Mesopotamian Cosmologies

Analecta Gorgiana

142

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Mesopotamian Cosmologies

Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

Robert William Rogers

1
gorgias press
2009
Gorgias Press LLC, 180 Centennial Ave., Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA
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Copyright © 2009 by Gorgias Press LLC
Originally published in 1908
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This extract is a facsimile reprint of the third chapter of the original
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Printed in the United States of America

 LECTURE III

THE COSMOLOGIES

THE beginnings of things possess a deep in-

terest for all men. The modern man, with cen-
turies of speculation and other centuries of
scientific research stretching far away behind
him, feels deeply this call to know whence came
the earth with all its beauty of form and color,
this sky glorious with sun and moon and stars,
this marvelously balanced and almost infinitely
varied fauna and flora, this great human race
so unlike to the eye, yet so deeply alike in its
greater qualities. What a mystery it all is, and
how profoundly we are stirred as we reflect
even superficially upon that moving question,
Whence came all this? But if modern man, with
his poor little accumulations of past civilization,
with his little sum of scientific knowledge that
seems so great when he contemplates it by itself,
but looks so small when compared with the vast
numbers of mysteries still unexplained—if mod-
ern man feels the longing to know, to know
whence and how, so also did ancient man with
his fresh and vigorous mind in a world new and
stretching out beyond his ken, far more than it
seems now to do. And if civilized man feels the
99

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100 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

desire to penetrate the great solemn gray veil

that hangs over the beginnings of things, so
also did the barbarous, nay, even the savage
peoples whom we see dimly in the distance, on
the edge of great trackless deserts, and in the
river valleys.
There is no people of antiquity now known to
us which does not possess a creation story of
some kind. Some of these are grotesque, while
others rise to heights of poetic beauty. Of
them all the most interesting and by far the
most important in its bearing upon the Old
Testament is the Babylonian story of the crea-
tion. Before we come to its close study we may
well give a word to the story of its discovery
and decipherment.
The tenth day of May in the year 1840 was
a day of great moment in the history of Assyr-
iology, for on that day Austen Henry Layard,
who was making an overland journey to India,
first saw the big mounds on the opposite bank
of the Tigris from the little city of Mosul. It
was then that he wrote the memorable words,
"My curiosity had been greatly excited, and
from that time I formed the design of thoroughly
examining, whenever it might be in my power,
those singular ruins." It was five years before
he could fulfill that dream, and then it was the
mound of Nimroud, the ancient city of Calah,
where he began excavations. Both there and at
Kuyunjik he had splendid success, and restored

[2]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 101

to the astonished eyes of this modern world

many a splendid piece of ancient sculpture and
many a written record of Assyrian kings. It
was while he was thus engaged that he dis-
covered a young Oriental named Hormuzd Ras-
sam, whom he attached to his company of
helpers, and long afterward referred to as "my
faithful and invaluable friend and assistant."
Trained by a master, Rassam went out to the
mound of Kuyunjik in 1852, and there at the
end of the next year he discovered the palace of
Ashurbanipal, the last of the great Assyrian
kings, and from the walls of one room stripped
away the magnificent lion-hunt sculptures,
which to-day adorn the British Museum, Lon-
don. In that room, piled in heaps and masses,
lay hundreds of inscribed tablets that once
were the pride and the treasures of the library
of Ashurbanipal. These books he had caused
to be copied, and then laid away to be read to
him when he desired. He boasted of his love
for books in the almost plaintive phrase, " I
have a large ear for books," and all over Baby-
lonia his agents had gone collecting tablets to be
taken to Nineveh and copied. There the beau-
tifully wrought copies were carefully preserved,
while the originals went back to their ancient
homes in Nippur or Eridu or Ur.
The library which Rassam had thus restored
to the world was carried away to London, and
from its masses of material the historical in-

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 102 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

scriptions were first searched out and published.

Again and again they were all sorted over and
examined by Sir Henry Rawlinson, by Professor
A. H. Sayce, and by others, but it was reserved
for the keen eyes of George Smith to pick out
some little broken fragments and upon them
laboriously trace out the Babylonian story of
creation. He made his first announcement of
the great discovery in the Daily Telegraph on
March 4, 1875, and in that same year, on No-
vember 2, read a brilliant paper before the
Society of Biblical Archaeology describing the
fragmentary tablets, translating portions of
them, and pointing out the curious and inter-
esting parallels with the Old Testament. That
was a wonderful piece of work. He made, in-
deed, certain identifications that later research
has not justified, such as finding in it allusions to
the fall of man, but in the main he came so close
to the correct meaning, as later investigation
has revealed it, that we can only be astonished
at his acumen and insight. Since his day
many scholars, working in divers places, have
contributed in large and small ways to the
translation and elucidation—to mention their
names would be to call the roll of the masters
among Asyriologists. It will serve to mention
those who have made perhaps the most signal
contributions to the study of this great text.
The first broad discussion of the creation tab-
lets was given by Professor Sayce, of Oxford,

[4]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 103

so often a pioneer, in his Hibbert Lectures in

1887,1 and in 18882 he made a complete transla-
tion of all the fragments which had then been
found. They were all translated again and pro-
vided with many valuable notes in 1890 by
Professor Jensen,3 of the University of Marburg.
This was followed in 1895 by a new and im-
proved translation by Professor Zimmern,4 of
the University of Leipzig, and in the very next
year Professor Delitzsch,5 of the University of
Berlin, translated again the whole story, to be
followed in 1900 and 1901 by a new complete
translation and commentary by Professor Jen-
sen.® The capstone upon the whole work was
placed in 1902 by Dr. L. W. King,7 of the
British Museum. Up to that time only twenty-
one fragments had been known and translated.
To these King added no less than twenty-eight
1
Sayco, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated by
the Religion of the Ancient Babylonians (Hibbert Lectures for 1887),
pp. 397ff.
2
Records of the Past, New Series, i, pp. 122ff.
3
Peter Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylonier, pp. 263ff.
4
Heinrich Zimmern, in Gunkel, Schöpfung und Chaos in Urzeit und
Endzeit, pp. 401ff.
5
Friedrich Delitzsch, " Das Babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos,"
Abhandlungen der philologisch-historischen Classe der Königlichen Säch-
sischen Oesellschaft der Wissenschaften, xvii, No. ii, and also published
separately.
• Peter Jensen, Assyrisch-Babylonische Mythen und Epen (Schrader's
Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, v), in two parts, the first containing trans-
literations and translations, t h e second the commentary.
7
L. W. King, The Seven Tablets of Creation; or, The Babylonian and
Assyrian Legends concerning the Creation of the World and of Mankind.
2 vols. London, 1902.

