The Babylonian Legends of the Creation | Page 7

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