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Sumer and Babylon · Enuma Elish, tablets I, IV, VI

Enuma Elish: Marduk splits Tiamat

EvidenceDocumentedThe text exists and is quoted from a published translation. What it describes is a separate question.What this means
ReferenceEnuma Elish, tablets I, IV, VI
Writtenc. 1200–1100 BCE
SetBefore creation
When in the height heaven was not named, And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name… He split her up like a flat fish into two halves; One half of her he stablished as a covering for heaven.

Translation: L. W. King, 1902

Read it literally

A war in the heavens, a body split in two to make sky and earth, and humans made from the blood of a defeated rebel god (Kingu) to do the gods' work.

What scholars say

Babylon's creation epic, promoting the god Marduk.

From the sky Council of gods
People and places hereBabylon

Quick answers about Enuma Elish, tablets I, IV, VI

Where is Enuma Elish, tablets I, IV, VI found?

Enuma Elish, tablets I, IV, VI (Sumer and Babylon). Translation quoted: L. W. King, The Seven Tablets of Creation (1902).

When was Enuma Elish, tablets I, IV, VI written?

c. 1200–1100 BCE.

What do scholars say about Enuma Elish, tablets I, IV, VI?

Babylon's creation epic, promoting the god Marduk.

Rabbit holes in this passage

GodMardukWhen enemies captured Marduk's statue and carried it abroad, Babylonian writers explained the loss as the god choosing to go on a journey. He began as the minor god of a minor city; in the epic Enuma Elish he splits the sea-monster Tiamat in two and earns fifty names. How does a small-town god become king?

Sources

  1. L. W. King, The Seven Tablets of Creation (1902)Primary text
  2. Enuma Elish, Tablet IV, trans. L. W. King, The Seven Tablets of Creation (1902)Primary text

Scholarly dates are rounded. The wording follows the named public-domain translation.

Updated