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Enuma Elish: The Babylonian Creation Epic
When the two primeval waters, the salt and fresh water, entered into marriage, and brought into being the first of the gods, thus the Babylonian Creation Epic begins its strange and incredible tale with the words ‘ENUMA ELISH’ meaning ‘WHEN THE HEAVENS ABOVE…’ Plunge into a mystic realm of dragons ranging the depths of the primordial sea, when god declared war on god, and the winner emerged as the powerful ruler of all men and matter. With formidable powers the gods set into motion the universe, and made mankind to perform their work upon the earth, to shape the natural world and raise their glorious temples. Hear the song of Marduk the Champion, the mighty slayer of the creature Tiamat, and a tale of how one man came to survive the Great Flood, brought by the gods to wipe out humankind forever, in two tales which underlie those which achieved such greatness and magnificence in the pages of the Book of Genesis.
121 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 16, 2013
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October 21, 2024This was a disappointment: this is not a translation, nor a scientific study of the Babylonian Creation story, but a retelling. It is striking that the author himself supplements missing passages, although it is not clear to me what he bases this on. This book also contains a retelling of the Atrahasis story in the same way. It is better to turn to scientifically sound publications, e.g. The Standard Babylonian Creation Myth: Enūma Elis, or online on the Etana website (Electronic Tools and Near East website): http://www.etana.org/node/581
June 22, 2023
I read this translated by Benjamin R. Foster.
Akkadian poem that could be as old as the 18th century BC or just the 12th. In includes cosmogonies that are even older! From Sumerian, Old Akkadian, and West Semitic cultures. It's wild to me how far back human story-telling goes.
The story shows the world's creation from the ocean personified by two personifications fresh water Apsu and salt water Tiamat. From this are birthed the earliest gods who fight Apsu the fresh oceans.
Marduk is the Babylonian god that was important back when this was written - he kills Tiamat and creates the world including Babylon. Marduk's father Ea creates humans out of the blood of Tiamats general Qingu. Marduk also creates the netherworld for humans to reside in after death.
Akkadian poem that could be as old as the 18th century BC or just the 12th. In includes cosmogonies that are even older! From Sumerian, Old Akkadian, and West Semitic cultures. It's wild to me how far back human story-telling goes.
The story shows the world's creation from the ocean personified by two personifications fresh water Apsu and salt water Tiamat. From this are birthed the earliest gods who fight Apsu the fresh oceans.
Marduk is the Babylonian god that was important back when this was written - he kills Tiamat and creates the world including Babylon. Marduk's father Ea creates humans out of the blood of Tiamats general Qingu. Marduk also creates the netherworld for humans to reside in after death.
February 12, 2023
Apart from the name “Apsu” (god of fresh water) being a cognate of the Vedic Sanskrit term “apa” (water), the Enuma Elish just didn’t hold my interest. In fact, this is my third try and I still cannot make heads or tails of this creation story.
My ears did however perk up at the line “She had given them the tablets of destiny.”
What does this refer to? An akashic record? The biblical Book of Life ?
From Wikipedia :
“In Mesopotamian mythology, the Tablet of Destinies[1] (Sumerian: 𒁾𒉆𒋻𒊏 dub namtarra;[2] Akkadian: ṭup šīmātu, ṭuppi šīmāti) was envisaged as a clay tablet inscribed with cuneiform writing, also impressed with cylinder seals, which, as a permanent legal document, conferred upon the god Enlil his supreme authority as ruler of the universe.
In the Sumerian poem Ninurta and the Turtle it is the god Enki, rather than Enlil, who holds the Tablet, as Enki has stolen it and brought it to the Abzu.[3] Both this poem and the Akkadian Anzû poem also share concern of the theft of the tablet by the bird Imdugud (Sumerian) or Anzû (Akkadian).[4] In the Babylonian Enuma Elish, Tiamat bestows this tablet on Kingu and gives him command of her army. In the end, the Tablet always returns to Enlil.”
Reminiscent of the primordial war between the Devas and Asuras told in both the Vedic and Zoroastrian chronicles, fought over the nectar of immortality.
My ears did however perk up at the line “She had given them the tablets of destiny.”
What does this refer to? An akashic record? The biblical Book of Life ?
From Wikipedia :
“In Mesopotamian mythology, the Tablet of Destinies[1] (Sumerian: 𒁾𒉆𒋻𒊏 dub namtarra;[2] Akkadian: ṭup šīmātu, ṭuppi šīmāti) was envisaged as a clay tablet inscribed with cuneiform writing, also impressed with cylinder seals, which, as a permanent legal document, conferred upon the god Enlil his supreme authority as ruler of the universe.
In the Sumerian poem Ninurta and the Turtle it is the god Enki, rather than Enlil, who holds the Tablet, as Enki has stolen it and brought it to the Abzu.[3] Both this poem and the Akkadian Anzû poem also share concern of the theft of the tablet by the bird Imdugud (Sumerian) or Anzû (Akkadian).[4] In the Babylonian Enuma Elish, Tiamat bestows this tablet on Kingu and gives him command of her army. In the end, the Tablet always returns to Enlil.”
Reminiscent of the primordial war between the Devas and Asuras told in both the Vedic and Zoroastrian chronicles, fought over the nectar of immortality.
