The Babylonian Legends of the Creation Part 4

45. "Whatsoever we have made we will destroy.

46. "Verily their way shall be filled with disaster; lo, then we shall rest."

47. Mummu answered and gave counsel unto Apsu,

48. The counsel of Mummu was ... and dire [in respect of the G.o.ds]:

49. "Come, [do thou destroy] their way which is strong.

50. "Then verily by day thou shalt find peace, [and] by night thou shalt have rest."

51. Apsu heard him, his face grew bright,

52. For that they were planning evil against the G.o.ds, his children.

53. Mummu embraced his neck ...

54. He took him on his knee, he kissed him ...

55. They (i.e. Mummu and Apsu) planned the cursing in the a.s.sembly,

56. They repeated the curses to the G.o.ds their eldest sons.

57. The G.o.ds made answer ...

58. They began a lamentation...

59. [Endowed] with understanding, the prudent G.o.d, the exalted one,

60. Ea, who pondereth everything that is, searched out their [plan].

61. He brought it to nought (?), he made the form of everything to stand still.

62. He recited a cunning incantation, very powerful and holy.

[In the British Museum tablets lines 63-108 are either wanting entirely, or are too broken to translate, and the last 130 lines of the Berlin fragment are much mutilated. The fragments of text show that Ea waged war against Apsu and Mummu. Ea recited an incantation which caused Apsu to fall asleep. He then "loosed the joints" of Mummu, who in some way suffered, but he was strong enough to attack Ea when he turned to deal with Apsu. Ea overcame both his adversaries and divided Apsu into chambers and laid fetters upon him. In one of the chambers of Apsu a G.o.d was begotten and born. According to the Ninevite theologians Ea begat by his wife, who is not named, his son Marduk, and according to the theologians of the City of Ashur, Lakhmu begat by his wife Lakhamu a son who is no other than Anshar, or Ashur. A nurse was appointed to rear him, and he grew up a handsome child, to the great delight of his father. He had four ears and four eyes, a statement which suggests that he was two-headed, and resembled the Latin G.o.d Ja.n.u.s.]

109. They formed a band, and went forth to battle to help Tiamat.

110. They were exceedingly wroth, they made plots by day and by night without ceasing.

111. They offered battle, fuming and raging.

112. They set the battle in array, they uttered cries[1] of hostility,

[Footnote 1: Literally, "they excited themselves to hostility."]

113. Ummu-Khubur,[1] who fas.h.i.+oned all things,

[Footnote 1: A t.i.tle of Tiamat.]

114. Set up the unrivalled weapon, she sp.a.w.ned huge serpents,

115. Sharp of tooth, pitiless in attack (?)

116. She filled their bodies with venom instead of blood,

117. Grim, monstrous serpents, arrayed in terror,

118. She decked them with brightness, she fas.h.i.+oned them in exalted forms,

119. So that fright and horror might overcome him that looked upon them,

120. So that their bodies might rear up, and no man resist their attack,

121. She set up the Viper, and the Snake, and the G.o.d Lakhamu,

122. The Whirlwind, the ravening Dog, the Scorpion-man,

123. The mighty Storm-wind, the Fish-man, the horned Beast (Capricorn?)

124. They carried the Weapon[1] which spared not, nor flinched from the battle.

[Footnote 1: These nine monsters with the Weapon (Thunderbolt?) and Kingu form the Eleven Allies of Tiamat, and it is clear that she and her Allies represent the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac. When Marduk destroyed Tiamat and her a.s.sociates, he found it necessary to fix the stars, the images of the great G.o.ds, in their places, as the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac. (See the Fifth Tablet of Creation, p. 55.)]

125. Most mighty were Tiamat's decrees, they could not be resisted,

126. Thus she caused eleven [monsters] of this kind to come into being,

127. Among the G.o.ds, her first-born son who had collected her company,

128. That is to say, Kingu, she set on high, she made him the great one amongst them,

129. Leader of the hosts in battle, disposer of the troops,

130. Bearer of the firmly grasped weapon, attacker in the fight,

131. He who in the battle is the master of the weapon,

132. She appointed, she made him to sit down in [goodly apparel]

133. [Saying], "I have uttered the incantation for thee. I have magnified thee in the a.s.sembly of the G.o.ds.

134. "I have filled his [_sic_, read 'thy'] hand with the sovereignty of the whole company of the G.o.ds.

135. "Mayest thou be magnified, thou who art my only spouse,

136. "May the Anunnaki make great thy renown over all of them."