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104 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

fragments previously unknown, and then trans-

lated the whole forty-nine in a masterly fashion.
Upon this edition all new progress must build
for many days to come.
And now let us come a little closer to this
wonderful ancient story. The Assyrian poem,
as it has come down to us, is fragmentary in-
deed, but enough remains to show us its original
content. It was called by the Assyrians Enuma
elish, "when above," or "when in the height,"
these being the two Assyrian words with which
the text begins. According to the careful
enumeration and calculations of King it con-
sisted of nine hundred and ninety-four lines,
and these were divided into seven sections, each
section being inscribed upon a separate tablet
and each tablet being numbered in order. "The
shortest tablet contains one hundred and thirty-
eight lines, and the longest one hundred and
forty-six, the average length of a tablet being
about one hundred and forty-two lines."1
The story begins with a primeval chaos of
waters in which lived the water gods Apsu and
Tiamat. From these sprang other gods, and
two of the later gods, named Ea and Marduk,
finally overthrew Apsu and Tiamat; while
Marduk, when his victory was complete, created
earth and man. Our copy of it was made, for
the most part, for the library of Ashurbanipal
(668-626 B.C.), but some of the fragments were
1
King, The Seven Tablets of Creation, !, p. xxv. London, 1902.

[6]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 105

written out in the Neo-Babylonian (625-538

B.C.) and in the Persian period (538-330 B.C.),
and one may even belong to the period of the
Arsacidse (250 B.C.). But these dates of the
actual copying out of the tablets which have
been preserved to our day give no idea of the
date of the composition of the story itself, and
to that we must now give attention.
The story in its present form is clearly of com-
posite character, 1 and it is easy to see as we read
it that it bears traces of a long period of editing
and compiling. King distinguishes, and I be-
lieve rightly, no less than five principal strands,
woven together to make the complete tapestry
picture. These are: (1) The Birth of the Gods,
(2) The Legend of Ea and Apsu, (3) The Dragon
Myth, (4) The Actual Account of Creation, and
(5) The Hymn to Marduk under his fifty titles.
Now, the very first thing to notice about its
present form is that it is compiled not to honor
the chief god of Assyria, who was Ashur, but
rather to give the highest rank among all the
gods to Marduk, the god of Babylon. This
makes it quite clear that the story is Baby-
lonian and not Assyrian. And now, if we analyze
the story a little more closely, following King's
enumeration of the original strands, we can see
that (a) the dragon myth existed in other forms,
in which other gods than Marduk were the
heroes; (b) the creation story also existed in
1
So King, op. cit., pp. lxvi ff.

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106 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

other forms, in one of which the creation is not

connected with the death of a dragon; and (c)
the hymn to Marduk can be clearly shown to
have existed quite separately from the creation
narrative.
And now, before we plunge into the reading
of the poem itself, we may well give heed to
one more question, and that a question of mov-
ing interest, the answer to which will project
its influence far over the poem, and confront us
when we attempt to attack a still greater prob-
lem. This question is, How old are these creation
legends—to what period do they go back in
their origins? Step by step we can trace them
back into the distant centuries, (a) When
Ashurnazirpal was king of Assyria (884-860
B.C.) he set up two great limestone slabs on
which are found representations of the con-
flict between Marduk and Tiamat. So the
creation legends go back into the ninth century,
two centuries older than their present form.
But (b) we can take a much more distant flight
than this, for a Babylonian king, Agum, who
reigned not later than the seventeenth century
before Christ, set up in the temple of E-sagila
at Babylon figures of dragons and other mon-
sters which undoubtedly portray Tiamat and
her foul brood, and thus this feature of the
story is carried a thousand years beyond the
great Assyrian monarch. A still greater age
is assured by (c) the recovery of numerous

[8]
 REVERSE

F I G U R E V . - FRAGMENT OF T H E F I R S T T A B L E T OF CREATION
British Museum, K. 5419 C
Size of the original, 3 i by inches

[10]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 107

legends of the same type relating to Adapa,

to Ea and Atrakhasis, and to Etana which be-
long to the period of 2000 B.C. To this period,
the period which precedes and includes the
elevation of Babylon to be the chief city of
Babylonia—to this period must be ascribed the
origin and composition of the creation stories.
An antiquity so great as this adds a new in-
terest to the story which is now to be translated
and accompanied by such comment as may
make its meaning clear.

THE FIRST TABLET

When above the heaven was not named
And beneath the earth bore no name,
This means when there was neither heaven nor
earth, for to the Semite a thing which had no
name had no existence.
And the primeval Apsu, who begat them,
And Mummu'-Tiamat, the mother of them all,—
Here are two beings, the male god Apsu and
the goddess Tiamat; the beings mentioned under
the phrase "mother of them all" are the ill
brood of monsters afterward called into ex-
1
T h e use of " M u m m u " here is e x t r e m e l y difficult a n d t h e signification
d o u b t f u l . Below M u m m u a p p e a r s as a t h i r d person (see line 30), as a
messenger; b u t i n t h i s passage t h e r e is no connective between M u m m u
a n d T i a m a t , a n d if we a s s u m e here t h a t M u m m u is t h e n a m e of t h i s
messenger t h e passage becomes v e r y h a r d syntactically, if n o t indeed
impossible. I a m u n c e r t a i n as t o t h e meaning, a n d for t h e p r e s e n t leave
it s t a n d as M u m m u - T i a m a t , as t h o u g h t h e " M u m m u " were merely some
sort of title or appellative. I t is o f t e n t r a n s l a t e d " c h a o s T i a m a t " ; so
King.

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108 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

istence by Tiamat when the great conflict

begins.
5 Their waters were mingled together,
And no reed1 was formed, no marsh seen,
When no one of the gods had been called into being,
(And) none bore a name, and no destinies [were fixed].
Then were created the gods in the midst of [heaven],
10 Lakhmu and Lakhamu were called into existence
Ages increased
Anshar and Kishar were created, and over them . . .
Long were the days, then came there forth
Anu their son2

These two beings Lakhmu and Lakhamu ap-

pear later in the story as fighting on the side
of Tiamat, but Anshar and Kishar are the first
of the gods to come into existence, the former
1 The meaning of gipara, here translated "reed," is doubtful. I t is
usually rendered "field," but Sayce is probably right in connecting it
with Aramaic *PBp, Greek ndwvpof. Delitzsch translates "Gefilde";
Bezold (Babylonisch-Assyrische Texte. I. Die Schopfungslegende, Bonn,
1904), doubtfully, " F e l d . " King translates "field," but in the glossary
writes, "giparu, 'field'(?), or possibly a kind of tree."
2 In the original text the lines were divided by a caesura into half lines.

The proof of this is abundant, and many lines are thus broken by express
indications in the Assyrian text. In the translations by Delitzsch and
by Zimmern the lines are also thus divided. I have not followed their
example for the reason that to do so involves inversions in the English
order in many places, or artificial expedients in the translation which
give a false impression to the English reader. For the purpose of these
lectures I am much more concerned to represent the thought of the poem
than its form. The reader who has an eye and an ear for verse will in
many places in my translation be able to discern the csesura. There
would be loss and not gain for all others in any attempt to separate the
lines into two parts. In neglecting the caesura I have also the excellent
example of King, to whose translation I owe much in many ways, and
also of Bezold, from whom also I have derived useful assistance. Zim-
mern insists strongly upon the importance of the caesura, and has
unfavorably criticized translations of Assyrian poetry in which it was
disregarded. B u t it is easier to represent it in German than in English.

