The Babylonian Legends of the Creation - Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge (best color ebook reader .txt) 📗
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At this point a new Text fills a break in the First Tablet, and
describes the fight which took place between Nudimmud or Ea, (the
representative of the established “order” which the rule of the gods had
introduced into the domain of Apsû and Tiâmat) and Apsû and his envoy
Mummu. Ea went forth to fight the powers of darkness and he conquered
Apsû and Mummu. The victory over Apsû, i.e., the confused and boundless
mass of primeval water, represents the setting of impassable boundaries
to the waters that are on and under the earth, i.e., the formation of
the Ocean. The exact details of the conquest cannot be given, but we
know that Ea was the possessor of the “pure (or white, or holy)
incantation” and that he overcame Apsû and his envoy by the utterance of
a powerful spell. In the Egyptian Legend of Ra and Aapep, the
monster is rendered spell-bound by the god Her-Tuati, who plays in it
exactly the same part as Ea in the Babylonian Legend.
When Tiâmat heard of Ea’s victory over Apsû and Mummu
she was filled with fury, and determined to avenge the death
of Apsû, her husband.
The first act of TIÂMAT after the death of Apsû was to increase the
number of her allies. We know that a certain creature called
“UMMU-KHUBUR” at once spawned a brood of devilish monsters to help her
in her fight against the gods. Nothing is known of the origin or
attributes of UMMU-KHUBUR, but some think she was a form of TIÂMAT. Her
brood probably consisted of personifications of mist, fog, cloud, storm,
whirlwinds and the blighting and destroying powers which primitive man
associated with the desert. An exact parallel of this brood of devils is
found in Egyptian mythology where the allies of Set and Aapep are
called “Mesu betshet” i.e., “spawn of impotent revolt.” They are
depicted in the form of serpents, and some of them became the “Nine
Worms of Amenti” that are mentioned in the Book of the Dead
(Chap. Ia).
Not content with Ummu-Khubur’s brood of devils, Tiâmat called the
stars and powers of the air to her aid, for she “set up” (1) the
Viper, (2) the Snake, (3) the god Lakhamu, (4) the Whirlwind, (5) the
ravening Dog, (6) the Scorpion-man, (7) the mighty Storm-wind, (8) the
Fish-man, and (9) the Horned Beast. These bore (10) the “merciless,
invincible weapon,” and were under the command of (11) Kingu, whom
Tiâmat calls “her husband.” Thus Tiâmat had Eleven mighty Helpers
besides the devils spawned by Ummu-Khubur. We may note in passing
that some of the above-mentioned Helpers appear among the Twelve Signs
of the Zodiac which Marduk “set up” after his conquest of Tiâmat,
e.g., the Scorpion-man, the Horned Beast, etc. This fact
suggests that the first Zodiac was “set up” by Tiâmat, who with her
Eleven Helpers formed the Twelve Signs; the association of evil with
certain stars may date from that period. That the Babylonians regarded
the primitive gods as powers of evil is clear from the fact that
Lakhamu, one of them, is enumerated among the allies of Tiâmat.
The helpers of Tiâmat were placed by her under the command of a god
called KINGU who is TAMMUZ. He was the counterpart, or equivalent, of
ANU, the Sky-god, in the kingdom of darkness, for it is said in the text
“Kingu was exalted and received the power of Anu,” i.e., he possessed
the same power and attributes as Anu. When Tiâmat appointed Kingu to be
her captain, she recited over him a certain spell or incantation, and
then she gave him the TABLET OF DESTINIES and fastened it to his breast,
saying, “Whatsoever goeth forth from thy mouth shall be established.”
Armed with all the magical powers conferred upon him by this Tablet, and
heartened by all the laudatory epithets which his wife Tiâmat heaped
upon him, Kingu went forth at the head of his devils.
When Ea heard that Tiâmat had collected her forces and Was determined
to continue the fight against the gods which Apsû and Mummu had begun,
and that she had made her husband Kingu her champion, he was
“afflicted” and “sat in sorrow.” He felt unable to renew the fight
against the powers of darkness, and he therefore went and reported the
new happenings to Anshar, representative of the “host of heaven,” and
took counsel with him. When Anshar heard the matter he was greatly
disturbed in mind and bit his lips, for he saw that the real
difficulty was to find a worthy antagonist for Kingu and Tiâmat. A gap
in the text here prevents us from knowing exactly what Anshar said and
did, but the context suggests that he summoned Anu, the Sky-god, to
his assistance. Then, having given him certain instructions, he sent
him on an embassy to Tiâmat with the view of conciliating her. When
Anu reached the place where she was he found her in a very wrathful
state, and she was muttering angrily; Anu was so appalled at the sight
of her that he turned and fled. It is impossible at present to explain
this interlude, or to find any parallel to it in other ancient
Oriental literature.
[Illustration: Shamash the Sun-god rising on the horizon, flames of
fire ascending from his shoulder. The two portals of the dawn, each
surmounted by a lion, are being drawn open by attendant gods. From a
Babylonian seal cylinder in the British Museum. [No. 89,110.]]
