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The '''Enûma Eliš''' is the Babylonian or Mesopotamian creation epic. It was first discovered by modern scholars (in fragmentary form) in the ruined library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (Mosul, Iraq), recovered by Henry Layard in 1849.
The ''Enuma Elish'' has about a thousand lines and is recorded in Akkadian on seven clay tablets, each holding between 115 and 170 lines of text. The majority of Tablet V has never been recovered, but aside from this lacuna the text is almost complete. A duplicate copy of Tablet V has been found in Sultantepe, ancient Harran.
This epic is one of the most important sources for understanding the Babylonian worldview, centered on the supremacy of Marduk and the existence of mankind for the service of the gods. Its primary original purpose, however, is not an exposition of theology or theogony, but the elevation of Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, above other Mesopotamian gods.
The ''Enûma Elish'' has existed in various versions and copies from Babylonia as well as from Assyria. The version from Ashurbanipal's library dates to the 7th century BC. The story itself probably dates to the 18th century BC on account of the fact that this is the time when the god Marduk seemed to have a prominent status. Some scholars date it later (14th to 12th centuries BC.)

Contents

Summary

Relationship with the Tanakh

Editions and translations

References

See also

External links

Summary

The title, meaning "when on high" is the incipit. The first tablet begins:

:''e-nu-ma e-liš la na-bu-ú šá-ma-mu'':''šap-lish am-ma-tum šu-ma la zak-rat'':''ZU.AB''-ma reš-tu-ú za-ru-šu-un'':''mu-um-mu ti-amat mu-al-li-da-at gim-ri-šú-un'':''A.MEŠ''-šú-nu iš-te-niš i-ḫi-qu-ú-šú-un'':''gi-pa-ra la ki-is-su-ru su-sa-a la she-'u-ú'':''e-nu-ma ''DINGIR.DINGIR'' la šu-pu-u ma-na-ma''

: When on high heaven was not named,: And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name,: And the primeval Apsû, who begat them,: And chaos, Tiamat, the mother of them both,: Their waters were mingled together,: And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen;: When of the gods none had been called into being

The epic names three primeval gods: Apsu, the fresh water, Tiamat, the salt water, and their son Mummu, apparently the mist. Several other gods are created (Ea and his brothers) who reside in Tiamat's vast body. They make so much noise that it annoys Tiamat and Apsu greatly. Apsu wishes to kill the young gods, but Tiamat disagrees. The vizier, Mummu, agrees with Apsu's plan to destroy them. Tiamat, to stop this from occurring, tells Ea (Nudimmud), at the time the most powerful of the gods, who, using magic, puts Apsu into a coma and kills him, and shuts Mummu out. Ea then becomes the chief god, and along with his consort Damkina, has a son, Marduk, greater still than himself. Marduk is given wind to play with and he uses it to make dust storms and tornadoes. This disrupts Tiamat's great body and causes the gods still residing inside her to be unable to sleep.
They persuade Tiamat to take revenge for the death of her husband. Her power grows, and some of the gods join her. She creates 11 monsters to help her win the battle and elevates Kingu, her new husband, to "supreme dominion." A lengthy description of the other gods' inability to deal with the threat follows. Ultimately, Marduk is selected as their champion against Tiamat, and becomes very powerful. He defeats and kills Tiamat, and forms the world from her corpse. The subsequent hundred lines or so constitute the lost section of Tablet V.
The gods who sided with Tiamat are initially forced to labor in the service of the other gods. They are freed from their servitude when Marduk decides to slay Kingu and create mankind from his blood. Babylon is established as the residence of the chief gods. Finally, the gods confer kingship on Marduk, hailing him with fifty names. Most noteworthy is Marduk's symbolic elevation over Enlil, who was seen by earlier Mesopotamian civilizations as the king of the gods.

Relationship with the Tanakh

Many scholars have compared the creation story in the Enûma Eliš and the first creation story of Genesis, as well as parts of Exodus and some Psalms (8, 19, 50, 104).
Scholars who argue for similarities between Genesis and the Enuma Eliš make the following points:

★ Genesis 1 describes six days of creation, followed by a day of rest; the Enûma Eli describes six generations of gods, whose creations parallel the days in Genesis, followed by a divine rest.