[12]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 109

representing the heavenly and the latter

the earthly part of the universe. From these
there proceed, like emanations, the gods Anu
and Ea, the latter under the name of Nudim-
mud, who is said to be "abounding in all wis-
dom" and "exceeding strong." Now, Anu is
the head of the great triad, Anu, Ellil, and Ea,
and as the first and third are here mentioned
it is quite likely that the second was also orig-
inally named. But Ellil (or Bel) was afterward
eliminated from this story in order to lay all
the emphasis upon Marduk, the god of Babylon.
And now there arises a conflict between Apsu
and Tiamat, the representatives of chaos and
disorder, on the one side, and the gods Anu and
Ea, the representatives of order and cosmos, on
the other. The story runs on thus:
But [Tiamat and Apsu] were still in confusion,
They were troubled and
In confusion.
25 Apsu was not diminished
And Tiamat roared
They all smote1
Their way was not good, they
Then Apsu, the begetter of the great gods,
30 Summoned Mummu, his messenger, and said unto
him,
"O Mummu, messenger that rejoicest my heart,
Come, let us go unto Tiamat."
They went and before Tiamat they lay down,
i King translates, "She smote, and their deeds." But for an interest-
ing suggestion see Dhorme, Choix de Textes Rdigieux Assyro-Babyloniens,
p. 7. Paris, 1907.

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110 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA
They consulted on a plan concerning the gods, their
sons.
This passage makes it clear enough that Apsu
was conceived as the male principle and Tia-
mat the female, and that from these had come
originally the gods. And now Apsu and Tia-
mat are angry at their own progeny, and it is
not perfectly clear what the cause of the anger
was, but perhaps the best suggestion thus far
offered is that they were simply enraged at the
progress made by the gods in bringing order
out of chaos. There would be no peace and no
resting place for them when Cosmos had dis-
placed Chaos.
35 Apsu opened his mouth and said to her,
And unto Tiamat, the brilliant, he spake a word:
" their way
By day I cannot rest, I cannot lie down by night,
I will destroy their way, I will [disperse them]
40 That the clamor may cease, that we may lie down."
When Tiamat [heard] these words,
She was furious, and cried for
She went into a terrible anger,
She conceived evil in her heart:
45 "All that which we have made we will destroy.
Lettheirway be fullof wretchedness, andletusliedown."
Mummu answered, and gave counsel unto Apsu—
A hostile counsel was the counsel of Mummu:
"Come, their way is strong, but destroy thou it.
50 So shalt thou have rest by day, by night thou shalt
lie down."

The issue was now joined, and on behalf of the

gods Ea took up the dreadful contest, and in

[14]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 111

some way Anu is associated with him. At this

point the tablets are so fragmentary that we
cannot follow the story with perfect certainty,
but it is clear that Ea prevailed, destroyed Apsu
and captured Mummu. How this was accom-
plished we do not certainly know, but it would
appear that Ea overwhelmed them both, not by
violence, but by a "pure incantation." 1
Tiamat was unconquered and in confusion,
and then is urged on by a "bright god" who is
probably Kingu. Upon this a new conflict
begins. It seems quite probable that the pas-
sage which follows is a doublet. The first,
which honors Ea, by making him the hero, is
now succeeded by the second, in which Marduk
is the hero. But Marduk was not probably the
original hero of this section. It was the elder
Bel, the god of Nippur, whose original name
was En-lil, or Ellil. Marduk has simply dis-
placed him and assumed his position of honor.
We shall do well to note this particularly, for
we shall later be called on to see how Marduk
was displaced in turn by another and much
greater god.2 Let us now resume the story:
1
This is not q u i t e certain, b u t line 60 r u n s t h u s :
" T h e n went u p E a , who k n o w e t h all things, a n d beheld t h e i r designs."
Line 61 h a s d i s a p p e a r e d altogether, a n d t h e n in line 62 we h a v e :
" t o m a k e his p u r e i n c a n t a t i o n , "
which seems a t least t o suggest t h a t t h i s was his weapon, especially a s
in t h e f r a g m e n t a r y lines t h a t remain t h e r e a p p e a r no h i n t s of a n y o t h e r
weapons, such, for example, as a r e so elaborately described below w h e n
Marduk is engaged.
2 See p. 134.

[15]
112 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

They cursed the day, and at the side of Tiamat

advanced,
110 They were furious, they devised mischief night and
day without rest.
They take up the combat, they devastate, they rage.
They join their forces, they organize battle.
[Ummu-Khubu]r [that is, Tiamat], who formed all
things,
Made also weapons invincible, she spawned monster
serpents,
115 Sharp of tooth and merciless in carnage;
[With venom instead of] blood she filled [their]
bodies.
Terrible dragons she clothed with terror,
With splendor she decked them, she made them of
lofty appearance.
Whoever beheld them, terror overcame him,
120 Their bodies reared up and none could withstand
their attack.
She set up serpents, and reptiles, and the monster
Lakhamu,
And hurricanes and furious dogs, and scorpion men
And mighty tempests, and fish men and [rams];
They bore pitiless weapons, fearless of the fight.
125 [Puissant] were her orders, [none] could resist them.
In all, eleven monsters of this kind, she created.
Among the gods who were her firstborn, who formed
her troop,
She exalted Kingu; among them she made him great.
To march before the troops, to lead the throng,
130 To seize the weapons, 1 to advance, to begin the
attack,
The primacy in the combat, the control of the fight
She intrusted to him, in costly raiment she made him
sit.
1
" T o give t h e b a t t l e s i g n a l . " — K i n g .

[16]
 <>D\ L L H K

REVERSE

F I G U R E VI.—THE SECOND TABLET OF CREATION

B r i t i s h Museum, No. 40,559

[18]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 113

"I have uttered the spell, in the assembly of the

gods I have made thee Lord,
The lordship over all the gods I have intrusted to
thee.
135 Be thou exalted, thou mine only spouse.
May the Anunnaki exalt thy name over all."
She gave him the tablets of destiny, on his breast she
placed them.
"Thy command shall not fail, the word of thy mouth
shall be established."
When Kingu was exalted, and had received the
power of Anu,
140 He decreed destiny among the gods his sons, (saying:)
"The opening of your mouth shall quench the fire
god,
The strong in combat shall increase his strength."

Here ends the first tablet, ends in chaos, and

wild threats and inhuman passions, and strange
monsters and mighty forces of disorder. The
picture is made exceedingly somber, to throw
into higher light and more impressive relief the
splendid beauty and order of the world, which
Marduk's power and wisdom perfected.
The second tablet begins with a description
of the helplessness of the other gods until Mar-
duk accepts the challenge and enters the lists.
THE SECOND TABLET
Tiamat made strong her work,
Evil she devised among the gods her children.
To avenge Apsu, Tiamat planned evil,
And how she had collected her army, the god told Ea.
5 Ea listened to this word, and
He was sadly afflicted and sat in sorrow.

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114 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

The days went by, and his anger was appeased,

And to the place of Anshar, his father, he made his
way.
He went before Anshar, the father who begat him,
10 All that Tiamat had planned, he announced to him:
"Tiamat, our mother, has conceived a hatred against
us,
An assembly has she made, she rages in anger.
All the gods have turned to her,
Even those whom ye have created march at her side,
15 They have cursed the day, they advance at Tiamat's
side.

