The Standard Babylonian Creation Myth Enuma Elis: Introduction, Cuneiform Text, Transliteration, and Sign List, With a Translation and Glossary in French

by Anonymous, Philippe Talon (Translator)

Long anticipated, this edition of the Enuma Elish contains an introduction, facsimile cuneiform text based on texts from Assurbanipal’s library, and a transliteration. To assist the student, it also includes a sign list with a translation and glossary in French. State Archives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts (SAACT) contains facsimile cuneiform texts based on texts from Assurbanipal’s library. The discovery of this library by Hormuzd Rassam in the middle of the nineteenth century was the first great milepost of the infant discipline of Assyriology. Even now, a century and a half later, it remains the single most important group of texts discovered in Mesopotamia. Documents from the library concern almost every aspect of ancient Mesopotamian history and culture. Most of these texts, as distinct from the State Archives of Assyria, are written in Babylonian and include the gems of Mesopotamian literature and science. It is hoped that eventually all the texts from this library will be published in SAACT. The production of SAACT volumes proceeds from a transliteration prepared by the editor. The transliteration, in the format of the CNA database, is converted back to the original cuneiform signs by software conversion programs. Variant codes in the transliteration allow the proper signform to be selected. The transliteration is also converted in the same manner as for SAA volumes into a standard Assyriological format for publication along with the reconstituted cuneiform. A glossary and indices of names are generated from the transliteration as for SAA volumes.

Genres: Mythology

140 pages, Paperback

Published June 30, 2005

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Sense of History]

My expectations were very high when reading this somewhat more elaborate Mesopotamian story (named Enuma Elish after the first words: "in the time when heavens did yet not exist"). After all, it is the basis of our knowledge of the cosmology of the Mesopotamian cultures, about how order in the universe came about in the eyes of the peoples around the Land of Tigris and Euphrates, how everything had been given its place. So, no small feat. And again, as in the Atrahasis story about the flood (see here), for a good understanding it is important to ignore the biblical versions of the creation story, because they (yes, there are several) come chronologically after the Mesopotamian one and were clearly also inspired by it.

The best-preserved clay tablets with this story may have been found in the library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, which puts their date to the middle of the 7th century BCE (so not too long before the biblical versions), other finds go back to the 13th - 12th centuries BCE, and a substantive analysis points more towards the 18th century BCE, when the protagonist of this story, the Babylonian supreme god Marduk, came to occupy the most important place in the Mesopotamian pantheon.

Perhaps first a very short summary is in order: the story starts at the beginning of time, when there was nothing at all except the primal beings Apsu and Tia-mat, rather vague supernatural elements often associated with the male and the female principle, from whose union hundreds of gods arose. The real creation of heaven and earth comes later and is just as in the Atrahasis story the result of the fierce battle between Apsu/Tia-mat and their descendants. According to the story it mainly was the doing of Marduk, one of the lesser gods, that brought Apsu and Tia-mat down. Subsequently Marduk claims omnipotence, the recognition as king of the gods, and the authorization to determine the fate of everything. Only then heaven and earth are formed from the remains of Apsu and Tia-mat, all gods (in some versions 900 in total) get their destination (including as heavenly bodies), and finally – on a kind of side-note – mankind is formed to relieve the gods from their hard work.

Before you dismiss this story as a backward vision: it really does not differ that much from our Western view, based on rational theory and scientific research. After all, the Enuma Elish story outlines creation as a historical development in several steps, with man as the last phase. Agreed, in the mythological story it is supernatural beings who direct and cause everything, and not blind natural laws, but the similarity in the sequence of cosmological events remains striking. This points to a fundamental intuition Mesopotamians had that our world emerged from a sequence of events, with causal connections; from an anthropological point of view this is not an insignificant finding.

This story also has merit from a literary point of view, certainly in the first half: the style is epical, with typical repetitive verses, an alternation between dialogues and action scenes, and an emotional charge behind the actions (gods with human characteristics), enhancing the dramatic effect. Still, I have to admit that as the story went along, my disappointed increased. And that's mainly because it developed into a very extreme piece of propagandistic writing, especially in the last third. The hero of the story, the supreme god Marduk, already received a fair amount of attention (after all, he is the creator of heaven and earth), but the writer (I know, this is a problematic concept) considered it necessary to describe in great detail the glorious marks and deeds of Marduk. Experts see a strong political load in this story: in the centuries-long battle between Babylonia and Assyria, the omnipotence of the Babylonian supreme god (Marduk) is underlined in every possible way, as to express the dominance of the Babylonian side. A curious detail is that some versions of Enuma Elish have been found in which not Marduk, but Assur, the supreme god of the Assyrians, predominates. In other words, this political aspect is absolutely relevant and interesting, but it detracts from the epic, gloriousness of the creation story itself, as if the cosmological aspect was only incidental. In that sense, the Gilgamesh story seems so much more appealing and in-depth, more layered than this Enuma Elish.

[Marc Lamot]

Next to the Gilgamesh story, this is the most famous and most talked about myth of the ancient Mesopotamian era. After all, it deals with no less than the creation of the cosmos, the earth and mankind, all born out of the struggle between younger and older gods. At the same time, it is a propaganda poem in honor of the Babylonian supreme god Marduk, to the extent that this aspect ultimately (and unfortunately) overshadows the creation part. It's an interesting piece of writing, for sure, but - after having read and extensively studied the Gilgamesh story - it left me with a feeling of disappointment. More on that in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

[Ulrike · Rating 4 out of 5]

slay! i adore reading Mesopotamian mythology. theres just something about it, like these gods were just as feared and loved as the Greek mythos, but society in general knows less and cares less about them. reading something so old and foundational always gives me a weird feeling in the best way possible.

(i actually read the translation in Heidel's The Babylonian Genesis, but since im not planning on reading the rest of the book where it deals with biblical parallels, i thought id just log this)

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

It all makes sense now

[Jonathan Ehrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

It feels really weird to be rating the Babylonian creation myth - you know, "Four out of five stars: great, but not quite all the way there. JMS did it better in Babylon 5."

[Maddelline · Rating 3 out of 5]

O altă poveste a facerii lumii

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still not over Anu saying women aren't as strong as men immediately after failing to defeat a woman in combat.