Ancient texts / Enuma Elish (The Babylonian Epic of Creation)
Enuma Elish (The Babylonian Epic of Creation) Tablet IV
Marduk is enthroned, arms himself with wind and storm, kills Tiamat, and splits her carcass 'like a flat fish into two pieces' — one half becomes the sky, held back so its waters cannot escape.
1They founded for him a majestic canopy,
2He (i.e., Marduk) seated himself in the seat of kingship in the presence of his fathers [who said unto him]:
3"Thou art honourable by reason of thy greatness among the gods.
4"Thy position is unrivalled, the words thou utterest become Anum (i.e., as fixed as the sky).
5"Thou art honourable by reason of thy greatness among the gods.
6"Thy position is unrivalled, the words thou utterest become Anum (i.e., as fixed as the sky).
7"From this day onward thy command shall not be abrogated.
8"The power to exalt to heaven and to cast down to the earth both shall be in thy hand,
9"That which goeth forth from thy mouth shall be established, against thy utterance shall be no appeal.
10"No one among the gods shall overstep thy boundary,
11"Worship, which is the object of the sanctuary of the gods,
12"Whensoever they lack [it] shall be forthcoming in thy sanctuary,
13"O god Marduk, thou art our avenger.
14"We have given unto thee sovereignty over the whole creation,
15"Thou shalt sit down, in the council thy word shall be exalted,
16"Thy weapon shall never fall [from thy hands], it shall break the head of thy foe.
17"Lord, whosoever putteth his trust in thee, spare thou his life,
18"And the god who deviseth evil, pour thou out his soul."
19Then a cloak (literally, one cloak) was set in their midst,
20They addressed the god Marduk their first-born [saying]:
21"Thou, Lord, shalt hold the foremost position among the gods.
22"Decree thou the throwing down and the building up, and it shall come to pass.
23"Speak but the word, and the cloak shall disappear,
24"Speak a second time and the cloak shall return uninjured."
25Marduk spoke the word, the cloak disappeared,
26He spoke a second time, the cloak reappeared.
27When the gods his fathers saw the issue of the utterance of his mouth
28They rejoiced and adored [him, saying], "Marduk is King."
29They conferred upon him the sceptre, the throne, and the symbol of royalty (?)
30They gave him the unrivalled weapon, the destroyer of the enemy [saying]:
31"Go, cut off the life of Tiamat.
32"Let the wind carry her blood into the depth [under the earth]."
33The gods, his fathers, issued the decree for the god Bel.
34They set him on the road which leadeth to peace and adoration.
35He strung [his] bow, he set ready his weapon [in the stand],
36He slung his spear, he attached it to [his belly],
37He raised the club, he grasped it in his right hand.
38The bow and the quiver he hung at his side.
39He set the lightning in front of him.
40His body was filled with a glancing flame of fire.
41He made a net wherewith to enclose Tiamat.
42He made the four winds to take up their position so that no part of her might escape,
43The South wind, the North wind, the East wind, the West wind.
44He held the net close to his side, the gift of his father Anu,
45He created the "foul" wind, the storm, the parching blast,
46The wind of "four," the wind of "seven," the typhoon, the wind incomparable
47He despatched the seven winds which he had made,
48To make turbid the inward parts of Tiamat; they followed in his train.
49The Lord raised up the wind storm, his mighty weapon.
50He went up into his chariot, the unequalled and terrible tempest.
51He equipped it, he yoked thereto a team of four horses,
52Pawing the ground, champing, foaming [eager to] fly,
53... [the odour] of their teeth bore foetidness,
54They were skilled [in biting], they were trained to trample under foot.
58His brightness streamed forth, his head was crowned [thereby].
59He took a direct path, he hastened on his journey.
60He set his face towards the place of Tiamat, who was ...
61On his lips ... he restrained
62... his hand grasped.
63At that moment the gods were gazing upon him with fixed intensity,
64The gods, his fathers, gazed upon him, they gazed upon him.
65The Lord approached, he looked upon the middle of Tiamat,
66He searched out the plan of Kingu, her husband.
67Marduk looked, Kingu staggered in his gait,
68His will was destroyed, his motion was paralysed.
69And the gods his helpers who were marching by his side
70Saw the [collapse of] their chief and their sight was troubled.
71Tiamat [shrieked but] did not turn her head.
