the offspring of Apsu and Tiamat. We may therefore, in view of this, venture to proceed a step further, and look upon Apsu and Tiamat
as the ‘male’ and ‘female’ elements respectively
of the primeval chaos, through whom not only Mummu and the brood of monsters, but also the This, indeed, is implied, although not distinctly mentioned, in the opening
lines of the first tablet above quoted. The Baby- lonian theologians would thus, with commendable
consistency, trace both classes of beings—the mon- sters who form the army of Apsu and Tiamat as well as the ‘great gods’—to primeval chaos. It is the gods, therefore, who organize a revolt against their progenitors, the purpose of which
is to put an end to the chaos and confusion for
which Apsu and Tiamat stand. Apsu presents
In
« By day I have no rest, at night I cannot lie down, I will surely destroy their course, surely overthrow them.’
Tiamat shares Apsu’s anger—
‘ She plotted evil in her heart.+ What shall we do? Let us indeed destroy.’
The text at this point becomes defective; but so much is clear that Ea, described as the ‘one who
knows everything,’ takes up the conflict on behalf of the gods, and that Anu is in some way associ- ated with him. It is also probable, though not certain, that the weapon with which Ea overcomes Apsu and his followers is the ‘pure incantation,’ which, presumably, he hurls against them. Such a procedure would be in perfect accord with the current conceptions about Ea, who is essentially a god acting by the power of the word.¢ At all events, Apsu is overthrown and Mummu is c¢ap- tured.
Thus ends the first episode in the symbolical conflict between chaos and order ; and the second, which, as has been suggested, is merely a ‘ doublet,’ or second version, is at once introduced.
Evidently, the version which assigned the conquest of Apsu and Mummu to Ea was the one which assigned to this god the distinction of having established the laws of the Universe. We may callit the ‘ Eridu’ version of Creation ; but, natur- ally, only so much of it could be introduced as would not interfere with Marduk’s prerogatives. After the recital of Apsu’s defeat, the ‘ Eridu’ version disappears, and the ‘ Nippur’ version, transformed by the substitution of Marduk for Bel into a ‘Babylon’ version, is taken up.
Tiamat, whose part in the Ea-Apsu conflict is not clearly defined, is represented as depressed ; but her courage is revived, by a deity called the ‘bright god,’ who is probably to be identified with Kingu,§ appointed by Tiamat to be the leader
* See King’s Seven Tablets of Creation, i. pp. 183-184, settling the reading at the end of line 34 of the first tablet, ‘the gods, their sons.’ :
+ Literally, ‘stomach,’ See the restoration of these lines in King, vol. i. p. 184. >
t Ea, it will be recalled, was one of the chief gods invoked in the incantation series, many of which originated at his seat of worship, Eridu. A special incantation known as the Shipat Eridu, ‘Eridu incantation,’ is frequently referred to, ¢@g. Cuneiform Texts, xvi. pl. 21, 205 ; 22, 250, etc.
§ See King, Creation Tablets, i. p. 14, n. 1.
570 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA
of her hosts, and who occupies a position by the side of Tiamat somewhat similar to that of Mum- mu by the side of Apsu. Kingu urges Tiamat on to the fray, and encourages her to entrust the war of vengeance to be waged against the gods to her host of monsters, who, accordingly—
‘Banded themselves together, advancing at the side of
Tiamat ; P
Mighty in planning mischief night and day without respite,
They prepared for war, fuming and raging,
Uniting forces and preparing for the fray.’ Besides supplying her followers with invincible weapons, Tiamat gives birth to monster serpents, described in the following terms :—
‘With sharp teeth and merciless fangs,
Their bodies filled with poison instead of blood ;
Terrible dragons, clothed with terror,
Decked out with awful splendour, of lofty stature ;
Whoever saw them was overcome with terror.
Their bodies rose up, and no one could resist their attack,
She* set up vipers and monster serpents and Lakhmu,
Hurricanes (?), raging hounds, scorpion-men,
Mighty tempests, fish-men, and rams,
Bearing merciless weapons, fearless in battle,
Mighty were her commands, irresistible.
In this fashion eleven huge monsters she made.
Since among the gods, her offspring, he had encouraged her,
She raised Kingu among them to power,
To march in front of the host, to lead the forces,
To seize the standard, to advance to the attack,
To direct the battle, to regulate the fight.’ Tiamat still claims control over the gods, and, in investing Kingu with supreme power, declares—
‘T have uttered thy incantation. In the assembly of the
gods have I raised thee to power ;
The dominion over all the gods have I entrusted to him.
Be thou exalted, my chosen consort art thou.’ To further emphasize her control, she hands Kingu the ‘tablets of fate’ to be hung on his breast. The meaning of the elaborate descrip- tion of the monsters and monstrosities form- ing the army of Tiamat is quite clear — it is to emphasize the reign of terror and confusion which preceded the control of the Universe by the gods. Tiamat, the symbol of chaos, can give birth only to creatures of terror and destruc- tion, to monstrous dragons, and to the hybrid beings, half men and half animals, with which, probably, popular fancy conceived the Universe to have been populated in primeval days, and of which the sculptured representations of human- headed lions and bulls with enormous wings—- placed as guardians against evil spirits at the entrances to palaces and temples—represent the survival in historical times. Nor is it difficult to see how this picture of chaos, which agrees sub- stantially with the account of Berosus,+ arose. The climatic conditions prevailing in ancient Baby- lonia suggest the obvious explanation based on the long season of rains and storms, when the elements of nature seem to be set loose without control, when wind and rain sweep over the land, every- where causing inundations, which, before the perfec- tion of the canal system, must have regularly placed entire districts of the Valley under water fora period each year. This annual chaos would be regarded as typical of a permanent condition before the great gods, identified with the powers of nature— the sun and moon—and associated with the starry firmament, introduced the orderly process of events, of which the regular movements of sun, moon, and planets, and the fixed position of the other stars, were the natural symbols. The subsequent course of the narrative bears out this interpretation, and shows that the Babylonian cosmology rests upon the principle of the substitution of order and law for chaos and lawlessness. The thought of a creatio ex nihilo lay beyond the mental horizon of