And now he repeats the passage already cited

above, with the lurid description of the mon-
strous serpents and the wild creatures which
Tiamat has "spawned." All this is intended to
heighten the difficulty in which the great gods
were placed and so to make more evident the
greatness of Marduk. The effect of the story
upon Anshar is thus recounted:
When Anshar heard that Tiamat was mightily in
revolt 1
50 He smote his loins, he bit his lips,
within he was not at peace,
His , he sounded a cry.

Ea has conquered Mummu and Apsu, but what

can now be done in this far greater difficulty?
He appeals to Ea:
Anshar unto his son addressed the word:
" My mighty warrior
Whose power is great, whose onslaught resistless,
1 The restoration and translation are King's.

[20]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 115

75 Go and stand before Tiamat,

That her spirit may be appeased, her heart calmed.
But if she hearken not to thy word,
Then shalt thou speak our message, that she may be
pacified."
He heard the word of his father Anshar
80 And turned his face to her, toward her he made his
way
And drew nigh, he saw the design of Tiamat
[But could not endure her presence], he turned back.

Ea, who had vanquished Apsu and captured

Mummu, is no match for Tiamat and turns
back. Anshar therefore turns to Marduk and
tries in every way to encourage him to under-
take the perilous conflict. Thus does he address
him:
110 "Thou art my son, who openeth wide his heart.
to the battle shalt thou approach,
he shall see thee in peace."
And the lord rejoiced at his father's word,
And he drew nigh and stood before Anshar.
115 Anshar looked upon him and his heart was filled
with joy,
He kissed his lips and fear departed from him.

These words and these acts of love are di-

rected to Marduk, to Marduk of Babylon, but
there can be no doubt that in the original ver-
sion the god who was thus honored and en-
couraged was Ellil, the elder Bel of Nippur.
He has been supplanted by the act of the priests
of Babylon. Marduk addresses his father in
these words:

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116 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

" [ 0 my father], let not the word of thy lips be covered,

0 let me accomplish all that is in thy heart,
[ 0 Anshar], let not the word of thy lips be covered,
120 0 let me accomplish all that is in thy heart."
"What man is it," saith Anshar, "that hath brought
thee to battle?
Tiamat, who is a woman, attacks thee with
arms
rejoice and be glad,
The neck of Tiamat shalt thou swiftly trample under
foot.
125 rejoice and be glad,
The neck of Tiamat shalt thou swiftly trample under
foot.
0 my [son], who knowest all wisdom,
Appease Tiamat with thy pure incantation, 1
Set out speedily on thy way,
130 Thy blood shall not be poured out, thou shalt return
again."
The lord rejoiced at his father's word,
His heart exulted and he spoke to his father:
"O Lord of the gods, Destiny of the great gods,
If I, your avenger,
135 Do enchain Tiamat, and give you life,
Make an assembly, exalt my destiny.
In Upshukkinaku seat yourselves joyfully together,
With my word, in your stead, will I decree destiny.
That which I do shall remain unchanged,
140 I t shall not be changed, it shall not fail, the word of
my lips."
1 This art of incantation Marduk has received from E a (compare
Jastrow, Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, i, p. 295). There is a
passage in the Shurpu texts (Zimmern, Beiträge zur Kentniss der Baby-
lonischen Religion, p. 27) in which E a says to Marduk:
" T h a t which I know, thou shalt know."
This is, of course, a part of the priestly plan in Babylon to elevate Mar-
duk to the first rank, of which I have spoken repeatedly elsewhere.

[22]
 ...« • ^ • 4
-*" ~ - . v - « - * ' * ' ? • ¿n.

^ . . . „ „ v.r->yA

OBVERSE

- \- ' » . k .. f . y^

¡¡¡sgli
_.

REVERSE

F I G U R E VII — T H E T H I R D T A B L E T OF CREATION
British Museum, No. 93,017

[24]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 117

The tense interest and feeling of the story is

relaxed in the third tablet, which is devoted
entirely to securing the consent of the gods to
Marduk's request for peculiar honors if he should
find victory over Tiamat. Perhaps a portion of
the tablet ought here to be quoted that our
picture of the entire legendary and mythological
matter may be complete.

THE THIRD TABLET

Anshar opened his mouth, and
[Unto Gaga], his [minister], spoke the word:
["O Gaga, thou minister] that rejoicest my heart
[Unto Lakhmu and Lakh]amu will I send thee.
5 [The order of my heart] thou canst comprehend
thou shalt bring before me
let the gods, all of them,
[Make ready for a feast,]1 at a banquet let them sit,
Let them eat bread, let them mix wine,
10 [For Marduk] their avenger let them decree destiny.
[Go,] Gaga, stand before them,
[All that] I say to thee, repeat thou to them, saying,
'Anshar, your son, hath sent me,
The command of his heart, he hath made me to know.
15 He saith, that Tiamat, our mother, has conceived a
hatred against us,
An assembly has she made, she rages in anger.
All the gods have turned to her,
Even those whom ye have created, march at her
side.' "

Then Anshar repeats again the same passage out

of the first tablet in which is described the mon-
1 All the bracketed restorations in these eight lines are due to King.

[25]
118 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

strous serpents and all the fearsome, horrid

brood that Tiamat has spawned. Lakhmu and
Lakhamu, as Jastrow has pointed out, are here
in this speech set forth as leaders of the gods
called Igigi, who are in the later theology classi-
fied as heavenly gods, and also of the Anunnaki,
who are the earthly or subterranean gods. And
now the story is resumed, after the description
of the terrible allies of Tiamat, in these words:
" I have sent Anu, but he could not withstand her
presence.
Nudimmud [that is, Ea] was afraid and turned back.
55 But Marduk is ready, the director of the gods, your
son;
To set out against Tiamat, his heart has moved him.
He opened his mouth and spoke to me, saying,
'If I, your avenger,
Do enchain Tiamat and give you life,
60 Make an assembly, exalt my destiny.
In Upshukkinaku set yourselves joyfully together.
With my word, in your stead, will I decree destiny.
That which I do shall remain unchanged.
I t shall not be changed, it shall not fail, the word of
my lips.'
65 Hasten, therefore, and fix quickly your destiny
That he may go and attack your strong enemy!"
Gaga went, he made his way and
Before Lakhmu and Lakhamu, the gods his fathers,
Humbly did he make obeisance, and kissed the ground
at their feet,
70 He humbled himself; then he stood up and spake to
them, saying,
"Anshar your son has sent me,
The purpose of his heart he has made known to me,

[26]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 119

He says that Tiamat, our mother, has conceived a

hatred against us,
An assembly has she made, she rages in anger."