February 19, 2023
Nice to read and getting the First contact with both myths, but I found myself dispersed by contínuos repetitions, some times of pages and many times.
The tablets was note complet, so must be some text missing but the author filled de blanks.
Anyway, there was an interesting lecture. With some curious findings. Both young gods and man disturbed the Gods with "noise". Some how made me think about some nostalgia from a time of no action from the gods, "they could not sleep".
Humanity and the world also have some in comon, both were made from a dead god, and with a bad part or aspect of the god. The material world created from Tiamat dead body ("demon creator") and Man also have some Tiamat body contribution...
The tablets was note complet, so must be some text missing but the author filled de blanks.
Anyway, there was an interesting lecture. With some curious findings. Both young gods and man disturbed the Gods with "noise". Some how made me think about some nostalgia from a time of no action from the gods, "they could not sleep".
Humanity and the world also have some in comon, both were made from a dead god, and with a bad part or aspect of the god. The material world created from Tiamat dead body ("demon creator") and Man also have some Tiamat body contribution...
February 18, 2019
Enûma Eliš”, so titled because of its opening line “When on high...” – a standard practice in ancient literature, is the oldest extant creation myth. Having circulated as an oral tradition for centuries it had been first recorded on clay tablets somewhere around 2000 BCE. Today it allows us to understand the cosmogony and beliefs that permeated Near Eastern societies of Akkad, Babylonia, and Assyria. The text also bears a strong resemblance to its younger counterpart The Bible, which is why upon its discovery it had caused a significant excitement and confusion among biblical scholars and traditionalists respectively. Some similarities also exist between the main protagonist Marduk and Zeus, both representing the younger generation of gods, vying for dominance with their forefathers and heralding a new world order, one more sympathetic for the human kind.
It’s not a long text, therefore a quick and valuable read to anyone wishing to know a little more about our origins.
It’s not a long text, therefore a quick and valuable read to anyone wishing to know a little more about our origins.
October 7, 2022
The reason I rated this three stars is because Timothy Stephany incorrectly makes assertions about the Bible's connection to the Enuma Elish.
I was first drawn to read the Babylonian creation story because I wanted to study similarities in thought among ancient people, but also so I could study the differences between the Bible and the Enuma Elish.
It is obvious that Stephany does not believe the Bible is inspired Scripture. That's not why I only gave the book three stars. I gave the book three stars because Stephany has an obvious lack of understanding of Bible stories and characters in his attempt to connect the two ancient works. He makes assertions about the Bible that I've never heard any intelligent scholar make, which leads me to question his sources, his reasoning, and his potential bias. But I digress.
The book itself is one of the oldest creation stories in the world. The book is almost entirely concerned the theomachy and gods battling each other, creation, and the flood story featuring "Atrahasis."
The book, like other ancient literature, is extremely repetitive, usually repeating entire pages worth of dialogue or events three times.
The gods featured in the book are very violent and sporadic, often disagreeing with each other, and once humanity is created they're oftentimes completely annoyed by the "raucous" that humanity is making. This is the ancient Babylonian's way of explaining why destructive events like the flood happened - the gods were annoyed by humanity.
Humanity was created as a work force for the gods. It's not exactly slavery, but the gods make people so the people can do the work of the gods because they're so tired of working and want to sleep.
There were a lot of noteworthy things, but overall I'm glad I read the book, especially to make note of how the Bible's theology is countercultural to the Bible's contemporaries.
I was first drawn to read the Babylonian creation story because I wanted to study similarities in thought among ancient people, but also so I could study the differences between the Bible and the Enuma Elish.
It is obvious that Stephany does not believe the Bible is inspired Scripture. That's not why I only gave the book three stars. I gave the book three stars because Stephany has an obvious lack of understanding of Bible stories and characters in his attempt to connect the two ancient works. He makes assertions about the Bible that I've never heard any intelligent scholar make, which leads me to question his sources, his reasoning, and his potential bias. But I digress.
The book itself is one of the oldest creation stories in the world. The book is almost entirely concerned the theomachy and gods battling each other, creation, and the flood story featuring "Atrahasis."
The book, like other ancient literature, is extremely repetitive, usually repeating entire pages worth of dialogue or events three times.
The gods featured in the book are very violent and sporadic, often disagreeing with each other, and once humanity is created they're oftentimes completely annoyed by the "raucous" that humanity is making. This is the ancient Babylonian's way of explaining why destructive events like the flood happened - the gods were annoyed by humanity.
Humanity was created as a work force for the gods. It's not exactly slavery, but the gods make people so the people can do the work of the gods because they're so tired of working and want to sleep.
There were a lot of noteworthy things, but overall I'm glad I read the book, especially to make note of how the Bible's theology is countercultural to the Bible's contemporaries.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 15, 2021
This book on the creation story also includes the Atra-Hasis, which is the Babylonian telling of the deluge. It's interesting on it's own for comparative analysis to the biblical and 180 other flood narratives. I would include it on the essentials list with the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Code of Hammurabi for anyone attempting a comprehensive study of Sumerian culture. It's a quick read that's well worth the effort for those with a penchant for history, particularly this incredibly fascinating venue of human development.
July 16, 2022
Unsurprisingly violent (I expected that) and also funny. There is this line: “He set up her crotch. It wedged up the heavens.” I spit orange juice everywhere and laughed for 5 minutes.
