The Seven Tablets of Creation: The Enuma Elish

Tiamat is a female goddess and mother of many of the gods in the Enuma Elish. In the Creation Series, she is the embodiment of rage and vengeance. Tiamat is chaos, and she eschews the notion of order being imposed in any form. Her rage betrays her, preventing her from accepting conciliatory overtures from the other gods and eventually putting her in the position of going out to challenge the cool-headed Marduk on her own, only to be immediately dispatched.

Historically, Tiamat is among the oldest conceptions of a god. She is variously portrayed as a dragon or snake or a river, often called Ummu-Huber, Mother River. She is synonymous with chaos and disorder. Accordingly, some of the most ancient religious illustrations in existence portray the dragon Tiamat fighting Marduk, symbolizing the war between chaos and order. Shrines to Marduk often had idols in the form of the dragon Tiamat, to whom offerings were also made.

The original hero of the Babylonian creation myth is Ea, also called Anu, a second-generation god who has the gift of discovering all truth. Ultimately nothing can be concealed from Ea. The first confrontation in the Enuma Elish is between Ea and Apsu, another ancient god who decides, after consulting with Tiamat, to obliterate the new generation of gods who have brought light into the perpetual darkness of the pre-existing watery void. While Ea is capable of handling Apsu, he is not up to the task of overcoming Tiamat. The implication is that knowledge cannot overcome violent rage. Ea is characterized as Marduk’s father and proves to be the one other god who can approach Marduk, reason with him, and even change his mind. There are powerful expressions of affection in the Enuma Elish between Ea, Marduk, and Anshar. Conversely, Ea is the one who is ordered to sever Marduk’s head so his blood can be mingled with the dirt to create humanity. Ea is one of the three gods to whom a sector of the heavens is assigned so he can help keep the zodiac in order.

Anshar, the progenitor of all gods, begs the eternal theological question: If all the gods came from you, where did you come from? Other gods, particularly Apsu, Tiamat, Lahmu, and Lahamu, are described in the opening of the Enuma Elish before Anshar, though quickly Anshar is recognized as the father of all. Throughout the poem, he is clearly the senior god. Perhaps the most intriguing thing about Anshar is his inability to rein in his children once they threaten to get out of hand. When Apsu decides to attack the gods of order, Anshar sends Ea to confront him. When Tiamat decides to avenge Apsu, Anshar scrambles to find an avenger. This is a prime example of the anthropomorphic qualities attributed to the Babylonian gods: Once they are called into being, their father has no actual control over them. The one thing Anshar can do is summon the gods together in an assembly. He goes about this articulately, his aim being to gather universal acceptance of Marduk as champion of the gods, even though this means any authority he might possess will be diminished. Taking no risks, when he finally gets the gods together—having frightened them with the description of what Tiamat is intending to do—he makes sure they are filled with wine before he takes their vote on making Marduk their ruler.

While Apsu is only briefly a part of the Creation Series in person, disappearing before the end of the First Tablet, he is ironically the one who is still with us today. Leonard King points out that the word apse—originally meaning a depth, a hollow, or an empty place—is a synonymous use of the god’s name, since he ends up being hurled into the depths. Apsu, like Tiamat, is one of the more ancient second-generation gods and one who is enamored with chaos. Once light invades the primordial vastness in which the gods dwell, Apsu is enraged. He grouses to Tiamat that he can get no rest. She encourages him to do something about it. Thus, taking his faithful servant Mummu with him, he heads off to teach the new gods a lesson. To his great misfortune, he encounters Ea. What happens next to Apsu is unclear, but the result is that he is not heard from again, though his name does appear throughout much of the poem.

Goading Tiamat on toward her violent, fatal conflict with Marduk is the god Kingu. Kingu is a classic beta god, staying in the background and buttering up a major player. By way of rewarding him for his fealty, Tiamat makes him her lieutenant, sending him out to prepare her horde of demons for the upcoming fight. He is also entrusted with the enigmatic Tablets of Destiny, which are never discussed in the myth at any length. Before the battle is ever joined, the hapless Kingu sees the majesty of Marduk approaching and freezes in place, Tiamat’s army stopping with him. Deprived of her forces through Kingu’s cowardice, Tiamat engages Marduk alone. Moments later Marduk captures Kingu, warns him of his coming punishment, and strips away the Tablets of Destiny.