And now once more do we have repeated the

thirty-three lines out of the first tablet contain-
ing the description of the demons, beasts, and
monsters spawned by Tiamat. The priests who
made this compilation were determined to get
this grewsome picture fully before the mind
and heart of all Babylon's worshipers. To
them all, this oft-repeated passage should show
from how great misery and danger Marduk had
delivered them. Following on this description,
Gaga repeats to the gods the demand of Mar-
duk for honors above the other gods. The
priests intended also to make plain that Marduk
had come to his honors only after the demand
had been made perfectly clear and unmistak-
able. Let us now see what the assembly had to
answer to the demands. And first of all the
gods must express horror at Tiamat and all her
deeds and plans.
125 Lakhmu and Lakhamu heard, they cried aloud,
All of the Igigi complained bitterly, saying,
"Because of what enmity is it that they
We do not understand the [deed] of Tiamat."
Then they gathered together, they went
130 The great gods, all of them, who decree [destiny],
They entered before Anshar, they filled
They kissed one another, in the assembly
They made ready the feast, at the banquet [they sat],
They ate bread, they mingled the wine.

[27]
120 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

135 The sweet drink made them drunken

By drinking they were drunken, their bodies were
filled.
They shouted aloud, their heart was exalted,
Then for Marduk, their avenger, did they decree
destiny.

So concludes the third tablet with a company

of drunken gods in maudlin amiability prepared
to grant all the demands of Marduk. What a
contrast do Hebrew conceptions of godhead
present to this! We must desire eagerly to be
fair, not to say generous, in all our judgments
of the religions of mankind, but it were folly
not to observe the weakness and degradation of
this ancient faith at the same time that we see
its beauty and power.
And now begins the fourth tablet, with the
drunken gods heaping honors upon Marduk.
THE FOURTH TABLET

They prepared for him a princely seat,

Before his fathers he took his place as sovereign.
"Thou art most honored among the great gods,
Thy destiny is beyond compare, thy command is
Anu.
5 0 Marduk, thou art most honored among the great
gods,
Thy destiny is beyond compare, thy command is
Anu.
In all time thy command shall not be changed,
To exalt and to abase lie in thy hand.
Established shall be the word of thy mouth, resistless
thy command,

[28]
 REVERSE
F I G U R E V I I I — T H E FOURTH TABLET OF CREATION
British Museum, No. 93,016

[29]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 121

10 None among the gods shall transgress thy limits.

Abundance is the desire of the shrines of the gods,
I n their place shall thy sanctuary be established.
0 Marduk, thou art our avenger.
We give thee lordship over the whole world.
15 Thou shalt take thy seat in the assembly, thy word
shall be exalted.
Thy weapon shall not lose its power, it shall break
in pieces thy foe.
0 lord, spare the life of him that trusteth in thee.
But, as for the god, who undertook evil, pour out his
life."

And now a curiously interesting test of Mar-

duk's power is proposed, accepted, and success-
fully carried out. He is to make a garment
disappear and then reappear. It makes one
think, superficially, of Gideon's test with the
fleece.1 But here is the description that the
poem gives:
Then they placed among them a garment,
20 And unto Marduk, their firstborn, they spoke:
"Thy destiny, 0 lord, is supreme among the gods,
To destroy and to create, when thou dost command,
it shall be fulfilled.
Thy command shall destroy the garment,
And if thou dost command, the garment shall be
intact."
25 Then he spoke with his mouth, the garment was de-
stroyed,
He commanded again, the garment was restored.
When the gods, his fathers, beheld the efficacy of
his word
They rejoiced, they paid homage, "Marduk is king."
i Judg. 6. 36-40.

[31]
122 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

Here is made plain that Marduk is conceived as

having Ea's power, the power of the word.1
Ea, the god of wisdom in early times, is the god
who has the power of the word. Here is this
power taken over by Marduk. And now Mar-
duk must be prepared with all weapons of
offense and of defense for the great and terrible
conflict.
They bestowed upon him the scepter, the throne,
the palu.2
30 They gave him an invincible weapon, which destroys
the enemy.
"Go and cut off the life of Tiamat,
Let the wind carry her blood into secret places.
After the gods his fathers had decreed for the lord
his destiny
They made his way a path of salvation and success.
35 He made ready the bow, chose it as his weapon,
He seized a spear, he fastened
He raised the club, in his right hand he grasped it,
The bow and the quiver he hung at his side.
He put the lightning in front of him,
40 With flaming fire he filled his body.
He made a net to inclose Tiamat within it.
He set it up at the four winds, that naught of her
might escape,
At the south wind, and the north wind, and the east
wind, and the west wind,
He brought near the net, the gift of his father Anu.
45 He created an evil wind, a tempest, and a hurricane,
A fourfold wind, a sevenfold wind, a whirlwind, a
wind beyond compare,

' That is, "the pure incantation." See p. I l l , note 1.

*Palu perhaps signifies ring (King).

[32]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 123
He sent forth the winds, which he had created, the
seven of them,
To disturb the inner parts of Tiamat, they followed
after him.

And now we come to the description of the

conflict. It is a thousand pities that breaks in
some of the lines mar the onward movement of
passionate description. What remains belongs
to the greatest monuments of the literature of
Babylonia and Assyria.
Then the lord took the flood, his mighty weapon,
50 He mounted the chariot, the storm incomparable, the
terrible,
He harnessed four horses and yoked them to it,
Destructive, pitiless, overwhelming, swift.

Some of the broken lines I now omit; the

splendid sweep of the onset is better without
them, and nothing essential to the narrative
disappears.
With overpowering brightness his head was crowned.
He took his road, he followed his path.
60 Toward Tiamat, the raging, he set his face.

Then they beheld him, the gods beheld him,

The gods his fathers beheld him, the gods beheld him.
65 And the lord drew nigh, he gazed upon the inward
parts of Tiamat,
He perceived the design of Kingu, her spouse.
As he gazed, he was troubled in his movements,
His resolution was destroyed, his action was dis-
ordered,
And the gods, his helpers, who marched by his side,

[33]
124 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

70 Beheld their leader's . . . . their vision was troubled.

But Tiamat uttered [a cry], she turned not her neck,
With full lips, she held fast rebellion.

She utters some taunt, not fully preserved for

us, and—
75 Then the lord raised the flood, his mighty weapon,
And against Tiamat, who was raging, he sent it with
the words:
"Thou hast made thyself great, thou hast exalted
thyself on high,
And thy heart has moved thee to call to battle

80
Thou hast exalted Kingu to be thy spouse,
Thou hast him, to issue decrees like Anu,
thou hast followed after evil,
And against the gods my fathers thou hast wrought
evil
85 When thou hast prepared thy army, hast girded on
thy weapons,
Come on, I and thou, let us join battle."
When Tiamat heard these words,
She was beside herself, she lost her reason,
Tiamat cried wild and loudly,
90 She trembled, she shook to her foundations,
She recited an incantation, she uttered her spell,
And the gods of the battle cried for their weapons.
Then advanced Tiamat and Marduk, counselor of
the gods;
To the combat they marched, they drew nigh to
battle,
95 The lord spread out his net and caught her,
The storm wind that was behind him, he let loose in
her face.
When Tiamat opened her mouth to its widest

[34]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 125

He drove in the evil wind, that she could not close

her lips.
The terrible winds filled her belly,
100 And her heart was taken from her, and her mouth
she opened wide.
He seized the spear and tore her belly,
He cut her inward parts, he pierced her heart.
He made her powerless, he destroyed her life;
He cast down her body and stood upon it.
105 When he had slain Tiamat, the leader,
Her power was broken, her army was scattered.
And the gods, her helpers, who marched at her side,
Trembled and were afraid and turned back.
They broke away to save their lives,
110 But they were surrounded, they could not escape.
He took them captive, he broke their weapons,
In the net they are cast down, they sat down,
The . . . . of the world they fill with cries of sorrow.