March 8, 2023
As a lover of mythology and ancient history, I was deeply engrossed in Enuma Elish, an epic poem from ancient Babylonian times that recounts the creation of the world and the struggles of the gods. Through its richly descriptive passages, the poem provides a fascinating glimpse into a world in which chaos and order are in constant conflict.
One theme that particularly struck me was the power of the spoken word. In the poem, the gods use language to create the world around them, with the goddess Tiamat creating monsters and the god Marduk creating the stars. The importance of language and promises is also emphasized throughout the work, with phrases such as "May your word remain in your heart" (Tablet II) and "May the word which thou hast spoken be established forever" (Tablet IV) serving as reminders of the importance of keeping one's promises.
The poem is filled with vivid imagery that draws the reader in and brings the story to life. One passage that stood out to me was the description of Tiamat's creation of monsters, which reads: "She filled their bodies with venom instead of blood, / She clothed them with terror instead of beauty" (Tablet I). Such imagery is both powerful and haunting, making the reader feel as if they are witnessing the events of the poem firsthand.
Overall, I believe that anyone interested in ancient history or mythology would find Enuma Elish to be a captivating read. Through its exploration of themes such as the power of language and the importance of promises, the poem offers insights into the human experience that are still relevant today. As the poem states, "Let us give heed to the word of our god" (Tablet I), reminding us of the importance of language and its impact on our lives.
pa. first review :)
One theme that particularly struck me was the power of the spoken word. In the poem, the gods use language to create the world around them, with the goddess Tiamat creating monsters and the god Marduk creating the stars. The importance of language and promises is also emphasized throughout the work, with phrases such as "May your word remain in your heart" (Tablet II) and "May the word which thou hast spoken be established forever" (Tablet IV) serving as reminders of the importance of keeping one's promises.
The poem is filled with vivid imagery that draws the reader in and brings the story to life. One passage that stood out to me was the description of Tiamat's creation of monsters, which reads: "She filled their bodies with venom instead of blood, / She clothed them with terror instead of beauty" (Tablet I). Such imagery is both powerful and haunting, making the reader feel as if they are witnessing the events of the poem firsthand.
Overall, I believe that anyone interested in ancient history or mythology would find Enuma Elish to be a captivating read. Through its exploration of themes such as the power of language and the importance of promises, the poem offers insights into the human experience that are still relevant today. As the poem states, "Let us give heed to the word of our god" (Tablet I), reminding us of the importance of language and its impact on our lives.
pa. first review :)
July 26, 2023
Avoid.
In an age in which anyone can self-publish "scholarly" works on ancient manuscripts of any kind, great discernment and research must be done prior to selecting and reading anything with any level of trust or authority. This is precisely one such book. Unfortunately, this version was recommended on an episode of a podcast I rather enjoy, the "Literature and History" podcast, which otherwise seems to use good sources. It baffles me that the podcast would use this book as a source, specifically because Timothy J. Stephany, this book's author, provides absolutely no discussion on the content of the book, how he came to rendering it in the manner he did, the ethos for why he chose to produce such a work, and the aim for which putting together an English translation of an ancient Akkadian epic poem originally recorded in cuneiform has been made available for us with his name attached to it.
There are no mention of sources, translation guidelines, transcriptional motivations, or even notes on how or why the author makes various decisions regarding the text of either the Enuma Elish or the Atrahasis. The book contains only a rambling six-page introduction in which Stephens compares the Babylonian and Biblical creation myths and flood stories with a few scriptural references and footnotes -- for other books the author has published; not a single scholarly reference of any kind despite the tremendous amount of scholarship that has gone into translating such an ancient piece.
I do not begrudge the layperson the ability to write books and interpretations on and about ancient texts, or even providing their own interpretation of such works. The devoted scholar does not hold all the keys to the ontological labyrinth. Certainly, take your stab at writing your own version of the "Atrahasis," or the "Enuma Elish," or even a new English rendering of the "Divine Comedy" or "Iliad" using nothing as source material but various English translations, but it should be absolutely necessary to provide authorial motivations, transcriptural decisions, and some kind of governing ethos behind the publication. Tell us how you came up with what you did, why you made certain decisions, and the purpose for this work you've provided for the public. Reference the materials you used. Speak on what led you to be interested in providing such a work and why, and why we should tend to it rather than any of the other works surrounding this or any other ancient epic. In other words, give your work some kind of authority, even if it's only your personal interest that drove you to such a project.
Otherwise, it's possible to simply self-publish a hastily rewritten "form" of haphazardly gathered materials of an ancient manuscript that isn't even complete in itself, has various extant versions, variations, deviations, is missing large swaths of story leaving it incomplete to history, but not to the audacious writer who wishes only to put out a book and pass it off as some form of notable scholarship, or worse, as the full presentation of the original ancient work as a whole.
Books like this do a disservice to something like Penguin's "The Epic of Gilgamesh," which includes pages and pages of material as to why various scholars made the decisions they did, credits the deep and varied efforts of researchers in recent history for their devoted efforts to accuracy, and even allows for large swaths of the story to remain absent where various tablets have been damaged or lost, unrecovered to time. Even if you never take a dip into those pages of footnotes and introductory material, at least you know you're getting something with some level of resolute authority and utility. That's a book worth poring through and getting lost in. Not this one.
