Being now at the mercy of the conqueror, the divine victor soon made an end of the enemy of the gods, upon whose mutilated body, when dead, he stood triumphantly. Great fear now overwhelmed the gods who had gone over to her side, and fought against the heavenly powers, and they fled to save their lives. Powerless to escape, however, they were captured, and their weapons broken to pieces. Notwithstanding their cries, which filled the vast region, they had to bear the punishment which was their due, and were shut up in prison. The creatures whom Tiamtu had created to help her and strike terror into the hearts of the gods, were also brought into subjection, along with Kingu, her husband, from whom the tablets of fate were taken by the conqueror as things unmeet for Tiamtu's spouse to own. It is probable that we have here the true explanation of the origin of this remarkable legend, for the tablets of fate were evidently things which the king of heaven alone might possess, and Merodach, as soon as he had overcome his foe, pressed his own seal upon them, and placed them in his breast.
He had now conquered the enemy, the proud opposer of the gods of heaven, and having placed her defeated followers in safe custody, he was able to return to the dead and defeated Dragon of Chaos. He split open her skull with his unsparing weapon, hewed asunder the channels of her blood, and caused the north wind to carry it away to hidden places. His fathers saw this, and rejoiced with shouting, and brought him gifts and offerings.
[pg 026]And there, as he rested from the strife, Merodach looked upon her who had wrought such evil in the fair world as created by the gods, and as he looked, he thought out clever plans. Hewing asunder the corpse of the great Dragon that lay lifeless before him, he made with one half a covering for the heavens, keeping it in its place by means of a bolt, and setting there a watchman to keep guard. He also arranged this portion of the Dragon of Chaos in such a way, that “her waters could not come forth,” and this circumstance suggests a comparison with “the waters above the firmament” of the Biblical story in Genesis.
Passing then through the heavens, he beheld that wide domain, and opposite the abyss, he built an abode for the god Nudimmud, that is, for his father Aa as the creator.
With these words, which are practically a description of the creation or building, by Merodach, of the heavens, the fourth tablet of the Babylonian legend of the Creation comes to an end. It is difficult to find a parallel to this part of the story in the Hebrew account in Genesis.
The fifth tablet of the Babylonian story of the Creation is a mere fragment, but is of considerable interest and importance. It describes, in poetical language, in the style with which the reader has now become fairly familiar, the creation and ordering, by Merodach, of the heavenly bodies, as the ancient Babylonians conceived them to have taken place. The text of the first few stanzas is as follows—
[pg 027]The final lines of this portion seem to refer to the moon on the 7th and other days of the month, and [pg 028] would in that case indicate the quarters. “Sabbath” is doubtful on account of the mutilation of the first character, but in view of the forms given on pl. II. and p. 527 (šapattum, šapatti) the restoration as šapattu seems possible. It is described on p. 527 as the 15th of the month, but must have indicated also the 14th, according to the length of the month.
An exceedingly imperfect fragment of what is supposed to be part of the fifth tablet exists. It speaks of the bow with which Merodach overcame the Dragon of Chaos, which the god Anu, to all appearance, set in the heavens as one of the constellations. After this comes, apparently, a fragment that may be regarded as recording the creation of the earth, and the cities and renowned shrines upon it, the houses of the great gods, and the cities Nippuru (Niffer) and Asshur being mentioned. Everything, however, is very disconnected and doubtful.
The sixth tablet, judging from the fragment recognized by Mr. L. W. King, must have been one of special interest, as it to all appearance contained a description of the creation of man. Unfortunately, only the beginning of the text is preserved, and is as follows:—
Here come the remains of ten very imperfect lines, which probably related the consent of the other gods to the proposal, and must have been followed by a description of the way in which it was carried out. All this, however, is unfortunately not preserved. That the whole of Merodach's work received the approval of “the gods his fathers” is shown by the remains of lines with which the sixth tablet closes:—
What they proclaimed and announced was apparently his glorious names, as detailed in the seventh and last tablet of the series, which was regarded by George Smith as containing an address to primitive man, but which proves to be really an address to the god Merodach praising him on account of the great work that he had done in overcoming the Dragon, and in thereafter ordering the world anew. As this portion forms a good specimen of Babylonian poetry at its best, the full text of the tablet, with the exception of some short remains of lines, is here presented in as careful a translation as is at present possible.
The Seventh Tablet Of The Creation-Series, Also Known As The Tablet Of The Fifty-One Names.
1 Asari, bestower of planting, establisher of irrigation.
2 Creator of grain and herbs, he who causes verdure to grow.
[pg 030]3 Asari-alim, he who is honoured in the house of counsel, [who increases counsel?].