And so Tiamat is utterly overcome, and all the

terrible monsters so often described are wholly
ruined with her.
And Kingu, who had been exalted over them,
120 He conquered, and with the god Dugga he counted
him,
He took from him the tablets of destiny, which be-
longed not to him,
He sealed them with a seal and laid them in his own
breast.

Thereby he gave a token that the right of de-

termining destiny was now to be in the hand
of Marduk, god of Babylon. And now we are
drawing close to the real story toward which
our eyes have been turned from the beginning.

[35]
126 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

We have come a long course through these

fields of mythology; we are now on the very
verge of learning how Marduk created the
world.
After he had conquered and cast down his enemies,
And had beaten down the insolent enemy,
125 And had fully established Anshar's victory over the
enemy,
And had attained the will of Nudimmud,
And over the captive gods had made the prison fast,
Then he turned back to Tiamat, whom he had con-
quered,
And the lord stood upon the hinder parts of Tiamat,
130 With his merciless club he broke her skull.
He cut through the channels of her blood.
And he made the North wind bear it away to secret
places.
His fathers saw, and they rejoiced and were glad,
Presents and gifts they brought unto him.
135 Then the lord rested, he looked upon her dead body,
As he divided the flesh of the he devised a
cunning plan.
He split her open like a flat fish into two halves;
One half of her he established as a covering for
heaven.
He fixed a bolt, he stationed a watchman.
140 He commanded them not to let her waters come forth.
He passed through the heavens, he considered its
regions,
And over against the Deep, he placed the dwelling of
Nudimmud,
And the lord measured the construction of the Deep,
And he founded E-sharra, a mansion like unto it.
145 The mansion E-sharra which he built like heaven,
He caused Anu, Bel, and E a to inhabit in their districts

[36]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 127

Here have we the account of the making of the

big blue vault which still stretches above our
head. It is made of one half of the carcass of
Tiamat, flattened like a flat fish. This is con-
ceived as a great solid body—a firmament,
whose chief purpose is to retain the great
mass of waters of the heavenly ocean. A
watchman stands guard at the door which bolts
in "the waters that were above the heavens."
In this heaven Marduk builds a mansion,
E-sharra, and there Anu and Bel have their
assigned place, while corresponding to that in
the great watery world Ea has his place, and
chaos is gone forever.
The fifth tablet begins with the creation of
the great heavenly bodies, but is so sadly frag-
mentary that we can have little satisfaction in
it. By the irony of fate, it seems to be the tablet
which we should most have liked to have com-
plete, for in it there was most probably the
account of the creation of vegetation and of
the animal world. It would be of surpassing
interest to know what the Babylonian priests
had to tell of the origin of earth and its green
carpet and its wondrous company of beasts and
birds. But all this has been lost out of the nar-
rative, and we shall have to wait and hope that
some day and somewhere a duplicate of the fifth
tablet may be found to supply this great lack.
To-day it is possible only to give a little piece of
this tablet, which tells of the heavenly bodies.

[37]
128 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

THE FIFTH TABLET

He [that is, Marduk] made the stations for the great
gods;
The stars, like them, as the lumashi1 he fixed.
He ordained the year, he marked off its sections,
For the twelve months he fixed three stars.
5 After he had fashioned images for the days of the
year,
He founded the station of Nibir [that is, Jupiter], to
determine their bounds;
That none might err or go astray,
He set the station of Bel and Ea by his side.
He opened gates on both sides,
10 He made strong the bolt on the left and on the right,
In the midst thereof he fixed the zenith;
The moon god he caused to shine forth, to him con-
fided the night.
He appointed him a being of the night, to determine
the days;
Every month, without ceasing, like a crown he made
him, saying,
15 "At the beginning of the month, when thou shinest
on the land
Thou shalt show the horns, to determine six days,
And on the seventh day thou shalt divide the crown
in two.

On the fourteenth day, thou shalt reach the half . . .

The rest of the tablet is too broken to be intel-

1
The word lumashi in the astronomical texts designates a series of
seven stars. There is a very pretty controversy as to the meaning and
identification of these stars. Oppert translates spheres; Sayce, "twin
stars, literally, twin oxen," and explains t h a t "seven of them were
reckoned." Zimmern says t h a t they were not identical with the signs
of the Zodiac. Delitzsch does not commit himself, and King translates
"Zodiac." Jeremias in Das Alte Testament im Lichte des alien Orients,
p. 27, translates it Tierhreisbilder, while in his later brochure (Das Alter

[38]
 A
H H B

M•i.I

BMPPBMMBHMBMMBBI

- - " ' J ! . "

TH, iirr>' • ' K H H

OBVERSE

REVERSE
FIGURE I X — T H E F I F T H T A B L E T OF C R E A T I O N
British Museum
Size of the original, 2/,; by H inches

[39]
 IiEYEKriE
F I G U R E X . — T H E S I X T I I T A B L E T OF CREATION
British Museum, No. 02,629

[42]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 129

ligible, save for a few lines which are not im-

portant for our purpose.
And now we come to the creation of man,
which is ascribed to the desire of the gods to
have worshipers. It is Marduk also who is the
creator of men.

THE SIXTH TABLET

When Marduk heard the word of the gods,

His heart moved him and he devised a cunning plan.
He opened his mouth and unto Ea he spoke,
That which he had conceived in his heart, he made
known unto him:
5 "My blood will I take and bone will I fashion,
I shall make man that man may
I shall create man who shall inhabit [the earth],
Let the worship of the gods be established, let their
shrines be [built].
But I shall transform the ways of the gods, and I
shall change their paths.
10 Together shall they be honored, and unto evil shall
[they] . . . .

The rest of the tablet is broken and lost, save

for a few lines at the end in which the gods re-
ceive the victorious Marduk.
The seventh tablet is wholly given up to the
honoring and worshiping of Marduk by gods
and men alike. It begins thus:

der babylonischen Astronomie, p. 28) he renders Mashigestirrw. This

illustrates the doubtfulness of the word itself, and shows how uncertain
is the whole astrological scheme of Winckler and Jeremias. I t is a
small point, indeed, but an instructive one.

