OTHER BABYLONIAN ACCOUNTS OF THE CREATION.
Cuneiform accounts originally traditions.—Variations.—Account of Berosus.—Tablet from Cutha.—Translation.—Composite animals.—Eagle-headed men.—Seven brothers.—Destruction of men.—Seven wicked spirits.—Mythical explanation of lunar eclipses.—Hymn to the God of Fire.—War in heaven.—Tiamat-Merodach.—The great dragon.—Parallel Biblical account.
HE traditions embodied by Accadians and Assyrians in the literature of which specimens have been given in the preceding chapter, had been handed down by word of mouth through many generations, and committed to writing only at a comparatively late period. When such is the case, traditions are naturally liable to vary, sometimes very widely, according to the period and condition of the country. Thus many different versions of a story arise, and there can be no doubt that this was actually the case with the Creation legends. The account of the Creation in six days was not the only account of the Creation current among92 the inhabitants of Assyria and Babylonia. It was but one out of many which had slowly grown up among the people, and been finally thrown into a literary form. The story of the Creation transmitted through Berosus (see chapter iii. pp. 34-36), for example, supplies us with an account which differs entirely from the cuneiform account in the last chapter as well as from the Genesis account, and some fragments of tablets from Kouyunjik belonging to the library of Assur-bani-pal give a copy, mutilated as usual, of a third version which has, however, points of agreement with the account of Berosus. This legend, of which the following is a translation, is stated to be copied from a tablet at Cutha.
Legend of Creation from Cutha tablet.
(Many lines lost at commencement.)
1. .... his lord, the crown of the gods ....
2. the spearmen of his host, the spearmen of (his) host ....
3. lord of those above and those below, lord of the angels ....
4. who drank turbid waters and pure waters did not drink ....
5. who with his flame, as a weapon, that host enclosed,
6. has taken, has devoured.
7. On a memorial-stone he wrote not, he disclosed not, and bodies and produce 93
8. in the earth he caused not to come forth, and I approached him not.
9. Warriors with the bodies of birds of the desert, men
10. with the faces of ravens,
11. these the great gods created,
12. in the earth the gods created their city.
13. Tiamtu gave them suck,
14. their life (?) the mistress of the gods created.
15. In the midst of the earth they grew up and became strong, and
16. increased (?) in number,
17. Seven kings, brethren, were made to come as begetters;
18. six thousand in number were their armies.
19. The god Banini their father was king, their mother
20. the queen was Melili,
21. their eldest brother who went before them, Memangab was his name,
22. their second brother Medudu was his name,
23. their third brother .... pakh was his name,
24. their fourth brother .... dada was his name,
25. their fifth brother .... takh was his name,
27. their sixth brother .... ruru was his name,
28. their seventh brother .... (rara) was his name.
Column II.
(Many lines lost.)
1. ..... the evil curse .... 94
2. The man his will turned ....
3. on a .... I arranged.
4. On a (tablet) the evil curse (which) in blood he raised
5. (I wrote and the children of) the generals I urged on.
6. Seven (against seven in) breadth I arranged them.
7. (I established) the illustrious (ordinances?)
8. I prayed to the great gods
9. Istar, ...., Zamama, Anunit,
10. Nebo .... and Samas the warrior,
11. the son of (the moon-god), the gods that go (before me).
12. .... he did not give and
13. thus I said in my heart,
14. that, Here am I and
15. may I not go .... (beneath) the ground.
16. may I not go ...... may the prayer
17. go when .... my heart,
18. may I renew, the iron in my hand may I take.
19. The first year in the course of it
20. one hundred and twenty thousand soldiers I sent out, and among them
21. not one returned.
22. The second year in the course of it, ninety thousand I sent out, and not one returned.
23. The third year in the course of it, sixty thousand seven hundred I sent out, and not one returned. 95
24. They were rooted out, they were smitten with sickness; I ate,
25. I rejoiced, I rested.
26. Thus I said to my heart that, Here am I and
27. for my reign what is left (to rule over)?
28. I the king, am not the replenisher of his country,
Column III.
1. and (I), the shepherd, am not the replenisher of his people,
2. since I established corpses, and a desert is left.
3. The whole of the country (and) men with night, death (and) plague I cursed it.
4. (I afflicted them) as many as exist.
5. ...... there descended
6. ...... a whirlwind.
7. ...... its whirlwind.
8. ........... all.
9. The foundations (of the earth were shaken?)
10. The gods .......
11. Thou didst bind and .....
12. and they were bound (?) ....
13. Thou protectedst .....
14. A memorial of ........
15. in supplication to Hea ....
