ENUMA ELISH (Literature of Mesopotamia)









CHARACTERS:

·      Apsu- begetter of the great gods; God of freshwater/ male fertility

·      Tiamat- wife of Apsu; Goddess of the sea/chaos

·      Lahmu and Lahamu- first of the gods

·       Anshar and Kishar- children of Tiamat; boundaries between earth and sky (horizon)

·       Anu- son of Anshar and Kishar; God of the sky; Father of all the gods that came down to live on earth; God of the city of Uruk

·  Ea- son of Anu; marries Damkina: father of Marduk; God of the waters; Lord of Incantations; Councilor of man; Instructor of Crafts; Writing, Building; kills Apsu and Mummu

·      Marduk- god of the Light of the sun; God of lightning in storm and rain; God of the City of Babylon; Made high kings of the gods

·       Kingu- second husband of Tiamat

·       Damkina- wife of Ea and mother of Marduk.

·       Sin- God of the moon and father of Shamash

·       Shamash- God of the son


PLOT/ CREATION STORY:

            In the beginning there was only undifferentiated water swirling in chaos. Out of this swirl, the waters divided into sweet, fresh water, known as the god Apsu, and salty bitter water, the goddess Tiamat. Once differentiated, the union of these two entities gave birth to the younger gods.

            These young gods, however, were extremely loud, troubling the sleep of Apsu at night and distracting him from his work by day. Upon the advice of his Vizier, Mummu, Apsu decided to kill the younger gods. Tiamat, hearing of their plan warns her eldest son, Enki and he put Apsu into to sleep and kills him. From Apsu’s remains, Enki creates his home. Tiamat, once the supporter of the younger gods, now is enraged that they have killed her mate. She consults with the god, Quingu, who advices him to make war on the younger gods. Tiamat rewards Quingu with the tablets of destiny, legitimize the rule of the god and control the fates, and he wears them proudly as a breastplate. With Quingu as her champion, Tiamat summons the forces of chaos and creates eleven horrible monsters to destroy her children.

            Ea, Enki and the younger gods fight against Tiamat futilely until, from among them, emerges the champion Marduk who swears he will defeat Tiamat. Marduk defeats Quingu and kills Tiamat by shooting her with an arrow which splits her into two; from her eyes flow the water of Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Out of Tiamat’s corpse, Marduk creates the heavens and earth; he appoints gods to various duties and binds Tiamat’s eleven creatures to his feet as trophies before setting their images in his new home. He also takes the tablets of destiny from Quingu, thus legitimizing his reign.

            Marduk consults with the god Ea (the god of wisdom) and decides to create human beings from the remains of the gods instigated Tiamat to war. Quingu is charged guilty and killed, from his blood, Ea created mankind. Marduk arranged the organization of the netherworld and distributed the gods to the appointed stations.

 

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