The Babylonian Legends of the Creation Part 13

[Footnote 1: By impressing his seal on the Tablet Marduk proved his owners.h.i.+p of the Tablet, and made his claim to it legal.]

123. After he had crushed and overthrown his enemies,

124. He made the haughty enemy to be like the dust underfoot.

125. He established completely Anshar's victory over the enemy,

126. The valiant Marduk achieved the object of Nudimmud (Ea),[1]

[Footnote 1: This is an oblique way of saying that Marduk succeeded where Ea failed.]

127. He imposed strict restraint on the G.o.ds whom he had made captive.

128. He turned back to Tiamat whom he had defeated,

129. The Lord [Marduk] trampled on the rump of Tiamat,

130. With his unsparing club he clave her skull.

131. He slit open the channels (i.e., arteries) of her blood.

132. He caused the North Wind to carry it away to a place underground.

133. His fathers (i.e., the G.o.ds) looked on, they rejoiced, they were glad.

134. They brought unto him offerings of triumph and peace,

135. The Lord [Marduk] paused, he examined Tiamat's carcase.

136. He separated flesh [from] hair,[1] he worked cunningly.

[Footnote 1: The word is _kupu_, i.e., "reed" or "sedge."

It is possible that Marduk skinned Tiamat.]

137. He slit Tiamat open like a flat (?) fish [cut into] two pieces,

138. The one half he raised up and shaded the heavens therewith,

139. He pulled the bolt, he posted a guard,

140. He ordered them not to let her water escape.

141. He crossed heaven, he contemplated the regions thereof.

142. He betook himself to the abode of Nudimmud (Ea) that is opposite to the Deep (Apsu),

143. The Lord Marduk measured the dimensions of the Deep,

144. He founded E-Sharra, a place like unto it,

145. The abode E-Sharra, which he made to be heaven.

146. He made the-G.o.ds Anu, Bel and Ea to inhabit their [own] cities.

FIFTH TABLET.

1. He appointed the Stations for the great G.o.ds,

2. He set in heaven the Stars of the Zodiac which are their likenesses.

3. He fixed the year, he appointed the limits thereof.

4. He set up for the twelve months three stars apiece.

5. According to the day of the year he ... figures.

6. He founded the Station of Nibir (Jupiter) to settle their boundaries,

7. That none might exceed or fall short.

8. He set the Station of Bel and Ea thereby.

9. He opened great gates under shelter on both sides.

10. He made a strong corridor on the left and on the right.

11. He fixed the zenith in the heavenly vault (?)

12. He gave the G.o.d Nannar (i.e., the Moon-G.o.d) his brightness and committed the night to his care.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Portion of a tablet inscribed in a.s.syrian with a text of the Fifth Tablet of the Creation Series. [K. 3567.]]

13. He set him for the government of the night, to determine the day

14. Monthly, without fail, he set him in a crown (i.e., disk) [saying]:

15. "At the beginning of the month when thou risest over the land,

16. "Make [thy] horns to project to limit six days [of the month]

17. "On the seventh day make thyself like a crown.

18. "On the fourteenth day ...

[Lines 19-26 dealt further with Marduk's instructions to the Moon-G.o.d, but are too fragmentary to translate. After line 26 comes a break in the text of 40 lines; lines 66-74 are too fragmentary to translate, but they seem to have described further acts of Creation.]

75. The G.o.ds, his (Marduk's) fathers, looked on the net which he had made,