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

He founded the Station of Nibir (Jupiter) to settle their

boundaries,

 

7. That none might exceed or fall short.

 

8. He set the Station of Bel and Ea thereby.

 

9. He opened great gates under shelter on both sides.

 

10. He made a strong corridor on the left and on the right.

 

11. He fixed the zenith in the heavenly vault (?)

 

12. He gave the god Nannar (i.e., the Moon-god) his brightness

and committed the night to his care.

 

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

of the Fifth Tablet of the Creation Series. [K. 3567.]]

 

13. He set him for the government of the night, to determine the day

 

14. Monthly, without fail, he set him in a crown (i.e., disk)

[saying]:

 

15. “At the beginning of the month when thou risest over the land,

 

16. “Make [thy] horns to project to limit six days [of the month]

 

17. “On the seventh day make thyself like a crown.

 

18. “On the fourteenth day …

 

[Lines 19-26 dealt further with Marduk’s instructions to the Moon-god,

but are too fragmentary to translate. After line 26 comes a break in

the text of 40 lines; lines 66-74 are too fragmentary to translate,

but they seem to have described further acts of Creation.]

 

75. The gods, his (Marduk’s) fathers, looked on the net which he had

made,

 

76. They observed how craftily the bow had been constructed,

 

77. They extolled the work which he had done.

 

78. [Then] the god Anu lifted up [the bow] in the company of the gods,

 

79. He kissed the bow [saying]: “That …”

 

80. He proclaimed [the names] of the bow to be as follows:—

 

81. “Verily, the first is ‘Long Wood,’ the second is …

 

82. “Its third name is ‘Bow Star in heaven’ …”

 

83. He fixed a station for it …

 

[Of the remaining 57 lines of this tablet only fragments of 17 lines

are preserved, and these yield no connected sense.]

 

SIXTH TABLET.

 

1. On hearing the words of the gods, the heart of Marduk moved him to

carry out the works of a craftsman.

 

2. He opened his mouth, he spake to Ea that which he had planned in

his heart, he gave counsel [saying]:

 

3. “I will solidify blood, I will form bone.

 

4. “I will set up man, ‘Man’ [shall be] his name.

 

5. “I will create the man ‘Man.’

 

6. “The service of the gods shall be established, and I will set them

(i.e., the gods) free.

 

7. “I will make twofold the ways of the gods, and I will beautify

[them].

 

8. “They are [now] grouped together in one place, but they shall be

partitioned in two.”[1]

 

[Footnote 1: Reading, _ishtenish lu kuppudu-ma ana shina lu

uzizu_.]

 

9. Ea answered and spake a word unto him

 

10. For the consolation of the gods[1] he repeated unto him a word of

counsel [saying]:

 

[Footnote 1: I.e., “to cause the gods to be content,”]

 

11. “Let one brother [god of their number] be given, let him suffer

destruction that men may be fashioned.

 

12. “Let the great gods be assembled, let this [chosen] one be given

in order that they (i.e., the other gods) may be established.”

 

13. Marduk assembled the great gods, [he came near] graciously, he

issued a decree,

 

14. He opened his mouth, he addressed the gods; the King spake a word

unto the Anunnaki [saying]:

 

15. “Verily, that which I spake unto you aforetime was true.

 

16. “[This time also] I speak truth. [Some there were who] opposed

me.[1]

 

[Footnote 1: Literally “they (indefinite) opposed me.”]

17. “Who was it that created the strife,

18. “Who caused Tiâmat to revolt, to join battle with me?

 

19. “Let him who created the strife be given [as sacrifice],

 

20. “I will cause the axe in the act of sinking to do away his sin.”

21. The great gods, the Igigi, answered him,

22. Unto the King of the gods of heaven and of earth, the Prince of

the gods, their lord [they said]:

 

23. “[It was] Kingu who created the strife,

 

24. “Who made Tiâmat to revolt, to join battle [with thee].”

 

25. They bound him in fetters [they brought] him before Ea, they

inflicted punishment on him, they let his blood,

 

26. From his blood he (i.e., Ea) fashioned mankind for the

service of the gods, and he set the gods free.

 

27. After Ea had fashioned man he … laid service upon him.

 

28. [For] that work, which pleased him not, man was chosen: Marduk …

 

29. Marduk, the King of the gods, divided … he set the Anunnaki up

on high.

 

30. He laid down for Anu a decree that protected [his] heart … as a

guard.

 

31. He made twofold the ways on the earth [and in the heavens?]

 

32. By decrees …

 

33. The Anunnaki who …

 

34. The Anunnaki …

 

35. They spake unto Marduk, their lord, [saying]:

 

36. “O thou Moon-god[1] (Nannaru), who hast established our splendour,

 

[Footnote 1: See Cuneiform Texts, Part XXIV, Plate 50, where it

is said that the god Sin is “Marduk, who maketh bright the night.”]

 

37. “What benefit have we conferred upon thee?

 

38. “Come, let us make a shrine, whose name shall be renowned;

 

39. “Come [at] night, our time of festival, let us take our ease

therein,

 

40. “Come, the staff shall rule …

 

41. “On the day that we reach [thereto] we will take our ease

therein.”

 

42. On hearing this Marduk …

 

43. The features of his face [shone like] the day exceedingly.

 

44. [He said],[1] “Like unto … Babylon, the construction whereof ye

desire

 

[Footnote 1: Lines 44 and 45 announce Marduk’s determination to build

Babylon.]