★ In both stories, creation begins with light and ends with humankind, created for "the service of the gods" from the blood and bone of Kingu according to the Enûma Eliš (see also TI (cuneiform)).

★ Also, the goddess Tiamat parallels the primordial ocean in Genesis; the Hebrew word used in Genesis for the primordial ocean is "t^ehôm" which has the same etymological root as "Tiamat". This has led many to conclude that the two accounts are related, perhaps sharing a common origin or that possibly one of the accounts is a modified form of the other.
Scholars who argue against similarities between Genesis and the Enuma Eliš make the following points:

★ Assuming that both accounts represent written versions of a narrative transmitted orally for many years, analysis according to Olrik's principles lessens the possibility that they are related.

★ Genesis 1 to 2:1-3 details seven days of creation, the last being the day that Sabbath was created. However, the text of Enuma Eliš linked to below records six generations of gods including Apsu and Marduk.

★ Enuma Eliš lists one begetter and two creators, the latter being Ummu-Hubur and Marduk, where in Genesis 1 there is one creator and no begetter.

★ Enuma Eliš describes the revolt of Ummu-Hubur and Tiamat and its defeat by Marduk, an incident completely missing from Genesis 1. See sections 148 to 150 of Olrik.

★ Without better correspondence of events, linguistic associations, such as seeing Tiamat as related to Hebrew tehom, are inconclusive; see section 147 of Olrik.

★ While the words in the Enuma Eliš reflect actual Mesopotamian place names, such evidence of what Olrik calls horizon are completely missing from Genesis 1. (Horizon is described in sections 109 to 118 of Olrik.)

★ On the other hand, the rivers of Eden and the term Eden ''are'' part of the Mesopotamian horizon (Hamblin, Armstrong) -- but chapter 2 of Genesis is completely different in structure from the Enuma Eliš.

★ Though, in the Enûma Eliš, Tiamat controlled saltwater seeping into the water table, so some scholars think there is just a mutual root in the concept of saltwater.

★ Both the Enuma Eliš and Genesis describe the creation of earth and man is simply a common theme in mythology and not in itself proof that they are related. (Olrik, section 152)

Editions and translations

★ ''Seven Tablets of Creation'', Luzac's Semitic Text and Translation Series, No 12 & 13, ISBN 978-0404113445 (1973).

★ L. W. King, ''Enuma Elish: The Seven Tablets of Creation'', London (1902); 1999 reprint ISBN 978-1585090433; 2002 reprint ISBN 1402159056.

★ Anton Deimel, ''Enuma eliš'' (1936).

★ W. C. Lambert, S. B. Parker, ''Enuma Eliš. The Babylonian Epic of Creation'', Oxford (1966).

References

★ Olrik, Axel (Kirsten Wolf and Jody Jensen trs.) Principles for Oral Narrative Research, Indiana University Press 1992

★ Hamblin, D.J., “Has the Garden of Eden Been Located At Last?”, Smithsonian Magazine, 18:2, May 1987.

★ Armstrong, James A. “West of Edin: Tell al-Deylam and the Babylonian City of Dilbat,” Biblical Archaeologist, Volume 55, 1992 (2001 electronic ed.)

★ Victor Harold Matthews, Don C. Benjamin, ''Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East'' (1997), ISBN 0809137313.

★ F. N. H. Al-Rawi; J. A. Black, A New Manuscript of Enūma Eliš, Tablet VI, Journal of Cuneiform Studies (1994).

★ H. L. J. Vanstiphout, ''Enūma eliš: Tablet V Lines 15-22'', Journal of Cuneiform Studies (1981).

★ B. Landsberger, J. V. Kinnier Wilson, The Fifth Tablet of Enuma Eliš, Journal of Near Eastern Studies (1961).

★ Theodor H. Gaster, ''Psalm 29'', The Jewish Quarterly Review (1946).

★ Arvid S. Kapelrud, ''The Mythological Features in Genesis Chapter I and the Author's Intentions'', Vetus Testamentum (1974).

See also

★ Theogony

★ Religions of the Ancient Near East

★ Mesopotamian pantheon

★ Creation myth

External links

★ http://wikisource.org/wiki/Enuma_Elish

★ The full surviving text of the Enûma Elish

★ Genesis and Enûma Elish creation myth comparisons

★ Drawings of the tablets, plus translation key, by P. Antonius Deimel S.I. (Latin)