4 The gods bow down to him, fear [possesses them?].
5 Asari-alim-nunna, the mighty one, light of the father his begetter.
6 He who directs the oracles of Anu, Bel, [and Aa].
7 He is their nourisher, who has ordained....
8 He whose provision is fertility, sendeth forth....
9 Tutu, the creator of their renewal, [is he?].
10 Let him purify their desires, (as for) them, let them [be appeased].
11 Let him then make his incantation, let the gods [be at rest].
12 Angrily did he arise, may he lay low [their breast].
13 Exalted was he then in the assembly of the gods....
14 None among the gods shall [forsake him].
15 Tutu.1 “Zi-ukenna,” “life of the people”
16 “He who fixed for the gods the glorious heavens;”
17 Their paths they took, they set
18 May the deeds (that he performed) not be forgotten among men.
19 Tutu. “Zi-azaga,” thirdly, he called (him),—“he who effects purification,”
20 “God of the good wind,” “Lord of hearing and obedience,”
21 “Creator of fulness and plenty,” “Institutor of abundance,”
22 “He who changes what is small to great,”
23 In our dire need we scented his sweet breath.
24 Let them speak, let them glorify, let them render him obedience.
25 Tutu. “Aga-azaga,” fourthly, May he make the crowns glorious,
26 “The lord of the glorious incantation bringing the dead to life,”
27 “He who had mercy on the gods who had been overpowered,”
[pg 031]28 “He who made heavy the yoke that he had laid on the gods who were his enemies,
29 (And) for their despite (?), created mankind.”
30 “The merciful one,” “He with whom is lifegiving,”
31 May his word be established, and not forgotten,
32 In the mouth of the black-headed ones (mankind) whom his hands have made.
33 Tutu. “Mu-azaga,” fifthly, May their mouth make known his glorious incantation,
34 “He who with his glorious charm rooteth out all the evil ones,”
35 “Sa-zu,” “He who knoweth the heart of the gods,” “He who looketh at the inward parts,”
36 “He who alloweth not evil-doers to go forth against him,”
37 “He who assembleth the gods,” appeasing their hearts,
38 “He who subdueth the disobedient,”...
39 “He who ruleth in truth (and justice”), ...
40 “He who setteth aside injustice,” ...
41 Tutu. “Zi-si” (“He who bringeth about silence”), ...
42 “He who sendeth forth stillness.” ...
43 Tutu. “Suḫ-kur,” “Annihilator of the enemy,” ...
44 “Dissolver of their agreements,” ...
45 “Annihilator of everything evil.” ...
About 40 lines, mostly very imperfect, occur here, and some 20 others are totally lost. The text after this continues:—
107 “Then he seized the back part (?) of the head,which he pierced (?),
108 And as Kirbiš-Tiamtu he circumvented restlessly,
109 His name shall be Nibiru, he who seized Kirbišu (Tiamtu).
[pg 032]110 Let him direct the paths of the stars of heaven,
111 Like sheep let him pasture the gods, the whole of them.
112 May he confine Tiamtu, may he bring her life into pain and anguish,
113 In man's remote ages, in lateness of days,
114 Let him arise, and he shall not cease, may he continue into the remote future
115 As he made the (heavenly) place, and formed the firm (ground),
116 Father Bêl called him (by) his own name, “Lord of the World,”
117 The appellation (by) which the Igigi have themselves (always) called him.
118 Aa heard, and he rejoiced in his heart:
119 Thus (he spake): “He, whose renowned name his fathers have so glorified,
120 He shall be like me, and Aa shall be his name!
121 The total of my commands, all of them, let him possess, and
122 The whole of my pronouncements he, (even) he, shall make known.”
123 By the appellation “fifty” the great gods
124 His fifty names proclaimed, and they caused his career to be great (beyond all).
125 May they be accepted, and may the primæval one make (them) known,
126 May the wise and understanding altogether well consider (them),
127 May the father repeat and teach to the son,
128 May they open the ears of the shepherd and leader.
129 May they rejoice for the lord of the gods, Merodach,
130 May his land bear in plenty; as for him, may he have peace.
[pg 033]131 His word standeth firm; his command changeth not—
132 No god hath yet made to fail that which cometh forth from his mouth.
133 If he frown down in displeasure, he turneth not his neck,
134 In his anger, there is no god who can withstand his wrath.
135 Broad is his heart, vast is the kindness (?) of (his) ...
136 The sinner and evildoer before him are (ashamed?).”
The remains of some further lines exist, but they are very uncertain, the beginnings and ends being broken away. All that can be said is, that the poem concluded in the same strain as the last twelve lines preserved.
In the foregoing pages the reader has had placed before him all the principal details of the Babylonian story of the Creation, and we may now proceed to examine the whole in greater detail.