When Anu reported his inability to deal with Tiâmat, a council of the
gods was called, and Ea induced his son, Marduk to be present. We next
find Anshar in converse with the god Marduk, who offers to act as the
champion of the gods and to fight Tiâmat and her allies. Marduk being a
form of the Sun-god, the greatest of all the powers of light, thus
becomes naturally the protagonist of the gods, and the adversary of
Tiâmat and her powers of darkness. Then Anshar summoned a great council
of the gods, who forthwith met in a place called “Upshukkinaku”, which
may be described as the Babylonian Olympus. It was all-important for
Marduk to appear at the council of the gods before he undertook his
task, because it was necessary for him to be formally recognised by them
as their champion, and he needed to be endowed by them with magical
powers. The primitive gods Lakhmu and Lakhamu, and the Igigi, who may be
regarded as star-gods, were also summoned. A banquet was prepared, and
the gods attended, and having met and kissed each other they sat down,
and ate bread and drank hot and sweet sesame wine. The fumes of the wine
confused their senses, but they continued to drink, and at length “their
spirits were exalted.” They appointed Marduk to be their champion
officially, and then they proceeded to invest him with the power that
would cause every command he spake to be followed immediately by the
effect which he intended it to produce. Next Marduk, with the view of
testing the new power which had been given him, commanded a garment to
disappear and it did so; and when he commanded it to reappear it did so.
[Illustration: Shamash the Sun-god setting (?) on the horizon. In his
right he holds a tree (?), and in his left a … with a serrated
edge. Above the horizon is a goddess who holds in her left hand an ear
of corn. On the right is a god who seems to be setting free a bird
from his right hand. Round him is a river with fish in it, and behind
him is an attendant god; under his foot is a young bull. To the right
of the goddess stand a hunting god, with a bow and lasso, and a
lion. From the seal-cylinder of Adda …, in the British Museum. About
2500 B.C. [No. 89,115.]]
Then the gods saluted him as their king, and gave him the insignia of
royalty, namely, the sceptre, the throne and the pala, whatever that
may be. And as they handed to him these things they commanded him to go
and hack the body of Tiâmat in pieces, and to scatter her blood to the
winds. Thereupon Marduk began to arm himself for the fight. He took a
bow, a spear, and a club; he filled his body full of fire and set the
lightning before him. He took in his hands a net wherewith to catch
Tiâmat, and he placed the four winds near it, to prevent her from
escaping from it when he had snared her. He created mighty winds and
tempests to assist him, and grasped the thunderbolt in his hand; and
then, mounting upon the Storm, which was drawn by four horses, he went
out to meet and defeat Tiâmat. It seems pretty certain that this
description of the equipment of Marduk was taken over from a very
ancient account of the Fight with Tiâmat in which the hero was Enlil,
i.e., the god of the air, or of the region which lies between heaven
and hell. Marduk approached and looked upon the “Middle” or “Inside” or
“Womb” of Tiâmat [1], and divined the plan of Kingu who had taken up his
place therein. In the Seventh Tablet (l. 108) Marduk is said to have
“entered into the middle of Tiâmat,” and because he did so he is called
“Nibiru,” i.e., “he who entered in,” and the “seizer of the middle.”
What the words “middle of Tiâmat” meant to the Babylonian we are not
told, but it is clear that Marduk’s entry into it was a signal mark of
the triumph of the god. When Kingu from the “middle of Tiâmat” saw
Marduk arrayed in his terrible panoply of war, he was terrified and
trembled, and staggered about and lost all control of his legs; and at
the mere sight of the god all the other fiends and devils were smitten
with fear and reduced to helplessness. Tiâmat saw Marduk and began to
revile him, and when he challenged her to battle she flew into a rage
and attempted to overthrow him by reciting an incantation, thinking that
her words of power would destroy his strength. Her spell had no effect
on the god, who at once cast his net over her. At the same moment he
made a gale of foul wind to blow on her face, and entering through her
mouth it filled her body; whilst her body was distended he drove his
spear into her, and Tiâmat split asunder, and her womb fell out from it.
Marduk leaped upon her body and looked on her followers as they
attempted to escape. But the Four Winds which he had stationed round
about Tiâmat made all their efforts to flee of no effect. Marduk caught
all the Eleven allies of Tiâmat in his net, and he trampled upon them as
they lay in it helpless. Marduk then took the TABLET OF DESTINIES from
Kingu’s breast, and sealed it with his seal and placed it on his
own breast.
[Footnote 1: Or perhaps the “belly of Tiâmat.” The Egyptians
distinguished a portion of the heavens by the name of “Khat Nut,” “the
belly of Nut,” [Heiroglyphics] and two drawings of it are extant. The
first shows an oval object rimmed with stars and the other a
pear-shaped object, with a god inside it. (See Brugsch, _Inschriften
(Astronomische)_ Leipzig, 1883, p, 146.) [Illustration]]
Then returning to the dead body of Tiâmat he smashed her skull with
his club and scattered her blood to the north wind, and as a reward
for his destruction of their terrible foe, he received gifts and
presents from the gods his fathers.
The text then goes on to say that
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