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

avenger.

 

FOURTH TABLET.

1. They founded for him a majestic canopy,

2. He (i.e., Marduk) seated himself in the seat of kingship in

the presence of his fathers [who said unto him]:

 

3. “Thou art honourable by reason of thy greatness among the gods.

 

4. “Thy position is unrivalled, the words thou utterest become Anum

(i.e., as fixed as the sky).

 

5. “Thou art honourable by reason of thy greatness among the gods.

 

6. “Thy position is unrivalled, the words thou utterest become Anum

(i.e., as fixed as the sky).

 

7. “From this day onward thy command shall not be abrogated.

 

8. “The power to exalt to heaven and to cast down to the earth both

shall be in thy hand,

 

9. “That which goeth forth from thy mouth shall be established,

against thy utterance shall be no appeal.

 

10. “No one among the gods shall overstep thy boundary,

 

11. “Worship, which is the object of the sanctuary of the gods,

 

12. “Whensoever they lack [it] shall be forthcoming in thy sanctuary,

 

13. “O god Marduk, thou art our avenger.

 

14. “We have given unto thee sovereignty over the whole creation,

 

15. “Thou shalt sit down, in the council thy word shall be exalted,

 

16. “Thy weapon shall never fall [from thy hands], it shall break the

head of thy foe.

 

17. “Lord, whosoever putteth his trust in thee, spare thou his life,

 

18. “And the god who deviseth evil, pour thou out his soul.”

 

19. Then a cloak (literally, one cloak) was set in their midst,

 

20. They addressed the god Marduk their first-born [saying]:

 

21. “Thou, Lord, shalt hold the foremost position among the gods.

 

22. “Decree thou the throwing down[1] and the building up,[2] and it

shall come to pass.

 

[Footnote 1: I.e., the destruction of Tiâmat.]

 

[Footnote 2: I.e., the establishing of a new creation to take

the place of the old.]

 

23. “Speak but the word, and the cloak shall disappear,

 

24. “Speak a second time and the cloak shall return uninjured.”

25. Marduk spoke the word, the cloak disappeared,

26. He spoke a second time, the cloak reappeared.

 

27. When the gods his fathers saw the issue of the utterance of his

mouth

 

28. They rejoiced and adored [him, saying], “Marduk is King.”

 

29. They conferred upon him the sceptre, the throne, and the symbol of

royalty (?)[1]

 

[Footnote 1: The meaning of pal-a is unknown.]

 

30. They gave him the unrivalled weapon, the destroyer of the enemy

[saying]:

 

31. “Go, cut off the life of Tiâmat.

 

32. “Let the wind carry her blood into the depth [under the earth].”

 

33. The gods, his fathers, issued the decree for the god Bel.

 

34. They set him on the road which leadeth to peace and adoration.

 

35. He strung [his] bow, he set ready his weapon [in the stand],

 

36. He slung his spear, he attached it to [his belly],

 

37. He raised the club, he grasped it in his right hand.

 

38. The bow and the quiver he hung at his side.[1]

 

[Footnote 1: This equipment of the charioteer is shown on the

bas-reliefs.]

 

39. He set the lightning in front of him.

 

40. His body was filled with a glancing flame of fire.

 

41. He made a net wherewith to enclose Tiâmat.

 

42. He made the four winds to take up their position so that no part

of her might escape,

 

[Illustration: Portion of a tablet inscribed in Babylonian with a text

of the Fourth Tablet of the Creation Series. [No. 93,016.]]

 

43. The South wind, the North wind, the East wind, the West wind.

 

44. He held the net close to his side, the gift of his father Anu,

 

45. He created the “foul” wind, the storm, the parching blast,

 

46. The wind of “four,” the wind of “seven,” the typhoon, the wind

incomparable

 

[Illustration: Portion of a tablet inscribed in Assyrian with a text

of the Fourth Tablet of the Creation Series. [K. 3437.]]

 

47. He despatched the seven winds which he had made,

 

48. To make turbid the inward parts of Tiâmat; they followed in his

train.

 

49. The Lord raised up the wind storm, his mighty weapon.

 

50. He went up into his chariot, the unequalled and terrible

tempest.[1]

 

[Footnote 1: Compare Psalms xviii, 7-15; civ, i ff.]

 

51. He equipped it, he yoked thereto a team of four horses,

 

52. Pawing the ground, champing, foaming [eager to] fly,

 

53. … [the odour] of their teeth bore foetidness,

 

54. They were skilled [in biting], they were trained to trample under

foot.

 

[Lines 55-57 too fragmentary to translate; they continue the

description of Marduk’s equipment.]

 

58. His brightness streamed forth, his head was crowned [thereby].

 

59. He took a direct path, he hastened on his journey.

 

60. He set his face towards the place of Tiâmat, who was …

 

61. On his lips … he restrained

 

62. … his hand grasped.

 

63. At that moment the gods were gazing upon him with fixed intensity,

 

64. The gods, his fathers, gazed upon him, they gazed upon him.

 

65. The Lord approached, he looked upon the middle of Tiâmat,

 

66. He searched out the plan of Kingu, her husband.

67. Marduk looked, Kingu staggered in his gait,

68. His will was destroyed, his motion was paralysed.

 

69. And the gods his helpers who were marching by his side

 

70. Saw the [collapse of] their chief and their sight was troubled.

 

71. Tiâmat [shrieked but] did not turn her head.

 

72. With lips full of [rebellious words] she maintained her

stubbornness

 

73. [Saying], “… that thou hast come as the Lord of the gods,

[forsooth],

 

74. “They have appointed thee in the place which should be theirs.”

