Taken from Coe College Classical Mythology Notes - Edmund Burke

I
Primordial Context: Chaos and the Void:
    - Apsu (the sweet water, the lake, the abyss), Tiamat (the bitter water), and Mummu
    (mist/entropy).

The Theogony:
    - Lahmu and Lahamu (silt).
    - Anshar and Kishar (horizon lines).
    - Anu (son of Anshar and Kishar: empty heaven).
    - Ea (son of Anu: intellect, wisdom, strength).

Conflict and Resolution 1:
    - Warfare among the younger gods in the belly of Tiamat.
    - Apsu, angered, plans destruction with the advice of Mummu.
    - Ea discovers Apsu's plans and strikes: Apsu drowned and Mummu locked away.
    - Ea constructs his home and shrine on the abyss (apsu) and lives with Damkina.

Birth of Marduk:
    - Marduk born to Ea and Damkina: wise, active, beautiful, four eyes and ears, long
    striding limbs, lips, and tongue.

Conflict and Resolution 2:
    - Winds created by Anu.
    - The gods are angered and appeal to Tiamat.
    - Tiamat, the Old Hag, fashions monsters.
    - Kingu, the laborer, is elevated to Tiamat's husband and provided the Tablets of Fate.

II
Conflict and Resolution 2:
    - Tiamat plans war.
    - Ea discovers Tiamat's plan and goes to Anshar, his father's father.
    - Ea fails to confront Tiamat.
    - Anu called by Anshar.
    - Anu fails to confront Tiamat.
    - Anshar and Ea go to Marduk.
    - Marduk enthroned as king: his word is law, his decrees enduring.

III
Conflict and Resolution 2:
    - Anshar sends Kaka down to the primordial sediments, to Lahmu and Lahamu,
    to enlist their support for Marduk against Tiamat.
    - Lahmu and Lahamu, and all the gods that determine the nature of the world
    and things to come, came to the Hall of the Synod, feast, drink, and settle
    the fate of Marduk.

IV
Conflict and Resolution 2:
    - Marduk, performing magic, is invested with the powers of the King of the Universe:
    scepter and throne.
    - Marduk creates a bow and arrows, and a mace; lightning appears; a net is made;
    Imhullu, the tempest, is raised up; Abuba, the tornado, is lifted up; Marduk
    mounts his chariot.
    - Kingu falters in the face of Marduk's assault.
    - Tiamat, charged with wrongful elevation of Kingu over Anu, is defeated in single
    combat.
    - Tiamat's followers dispersed; Kingu made the god of death; the Tables of Fate taken.
    - Tiamat's carcass is bled and split, with the upper half becoming the arc of the sky,
    the lower half becoming the waters of the earth, sitting atop the apsu (abyss), which
    he surveyed and marked in.
    - Eshara, the Great Palace, is constructed to be earthly image of the firmament.
    - Anu, Enlil, and Ea are given their rightful stations.

V
Cosmogony:
    - Marduk creates the universe:
    first the heavenly elements: consellations, year, pole, moon, and sun.
    then, from Tiamat, the elements of earth: clouds, mountains, Tigris and Euphrates.
    then he built temples and distributed honors among the gods.
    - Marduk announces to the gods that he has built Earth as the mirror of Heaven, and
    here in Babylon, he will build his beloved home.

VI
Cosmogony:
    - Man is created from the blood of Kingu, and enslaved by Ea.
    - Marduk assigns the gods their stations.
    - The Anunnaki, the fallen gods, build a ziggarut, Esagila, Tall Babel Tower,
    wherein are to reside Marduk, Ea, and Enlil.
    - Feasting among the gods commemorates the construction.
    - The Hymn of the Fifty Names of Marduk.

VII
Cosmogony:
    - The Hymn of the Fifty Names of Marduk continued.

Enlarge Your Font Size: A   A   A   A          Send Website Link to a Friend

Copyright: Nikki Burke 2000-2008
Website Last Updated: January 03, 2008
Bibliography        Latest Website Additions        Link To Us        Sitemap        Search Website

Search For Mythology Essays and Papers

Top of Page Site Meter