The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

M >> Morris Jastrow >> The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

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The rage of Tiamat is directed against Anshar, Kishar, and their
offspring. Anu, Bel, and Ea, while standing at the head of the latter,
are not the only gods introduced. When the contest begins, all the great
gods and also the minor ones are in existence.

The cause of Tiamat's rage is indicated, though vaguely, in the portions
preserved. In the opening lines of the epic there is a reference to the
time 'when fates were not yet decided.' The decision of fates is in the
Babylonian theology one of the chief functions of the gods. It
constitutes the mainspring of their power. To decide fates is
practically to control the arrangement of the universe--to establish
order. It is this function which arouses the natural opposition of
Tiamat and her brood, for Tiamat feels that once the gods are in
control, her sway must come to an end. On the part of the gods there is
great terror. They are anxious to conciliate Tiamat and are not actuated
by any motives of rivalry. Order is not aggressive. It is chaos which
manifests opposition to 'order.' In the second tablet of the series,
Anshar sends his son Anu with a message to Tiamat:

Go and step before Tiamat.
May her liver be pacified, her heart softened.

Anu obeys, but at the sight of Tiamat's awful visage takes flight. It is
unfortunate that the second tablet is so badly preserved. We are
dependent largely upon conjecture for what follows the failure of Anu's
mission. From references in subsequent tablets, it seems certain that
Anshar sends out Ea as a second messenger and that Ea also fails. Tiamat
is determined upon destroying the gods, or at least upon keeping from
them the 'decision of fates.' Anshar, it will be seen, stands at the
head of the pantheon, and it seems natural that he, and not one of his
offspring, should be the final victor. This indeed appears to have been
the original form of the myth or at least one form of it. In a second
form it was Bel to whom the victory was ascribed, and this Bel of the
triad, we have seen, was En-lil, the chief god of Nippur; but both
Anshar and Bel must give way to the patron deity of the city of
Babylon--Marduk. Anshar-Ashur, the head of the Assyrian pantheon, could
not be tolerated by the Babylonian priests as a power superior to
Marduk. On the other hand, Anshar could not be set aside, for he
survived in popular tradition. The result is a compromise. Marduk gains
the victory over Tiamat, but is commissioned to do so by the assembly of
the gods, including Anshar. As for the older Bel, he voluntarily
transfers to Marduk his name. In this way, the god Bel of the triad
becomes one with Marduk.

Perhaps in one religious center and at a time when Ea was the chief god,
still another version existed which assigned the triumph to Ea, for as
will be pointed out, traditions waver between assigning to Ea or to
Bel-Marduk so fundamental a function as the creation of mankind. In
short, the present form of the creation epic is 'eclectic' and embodies
what the Germans call a _tendenz_. To each of the great gods, Anshar,
Anu, Bel, and Ea, some part in the contest is assigned, but the greatest
role belongs to Marduk.

The second tablet closes with Anshar's decision to send his son Marduk
against Tiamat:

Marduk heard the word of his father.
His heart rejoiced and to his father he spoke.

With joyous heart he is ready to proceed to the contest, but he at once
makes good his claim to supreme control in case he is victorious. He
addresses the assembled gods:

When I shall have become your avenger,
Binding Tiamat and saving your life,
Then come in a body,
In Ubshu-kenna,[716] let yourselves down joyfully,
My authority instead of yours will assume control,
Unchangeable shall be whatever I do,
Irrevocable and irresistible, be the command of my lips.

The declaration foreshadows the result.

The third tablet is taken up with the preliminaries for the great
contest, and is interesting chiefly because of the insight it affords us
into Babylonian methods of literary composition. Anshar sends Gaga[717]
to the hostile camp with the formal announcement of Marduk's readiness
to take up the cause of the gods. Gaga does not face Tiamat directly,
but leaves the message with Lakhmu and Lakhamu:

Go Gaga, messenger (?) joy of my liver,
To Lakhmu and Lakhamu I will send thee.

The message proper begins as follows:

Anshar your son has sent me,
The desire of his heart he has entrusted to me.
Tiamat, our mother is full of hate towards us,
With all her might she is bitterly enraged.

The eleven associates that Tiamat has ranged on her side are again
enumerated, together with the appointment of Kingu as chief of the
terror-inspiring army. Gaga comes to Lakhmu and Lakhamu and delivers the
message verbatim, so that altogether this portion of the narrative is
repeated no less than four times.[718] The same tendency towards
repetition is met with in the Gilgamesh epic and in the best of the
literary productions of Babylonia. It may be ascribed to the influence
exerted by the religious hymns and incantations where repetition, as we
have seen, is also common, though serving a good purpose.