16. Illustrious memorial sacrifices ....
17. Illustrious tereti ......
18. I collected; the children of the generals (I urged on).
19. Seven against seven in breadth I arranged. 96
20. I established the illustrious ordinances (?)
21. I prayed to (the great) gods,
22. Istar .... (Zamama, Anunit,)
23. Nebo ... (and the Sun-god, the warrior,)
24. the son (of the Moon-god, the gods who go before me).
Column IV.
(Several lines lost at commencement.)
1. Thou O king, viceroy, shepherd, or any one else,
2. whom God shall call to rule the kingdom,
3. this tablet I made for thee, this record-stone I wrote for thee,
4. in the city of Cutha, in the temple of Gallam,
5. in the sanctuary of Nergal, I leave for thee;
6. this record-stone see, and,
7. to the words of this record-stone listen, and
8. do not rebel, do not fail,
9. do not fear, and do not curse.
10. Thy foundation may he establish!
11. As for thee, in thy works may he make splendour.
12. Thy forts shall be strong,
13. thy canals shall be full of water,
14. thy papyri, thy corn, thy silver,
15. thy furniture, thy goods,
16. and thy instruments, shall be multiplied.
(A few more mutilated lines.)
97
Sacred Tree, attendant Figures and Eagle-headed Men, from the seal of a Syrian Chief, ninth century b.c.
This is a very obscure inscription, the first column, however, forms part of a relation similar to that of Berosus in his history of the Creation; the beings who were killed by the light, and those with men’s heads and bird’s bodies, and bird’s heads and men’s bodies, agree with the composite monsters of Berosus, while the goddess of chaos, Tiamtu, who is over them, is the same as the Thalatth of the Greek writer. It may be remarked that the doctrine of the Greek philosopher, Anaximander, that man has developed out of creatures of various shape, and once like the fish was an inhabitant of the water, is but a reminiscence of the old Babylonian legend.
The relation in the third column of the inscription is difficult, and does not correspond with any known incident. The fourth column contains an address to any future king who should read the98 inscription which was deposited in the temple of Nergal at Cutha.
It is possible that this legend was supposed to be the work of one of the mythical kings of Chaldea, who describes the condition and history of the world before his time.
The war carried on against the monstrous creations of Tiamtu, described in this myth, was but one version of the war waged against Tiamtu, or Chaos, herself by the sun-god Merodach. The most famous form taken by the story of this war was that which described the attack of the seven wicked spirits, or storm-demons, against the moon, and their final discomfiture by the bright power of day. This attack was a primitive attempt to account for lunar eclipses, dressed up in poetry, and may be compared with the Chinese belief that when the moon is eclipsed it has been devoured by the dragon of night. Similarly the Egyptians told how Set or Typhon pursued the moon, the eye of Horus, how it waned week by week as he struck it, and finally passed into eclipse when he blinded it altogether. According to Hindu legend, the immortal head of the serpent-demon Rahu, cut off by Vishnu who had been informed by the sun and moon of his theft of the drink of immortality, incessantly pursues the two informers in order to devour them, and a Scandinavian myth makes the sun and moon to be always pursued by two wolves, Sk?ll and Hati, the latter of whom, also called Managarmr or dog of the moon,99 will at the end of the times swallow up the chief luminary of night.
Tablet with the story of the Seven Wicked Spirits.
Column I.
1. The recurring days12 are the wicked gods.
2. The rebellious spirits, who in the lower part of heaven
3. had been created,
4. wrought their evil work
5. devising with wicked heads (at) sunset;
6. (like) a sea-monster to the river (they marched).
7. Among the seven of them the first was a scorpion (or fiery sting) of rain.
8. The second was a thunderbolt which no man could face.
9. The third was a leopard ....
10. The fourth was a serpent ....
11. The fifth was a watch-dog which (rages) against (his foes).
12. The sixth was a raging tempest which to god and king submits not.
13. The seventh was the messenger of the evil wind which (Anu) made.
14. The seven of them (are) messengers of the god Anu their king. 100
15. In city after city they set their returning feet.
16. The raging wind which (is) in heaven, fiercely hath been bound to them.
17. The fleecy rain-clouds (are they) which in heaven establish cloudy darkness.
18. The lightning of the tempest, the raging tempests which in the bright day
19. establish gloom, are they.
20. With evil tempest, baleful wind, they began:
21. the storm of Rimmon, that was their might,
22. at the right hand of Rimmon did they march;
23. from the foundations of heaven like lightning (they darted),
24. (like) a sea-monster to the river in front they marched.
25. In the wide heavens the seat of Anu the king
26. with evil purpose did they abide, and a rival they had not.
