Babylonian Creation Legends

   There are three versions of the Babylonian Creation Legend which have come down to us.

   They are:

   1. The story of Berosus (280 B.C.). In the beginning there was an abyss of waters, wherein resided the most hideous beings. This was ruled over by Thalath— meaning the sea, or equally well the moon. Belus came and cut her asunder, and of one half he formed the heavens and of the other half the earth. At the same time he destroyed all the animals within her.

   To populate the world, Belus commanded Kingu to cut off his head, and from his blood, mixed with earth, were formed men and animals, the sun, the moon and the five planets.

   2. The story of Damascius (sixth century A.D.). In the beginning there were Tauthe and Apason, Tauthe being the mother of the gods. Their first-born was Moymis, their second and third, Lakhe and Lakhus, their fourth and fifth, Assorus amd Kissare. From these last two came Anu, Illinus, and Aus. To Aus and Dauce was born a son Belus, the fabricator of the world, the Demiurge.

   3. The story told in the Creation Tablets in the British Museum, from the library of Ashurbanipal, about 650 B.C. In the beginning there were Apsu, Mommu, and Tiamat. From them sprang two orders of beings, demons and gods. The gods, in order of creation were Lakhame and Lakhmu; Anshar and Kishar, and then Anu, Ea, and others. Tiamat, being disturbed by the new gods, consulted with Apsu, and with Mommu, who appears to have been an intermediary between them. As a result it was decided that the gods must be destroyed. This presumably implies that the country was being invaded by peoples bringing new gods with them, and that the representatives of the old religions were refusing to accept this without war. It was in strict accordance with the principles of Dualism that Tiamat and her associates should become the powers of evil, and Ea the chief of the powers of good.

   Ea managed to destroy Apsu by a spell, and Marduk was born in the place of Apsu. Tiamat called for help from Ummu-Khubur (or Melili), who became the mother of the six thousand devils, and from the Eleven Mighty Helpers, and the whole force was put under the command of Kingu who was given the Dup Shimati or Tablets of Fate as his seal of authority.

   The next step was that Ea, becoming frightened at this, consulted Anshar and sent Anu as an emissary to Tiamat, but she looked so angry when he arrived that he fled in terror. The gods held a council and after much discussion Marduk was put in command of their forces and invested with magical powers. In Assyria Asshur took the place of Marduk in all these stories. With the aid of these magical spells Kingu was defeated, and the Dup Shimati were taken, and the body of Tiamat was split in half, one half becoming the dome of heaven and the other the wall to contain the waters.

   Marduk then created man by scrificing Kingu and using his blood. Afterwards Marduk became the Lord of the Gods and of Men.

   It appears that the Creation Legends of Babylonia and Assyria are drawn from a source similar to that used by the Hebrews and the Phoenicians and, possibly, the Egyptians. They clearly cannot be memories of the actual creation as such, and may be memories of the emergence of mankind from the effects of some great catastrophe, possibly of a cosmic nature, followed by a flood, and the conflicts between groups of survivors as the effects of the disaster began to disappear. The functions of one of the mother goddesses, whose name may have been Tiamat, Tauthe, Tohu, Tamtu, or Atmu, were attributed to the flood waters, and, afterwards, when the new gods had been established, the old ones were degraded to the rank of demons, in accordance with the principles of Dualism.

   There are two main versions of the Babylonian Deluge Legend, the first of which, taken from the works of Berosus, tells how Xisuthros, tenth, and last, of the pre-diluvial kings, was warned that there would be a flood by which mankind would be destroyed, and that he should bury all the records of the past at Sippara, and then build a ship into which he could put his family and his friends. The vessel was built and rode the waters of the storm with success. When the flood began to abate Xisuthros sent out birds. The first time they returned, the second time their feet were muddy, and the third time they did not come back. He then found that his ship had stranded on a mountain in Armenia. After building an altar and making a sacrifice Xisuthros vanished, leaving behind instructions for his children.

   The other and longer version comes from the Gilgamesh Epic, and is contained on the tablets now in the British Museum. The hero was Utnapishti (in the Sumerian and Akkadian versions he was Zindsuddu, but otherwise the stories are much the same), who was warned by Ea to throw down his house of reeds at Shurippak and build a ship, in which he could house his family. That the vessel was large is shown by references to shipbuilders and a pilot or captain. The flood, when it came, was preceded by violent cyclones, and the waters reached up to the hills, so high that even the goddess Ishtar was moved to utter a lament to the gods. Eventually the storm ceased and the ship stranded on the mountains of Nisir, where it held fast. On landing Utnapishti built an altar, and was later raised to the rank of the gods.

   It may be taken that the Noachic Deluge Legend was drawn from the same sources as these, but whether for that reason Noah is to be equated with Xisuthros, Utnapishti, or Ziudsuddu is by no means certain. The place of landing is variously given as Ararat, Amasis, Baris, Djudi or Judi, and Nizir. The Ark of Noah was said to have been built at a shipyard at Maala, at the foot of the Gebel Shan Sha, near Aden.