The message concludes:

I sent Anu, he could not endure her[719] presence.
Ea[720] was afraid and took to flight.
Marduk has stepped forward, the chief of the gods, your son,
To proceed against Tiamat, he has set his mind.

Marduk's declaration is then repeated.

Upon hearing the message Lakhmu and Lakhamu and "all the Igigi"[721] are
distressed, but are powerless to avert the coming disaster. The formal
declaration of war having been sent, the followers of Anshar assemble at
a meal which is realistically described:

They ate bread, they drank wine.
The sweet wine took away their senses.
They became drunk, and their bodies swelled up.

With this description the third tablet closes.

The meal symbolizes the solemn gathering of the gods. At its conclusion,
so it would seem, Marduk is formally installed as the leader to proceed
against Tiamat. The gods vie with one another in showering honors upon
Marduk. They encourage him for the fight by praising his unique powers:

Thou art honored among the great gods,
Thy destiny is unique, thy command is Anu.[722]
Marduk, thou art honored among the great gods,
Thy destiny is unique, thy command is Anu,
Henceforth thy order is absolute.
To elevate and to lower is in thy hands,
What issues from thee is fixed, thy order cannot be opposed,
None among the gods may trespass upon thy dominion.

...

Thy weapons will never be vanquished; they will shatter thy enemies.
O lord! grant life to him who trusts in thee,
But destroy the life of the god who plots evil.

As a proof of the power thus entrusted to Marduk, the gods give the
latter a 'sign.' Marduk performs a miracle. A garment is placed in the
midst of the gods.

Command that the dress disappear!
Then command that the dress return!

Marduk proceeds to the test.

As he gave the command, the dress disappeared.
He spoke again and the dress was there.

This 'sign,' which reminds one of Yahwe's signs to Moses as a proof of
the latter's power,[723] is to be regarded as an indication that
"destruction and creation" are in Marduk's hands. The gods rejoice at
the exhibition of Marduk's power. In chorus they exclaim, "Marduk is
king." The insignia of royalty, throne, sceptre, and authority are
conferred upon him.

Now go against Tiamat, cut off her life,
Let the winds carry her blood to hidden regions.[724]

Marduk thereupon fashions his weapons for the fray. Myth and realism are
strangely intertwined in the description of these weapons. Bow and
quiver, the lance and club are mentioned, together with the storm and
the lightning flash. In addition to this he

Constructs a net wherewith to enclose the life of Tiamat.
The four winds he grasped so that she could not escape.[725]
The south and north winds, the east and west winds
He brought to the net, which was the gift of his father Anu.

His outfit is not yet complete.

He creates a destructive wind, a storm, a hurricane,
Making of the four winds, seven[726] destructive and fatal ones;
Then he let loose the winds he created, the seven,
To destroy the life[727] of Tiamat, they followed after him.

Marduk, taking his most powerful weapon in his hand,[728] mounts his
chariot, which is driven by fiery steeds. The picture thus furnished of
the god, standing upright in his chariot, with his weapons hung about
him and the seven winds following in his wake, is most impressive.

He makes straight for the hostile camp. The sight of the god inspires
terror on all sides.

The lord comes nearer with his eye fixed upon Tiamat,
Piercing with his glance (?) Kingu her consort.

Kingu starts back in alarm. He cannot endure the 'majestic halo' which
surrounds Marduk. Kingu's associates--the monsters--are terrified at
their leader's discomfiture. Tiamat alone does not lose her courage.

Marduk, brandishing his great weapon, addresses Tiamat:

Why hast thou set thy mind upon stirring up destructive contest?

He reproaches her for the hatred she has shown towards the gods, and
boldly calls her out to the contest:

Stand up! I and thou, come let us fight.

Tiamat's rage at this challenge is superbly pictured:

When Tiamat heard these words
She acted as possessed, her senses left her;
Tiamat shrieked wild and loud,
Trembling and shaking down to her foundations.
She pronounced an incantation, uttered her sacred formula.

Marduk is undismayed:

Then Tiamat and Marduk, chief of the gods, advanced towards one
another.
They advanced to the contest, drew nigh for fight.