27. Then Bel of this matter heard and
28. the word sank into his heart.
29. With Hea the supreme adviser of the gods he took counsel, and
30. Sin (the moon), Samas (the sun), and Istar (Venus) in the lower part of heaven to direct it he had appointed.
31. With Anu the lordship of the hosts of heaven he made them share.
32. The three of them, those gods his children,
33. night and day he had established; that they break not apart, 101
34. he urged them.
35. Then those seven, the evil gods,
36. in the lower part of heaven commencing,
37. before the light of Sin fiercely they came,
38. the hero Samas and Rimmon (the god of the atmosphere) the warrior to their quarters returned and
39. Istar with Anu the king a noble seat
40. chooses and in the government of heaven is glorious.
Column II.
Merodach delivering the Moon-god from the evil spirits; from a Babylonian Cylinder.
The second column, which is much mutilated at the beginning, goes on to describe “the trouble” of the moon-god, how “night and day in eclipse, in the seat of his dominion he sat not.” But
1. The wicked gods the messengers of Anu their king
2. devising with wicked heads assisted one another.
3. Evil they plotted together.
4. From the midst of heaven like the wind on mankind they swooped. 102
5. Bel the eclipse of the hero Sin
6. in heaven saw and
7. the god to his messenger the god Nusku (Nebo) said:
8. “My messenger, Nebo, my word to the deep carry:
9. the news of my son Sin who in heaven is grievously eclipsed
10. to the god Hea in the deep repeat.” Then
11. Nebo the word of his lord obeyed, and
12. to Hea in the deep descended and went.
13. To the prince, the supreme councillor, the lord, the lord of mankind,
14. Nebo the message of his lord in that quarter at once repeated.
15. Hea in the deep that message heard, and
28. his lips he bit, and with outcry his mouth he filled.
29. Hea his son the god Merodach called, and the word he spake:
30. “Go, my son Merodach!
31. the light of the sky, my son Sin, whom heaven is grievously eclipsed,
32. (in) his eclipse from heaven is departing.
33. Those seven wicked gods, serpents13 of death, having no fear, 103
34. those seven wicked gods, who like a whirlwind
35. (destroy) the life of mankind,
36. against the earth like a storm they come down.
37. In front of the bright one Sin fiercely they came,
38. the hero Samas and Rimmon the warrior, to their quarters (returned),
39. (Istar, with Anu the king, an illustrious seat chooses, and in the dominion of heaven is glorious).
Eagle-headed Man. From Nimroud Sculpture.
Most of the remainder of the legend, consisting of some forty lines, is unfortunately lost, owing to a fracture of the tablet. What is left, however, shows that Merodach, “the brilliance of the sun,” for such is the meaning of his name, who always appears in the Accadian hymns as a kind of Babylonian Prometheus and universal benefactor, comes to the help of the “labouring” moon, and “awe” goes before him. Dressed in “glistening armour of unsoiled cloths and broad garments,” he enters “the gate of the palace,” “a king, the son of his god, who, like the bright one, the moon-god, sustains the life of the land,” and there with a helmet of “light like the fire” upon his head, successfully overthrows the seven powers of darkness. The poem concludes with a prayer that they may never descend into the land, and traverse its borders.
In this story, which differs again from all the others, Bel is supposed to place in the heaven the Moon, Sun, and Venus, the representative of the stars. The details have no analogy with the other stories, and this can only be considered a poetical myth of the Creation.
104
This legend is part of the sixteenth tablet of the series on evil spirits; but the tablet contains other matters as well, the legend apparently being only quoted in it. There is another remarkable legend of the same sort in praise of the fire-god, on another tablet of this series published in “Cuneiform Inscriptions,” vol. iv. p. 15. The whole of this series concerns the wanderings of the god Merodach, who goes about the world seeking to remove curses and spells, and in every difficulty applying to his father Hea to learn how to combat the influence of the evil spirits, to whom all misfortunes were attributed.
The seven evil spirits illustrate well the way in which a moral signification may come to be attached to what was originally a purely physical myth. They are frequently mentioned in the literature of ancient Accad. Thus the twenty-third book, on eclipses of the moon, of the great work on astronomy compiled for Sargon of Agané, states that: “When the moon shall describe a section (in) the upper circle (of its revolution), the gods of heaven and earth bring about dearth of men (and) their overthrow; and (there is) eclipse, inundation, sickness, (and) death; the seven great spirits before the moon are broken.” Elsewhere, an Accadian hymn, which has an interlinear Assyrian translation attached to it, speaks as follows of these dreaded spirits:—
1. Seven (they) are, seven they (are).
2. In the abyss of the deep seven they (are).
3. The splendours of heaven (are) those seven. 105
4. In the abyss of the deep, (in) a palace, (was) their growth.
5. Male they (are) not, female they (are) not. [The Accadian text, in accordance with the respect paid to women in Accad, reverses this order.]
