The Babylonian Legends of the Creation, Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge [best short books to read .TXT] 📗

B.C., at Nimrûd. [Nimrûd Gallery, Nos. 28 and 29.]]

 

At this point a new Text fills a break in the First Tablet, and

describes the fight which took place between Nudimmud or Ea, (the

representative of the established “order” which the rule of the gods had

introduced into the domain of Apsû and Tiâmat) and Apsû and his envoy

Mummu. Ea went forth to fight the powers of darkness and he conquered

Apsû and Mummu. The victory over Apsû, i.e., the confused and boundless

mass of primeval water, represents the setting of impassable boundaries

to the waters that are on and under the earth, i.e., the formation of

the Ocean. The exact details of the conquest cannot be given, but we

know that Ea was the possessor of the “pure (or white, or holy)

incantation” and that he overcame Apsû and his envoy by the utterance of

a powerful spell. In the Egyptian Legend of Ra and Aapep, the

monster is rendered spell-bound by the god Her-Tuati, who plays in it

exactly the same part as Ea in the Babylonian Legend.

 

When Tiâmat heard of Ea’s victory over Apsû and Mummu

she was filled with fury, and determined to avenge the death

of Apsû, her husband.

 

The first act of TIÂMAT after the death of Apsû was to increase the

number of her allies. We know that a certain creature called

“UMMU-KHUBUR” at once spawned a brood of devilish monsters to help her

in her fight against the gods. Nothing is known of the origin or

attributes of UMMU-KHUBUR, but some think she was a form of TIÂMAT. Her

brood probably consisted of personifications of mist, fog, cloud, storm,

whirlwinds and the blighting and destroying powers which primitive man

associated with the desert. An exact parallel of this brood of devils is

found in Egyptian mythology where the allies of Set and Aapep are

called “Mesu betshet” i.e., “spawn of impotent revolt.” They are

depicted in the form of serpents, and some of them became the “Nine

Worms of Amenti” that are mentioned in the Book of the Dead

(Chap. Ia).

 

Not content with Ummu-Khubur’s brood of devils, Tiâmat called the

stars and powers of the air to her aid, for she “set up” (1) the

Viper, (2) the Snake, (3) the god Lakhamu, (4) the Whirlwind, (5) the

ravening Dog, (6) the Scorpion-man, (7) the mighty Storm-wind, (8) the

Fish-man, and (9) the Horned Beast. These bore (10) the “merciless,

invincible weapon,” and were under the command of (11) Kingu, whom

Tiâmat calls “her husband.” Thus Tiâmat had Eleven mighty Helpers

besides the devils spawned by Ummu-Khubur. We may note in passing

that some of the above-mentioned Helpers appear among the Twelve Signs

of the Zodiac which Marduk “set up” after his conquest of Tiâmat,

e.g., the Scorpion-man, the Horned Beast, etc. This fact

suggests that the first Zodiac was “set up” by Tiâmat, who with her

Eleven Helpers formed the Twelve Signs; the association of evil with

certain stars may date from that period. That the Babylonians regarded

the primitive gods as powers of evil is clear from the fact that

Lakhamu, one of them, is enumerated among the allies of Tiâmat.

 

The helpers of Tiâmat were placed by her under the command of a god

called KINGU who is TAMMUZ. He was the counterpart, or equivalent, of

ANU, the Sky-god, in the kingdom of darkness, for it is said in the text

“Kingu was exalted and received the power of Anu,” i.e., he possessed

the same power and attributes as Anu. When Tiâmat appointed Kingu to be

her captain, she recited over him a certain spell or incantation, and

then she gave him the TABLET OF DESTINIES and fastened it to his breast,

saying, “Whatsoever goeth forth from thy mouth shall be established.”

Armed with all the magical powers conferred upon him by this Tablet, and

heartened by all the laudatory epithets which his wife Tiâmat heaped

upon him, Kingu went forth at the head of his devils.

 

When Ea heard that Tiâmat had collected her forces and Was determined

to continue the fight against the gods which Apsû and Mummu had begun,

and that she had made her husband Kingu her champion, he was

“afflicted” and “sat in sorrow.” He felt unable to renew the fight

against the powers of darkness, and he therefore went and reported the

new happenings to Anshar, representative of the “host of heaven,” and

took counsel with him. When Anshar heard the matter he was greatly

disturbed in mind and bit his lips, for he saw that the real

difficulty was to find a worthy antagonist for Kingu and Tiâmat. A gap

in the text here prevents us from knowing exactly what Anshar said and

did, but the context suggests that he summoned Anu, the Sky-god, to

his assistance. Then, having given him certain instructions, he sent

him on an embassy to Tiâmat with the view of conciliating her. When

Anu reached the place where she was he found her in a very wrathful

state, and she was muttering angrily; Anu was so appalled at the sight

of her that he turned and fled. It is impossible at present to explain

this interlude, or to find any parallel to it in other ancient

Oriental literature.

 

[Illustration: Shamash the Sun-god rising on the horizon, flames of

fire ascending from his shoulder. The two portals of the dawn, each

surmounted by a lion, are being drawn open by attendant gods. From a

Babylonian seal cylinder in the British Museum. [No. 89,110.]]