The fight and discomfiture of Tiamat are next described:

The lord spread out his net in order to enclose her.
The destructive wind, which was behind him, he sent forth into her
face.
As Tiamat opened her mouth full wide,
He[729] drove in the destructive wind, so that she could not close
her lips.
The strong winds inflated her stomach.
Her heart was beset,[730] she opened still wider her mouth,[731]
He seized the spear and plunged it into her stomach,
He pierced her entrails, he tore through her heart,
He seized hold of her and put an end to her life,
He threw down her carcass and stepped upon her.

The method employed by Marduk is so graphically described that no
comment is necessary. After having vanquished Tiamat, the valiant Marduk
attacks her associates. They try to flee, but he captures them
all--including Kingu--without much difficulty and puts them into his
great net. Most important of all, he tears the tablets of fate from
Kingu and places them on his breast. This act marks the final victory.
Henceforth, the gods with Marduk--and no longer Tiamat and her
brood--decree the fate of the universe. There is great rejoicing among
the gods, who heap presents and offerings upon Marduk. As the vanquisher
of chaos, Marduk is naturally singled out to be the establisher of the
fixed form and order of the universe. The close of the fourth tablet
describes this work of the god, and the subject is continued in the
following ones. Unfortunately, these tablets are badly preserved, so
that we are far from having a complete view of the various acts of
Marduk. He begins by taking the carcass of Tiamat and cutting it in
half.

He cuts her like one does a flattened fish into two halves.

Previous to this he had trampled upon her and smashed her skull, as we
are expressly told, so that the comparison of the monster, thus pressed
out, to a flattened fish is appropriate.

He splits her lengthwise.

The one half he fashioned as a covering for the heavens,
Attaching a bolt and placing there a guardian,
With orders not to permit the waters to come out.

It is evident that the canopy of heaven is meant. Such is the enormous
size of Tiamat that one-half of her body flattened out so as to serve as
a curtain, is stretched across the heavens to keep the 'upper
waters'--'the waters above the firmament' as the Book of Genesis puts
it--from coming down. To ensure the execution of this design, a bolt is
drawn in front of the canopy and a guardian placed there, like at a city
wall, to prevent any one or anything from coming out.

This act corresponds closely to the creation of a "firmament" in the
first chapter of Genesis. The interpretation is borne out by the
statement of Alexander Polyhistor who, quoting from Berosus, states that
out of one-half of Tiamat the heavens were made.[732] The further
statement that out of the other half the earth was fashioned is not
definitely stated in our version of the creation. The narrative proceeds
as follows:

He passed through the heavens, he inspected the expanse.[733]

To understand this phrase, we must consider the general character of the
"epic," which is, as we have already seen, a composite production,
formed of popular elements and of more advanced speculations. The
popular element is the interpretation of the storms and rains that
regularly visit the Euphrates Valley before the summer season sets in,
as a conflict between a monster and the solar deity Marduk. After a
struggle, winds at last drive the waters back; Tiamat is vanquished by
the entrance of the 'bad wind' into her body. The sun appears in the
heavens and runs across the expanse, passing in his course over the
entire vault. The conflict, which in the scholastic system of the
theologians is placed at the beginning of things, is in reality a
phenomenon of annual occurrence. The endeavor to make Marduk more than
what he originally was--a solar deity--leads to the introduction of a
variety of episodes that properly belong to a different class of
deities. For all that, the original role of Marduk is not obscured.
Marduk's passage across the heavens is a trace of the popular phases of
the nature myth, and while in one sense, it is appropriately introduced
after the fashioning of the expanse, it more properly follows
immediately upon the conflict with Tiamat. In short, we have reached a
point in the narrative where the nature myth symbolizing the annual
succession of the seasons blends with a cosmological system which is the
product of comparatively advanced schools of thought, in such a manner
as to render it difficult to draw the line where myth ends and
cosmological system begins. For the moment, the nature myth controls the
course of the narrative. The sun, upon running its course across the
heavens, appears to drop into the great ocean, which the Babylonians, in
common with many ancient nations, imagined to surround and to pass
underneath the earth.

Hence the next act undertaken by Marduk is the regulation of the course
of this subterranean sea. The name given to this sea was Apsu. Marduk
however does not create the Apsu. It is in existence at the beginning of
things, but he places it under the control of Ea.