6. As for them, the deep (is) their binder.
7. Wife they have not, son is not born to them.
8. Reverence (and) kindness know they not.
9. Prayer and supplication hear they not.
10. (Among) the thorns (?) on the mountain (was) their growth.
11. To Hea are they foes.
12. The throne-bearers of the gods (are) they.
13. Destroying the roads on the paths are they set.
14. Wicked (are) they, wicked (are) they;
15. seven (are) they, seven (are) they, seven twice again (are) they.
Another Accadian poet, who lived at Eridu, the supposed site of Paradise, at the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates, has left another account of the Seven wicked spirits in the hymn to the fire-god mentioned above. He says of them:—
1. O god of fire, those seven how were they begotten, how grew they up?
2. Those seven in the mountain of the sunset were born;
3. those seven in the mountain of the sunrise grew up.
4. In the deep places of the earth have they their dwelling. 106
5. In the high places of the earth have they their name.
6. As for them, in heaven and earth wide is their habitation.
7. Among the gods their couch they have not.
8. Their name in heaven (and) earth exists not.
9. Seven they (are); in the mountain of the sunset do they rise.
10. Seven they (are); in the mountain of the sunrise did they set.
11. In the deep places of the earth did they rest their feet.
12. On the high places of the earth do they lift up their head.
13. As for them, goods they know not, in heaven (and) earth are they not learned.
Merodach is then ordered to fetch “the laurel, the baleful tree that breaks in pieces the incubi, the name whereof Hea remembers in his heart, in the mighty enclosure, the girdle of Eridu,” in order that the seven evil spirits may be driven away. Can this laurel-tree be the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? It must be remembered that Hea was “the lord of wisdom,” and under the form of a fish as Oannes or Hea Khan was supposed to have ascended from the Persian Gulf, and taught the primitive Babylonians the elements of culture and civilization.
At the head of the seven evil spirits stood Tiamtu, the representative of chaos and darkness. One of the most remarkable Babylonian legends yet discovered is107 one which tells of the prim?val struggle between Tiamtu and Merodach, between light and darkness or good and evil, and which does but embody in a new shape the conception which found expression in the myth of the war against the moon. The tablets which contain this legend are unfortunately in a very fragmentary condition.
The first of these is K 4832, too mutilated to translate; it contains speeches of the gods before the war.
The second fragment, K 3473, contains also speeches, and shows the gods preparing for battle. It is so terribly broken that translation is impossible, and all that can be made out is a line here and there.
The third fragment, K 3938, is on the same subject; some lines of this give the following general meaning:—
1. winged thunderbolts ....
2. fear he made to carry ....
3. their sight very great (?) ....
4. their bodies may he destroy and ....
5. he raised; it was suitable, the strong serpent ....
6. Udgallum, Urbat14 and the god ....
7. days arranged, five (?) ....
8. carrying weapons unyielding ....
9. her breast, her back .... 108
10. flowing (?) and first ....
11. among the gods collected ....
12. the god Kingu subdued ....
13. marching in front before ....
14. carrying weapons thou ...
15. upon war ....
16. his hand appointed ....
There are many more similar broken lines, and on the other side fragments of a speech by some being who desires Tiamtu to make war.
All these fragments are not sufficiently complete to allow us to translate them with certainty, or even to ascertain their order.
The fourth fragment, K 3449, relates to the making of weapons to arm the god who should meet in war the dragon.
This reads with some doubt on account of its mutilation:
1. The scimitar he had made the gods saw
2. and they saw also the bow how it had been stored up.
3. The work he had wrought (on his shoulder)
4. he raised and Anu in the assembly of the gods
5. kissed the bow; it (he addressed),
6. and he spake of the bow thus (and said)
7. The illustrious wood I have drawn out once and twice,
8. thrice also, her punishment the star of the bow in heaven (shall effect)
9. and I have made (it) the protection (of mankind). 109
10. From the choice of ....
11. and place his throne ....
Bel encountering the Dragon; from Babylonian Cylinder.
The next fragment or collection of fragments gives the final struggle between Tiamtu and Bel Merodach. The saparu, or sickle-shaped sword, is always represented both in the sculptures and inscriptions as a weapon of Bel Merodach in this war.
Sixth Fragment.
1. .... he fixed it ....