[43]
130 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

THE SEVENTH TABLET

O Asari, Bestower of fruitfulness, [Founder of agricul-
ture],
Thou who didst create grain and plants, who caused [the
green herb to spring up],

Then come lines in which he is hailed as the one

who sets forth the decrees of Anu, Bel, and Ea,
that is, he has been promoted to the places which
they have occupied:
14 No one among the gods can rival him

18 Never shall his deeds be forgotten among men

112 He conquered Tiamat, he troubled and ended her

life.
In the future of mankind, in the aged days,
May this be heard without ceasing, may it endure
forever.
115 Since he created the heaven and made the earth,
"The Lord of the world," his father Bel called his
name.
The names which all the Igigi did name,
Ea heard and his heart was rejoiced [and he said]:
"He whose name his fathers have magnified
120 Shall be even as I, his name shall be Ea.
The whole of my orders shall he control,
The whole of my commands shall he pronounce I"
By the name of Fifty did the great gods
Make known his fifty names, they made his path
lofty.
125 Let them be held in remembrance, and let the first
man make them known.
The wise and the understanding shall consider them
together,

[44]
 OBVERSE

REVERSE
FIGURE X I — T H E S E V E N T H T A B L E T OF CREATION
British Museum, K . 8522
S i z e of t h e o r i g i n a l , 3|- b y 2-V i n c h e s

[45]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 131
The father shall repeat them and teach them to his
son;
They shall be in the ear of the shepherd and the sheep
driver.
Let man rejoice in Marduk, the lord of the gods,
130 That he may make his land fertile, and that he may
have prosperity.
His word is established, his command is unchange-
able
The word of his mouth, no god hath annulled.
When he looketh in anger, he turns not his neck;
When he is wroth, no god can face his indignation.
135 Wide is his heart, broad is his compassion;
The sinner and the evil doer in his presence
They received instruction, they spoke before him

And so the last words are broken off and we

hear no more of Marduk's glories. So ends the
great Babylonian story of the creation, en-
shrined in a long series of myths, built up and
edited and changed so that the elder gods of
an ancient folk might give way before the ris-
ing Marduk, whose people were daily waxing
greater. It is in a sense a great political treatise,
yet also is it religious. The hearts of men
yearned over these things; we can feel, if we
have a bit of that spiritual consciousness that
never wholly leaves the world, the throb of a
spiritual struggle after God, and not merely an
ignoble strife after post and preference for a
deity. In the ultimate issue man is represented
as created in order that he may worship the
gods; so did the Babylonians recognize man's

[47]
132 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

insatiable thirst for worship, man's yearning

for a tie to bind him back to God, man's un-
conquerable will to be religious. And it seems
often enough in human history as though the
theory of these old Babylonian priests was not
so irrational, but as wise as many a more boast-
ful philosophical or theological hypothesis con-
cerning man's nature.
We have been dealing with this great creation
story as Babylonian in origin; we have been
thinking of its present form as an expression of
the religious faith and the theological thinking
of Babylon. But we must take a far wider
view than this. Every day that passes makes
it more plain that the Babylonians influenced
their neighbors, as, indeed, all peoples have
done and are ever doing. And even though we
deny the modern theory, now widely though
happily not universally accepted, which finds
in Babylon the origins of nearly every idea or
custom, whether of political, social, or religious
life, yet nevertheless this fact does remain in-
disputable, that Babylonian ideas did find wide
currency in the ancient world. Just as that
cumbrous script, invented by Sumerians, im-
proved here and there by Semites, swept far
and near to be used by Chaldians, Elamites,
and others wherewith to write diverse languages,
so the baggage of many Babylonian thinkers
went traveling over deserts on camel-back
even to the blue waters of the Mediterranean.

[48]
 THE COSMOLOGIES 133

It would be surprising indeed if some of

these speculations did not come into the ears
of the prophets, poets, and wise men of Israel.
But they did come, and it is well worth while
to inquire how they were received, and how
the Hebrews were able to use their life and
color as media for the conveying of a far greater
spiritual message. At first blush we might
expect to find the most patent influence of
this Babylonian creation story in the Hebrew
creation stories in the book of Genesis, but ex-
actly the opposite is the case. The prophets and
poets it is who show us most clearly the echoes
of Babylonian religion and mythology amid
the limestone hills of Palestine. We shall do
well to examine at least a few passages in which
are to be discerned these same Babylonian
thoughts as have just passed in stately review
before us. Here is a passage in the Psalter in
which we can discern quite plainly the influence
of the Babylonian creation story:1
O Jehovah God of hosts,
Who is a mighty one, like unto thee, 0 Jehovah?

1
The credit of first discussing some of these interesting parallels be-
longs to Gunkel (Schöpfung und Chans in Urzeit und Endzeit. Eine re-
ligionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung über Gen. 1 und Ap. Joh. 12, von
Hermann Gunkel. Mit Beiträgen von Heinrich Zimmern. Göttingen,
1895), whose book has been extraordinarily fruitful. The following may
also be compared: Zimmern, Biblische und babylonische Urgeschichte,
Leipzig, 1901, translated into English under the title, The Babylonian
and the Hebrew Genesis. London, 1901. See further W. O. E. Oesterly,
The Evolution of the Messianic Idea. London and New York, 1908.
This is a very suggestive book, and came first to my hands after these
lectures were in type.

[49]
134 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

And thy faithfulness is round about thee.

Thou rulest the pride of the sea:
When the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain;
Thou hast scattered thine enemies with the arm of thy
strength.
The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine:
The world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded
them.
The north and the south, thou hast created them.
(Psa. 89. 8-12.)

This poet has heard of Tiamat and her story.

Here Tiamat is called Rahab, and it is not Mar-
duk, but Jehovah, who has slain her. Just as
the elder Bel, or Ellil, was displaced, as we
have seen by Marduk, so here Marduk is dis-
placed by Jehovah. He has "broken Rahab in
pieces"—nay, more, he has scattered his ene-
mies, that is, the helpers of Rahab. And then,
then, after he has defeated Rahab, he creates
the world. It is certainly the Babylonian Tia-
mat and Marduk story which this poet has in
his mind and is using poetically to glorify
Jehovah. And be it observed he is following
exactly the same order of progression as we
have just seen in the Babylonian story—first
the conflict, then the creation.
The great poet, the supremely great poet,
who wrote the book of Job also knows of these
myths and knows well how to use them. Hear
him as he describes the mighty works of Je-
hovah :

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 THE COSMOLOGIES 135
He stirreth up the sea with his power,
And by his understanding he smiteth through Rahab.
By his Spirit the heavens are garnished;
His hand hath pierced the swift serpent.
(Job 26. 12, 13.)

Here is the same idea exactly, and again the

same poet sounds the same motive in the fine
words:
God will not withdraw his anger;
The helpers of Rahab do stoop under him.
(Job 9. 13.)

In other passages in the Old Testament the part

here played by Rahab is ascribed to the serpent,
without the mention of any name, or to levia-
than. Thus the great prophet Amos has heard
these stories, and can make to them a passing
allusion as he deals with big questions of right-
eousness. The sinners shall not escape:
Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I
will search and take them out thence; and though they
be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence
will I command the serpent, and it shall bite them.
(Amos 9. 3.)

And in a fine passage in the Psalter leviathan is

plainly enough the figure of Tiamat:
Yet God is my King of old,
Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength:
Thou brakest the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces;
Thou gavest him to be food to the people inhabiting the
wilderness.

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136 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

Thou didst cleave fountain and flood:

Thou driedst up mighty rivers.
The day is thine, the night also is thine:
Thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
Thou hast set all the borders of the earth:
Thou hast made summer and winter. (Psa. 74. 12-17.)