In front of Apsu, he prepared the dwelling of Nu-dimmud.[734]

This Apsu, as we learn from other sources,[735] flows on all sides of
the earth, and since it also fills the hollow under the earth, the
latter in reality rests upon the Apsu. Ea is frequently called "the lord
of Apsu," but the creation epic, in assigning to Marduk the privilege of
preparing the dwelling of Ea, reverses the true order of things, which
may still be seen in the common belief that made Marduk the son of Ea.
Marduk, the sun rising up out of the ocean, becomes the offspring of Ea,
and even the political supremacy of Marduk could not set aside the
prerogatives of Ea in the popular mind. In the cosmological system,
however, as developed in the schools, such an attempt was made. While
recognizing the 'deep' as the domain of Ea, the theologians saved
Marduk's honor by having him take a part in fixing Ea's dwelling and in
determining its limitations.

With the carcass of Tiamat stretched across the upper firmament and
safely guarded, and with the Apsu under control, the way is clear for
the formation of the earth. This act in the drama of creation is
referred to in the following lines, though in a manner, that is not free
from obscurity. The earth is pictured as a great structure placed over
the Apsu and corresponding in dimension with it--at least in one
direction.

The lord measured out the structure of Apsu.
Corresponding to it, he fashioned a great structure[736] Esharra.

Esharra is a poetical designation of the earth and signifies, as Jensen
has satisfactorily shown, "house of fullness"[737] or "house of
fertility." The earth is regarded as a great structure, and placed as it
is over the Apsu, its size is dependent upon the latter. Its measurement
from one end to the other cannot exceed the width of the Apsu, nor can
it be any narrower. The ends of the earth span the great Apsu. The
following line specifies the shape given to Esharra:

The great structure Esharra, which he made as a heavenly vault.

The earth is not a sphere according to Babylonian ideas, but a hollow
hemisphere having an appearance exactly like the vault of heaven, but
placed in position beneath the heavenly canopy. As a hemisphere it
suggests the picture of a mountain, rising at one end, mounting to a
culminating point, and descending at the other end. Hence by the side of
Esharra, another name by which the earth was known was Ekur, that is,
'the mountain house.'

Diodorus Seculus, in speaking of the Babylonian cosmology, employs a
happy illustration. He says that according to Babylonian notions the
world is a "boat turned upside down." The kind of boat meant is, as
Lenormant recognized,[738] the deep-bottomed round skiff with curved
edges that is still used for carrying loads across and along the
Euphrates and Tigris, the same kind of boat that the compilers of
Genesis had in view when describing Noah's Ark. The appearance in
outline thus presented by the three divisions of the universe--the
heavens, the earth, and the waters--would be that of two heavy rainbows,
one beneath the other at some distance apart, resting upon a large body
of water that flows around the horizons of both rainbows, and also fills
the hollow of the second one.[739] The upper 'rainbow' is formed by
one-half of the carcass of Tiamat stretched across in semi-circular
shape; the lower one is the great structure Esharra made by Marduk,
while the Apsu underneath is the dwelling of Ea. The creation epic, it
may be noted once more, takes much for granted. Its chief aim being to
glorify Marduk, but little emphasis is laid upon details of interest to
us. The parcelling out of these three divisions among Anu, Bel, and Ea
is therefore merely alluded to in the closing line of the fourth tablet:

He established the districts[740] of Anu, Bel, and Ea.

The narrative assumes what we know from other sources, that the heavens
constitute the domain of Anu, Esharra belongs to Bel, while Apsu belongs
to Ea.

The mention of the triad takes us away from popular myth to the
scholastic system as devised by the theologians. The establishment of
the triad in full control marks the introduction of fixed order into the
universe. All traces of Tiamat have disappeared. Anu, Bel, and Ea
symbolize the eternal laws of the universe.

There are, as we have seen, two factors involved in the role assigned to
Marduk in the version of the creation epic under consideration,--one the
original character of the god as a solar deity, the other the later
position of the god as the head of the Babylonian pantheon. In the
'epic,' the fight of Marduk with Tiamat belongs to Marduk as a solar
deity. The myth is based, as was above suggested,[741] upon the annual
phenomenon witnessed in Babylonia when the whole valley is flooded and
storms sweep across the plains. The sun is obscured. A conflict is going
on between the waters and storms, on the one hand, and the sun, on the
other hand. The latter finally is victorious. Marduk subdues Tiamat,
fixes limitations to the 'upper and lower waters,' and triumphantly
marches across the heavens from one end to the other, as general
overseer.