 

75. The Lord raised up the wind-storm, his mighty weapon,

 

76. [Against] Tiâmat, who was furious (?), he sent it, [saying]:

 

77. “[Thou hast made thyself] mighty, thou art puffed upon high,

 

78. “Thy heart [hath stirred thee up] to invoke battle

 

79. “… their fathers …

 

80. “…

 

81. “[Thou hast exalted Kingu to be [thy] husband,

 

82. “[Thou hast made him to usurp] the attributes of Anu

 

83. “… thou hast planned evil.

 

84. “[Against] the gods, my fathers, thou hast wrought evil.

 

85. “Let now thy troops gird themselves up, let them bind on their

weapons.

 

86. “Stand up! Thou and I, let us to the fight!”

 

87. On hearing these words Tiâmat

 

88. Became like a mad thing, her senses became distraught,

 

89. Tiâmat uttered shrill cries again and again.

 

90. That on which she stood split in twain at the words,

 

91. She recited an incantation, she pronounced her spell.

 

92. The gods of battle demanded their weapons.[1]

 

[Footnote 1: I.e., the gods were impatient to begin the fight.]

 

93. Tiâmat and Marduk, the envoy of the gods, roused themselves,

 

94. They advanced to fight each other, they drew nigh in battle.

 

95. The Lord cast his net and made it to enclose her,

 

96. The evil wind that had its place behind him he let out in her

face.

 

97. Tiâmat opened her mouth to its greatest extent,

 

98. Marduk made the evil wind to enter [it] whilst her lips were

unclosed.

99. The raging winds filled out her belly,

100. Her heart was gripped, she opened wide her mouth [panting].

 

101. Marduk grasped the spear, he split up her belly,

 

102. He clave open her bowels, he pierced [her] heart,

 

103. He brought her to nought, he destroyed her life.

 

104. He cast down her carcase, he took up his stand upon it,

 

105. After Marduk had slain Tiâmat the chief,

 

106. Her host was scattered, her levies became fugitive,

 

107. And the gods, her allies, who had marched at her side,

108. Quaked with terror, and broke and ran

109. And betook themselves to flight to save their lives.

 

110. But they found themselves hemmed in, they could not escape,

 

111. Marduk tied them up, he smashed their weapons.

 

112. They were cast into the net, and they were caught in the snare,

 

113. The … of the world they filled with [their] cries of grief.

 

114. They received [Marduk’s] chastisement, they were confined in

restraint,

 

115. And [on] the Eleven Creatures which Tiâmat had filled with

awfulness,

 

116. The company of the devils that marched at her …

 

117. He threw fetters, he … their sides.

 

118. They and their resistance he trod under his feet.

 

119. The god Kingu who had been magnified over them

 

120. He crushed, he esteemed him [as little worth] as the god Dugga,

(as a dead god?).

 

121. Marduk took from him the TABLET OF DESTINIES, which should never

have been his,

 

122. He sealed it with a seal[1] and fastened it on his breast

 

[Footnote 1: By impressing his seal on the Tablet Marduk proved his

ownership of the Tablet, and made his claim to it legal.]

 

123. After he had crushed and overthrown his enemies,

 

124. He made the haughty enemy to be like the dust underfoot.

 

125. He established completely Anshar’s victory over the enemy,

 

126. The valiant Marduk achieved the object of Nudimmud (Ea),[1]

 

[Footnote 1: This is an oblique way of saying that Marduk succeeded

where Ea failed.]

 

127. He imposed strict restraint on the gods whom he had made captive.

 

128. He turned back to Tiâmat whom he had defeated,

 

129. The Lord [Marduk] trampled on the rump of Tiâmat,

 

130. With his unsparing club he clave her skull.

 

131. He slit open the channels (i.e., arteries) of her blood.

 

132. He caused the North Wind to carry it away to a place underground.

 

133. His fathers (i.e., the gods) looked on, they rejoiced, they were

glad.

 

134. They brought unto him offerings of triumph and peace,

 

135. The Lord [Marduk] paused, he examined Tiâmat’s carcase.

 

136. He separated flesh [from] hair,[1] he worked cunningly.

 

[Footnote 1: The word is kupu, i.e., “reed” or “sedge.”

It is possible that Marduk skinned Tiâmat.]

 

137. He slit Tiâmat open like a flat (?) fish [cut into] two pieces,

 

138. The one half he raised up and shaded the heavens therewith,

 

139. He pulled the bolt, he posted a guard,

 

140. He ordered them not to let her water escape.

 

141. He crossed heaven, he contemplated the regions thereof.

 

142. He betook himself to the abode of Nudimmud (Ea) that is opposite

to the Deep (Apsu),

 

143. The Lord Marduk measured the dimensions of the Deep,

 

144. He founded E-Sharra, a place like unto it,

 

145. The abode E-Sharra, which he made to be heaven.

 

146. He made the-gods Anu, Bel and Ea to inhabit their [own] cities.

 

FIFTH TABLET.

 

1. He appointed the Stations for the great gods,

 

2. He set in heaven the Stars of the Zodiac which are their

likenesses.

 

3. He fixed the year, he appointed the limits thereof.

 

4. He set up for the twelve months three stars apiece.

 

5. According to the day of the year he … figures.

 

6.