 

When Anu reported his inability to deal with Tiâmat, a council of the

gods was called, and Ea induced his son, Marduk to be present. We next

find Anshar in converse with the god Marduk, who offers to act as the

champion of the gods and to fight Tiâmat and her allies. Marduk being a

form of the Sun-god, the greatest of all the powers of light, thus

becomes naturally the protagonist of the gods, and the adversary of

Tiâmat and her powers of darkness. Then Anshar summoned a great council

of the gods, who forthwith met in a place called “Upshukkinaku”, which

may be described as the Babylonian Olympus. It was all-important for

Marduk to appear at the council of the gods before he undertook his

task, because it was necessary for him to be formally recognised by them

as their champion, and he needed to be endowed by them with magical

powers. The primitive gods Lakhmu and Lakhamu, and the Igigi, who may be

regarded as star-gods, were also summoned. A banquet was prepared, and

the gods attended, and having met and kissed each other they sat down,

and ate bread and drank hot and sweet sesame wine. The fumes of the wine

confused their senses, but they continued to drink, and at length “their

spirits were exalted.” They appointed Marduk to be their champion

officially, and then they proceeded to invest him with the power that

would cause every command he spake to be followed immediately by the

effect which he intended it to produce. Next Marduk, with the view of

testing the new power which had been given him, commanded a garment to

disappear and it did so; and when he commanded it to reappear it did so.

 

[Illustration: Shamash the Sun-god setting (?) on the horizon. In his

right he holds a tree (?), and in his left a … with a serrated

edge. Above the horizon is a goddess who holds in her left hand an ear

of corn. On the right is a god who seems to be setting free a bird

from his right hand. Round him is a river with fish in it, and behind

him is an attendant god; under his foot is a young bull. To the right

of the goddess stand a hunting god, with a bow and lasso, and a

lion. From the seal-cylinder of Adda …, in the British Museum. About

2500 B.C. [No. 89,115.]]

 

Then the gods saluted him as their king, and gave him the insignia of

royalty, namely, the sceptre, the throne and the pala, whatever that

may be. And as they handed to him these things they commanded him to go

and hack the body of Tiâmat in pieces, and to scatter her blood to the

winds. Thereupon Marduk began to arm himself for the fight. He took a

bow, a spear, and a club; he filled his body full of fire and set the

lightning before him. He took in his hands a net wherewith to catch

Tiâmat, and he placed the four winds near it, to prevent her from

escaping from it when he had snared her. He created mighty winds and

tempests to assist him, and grasped the thunderbolt in his hand; and

then, mounting upon the Storm, which was drawn by four horses, he went

out to meet and defeat Tiâmat. It seems pretty certain that this

description of the equipment of Marduk was taken over from a very

ancient account of the Fight with Tiâmat in which the hero was Enlil,

i.e., the god of the air, or of the region which lies between heaven

and hell. Marduk approached and looked upon the “Middle” or “Inside” or

“Womb” of Tiâmat [1], and divined the plan of Kingu who had taken up his

place therein. In the Seventh Tablet (l. 108) Marduk is said to have

“entered into the middle of Tiâmat,” and because he did so he is called

“Nibiru,” i.e., “he who entered in,” and the “seizer of the middle.”

What the words “middle of Tiâmat” meant to the Babylonian we are not

told, but it is clear that Marduk’s entry into it was a signal mark of

the triumph of the god. When Kingu from the “middle of Tiâmat” saw

Marduk arrayed in his terrible panoply of war, he was terrified and

trembled, and staggered about and lost all control of his legs; and at

the mere sight of the god all the other fiends and devils were smitten

with fear and reduced to helplessness. Tiâmat saw Marduk and began to

revile him, and when he challenged her to battle she flew into a rage

and attempted to overthrow him by reciting an incantation, thinking that

her words of power would destroy his strength. Her spell had no effect

on the god, who at once cast his net over her. At the same moment he

made a gale of foul wind to blow on her face, and entering through her

mouth it filled her body; whilst her body was distended he drove his

spear into her, and Tiâmat split asunder, and her womb fell out from it.

Marduk leaped upon her body and looked on her followers as they

attempted to escape. But the Four Winds which he had stationed round

about Tiâmat made all their efforts to flee of no effect. Marduk caught

all the Eleven allies of Tiâmat in his net, and he trampled upon them as

they lay in it helpless. Marduk then took the TABLET OF DESTINIES from

Kingu’s breast, and sealed it with his seal and placed it on his

own breast.

 

[Footnote 1: Or perhaps the “belly of Tiâmat.” The Egyptians

distinguished a portion of the heavens by the name of “Khat Nut,” “the

belly of Nut,” [Heiroglyphics] and two drawings of it are extant. The

first shows an oval object rimmed with stars and the other a

pear-shaped object, with a god inside it. (See Brugsch, _Inschriften

(Astronomische)_ Leipzig, 1883, p, 146.) [Illustration]]

 

Then returning to the dead body of Tiâmat he smashed her skull with

his club and scattered her blood to the north wind, and as a reward

for his destruction of their terrible foe, he received gifts and

presents from the gods his fathers.

 

The text then goes on to say that