This nature myth was admirably adapted to serve as the point of
departure for the enlargement of the role of Marduk, rendered necessary
by the advancement of the god to the head of the pantheon. Everything
had to be ascribed to Marduk. Not merely humanity, but the gods also had
to acknowledge, and acknowledge freely, the supremacy of Marduk.

The solar deity thus becomes a power at whose command the laws of the
universe are established, the earth created and all that is on it. In
thus making Marduk the single creator, the theologians were as much
under the influence of Marduk's political supremacy, as they helped to
confirm that supremacy by their system. With this object in view, the
annual phenomenon was transformed into an account of what happened 'once
upon a time.'

What impressed the thinkers most in the universe was the regular working
of the laws of nature. Ascribing these laws to Marduk, they naturally
pictured the beginnings of things as a lawless period. Into the old and
popular Marduk-Tiamat nature myth, certain touches were thus introduced
that changed its entire character. This once done, it was a
comparatively simple matter to follow up the conflict of Marduk and
Tiamat by a series of acts on Marduk's part, completing the work of
general creation. The old nature myth ended with the conquest of the
rains and storm and the establishment of the sun's regular course,
precisely as the deluge story in Genesis, which contains echoes of the
Marduk-Tiamat myth, ends with the promulgation of the fixed laws of the
universe.[742]

What follows upon this episode in the Babylonian epic is the elaboration
of the central theme, worked out in the schools of Babylonian thought
and intended, on the one hand, to illustrate Marduk's position as
creator and, on the other, to formulate the details of the cosmological
system.

With the fifth tablet, therefore, we leave the domain of popular myth
completely and pass into the domain of cosmological speculation.
Fragmentary as the fifth tablet is, enough is preserved to show that it
assumes the perfection of the zodiacal system of the Babylonian schools
and the complete regulation[743] of the calendar. In this zodiacal
system, as has been intimated and as will be more fully set forth in a
special chapter, the planets and stars are identified with the gods. The
gods have their 'stations' and their 'pictures' in the starry sky. The
stars are the 'drawings' or 'designs of heaven.' It is Marduk again who
is represented as arranging these stations:

He established the stations for the great gods.[744]
The stars, their likeness,[745] he set up as constellations.[746]
He fixed the year and marked the divisions.[747]
The twelve months he divided among three stars.
From the beginning of the year till the close (?)
He established the station of Nibir[748] to indicate their boundary.
So that there might be no deviation nor wandering away from the course
He established with him,[749] the stations of Bel and Ea.

An epitome of the astronomical science of the Babylonians is comprised
in these lines. The gods being identified with stars and each of the
latter having its place in the heavens 'to establish the stations for
the great gods' is equivalent to putting the stars in position. The
regulation of the year forms part of the astronomical science. The three
stars that constitute 'divisions' to aid in marking off the months are
Nibir, Bel, and Ea. That the Babylonians had such a system as is here
outlined is confirmed by Diodorus Seculus.[750] The position of Nibir,
or Jupiter, whose course keeps closer to the ecliptic than that of any
other planet, served as an important guide in calendrical calculations.
The stars are represented as clinging to their course through
maintaining their relationship to Nibir, while at the side of Nibir and
as additional guides, Bel is identified with the north pole of the
equator and Ea with a star in the extreme southern heavens, to be sought
for, perhaps, in the constellation Argo. The description concludes:

He attached large gates to both sides,
Made the bolt secure to the left and right.

The heavens are thus made firm by two gates, fastened with bolts and
placed at either end. Through one of these gates the sun passes out in
the morning, and at evening enters into the other. But the most
important body in the heavens is the moon. Its functions are described
in an interesting way:

In the midst[751] he made the zenith[752] (?)
Nannar[753] he caused to go forth and handed over to him[5] the night.
He fixed him[754] as the luminary of night to mark off the days.

The passage is made clear by a reference to the Book of Genesis, i. 16,
where we are told that the moon was created 'for the rule of night.' A
distinction between the Biblical and the cuneiform cosmology at this
point is no less significant. While according to Babylonian ideas, the
moon alone, or at most the moon with the stars, regulates the days, the
Hebrew version makes the moon and sun together the basis for the
regulation of the 'days and years.' The sun according to Babylonian
notions does not properly belong to the heavens, since it passes daily
beyond the limits of the latter. The sun, therefore, plays an
insignificant part in the calendrical system in comparison with the
moon.