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Enuma Elish
November 14, 2006 at 10:57 am by mahud
A late Babylonian account of creation (2nd millennium B.C), known as the Enuma Elish, ‘When on high’, tells us that before the universe came into existence, Apsu (the male sweet primordial waters) and Tiamat (the female salt primordial waters) mingled together as one, along with their son Mummu.
Apsu and Tiamat also gave birth to the firstborn gods, but their rebellious behaviour brought nothing but misery and unrest to their primordial parents. The sleep, that was Apsu’s sole desire, became increasingly disturbed, and so both he and Mummu agreed to murder his tumultuous offspring.
Dispite the pain Tiamat was constantly forced to endure, she was fiercely protective of her children and angrily opposed her husbans wicked scheme. The gods soon learned of Apsu’s intention to destroy them and they fell silent. Ea (Enki), who was the greatest of the gods, cast a protective spell, encircling his siblings. He uttered a powerful incantation over the primordial waters which paralysed Mummu and sent apsu into a deep sleep. He removed the crown from the sleeping Apsu, and placing it upon his own head, he killed him. Ea then built a palace in the waters of Absu, for himself and his wife Damkina, and subdued Mummu with a rope through his nose.
After these dramatic events took place, the god Anu created the cardinal winds and let them loose upon the waters of Tiamat, stirring up a tremendous storm. Anu then dived in and formed earth-substance, which the turbulent waters quickly diffused throughout Tiamats domain.
The goddess was now in a state of deep anxiety and those who surrounded her advised that she should avenge the slaughter of her husband. Tiamat agreed, and created twelve terrifying creatures rising Kingu, who was one of their number, to preeminence as her powerful husband.
News of Tiamat’s uprising soon came to the attention of the gods, but they were too terrified to stand against her. finally they appointed Marduk, the son of Ea and Damkina, to lead them into battle, who was , dispite his youth, the most magnificent of them all. Marduk captured Tiamat in a gigantic net and let loose a paralysing wind, that passed into Tiamat’s body, enabling Marduk to fire an arrow that ripped through her flesh and pierced her heart.
Marduk divided Tiamat’s corpse, using a portion to create the earth. He then decided to create a race of men to populate the earth and serve the gods. Ea, the god of wisdom, suggested that in order to create men, the most guilty god among them, namely Kingu, should die. And so Kingu was slaughtered and from his blood was born mankind.