Again, I don't begrudge the budding scholar their own small publication of such a work, I don't want to deter someone from pursuing something like this, but with the caveat that you don't pass it off as anything like an official version when it is anything but. Had this book had a subtitle along the lines of "a Modern English Rewriting and Presentation," along with some mention of credentials or sources, or even a mention of their absence (!), this publication would be much less problematic. I agree with "Sense of History's" review.
For those interested in better versions of this epic, here are a few others' reviews I found useful after discarding Stephany's attempt as rather misguided and useless:
The Standard Babylonian Creation Myth: Enūma Elis
Babylonian Creation Myths
Das babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos Enūma elîš
In an age in which anyone can self-publish "scholarly" works on ancient manuscripts of any kind, great discernment and research must be done prior to selecting and reading anything with any level of trust or authority. This is precisely one such book. Unfortunately, this version was recommended on an episode of a podcast I rather enjoy, the "Literature and History" podcast, which otherwise seems to use good sources. It baffles me that the podcast would use this book as a source, specifically because Timothy J. Stephany, this book's author, provides absolutely no discussion on the content of the book, how he came to rendering it in the manner he did, the ethos for why he chose to produce such a work, and the aim for which putting together an English translation of an ancient Akkadian epic poem originally recorded in cuneiform has been made available for us with his name attached to it.
There are no mention of sources, translation guidelines, transcriptional motivations, or even notes on how or why the author makes various decisions regarding the text of either the Enuma Elish or the Atrahasis. The book contains only a rambling six-page introduction in which Stephens compares the Babylonian and Biblical creation myths and flood stories with a few scriptural references and footnotes -- for other books the author has published; not a single scholarly reference of any kind despite the tremendous amount of scholarship that has gone into translating such an ancient piece.
I do not begrudge the layperson the ability to write books and interpretations on and about ancient texts, or even providing their own interpretation of such works. The devoted scholar does not hold all the keys to the ontological labyrinth. Certainly, take your stab at writing your own version of the "Atrahasis," or the "Enuma Elish," or even a new English rendering of the "Divine Comedy" or "Iliad" using nothing as source material but various English translations, but it should be absolutely necessary to provide authorial motivations, transcriptural decisions, and some kind of governing ethos behind the publication. Tell us how you came up with what you did, why you made certain decisions, and the purpose for this work you've provided for the public. Reference the materials you used. Speak on what led you to be interested in providing such a work and why, and why we should tend to it rather than any of the other works surrounding this or any other ancient epic. In other words, give your work some kind of authority, even if it's only your personal interest that drove you to such a project.
Otherwise, it's possible to simply self-publish a hastily rewritten "form" of haphazardly gathered materials of an ancient manuscript that isn't even complete in itself, has various extant versions, variations, deviations, is missing large swaths of story leaving it incomplete to history, but not to the audacious writer who wishes only to put out a book and pass it off as some form of notable scholarship, or worse, as the full presentation of the original ancient work as a whole.
Books like this do a disservice to something like Penguin's "The Epic of Gilgamesh," which includes pages and pages of material as to why various scholars made the decisions they did, credits the deep and varied efforts of researchers in recent history for their devoted efforts to accuracy, and even allows for large swaths of the story to remain absent where various tablets have been damaged or lost, unrecovered to time. Even if you never take a dip into those pages of footnotes and introductory material, at least you know you're getting something with some level of resolute authority and utility. That's a book worth poring through and getting lost in. Not this one.
Again, I don't begrudge the budding scholar their own small publication of such a work, I don't want to deter someone from pursuing something like this, but with the caveat that you don't pass it off as anything like an official version when it is anything but. Had this book had a subtitle along the lines of "a Modern English Rewriting and Presentation," along with some mention of credentials or sources, or even a mention of their absence (!), this publication would be much less problematic. I agree with "Sense of History's" review.
For those interested in better versions of this epic, here are a few others' reviews I found useful after discarding Stephany's attempt as rather misguided and useless:
The Standard Babylonian Creation Myth: Enūma Elis
Babylonian Creation Myths
Das babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos Enūma elîš
Read
September 9, 2025this shit had me genuinely cracking up at some point
January 31, 2023
This poem gave me Macbeth meets Bhagavad Gita vibes. Marduk has a mace, sword, scepter and bow. Vishnu has a conch, mace etc etc. They each represent something special. I like Tiamat, she’s like the dragon lady. But unfortunately she gets killed by Marduk, the “hero”. Sad story, but at least they get to have a city of Babylon or whatever, built from the remains of Tiamat.
August 28, 2022
Not sure I agree with the metaphor of comparing humans to ants and worker bees, very 'thou shalt eat thy bread by the sweat of thy brow" vibe going on here, though that's no coincidence. Still, it's a beautiful poem...