Here is proof enough that these Babylonian

myths were in current circulation in Israel, and
that poets and prophets knew how to adorn
their message with them. But we have also
the most abundant proof that these Babylonian
mythological ideas had passed over Canaan be-
fore Israel entered its coasts. The famous col-
lection of Tell-el-Amarna letters, discovered in
Egypt in 1887, which formed a part of the
correspondence of Egyptian kings about 1400
B.C., wrere written in the Babylonian script, and
many of them in various cities of Palestine,
Syria, Phoenicia, and Philistia. Among these
were some legends,1 which thus bring the
clearest evidence that the Babylonian mytho-
logical influence spread as widely as commerce
and letters. When Israel entered the land all
these ideas were a part of the mental possession
of the people. They were there ready and
waiting to be absorbed by Israel. Whatever
influence they had upon Israel's religious or
social thinking was then, in that early day,
exerted. The idea that Israel absorbed these
things during the exile can no longer seriously
1 See p. 187.

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 THE COSMOLOGIES 137

be maintained. Centuries before the exile they

had passed through the minds of Israel's leaders,
had been sifted, rejected as valueless for the
greater part, but in some big places kept as the
media for the expression of a more spiritual
faith.
We must come now to see what influence was
exerted by the Babylonian creation story upon
the noble creation story in Gen. 1.1—2. 4a. At
the very beginning George Smith saw that some
relationship existed, and no serious attempt to
deny the palpable fact has ever been made. It
must be evident to every student that the He-
brew priests knew the Babylonian story, that
all its mythological material lay in the back of
their minds, and that it was deliberately re-
jected when they wrote this beautiful story.
An examination of the Babylonian and Hebrew
narratives will show very plainly their re-
semblances and differences.
According to each account there existed a
watery chaos before the work of creation began.
In this chaos dwelt a monster Tiamat, per-
sonifying chaos and confusion. In the Hebrew
account the word tehom occurs, translated
"deep" in Gen. 1. 2, and this word tehom is
identically the same word as tiamat, changed
only slightly in passing from one language to
the other. But in the Hebrew account it is
stripped of mythical personality. It is the
"deep" and not a sea monster. The poets and

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138 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

prophets might use tiamat as Rahab or levia-

than for color, as we use Caliban or Prospero,
but the religion of Israel eliminated these myths
as unsuited to its spiritual message. But we
proceed further.
In the Hebrew narrative the first act of crea-
tion is the making of light (Gen. 1. 3-5), but in
the Babylonian story day and night seem to be
conceived as already existing when Apsu re-
volted, so that the two are here in agreement.
The second act of creation is the making of
the firmament which "divided the waters which
were under the firmament from the waters
which were above the firmament" (Gen. 1.
6-8). In the Babylonian poem the body of
Tiamat is divided and one half becomes the
firmament to keep the heavenly waters in
place.
The third and fourth acts of creation in the
Hebrew story are the creation of earth and of
vegetation (Gen. 1. 9-13). The corresponding
Babylonian story has been lost, but it seems
quite probable that these were described, in the
same order, on the fifth tablet. Berosus, in his
summary, says that Bel formed the earth out of
one half of Omorka's1 body, and as in every
instance where we can test his narrative it has
proved to be correct, we have just ground for

1 The name Omorka ( 0fi6pna) is almost certainly a corruption of

Ummu-Khubur, the "Mother Khubur," which is a title of Tiamat. See
First Tablet, line 113, p. 112.

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 THE COSMOLOGIES 139

believing that it is correct in this also. More-

over, at the very beginning of the seventh
tablet Marduk is hailed as "bestower of fruit-
fulness," "founder of agriculture," "creator of
grain and plants," he "who caused the green
herb to spring up."
The fifth act of creation is the making of the
heavenly bodies (Gen. 1. 14-19), and with this
the parallel is very close indeed. To the sixth
and seventh acts of creation (Gen. 1. 20-25)
the Babylonian parallels are wanting, but
Berosus gives us the hint that they were created
at the same time as man, so that it is probable
that this story appeared somewhere in the lost
portions of the fifth or sixth tablet.
The eighth act of creation, the capstone of
the whole (Gen. 1. 26-31), finds its parallel clear
and plain upon the sixth tablet.
The order of the separate acts of creation is
indeed not quite the same in the two accounts ;
for example, the creation of the heavenly bodies
follows immediately upon the making of the
firmament in the Babylonian story, while in
the Hebrew it follows the making of the earth
and its vegetation.
How great are these resemblances! It is
quite impossible to suppose that they are due
to chance. These two stories did not arise
separately in Babylonia and in Israel. The Baby-
lonian story is the older by centuries, and upon
it the Hebrew story was founded. When the

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 140 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

Babylonian narrative passed over to the He-

brews it is no longer possible to determine, but
it was surely soon after the invasion of Canaan
or earlier.
But great as are the resemblances which bind
these two narratives together, the differences
are far greater and more important. The sober-
ness, the dignity, the simplicity of the Hebrew
account lift it far above its ancient exemplar.
From it the crude nature myths have all been
stripped away; no drunken gods hold revels in
its solemn lines. But above even this stands
monotheism. Alone and lonesome is this God
whom the Hebrews knew. Hard and long was
the struggle upward into this great faith.
From the days of Moses to the days of Jeremiah
the charm of polytheism held many a goodly
spirit in Israel, but the great truth was latent,
fighting its way to a supremacy which should
here in Genesis find positive acknowledgment.
To that lofty faith the Babylonians never came.
This great glory belongs to Israel. Beyond the
limits of her realm no other folk had attained
this lofty preeminence. No other people brought
forth prophets to preach, or priests to teach,
this truth. Whence came this superiority? I
can find no origin for it but in a personal revela-
tion of God in human history. It was he who
made himself known to the Hebrew people
through their prophets, and through their liv-
ing experience of him in their history. He had

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 T H E COSMOLOGIES 141

indeed not left himself without a witness in

Babylonia, but the revelation to Israel lifted
her thinking to heights unknown before. The
foundations upon which this revelation rested
are to be discerned, in some part, in the religion
of the Babylonians, for it was out of this circle
of influences that the beginnings of Israel's
conscious thinking about the work of creation
came. We shall do well not to despise the day
of these lesser things, but we must not fail to
see clearly the larger things which came through
Israel to the world. The Babylonian creation
stories remained mere stories unrelated to any
large purpose. In Israel, on the other hand,
these stories are related to a great system of
religious thinking with a noble beginning and
a still nobler goal. The story of man's creation
in the image of God rests not there, but moves
forward to the story of man's fall from his high
estate and to the voices of the prophet's calling
in God's name for him to turn from his unright-
eousness and live. It was, therefore, not merely
monotheism which Israel had here to teach,
great a message as that is. It is ethical mono-
theism. Not a God who is alone and apart,
but a God who is in ethical relationship with
his creatures, is here revealed. Our acquaint-
ance with this great idea makes it almost a
commonplace. We are scarcely able to realize
how great it is. It is, in truth, the greatest
thought that the ancient Orient ever learned.

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