If we may take the explanation of Damascius as representing fairly the opinion of the Babylonians concerning the creation of the world, it seems clear that they regarded the matter of which it was formed as existing in the beginning under the two forms of Tiamtu (the sea) and Apsû (the deep), and from these, being wedded, proceeded “an only begotten son,” Mummu (Moumis), conceived by Damascius to be “no other that the intelligible world proceeding from the two principles,” i.e. from Tiamtu and Apsû. From these come forth, in successive generations, the other gods, ending with Marduk or Merodach, also named Bêl (Bêl-Merodach), the son of Aa (Ea) and his consort Damkina (the Aos and Dauké of Damascius).
Judging from the material that we have, the Babylonians seemed to have believed in a kind of evolution, for they evidently regarded the first creative [pg 034] powers (the watery waste and the abyss) as the rude and barbaric beginnings of things, the divine powers produced from these first principles (Laḫmu and Laḫamu, Anšar and Kišar, Anu, Ellila, and Aa, and finally Marduk), being successive stages in the upward path towards perfection, with which the first rude elements of creation were ultimately bound to come into conflict; for Tiamtu, the chief of the two rude and primitive principles of creation, was, notwithstanding this, ambitious, and desired still to be the creatress of the gods and other inferior beings that were yet to be produced. All the divinities descending from Tiamtu were, to judge from the inscriptions, creators, and as they advanced towards perfection, so also did the things that they created advance, until, by contrast, the works of Tiamtu became as those of the Evil Principle, and when she rebelled against the gods who personified all that was good, it became a battle between them of life and death, which only the latest-born of the gods, elected in consequence of the perfection of his power, to be king and ruler over “the gods his fathers,” was found worthy to wage. The glorious victory gained, and the Dragon of Evil subdued and relegated to those places where her exuberant producing power, which, to all appearance, she still possessed, would be of use, Merodach, in the fulness of his power as king of the gods, perfected and ordered the universe anew, and created his crowning work, Mankind. Many details are, to all appearance, wanting on account of the incompleteness of the series, but those which remain seem to indicate that the motive of the whole story was as outlined here.
In Genesis, however, we have an entirely different account, based, apparently, upon a widely different conception of the origin of the Universe, for one principle only appears throughout the whole narrative, be it Elohistic, Jehovistic, or priestly. “In the beginning [pg 035] God created the heavens and the earth,” and from the first verse to the last it is He, and He alone, who is Creator and Maker and Ruler of the Universe. The only passage containing any indication that more than one person took part in the creation of the world and all that therein is, is in verse 26, where God is referred to as saying, “Let us make man,” but that this is simply the plural of majesty, and nothing more, seems to be proved by the very next verse, where the wording is, “and God made man in his own image,” etc. There is, therefore, no trace of polytheistic influence in the whole narrative.
Let us glance awhile at the other differences.
To begin with, the whole Babylonian narrative is not only based upon an entirely different theory of the beginning of all things, but upon an entirely different conception of what took place ere man appeared upon the earth. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” implies the conception of a time when the heavens and the earth existed not. Not so, seemingly, with the Babylonian account. There the heavens and the earth are represented as existing, though in a chaotic form, from the first. Moreover, it is not the external will and influence of the Almighty that originates and produces the forms of the first creatures inhabiting the world, but the productive power residing in the watery waste and the deep:
It is question here of “seeding” (zaru) and “bearing” (âlādu), not of creating.
The legend is too defective to enable us to find out anything as to the Babylonian idea concerning the formation of the dry land. Testimony as to its non-existence [pg 036] at the earliest period is all that is vouchsafed to us. At that time none of the gods had come forth, seemingly because (if the restoration be correct) “the fates had not been determined.” There is no clue, however, as to who was then the determiner of the fates.
Then, gradually, and in the course of long-extended ages, the gods Laḫmu and Laḫamu, Anšar and Kišar, with the others, came into existence, as already related, after which the record, which is mutilated, goes on to speak of Tiamtu, Apsū, and Mummu.
These deities of the Abyss were evidently greatly disquieted on account of the existence and the work of the gods of heaven. They therefore took counsel together, and Apsū complained that he could not rest either night or day on account of them. Naturally the mutilated state of the text makes the true reason of the conflict somewhat uncertain. Fried. Delitzsch regarded it as due to the desire, on the part of Merodach, to have possession of the “Tablets of Fate,” which the powers of good and the powers of evil both wished to obtain. These documents, when they are first spoken of, are in the hands of Tiamtu (see p. 19), and she, on giving the power of changeless command to Kingu, her husband, handed them to him. In the great fight, when Merodach overcame his foes, he seized these precious records, and placed them in his breast—