When ants leave their nests, unseen deep within the earth,
Driven by their requirement that they provender themselves,
When the field has filled the threshing floor with its bounty
After reaping, they carry loads of the newly threshed grain
Be it wheat or barley, one hauler follows behind the other,
It is from summer's harvest that they stock up winter's food
Not given to rest, these minute ones do a fair share of labor
While too the bee works, through the air, toiling tirelessly,
Be it within the cleft of an empty rock or amongst reed-beds,
Or be it within an old hollow oak tree; there inside their nests,
Swarming in their combs of innumerable cells, making wax
Thus man will seek his work and continue until the twilight
—Atrahasis
This is something like four-thousand years old? Don't quote me on the age scale, but it's origin is ancient Sumerian, if I remember right, and it was re-transcribed by later Babylonians, where, during the heyday of Babylon, a whole lotta ancient Hebrews were living in exile and what d'ya know they were beginning to write what would become Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, etc. The Old Testament. So, it's no wonder the parallels between Genesis and the creation myths and flood myths of other, older peoples of the ancient Near East, except that Genesis was written. My big bug (ha) comes with the whole ants and worker bees metaphor, how humanity's been created in order to labor, so that the gods, the higher class beings, don't have to do the labor themselves. It's the lower class beings, the humans, whose lot in life it is to work. Strikes me, I dunno, like Victorian England? Or even modern America. But, hey, maybe civilization and class-based divisions of labor go together like peas and carrots, huh? Or old friends. Now, get back to the fields, humans! And dig that canal!
When ants leave their nests, unseen deep within the earth,
Driven by their requirement that they provender themselves,
When the field has filled the threshing floor with its bounty
After reaping, they carry loads of the newly threshed grain
Be it wheat or barley, one hauler follows behind the other,
It is from summer's harvest that they stock up winter's food
Not given to rest, these minute ones do a fair share of labor
While too the bee works, through the air, toiling tirelessly,
Be it within the cleft of an empty rock or amongst reed-beds,
Or be it within an old hollow oak tree; there inside their nests,
Swarming in their combs of innumerable cells, making wax
Thus man will seek his work and continue until the twilight
—Atrahasis
This is something like four-thousand years old? Don't quote me on the age scale, but it's origin is ancient Sumerian, if I remember right, and it was re-transcribed by later Babylonians, where, during the heyday of Babylon, a whole lotta ancient Hebrews were living in exile and what d'ya know they were beginning to write what would become Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, etc. The Old Testament. So, it's no wonder the parallels between Genesis and the creation myths and flood myths of other, older peoples of the ancient Near East, except that Genesis was written. My big bug (ha) comes with the whole ants and worker bees metaphor, how humanity's been created in order to labor, so that the gods, the higher class beings, don't have to do the labor themselves. It's the lower class beings, the humans, whose lot in life it is to work. Strikes me, I dunno, like Victorian England? Or even modern America. But, hey, maybe civilization and class-based divisions of labor go together like peas and carrots, huh? Or old friends. Now, get back to the fields, humans! And dig that canal!
January 23, 2022
Jordan B. Peterson's frequent mention of the creation and flood myths of the Babylonians led me to read them for myself. To discover both myths conceived perhaps at the same time that those in the Old Testament were conceived, or even decades or centuries prior, is truly eye-opening. Such a discovery posits that the stories in the Old Testament—which turned out to be colossally more famous and popular than the former—are well worth our time and serious attention.
I have yet to learn more about the Enuma Elish in a secondary or other analytical work. Based on my meagre to inexistent knowledge of Mesopotamian and Babylonian history and culture, I could scarce decipher anything that is to be deciphered. However, my familiarity with the creation and flood myths in Genesis allowed me to read the Enuma Elish with at least comparative lenses.
The transcription is a tad confusing with its repetitions but it is nonetheless highly readable. If you are as fascinated by the origins of old religions—particularly the myths or stories that comprise them—, then the Enuma Elish is a worthy addition to your toolkit.
I have yet to learn more about the Enuma Elish in a secondary or other analytical work. Based on my meagre to inexistent knowledge of Mesopotamian and Babylonian history and culture, I could scarce decipher anything that is to be deciphered. However, my familiarity with the creation and flood myths in Genesis allowed me to read the Enuma Elish with at least comparative lenses.
The transcription is a tad confusing with its repetitions but it is nonetheless highly readable. If you are as fascinated by the origins of old religions—particularly the myths or stories that comprise them—, then the Enuma Elish is a worthy addition to your toolkit.
July 7, 2021
Review to come cause I have some ✨thoughts✨ but I read this for my Historical Archetypes & Mythology class. Finished it last night actually but hadn’t marked it off.
July 14, 2021
Enlightening
A piece of ancient mythology shedding light on what inspired pages in the bible and even an understanding of who we are and where we could be going
A piece of ancient mythology shedding light on what inspired pages in the bible and even an understanding of who we are and where we could be going
August 17, 2022
A very good translation, with a solid introduction that draws clear parallels between these tales and biblical variants.
Read
January 1, 2024Interesting ancient Babylonian creation epic. Had some parallels with Genesis but was ultimately not very similar.
December 10, 2024
Decided to read this as a follow-up to the Epic of Gilgamesh, and unsurprisingly, this turned out to be very much the same kind of cut-and-dry mythological story as that. I didn’t really glean much from the text at face value — like Gilgamesh, the structure of this is very much “and then this happened”, but without the kind of poetic sensibilities you’d find in, say, Ovid. It’s very plain and to the point — things were hard in ancient Sumer / Akkad / Babylonia, they were really just trying to make sure that people knew their shit with what limited linguistic means were at their disposal.