72With lips full of [rebellious words] she maintained her stubbornness
73[Saying], "... that thou hast come as the Lord of the gods, [forsooth],
74"They have appointed thee in the place which should be theirs."
75The Lord raised up the wind-storm, his mighty weapon,
76[Against] Tiamat, who was furious (?), he sent it, [saying]:
77"[Thou hast made thyself] mighty, thou art puffed upon high,
78"Thy heart [hath stirred thee up] to invoke battle
79"... their fathers ...
80"...
81"[Thou hast exalted Kingu to be [thy] husband,
82"[Thou hast made him to usurp] the attributes of Anu
83"... thou hast planned evil.
84"[Against] the gods, my fathers, thou hast wrought evil.
85"Let now thy troops gird themselves up, let them bind on their weapons.
86"Stand up! Thou and I, let us to the fight!"
87On hearing these words Tiamat
88Became like a mad thing, her senses became distraught,
89Tiamat uttered shrill cries again and again.
90That on which she stood split in twain at the words,
91She recited an incantation, she pronounced her spell.
92The gods of battle demanded their weapons.
93Tiamat and Marduk, the envoy of the gods, roused themselves,
94They advanced to fight each other, they drew nigh in battle.
95The Lord cast his net and made it to enclose her,
96The evil wind that had its place behind him he let out in her face.
97Tiamat opened her mouth to its greatest extent,
98Marduk made the evil wind to enter [it] whilst her lips were unclosed.
99The raging winds filled out her belly,
100Her heart was gripped, she opened wide her mouth [panting].
101Marduk grasped the spear, he split up her belly,
102He clave open her bowels, he pierced [her] heart,
103He brought her to nought, he destroyed her life.
104He cast down her carcase, he took up his stand upon it,
105After Marduk had slain Tiamat the chief,
106Her host was scattered, her levies became fugitive,
107And the gods, her allies, who had marched at her side,
108Quaked with terror, and broke and ran
109And betook themselves to flight to save their lives.
110But they found themselves hemmed in, they could not escape,
111Marduk tied them up, he smashed their weapons.
112They were cast into the net, and they were caught in the snare,
113The ... of the world they filled with [their] cries of grief.
114They received [Marduk's] chastisement, they were confined in restraint,
115And [on] the Eleven Creatures which Tiamat had filled with awfulness,
116The company of the devils that marched at her ...
117He threw fetters, he ... their sides.
118They and their resistance he trod under his feet.
119The god Kingu who had been magnified over them
120He crushed, he esteemed him [as little worth] as the god Dugga, (as a dead god?).
121Marduk took from him the TABLET OF DESTINIES, which should never have been his,
122He sealed it with a seal and fastened it on his breast
123After he had crushed and overthrown his enemies,
124He made the haughty enemy to be like the dust underfoot.
125He established completely Anshar's victory over the enemy,
126The valiant Marduk achieved the object of Nudimmud (Ea),
127He imposed strict restraint on the gods whom he had made captive.
128He turned back to Tiamat whom he had defeated,
129The Lord [Marduk] trampled on the rump of Tiamat,
130With his unsparing club he clave her skull.
131He slit open the channels (i.e., arteries) of her blood.
132He caused the North Wind to carry it away to a place underground.
133His fathers (i.e., the gods) looked on, they rejoiced, they were glad.
134They brought unto him offerings of triumph and peace,
135The Lord [Marduk] paused, he examined Tiamat's carcase.
136He separated flesh [from] hair, he worked cunningly.
137He slit Tiamat open like a flat (?) fish [cut into] two pieces,✦ Genesis 1:6
138The one half he raised up and shaded the heavens therewith,
139He pulled the bolt, he posted a guard,
140He ordered them not to let her water escape.
141He crossed heaven, he contemplated the regions thereof.
142He betook himself to the abode of Nudimmud (Ea) that is opposite to the Deep (Apsu),
143The Lord Marduk measured the dimensions of the Deep,
144He founded E-Sharra, a place like unto it,
145The abode E-Sharra, which he made to be heaven.
146He made the-gods Anu, Bel and Ea to inhabit their [own] cities.
Lines 55-57 too fragmentary to translate; they continue the description of Marduk's equipment.
Editorial restorations by the translator are in [square brackets]; “…” and italic notes mark where the tablet is broken. Bracketed scene-headings are the translator's, not part of the text.