2. the weapon with his right hand he took
3. .... and the quiver from his hand he hung,
4. and he hurled the lightning before him,
5. heat filled his body.
6. He made also the scimitar (to produce) calm in the midst of the sea (Tiamtu).
7. The four winds he imprisoned that they might come forth from its calm,
8. the South, the North, the East, and the West winds.
9. His hand caused the scimitar to approach the bow of his father Anu. 110
10. He created the evil wind, the hostile wind, the tempest, the storm,
11. the four winds, the seven winds, the whirlwind, the unceasing wind.
12. He sent forth also the winds he had created, seven of them;
13. into the midst of the sea (Tiamtu) they were launched to disturb, they came after him.
14. He lifted up the weapon, the thunderbolt, his mighty weapon;
15. in a chariot that sweeps away all in front, which gives rest, he rode.
16. He fixed it and four yoke-thongs on its pole he hung,
17. .... the unyielding, the overwhelming, he that pursues her.
18. .... with their sting bringing poison
19. .... sweeping away knowledge (?)
20. .... destruction and fighting.
(Several other fragmentary lines.)
Reverse.
1. Unprevailing (is) thy troop; may thy arms strike their bodies!
2. I also stand firm, and with thee make battle.
3. Tiamtu (the sea) on hearing this
4. as before used spells, she changed her resolution.
5. Tiamtu also raised herself; warily she ascended.
6. At the roots fully she grounded (her) foundations. 111
7. She told over the spell; she determined return (to chaos),
8. and the gods for the war asked for themselves their weapons.
9. Then Tiamtu attacked the prince of the gods, Merodach,
10. who had made charms as for combat for the conflict in battle.
11. Then Bel made sharp his scimitar; he smote her.
12. The evil wind that seizes behind from before him fled.
13. And Tiamtu opened her mouth to swallow him.
14. The evil wind he made to descend so that she could not close her lips;
15. the force of the wind her stomach filled, and
16. she was sickened in heart, and her mouth it distorted.
17. She bit the shaft (of the sword); her stomach failed;15
18. her inside it cut asunder, it conquered the heart;
19. it consumed her, and her life it ended.
20. Her death he completed, over her he fixes (it).
21. When Tiamat their leader he had conquered,
22. her ranks he broke, her assembly was scattered;
23. and the gods her helpers who went beside her
24. returned in fear, they fled back behind them.
25. They fled and feared for their life. 112
26. They are companions in flight, powerless.
27. He trampled on them and their weapons he broke.
28. Like a scimitar are they laid, and as in darkness they sat.
29. (They seek) their quarters, they are full of grief;
30. what was left they take away, they pull back like a rope,
Merodach, or Bel, armed for the Conflict with the Dragon; from Assyrian Cylinder.
31. and elevenfold offspring from fear they produce
32. (Through) the flood the demons go (all of them?).
33. He laid the hostility, his hand ....
34. part of their opposition under him ....
35. and the god Kingu again ....
Again the main difficulty arises from the fragmentary state of the documents, it being impossible even to decide the order of the fragments. It appears, however, that the gods have fashioned for them a scimitar and a bow to fight the dragon Tiamtu, and113 Anu proclaims great honour (fourth fragment, lines 7 to 11) to any of the gods who will engage in battle with her. Bel or Merodach volunteers, and goes forth armed with these weapons to fight the dragon. Tiamtu is encouraged by one of the gods who has become her husband, and meets Merodach in battle. The description of the fight and the subsequent triumph of the god are very fine, and remarkably curious in their details, but the connection between the fragments is so uncertain at present that it is better to reserve comment upon them until the text is more complete. The scimitar with which Merodach is armed is shown by the cylinders and bas-reliefs to have been of the shape of a sickle, and is therefore the same as the harpê or khereb with which the Greek hero Perseus was armed when he went forth to fight against the dragon of the sea at Joppa. The dragon itself, according to the representations of the monuments, was a composite monster, with the tail, horns, claws, and wings of the medi?val devil. The whole war between the powers of good and evil, chaos and order, finds its parallel in the war between Michael and the dragon in Revelation xii. 7 to 9, where the dragon is called “the great dragon, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.” This description is strikingly like the impression gathered from the fragments of the cuneiform story; the dragon Tiamtu who fought against the gods, and whose fate it was to be conquered in a celestial war, closely corresponds114 in all essential points with the dragon conquered by Michael. That the dragon originally symbolized the sea is one proof out of many that the Accadians were a seafaring people, well acquainted with the terrors of the deep, when the waves conspire with the storm-clouds, those seven evil spirits, to throw all nature once more into its primeval anarchy.
Fight between Bel and the Dragon, from Babylonian Cylinder.