The Enuma Elish itself reads as the Sumerian / Akkadian version of the Greek story of Titanomachy, with the old gods clashing with the new and the result being Marduk (Zeus) being crowned king of the gods. The other poem contained in this book, Atra-hasis, follows that up with the Sumerian / Akkadian version of the flood myth that many mythologies also contain.
Really, more than anything, reading this should prove to any sensible reader that the Bible isn’t totally original. I’m not going to outright say that the existence of the Enuma Elish and Atra-hasis disproves the Bible or anything like that, but some of the finer points of the former’s cosmogeny fits well with Genesis, especially the esoteric “deep” from which all creation manifested. Of course, the biggest similarity is that of Atra-hasis, his story essentially being an older or perhaps “original” version of the story of Noah and the Ark from Genesis. It’s pretty obvious to me that stories like that of Atra-hasis were passed down among the people dwelling in that part of the ancient world, the details conforming to whatever culture began to develop, which is how we get the Biblical flood story — it’s just a version of Atra-hasis with the details reconfigured so as to affirm a different Semitic culture, that of the ancient Hebrews. Ultimately, Atra-hasis is the kind of book that I think is doomed to fall to relative obscurity (as it already has), only known about in circles of really nerdy Babylonian historians and the like, especially since it is a book that is ultimately at odds with the prevailing evangelical narrative of the Bible being wholly divine, perfect, original, etc.
This, like the Epic of Gilgamesh, also does a lot of repetition of various lines and verses in a way that makes it pretty clunky and boring to the modern reader. From what I understand, this is probably because it served as a mnemonic device for memorizing these stories before they were written down, and were only circulated as oral histories or songs or whatever. However, I’m also pretty sure that repetition in the Semitic language serves to multiply the emphasis of a statement, considering that exclamation points had yet to be invented. In any case, it doesn’t really help at making this a more interesting read. The passage where fifty different names of Marduk are listed in detail is up there with the genealogy portions of the Bible in terms of being boring as hell to read. I’m glad that I read this, but I am even more glad that it was very short.
The Enuma Elish itself reads as the Sumerian / Akkadian version of the Greek story of Titanomachy, with the old gods clashing with the new and the result being Marduk (Zeus) being crowned king of the gods. The other poem contained in this book, Atra-hasis, follows that up with the Sumerian / Akkadian version of the flood myth that many mythologies also contain.
Really, more than anything, reading this should prove to any sensible reader that the Bible isn’t totally original. I’m not going to outright say that the existence of the Enuma Elish and Atra-hasis disproves the Bible or anything like that, but some of the finer points of the former’s cosmogeny fits well with Genesis, especially the esoteric “deep” from which all creation manifested. Of course, the biggest similarity is that of Atra-hasis, his story essentially being an older or perhaps “original” version of the story of Noah and the Ark from Genesis. It’s pretty obvious to me that stories like that of Atra-hasis were passed down among the people dwelling in that part of the ancient world, the details conforming to whatever culture began to develop, which is how we get the Biblical flood story — it’s just a version of Atra-hasis with the details reconfigured so as to affirm a different Semitic culture, that of the ancient Hebrews. Ultimately, Atra-hasis is the kind of book that I think is doomed to fall to relative obscurity (as it already has), only known about in circles of really nerdy Babylonian historians and the like, especially since it is a book that is ultimately at odds with the prevailing evangelical narrative of the Bible being wholly divine, perfect, original, etc.
This, like the Epic of Gilgamesh, also does a lot of repetition of various lines and verses in a way that makes it pretty clunky and boring to the modern reader. From what I understand, this is probably because it served as a mnemonic device for memorizing these stories before they were written down, and were only circulated as oral histories or songs or whatever. However, I’m also pretty sure that repetition in the Semitic language serves to multiply the emphasis of a statement, considering that exclamation points had yet to be invented. In any case, it doesn’t really help at making this a more interesting read. The passage where fifty different names of Marduk are listed in detail is up there with the genealogy portions of the Bible in terms of being boring as hell to read. I’m glad that I read this, but I am even more glad that it was very short.
Read
June 21, 2023Daddy god wants to kill his children because they are being too noisy, but the mommy god is like, "Maybe not?" and then the mommy god finally stages a kind of rebellion because she's had enough of everything, and one of her kids kills her and uses the parts of her carcass to create the world and everything in it. All the other gods are like, "Way to go, dude! You're the best!" A little later, the gods are tired of working, so the best god makes humans to do the work instead, and the other gods are again, like "Way to go, dude! You're the best! Let's give you fifty names!" and that's the end.
Later, the gods get annoyed because humans are too noisy, so they try to starve them for a long time, but this one guy keeps being penitent, so eventually after lots and lots and lots of cycles of starvation and disease, the god's decided to just flood the earth and wipe away everything. One god is like, "Maybe not?" and he gets the penitent guy to build a boat and carry all the important kinds of life in it (including skilled tradesmen) and he also sneaks his family aboard, so humanity is saved, and the gods are like, "What the heck?" and humanity survives and that's the end.
So the moral is, all the world's problems are caused by kids being too noisy.
In all seriousness though, this was a worthwhile read. The text is craaaaaaazy repetitive, so you can kind of skim some parts because you literally just read them a page earlier. I can imagine how if you were sitting around an ancient fire breathing in intoxicating fumes while a Babylonian mage chanted this story the repetitions would become like incantations, and you'd get lost in a heady cloud of mysticism and myth. And yes, it is interesting to read a creation and flood narrative that predates the biblical versions of these tales.
