mesopotamian pantheon originally consisted of deified elements of nature that in the late fourth and early third millennium became male or female. Religion and humanity in mesopotamian myth and epic oxford. This chapter consists of the story that utnapishtim tells gilgamesh. The boat is launched into the water, loaded with utnapishtim s gold, his children and wife, other relatives, animals, and craftsmen. It was written on baked clay tablets about thirty inches high in the akkadian lan guage using cuneiform script. The deities of ancient mesopotamia, an overview e n e n. While ea is speaking of saving all the life in shuruppak, this line is also an important theme in the epic overall. Enuma elish the babylonian epic of creation full text.
In order to explain how marduk seized power, enuma elish, was written, which tells the story of marduk s birth, heroic deeds, and becoming the ruler of the gods. The new years celebration took place for 10 days the first to eleventh. Biblical scholar shawna dolansky examines how the serpent became satan. The poem consisted of some nine hundred and ninetyfour lines, and was divided into seven sections, each of which was inscribed upon a separate tablet. Enuma elish the babylonian creation myth 5 separation. The epic ends with the conferral upon marduk of fifty sacred titles, including the higher god eas own name, accompanied with the declaration. The mesopotamian pantheon ancient history encyclopedia. The assyrians appropriated the enuma elish and made asshur the supreme god, and marduk joined the 50 gods as merely a persona of asshur. Enuma elish is an epic poem written for oral recitation. It has long been surmised that the prominence of marduk in the legend was due to the political importance of the city of babylon. The enuma elish, especially, it is thought, the praise from tablet vii, would be sung or chanted during this procession. Issuu is a digital publishing platform that makes it simple to publish magazines, catalogs, newspapers, books, and more online.
Around 1100 bce the enuma elish stories were compiled from different sumerian and amorite stories to celebrate the military and political accomplishments of babylon and its rulers. Enuma elish the babylonian epic of creation tablet i. The enuma elish was read and recited widely throughout mesopotamia but was especially important at the new year festival in babylon. Anum list and the list in enuma elish were established by walther sommerfeld 1982, who used the correspondence to argue for a kassite period composition date of the enuma elish, although the direct derivation of the enuma elish list from the an. Fixed the broken link to the supporting scripture page supporting scripture page is basically just a. Before anything else exists, two primeval gods, apsu and tiamat, dwell together. Gilgamesh learns to seek a life of quality rather than quantity. Pritchard, ancient near eastern texts relating to the old testament 60 72 begins with apsu and tiamat, male and female deities, begetting other gods. On the contrary, tradition identifies marduk as enki ea s son, clearly affiliating him with the pantheon of eridu. Lambert therefore restores the passage according to the poem of erra. Seen in this light, one scholar has proposed a better title for enuma elish. It supposedly was written no later than the reign of nebuchadrezzar in the 12 th century b. It begins in shurrupak, a city built along the euphrates river. Sep 11, 2015 the catalogue here first quotes the first line of the poem of erra, then comes a lacunae, followed by two verbs.
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