 

45. “I will make … a city, I will fashion a splendid shrine.”

 

46. The Anunnaki worked the mould [for making bricks], their bricks

were …

 

47. In the second year [the shrine was as high as] a hill, and the

summit of E-Sagila reached the [celestial] Ocean.

 

48. They made the ziggurat[1] [to reach] the celestial Ocean; unto

Marduk, Enlil, Ea [shrines] they appointed,

 

[Footnote 1: This is the word commonly used for “temple-tower.” The

famous ziggurat of E-Sagila here mentioned was built in Seven Stages

or Steps, each probably having its own distinctive colour. It was

destroyed probably soon after the capture of Babylon by Cyrus (539

B.C.) and when Alexander the Great reached Babylon he found it ruins.]

 

49. It (i.e., the ziggurat) stood before them majestically: at the

bottom and [at the top] they observed its two horns.[1]

 

[Footnote 1: This is the first known mention of the “horns” of a

ziggurat, and the exact meaning of the word is doubtful.]

 

50. After the Anunnaki had finished the construction of E-Sagila, and

had completed the making of their shrines,

 

51. They gathered together from the … of the Ocean (Apsu). In

BAR-MAH, the abode which they had made,

 

52. He (i.e., Marduk) made the gods his fathers to take their

seats … [saying]: “This Babylon shall be your abode.

 

53. “No mighty one [shall destroy] his house, the great gods shall

dwell therein.

 

[After line 53 the middle portions of several lines of text are

obliterated, but from what remains of it it is clear that the gods

partook of a meal of consecration of the shrine of E-Sagila, and then

proceeded to issue decrees. Next Marduk assigns seats to the Seven

Gods of Fate and to Enlil and Anu, and then he lays up in E-Sagila the

famous bow which he bore during his fight against Tiâmat. When the

text again becomes connected we find the gods singing a hymn of praise

to Marduk.]

 

94. “Whatever is … those gods and goddesses shall bear(?)

 

95. “They shall never forget, they shall cleave to the god (?)

 

96. “… they shall make bright, they shall make shrines.

 

97. “Verily, the decision (concerning) the Black-headed [belongeth to]

the gods

 

98. “… all our names have they called, he (Marduk) is most holy

(_elli_)

 

99. “… they proclaimed and venerated (?) his names.

 

100. “His … is exceedingly bright, his work is …

 

101. “Marduk, whose father Anu proclaimed [his name] from his birth,

 

102. “Who hath set the day at his door … his going,

 

103. “By whose help the storm wind was bound …

 

104. “Delivered the gods his fathers in the time of trouble.

 

105. “Verily, the gods have proclaimed his sonship.

 

106. “In his bright light let them walk for ever.

 

107. “[On] men whom he hath formed, the created things fashioned by

his fingers

 

108. “He hath imposed the service of the gods, and them he hath set

free

 

109. “…

 

110. “… they looked at him,

 

111. “[He is] the far-seeing (maruku) god, verily …

 

112. “Who hath made glad the hearts of the Anunnaki, who hath made

them to …

 

113. “The god Marudukku—verily, he is the object of trust of his

country …

 

114. “Let men praise him …

 

115. “The ‘King of the Protecting Heart,’ (?), hath arisen and hath

[bound] the Serpent …

 

116. “Broad is his heart, mighty [his] belly.

 

117. “King of the gods of heaven and of earth, whose name our company

hath proclaimed,

 

118. “We will fulfil (?) the utterance of his mouth. Over his fathers

the gods,

 

119. “Yea, [over] the gods of heaven and earth, all of them,

 

120. “His kingship [we will exalt].

 

121. “[We] will look unto the King of all the heaven and the earth at

night when the place of all the gods is darkness (literally sadness).

 

122. “He hath assigned our dwelling in heaven and in earth in the time

of trouble,

 

123. “He hath allotted stations to the Igigi and the Anunnaki.

 

124. “The gods themselves are magnified by his name; may he direct

their sanctuaries.

 

125. “ASAR-LU-DUG, is his name by which his father Anu hath named him.

 

126. “Verily, he is the light of the gods, the mighty …

 

127. “Who … all the parts of heaven and of the land

 

128. “By a mighty combat he saved our dwelling in the time of trouble.

 

129. “ASAR-LU-DUG, the god who made him (i.e. man) to live, did

the god … call him in the second place

 

130. “[And] the gods who had been formed, whom he fashioned as though

[they were] his offspring.

 

131. “He is the Lord who hath made all the gods to live by his holy

mouth.”

 

[Lines 132-139 are too fragmentary to translate, but it is clear from

the text that remains that Lakhmu, and Lakhamu, and Anshar all

proclaimed the names of Marduk. When the text again becomes connected

Marduk has just been addressing the gods.]

 

140. In Upshukkinaku[1] he appointed their council for them.

 

[Footnote 1: From this text it seems clear that Upshukkinaku was the

name of a chamber in the temple of E-Sagila. This name probably means

the “chamber of the shakkanaku,” i.e., the chamber in which the

governor of the city (_shakkanaku_) went annually to embrace the

hands of the god Bel-Marduk, from whom he thereby received the right

of sovereignty over the country.]

 

141.