Later, the gods get annoyed because humans are too noisy, so they try to starve them for a long time, but this one guy keeps being penitent, so eventually after lots and lots and lots of cycles of starvation and disease, the god's decided to just flood the earth and wipe away everything. One god is like, "Maybe not?" and he gets the penitent guy to build a boat and carry all the important kinds of life in it (including skilled tradesmen) and he also sneaks his family aboard, so humanity is saved, and the gods are like, "What the heck?" and humanity survives and that's the end.
So the moral is, all the world's problems are caused by kids being too noisy.
In all seriousness though, this was a worthwhile read. The text is craaaaaaazy repetitive, so you can kind of skim some parts because you literally just read them a page earlier. I can imagine how if you were sitting around an ancient fire breathing in intoxicating fumes while a Babylonian mage chanted this story the repetitions would become like incantations, and you'd get lost in a heady cloud of mysticism and myth. And yes, it is interesting to read a creation and flood narrative that predates the biblical versions of these tales.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 29, 2024
The book is a repetitive, with whole passages of the Enuma Elish being repeated. This is a device of the poem itself. The repetition gives a sense of the passing of time and may also be a feature of its use in ancient temple liturgy. However, this caused me to skim read a lot, it seemed that every passage got repeated four times and it spoils the flow.
It was a mildly interesting read for me. Others might be quite enthralled. As often in ancient religious texts, there are quite a lot of aetiologies (stories explaining why things are as they are). The Babylonians were polytheists, so there are the usual tales of how the gods related to one another, got on, quarrelled, etc. The creation story, where Marduk kills Tiamat and makes the earth out of her corpse, is intriguing, but I already knew that one.
There’s plenty of ammunition in here for creators of fantasy games. The Tablet of Fate is a fascinating idea, as is the Tablet of Destiny. Clay Tablets seem to be badges or emblems of power. Very Zelda!
The Enuma Elish contains one of the early flood stories predating the biblical one by a thousand years in this case. It’s a more subtle tale than one would expect. Here it is used as an explanation for the philosophical ‘problem of evil’ (why does life suck?). For the Babylonians, the blame is laid at humanity’s feet. It seems we were very noisy and the main god, Ellil, was struggling to get some sleep. To solve the problem of his insomnia, he sent a flood to wipe out most of the humans.
However, the gods needed humans to do the tedious jobs, and they did enjoy their sacrifices.
After the flood, to limit human numbers, Ellil announced;
“Let there be few among mankind who are prosperous,
But let the remainder of them struggle daily for survival
Sometimes mankind will be reduced by famine,
Sometimes mankind will be reduced by disease,
Sometimes mankind will be reduced by war…”
I found this passage fascinating. It is the Babylonian take on life and it is pretty pessimistic.
Perhaps 3/5 is harsh, but the repetition in the text spoiled the read. If you don’t know about the Enuma Elish and have an interest in the history of religions, this book is a reasonable starting point.
It was a mildly interesting read for me. Others might be quite enthralled. As often in ancient religious texts, there are quite a lot of aetiologies (stories explaining why things are as they are). The Babylonians were polytheists, so there are the usual tales of how the gods related to one another, got on, quarrelled, etc. The creation story, where Marduk kills Tiamat and makes the earth out of her corpse, is intriguing, but I already knew that one.
There’s plenty of ammunition in here for creators of fantasy games. The Tablet of Fate is a fascinating idea, as is the Tablet of Destiny. Clay Tablets seem to be badges or emblems of power. Very Zelda!
The Enuma Elish contains one of the early flood stories predating the biblical one by a thousand years in this case. It’s a more subtle tale than one would expect. Here it is used as an explanation for the philosophical ‘problem of evil’ (why does life suck?). For the Babylonians, the blame is laid at humanity’s feet. It seems we were very noisy and the main god, Ellil, was struggling to get some sleep. To solve the problem of his insomnia, he sent a flood to wipe out most of the humans.
However, the gods needed humans to do the tedious jobs, and they did enjoy their sacrifices.
After the flood, to limit human numbers, Ellil announced;
“Let there be few among mankind who are prosperous,
But let the remainder of them struggle daily for survival
Sometimes mankind will be reduced by famine,
Sometimes mankind will be reduced by disease,
Sometimes mankind will be reduced by war…”
I found this passage fascinating. It is the Babylonian take on life and it is pretty pessimistic.
Perhaps 3/5 is harsh, but the repetition in the text spoiled the read. If you don’t know about the Enuma Elish and have an interest in the history of religions, this book is a reasonable starting point.
October 17, 2023
Enuma Elish is the Assyrian account of the Creation Myth. Much of the text is missing due to the originals being clay tablets. Leonard W. King did the translation for my edition. Professor King was a scholar, an archaeologist, and the Assistant Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities for the British Museum.
King wrote the book on 31 July 1902, so it may be dated. I don't know much about ancient Sumerian and Assyrian tablets, and I'm not in the field to find out.
Enuma Elish is incomplete, as I mentioned before. It talks about the birth of the gods and how Tiamat plots against them with some of her children. There was an epic battle, and Marduk defeated Tiamat. After her defeat, the gods split Tiamat in half and used her body to form the earth and sky.
