Unfortunately, the polemical bias of ;Eusebiua mars the rational consistency of his quotations. He appears to make his excerpts in order to hold them up to ridicule. Thus Bel creates heavenly bodies after his decapitation. There seems to be a confusion here between Bel and Tiamat, as the cuneiform record appears to show. It is quite possible that some of the confusions in the narra- tive may have existed in the text cf Alexander Polyhistor.
We shall now proceed to give a summary of the Babylonian creation epic brought to light by the discovery of the original cuneiform texts.
In the beginning, before heaven and earth existed, when the primal father Apsu (ocean) and the iiriinal mother Ti&mat mingled their waters, the gods arose, Labmu, Lahamu, Anshar, Kiahar, and Anu. This is the summary of the fragmentary creation account cited by Schroder in COT i. on Gn 1'. The following translation of the first tablet in the Babylonian creation epic we give approximately in the words of Prof. Friedrich Delitzsch.who has recently published a carefully edited text of the entire Creation Epic Series (Dot Baliylonitclit WelUchdp- Jungs Epo$t Leipzig ; Hirzel, 1896) —
' M'hen above the heaven was not named I Beneath the earth did not record a name. The ocean {Apmi) the primeval was their begettaf The tumult S Tiamat was mother of them all, Their waters in one united together Fields H were not bounded, marshes were not yet to be seen.
* Gunkel rightly interprets ■Oixipnm as npiK CH mother of the depth. See his long and instructive note, p. 18.
t The texts give e«ilT(*. Roberuon Smith, however, correct* to e<u.Ti, ZA vi. p. 339.
J To a Semite name connotes existence and power.
JSo Schroder and Jensen (' Wirrwarr ') ; Dehtzsob renders 'Oetose.' The meaning of mummu is verj' doubtful. Delitzsch questions the derivation of the word from the root O'.l or CDl.
II Again a doubtful passage. On giparu see Delitisoh, Dai Bab. Sch(ipfung$epoe, p. 119 ; Jensen, Votinol. p 326.
COSMOGONY
UUS.MUGUXY
505
At a time when of the gods none had come forth
No name did they bear, destinations were not [detenniDed]
Then were the gods bom
L:ihnii] l^hamu came forth.
Great pehmls vanished [of times many passed by]
Aiidhur, Kitftiar were bom
Long days passe<1 by ' [or as Jensen and Zimmera : * the days
became long ']. (The rest is fragmenbary, u>d simply contains the names
Anu and Aosbar].
We can only infer from the context what the lost remainder of this tablet contained. Probably, it described how the nods of the upper world and of the depth came into being, and possibly the creation of light. Then must have fotlowed ttie rcheUiou of the lower deities, arrayed under Ti&mat, against the upper deities. We have a fragrnent describing a conversation between Apsu and Ti&iuat, in which the end of their consultation is that they ' plan evil ' against the gods. Gunkel thinks that the creation of light was the cause of their insurrection, but of this we liave not sufficient evidence. The legible portion of the tablet then proceeds to describe the conflict between Ti&mat and the gods. In their war against Tiamat and the deities ranged under her leadership, the gods are commanded by Anshar, father of Anu. lie is supported, not only by Anu, but also by Ea and his son Marduk. La^mu and I^hamu bring up the rear. Anshar at first sends Anu and then Ea to conduct the battle against Ti&mat, hut as both shrink back in terror, Marduk the son of Ea is eventually commissioned to undertake the struggle with TiAmat. He is armed with a net, bow. Javelin, and apparently a trident (rntt/u), and so advances to the conflict. The go<ldeB8 of the deep is skilfully caught by Marduk in a net, a hurricane is driven mto her open throat, and he smites her body with his Javelin. Her allies flee, but are overtaken, and their weapons broken. The body of TiAraat is then divided into two parts, Mike that of a fish.' With one part Manhik ' made and covered' the heaven.* Bars are placed, and sentinels, so that the waters may not stream through. The arch of heaven Is placed opposite the primal waters. After this Manluk created the heavenly bodies ; out the fifth tablet of the creation epic on which this is described is very obscure. The first few lines may bs rendered —
He erected the station for the ^reat gods
Stars like . . .
He appointed the year, divided off sections
He divided the twelve months [each] by three stars.
On another doubtful tablet we read that he created three classes of land animals — fleld-cattle, wild beasts of the field, and creeping things. The conclusion of the Bab. creation pcem is recorded on the sixth tablet, which contains a h.Mnn to the tlory of Marduk. ' God of pure Ufe, Oo<i of kindly breath. Lord of hearing and grace, creator of fulness, maker of abund- ance, Ood of the pure crown, raiser of the deati. . . . May one rejoice over the Lord of Gods, Marduk, cause one's land to alK>und, himself enjoy peace. Firm abideth His word, His com- mand changetb not. No god hath caused the utterance of His mouth to fail.'
It is impossible to study the features of this epic without noting remarkable parallels to tlie first biblical cosmoj^ony. What, then, is the actual relation which subsists between thera? If the creation account in Gn 1 and this Bab. epic were the only points of contact between Israel and Babylonia, it might be possible to e.\plain the Bab. mj'tn aa a development from the simpler and purer tradition contained in the Bible. But such an explanation is untenable in view of the estab- lished results — (1) Of a critical examination of the OT literature, which cannot allow an earlier date for the document P» than the period of the Exile. (2) Of Assyriolopy. The discovery of the Tel el- Amama tablets in 1887, and of a cuneiform tablet at Lachish belonging to the same period as those of Tel el-Araama, renders it absolutely certain that Bab. influence widely prevailed in Palestine about B.C. 1500-1400. (.'!) \\ e have many other remark- able paraUels, viz. in the l'"lood story and other elements in the pre-exilian Jahwistic document (including the account of Paradise and the story of the Fall) between the Scripture records and those of the cuneiform tablets. All this renders it extremely probable that the biblical form in which these narrotions have been preserved, with their unquestionably Palestinian colouring, is the result of many centuries of growth on Palastinion soil