There are seven tablets of text in total. Some of them are fragments, and others are intact.
The similarities to the Biblical account of Creation fascinate King. He only makes mention of this in the introduction, but it did become something that stuck in my mind. I've read a few Creation Myths, so I like to look for common threads.
One point irks me: King wrote some of the translations in Greek, and I can't read Greek. I know some of the letters of the alphabet, but that isn't sufficient to read and understand a sentence.
I enjoyed the book, but it is more scholarly than I expected. There are extensive footnotes for every page of text. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.
King wrote the book on 31 July 1902, so it may be dated. I don't know much about ancient Sumerian and Assyrian tablets, and I'm not in the field to find out.
Enuma Elish is incomplete, as I mentioned before. It talks about the birth of the gods and how Tiamat plots against them with some of her children. There was an epic battle, and Marduk defeated Tiamat. After her defeat, the gods split Tiamat in half and used her body to form the earth and sky.
There are seven tablets of text in total. Some of them are fragments, and others are intact.
The similarities to the Biblical account of Creation fascinate King. He only makes mention of this in the introduction, but it did become something that stuck in my mind. I've read a few Creation Myths, so I like to look for common threads.
One point irks me: King wrote some of the translations in Greek, and I can't read Greek. I know some of the letters of the alphabet, but that isn't sufficient to read and understand a sentence.
I enjoyed the book, but it is more scholarly than I expected. There are extensive footnotes for every page of text. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.
March 22, 2024
Boring and repetitive at parts but pretty insightful. I definitely piked epic of Gilgamesh more, but this flood story was pretty incredible. Also, interesting to see what seems like the origin of “Mommy” which might have been an incantation to the goddess of birth Mami all along. Who knows.
Footnotes were there but could frankly have been more useful. Biography was lacking compared to Epic of Gilgamesh. I’d prefer rereading this text from someone that goes into deeper details explaining the relevances and connections to Babylonian society and connection to Judaic history. The present comments are sparse and frankly banal to the Christian or Jewish reader.
Seems overall like a translation text for someone more focused on practicing their translation skillsnor wanting a clean translation to cite in their own research. Not so useful for truly comprehending the messages of the text which isn’t necessarily bad. Just not useful to a general audience.
Footnotes were there but could frankly have been more useful. Biography was lacking compared to Epic of Gilgamesh. I’d prefer rereading this text from someone that goes into deeper details explaining the relevances and connections to Babylonian society and connection to Judaic history. The present comments are sparse and frankly banal to the Christian or Jewish reader.
Seems overall like a translation text for someone more focused on practicing their translation skillsnor wanting a clean translation to cite in their own research. Not so useful for truly comprehending the messages of the text which isn’t necessarily bad. Just not useful to a general audience.
January 12, 2025
Another Creation epic done and dusted. What to say of the stories from the beginning? They have verve and imagination. They display human sophistication in levels you do not expect for 3.200 years ago. We get to enjoy storytelling at its cultural best. We also look into the Gods and Goddesses stories and battles. And how they fear and love one another! It is so interesting....and really connects us to those from long ago. Give us a window on their worldview and it just makes me absolutely happy. My favourite story...When the Goddess Tiamat decided to declare war on her sons and other Gods she lost in battle and from her corpse much in the middle East was created apparently, and from her eyes the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers appeared. How can anyone not to like such an explanation? Anyway the negatives are that the tablets are incomplete. Sentences are incomplete. But those are not news for us readers of the first books. Read it. Enjoy. 4 stars.
May 16, 2023
The Babylonian myths of creation and the flood. The flood/deluge story showed up in the Epic of Gilgamesh. It's interesting to learn about the ideas of why humans were created (to labor for the gods) and the reason for the flood (to wipe out said humans because they were making too much noise and disrupting the gods). In the intro, Timothy J. Stephany made a connection from Babylonian gods to the book of Esther - Marduk / Mordechai and Ishtar / Esther. I hadn't heard of that connection before.
January 7, 2025
Weird father-son incest of a son with a manly growth destroying the Hairy Hero and Fish-Man (two of many monster creations of a woman who simply wanted revenge for her brother’s murder)
Spoiling the plot as I don’t recommend reading it, kinda boring for most of the story, it’s silly sometimes though
Spoiling the plot as I don’t recommend reading it, kinda boring for most of the story, it’s silly sometimes though
December 11, 2025
As far as books go this is not an obvious must read unless you are deeply fascinated in history and anthropology. This is very creation myth coded that pulls from even older Sumerian ideas. The story is of course very chaotic to the modern reader considering religion has evolved quite a bit.
Good insight, just has that ancient strangeness to it.
Good insight, just has that ancient strangeness to it.
December 7, 2020
Very interesting, not as epic as gilgamesh and the history of the tablets is probably more gripping than the text itself. I was inspired to read this after listening to the Literature and history podcast and I'm glad I did.
September 2, 2020
IMPERDIBLE!!
Fuentes de inspiración de donde otras religiones han recogido los mitos y leyendas de este maravilloso libro!!
Fuentes de inspiración de donde otras religiones han recogido los mitos y leyendas de este maravilloso libro!!
June 12, 2023
A fascinating tale of the first known civilization to write down the account of life with the gods, and the earliest flood account and why it was brought about it, plus who was saved!
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