The Babylonian Legends of the Creation Part 15

[Footnote 1: See _Cuneiform Texts_, Part XXIV, Plate 50, where it is said that the G.o.d Sin is "Marduk, who maketh bright the night."]

37. "What benefit have we conferred upon thee?

38. "Come, let us make a shrine, whose name shall be renowned;

39. "Come [at] night, our time of festival, let us take our ease therein,

40. "Come, the staff shall rule ...

41. "On the day that we reach [thereto] we will take our ease therein."

42. On hearing this Marduk ...

43. The features of his face [shone like] the day exceedingly.

44. [He said],[1] "Like unto ... Babylon, the construction whereof ye desire

[Footnote 1: Lines 44 and 45 announce Marduk's determination to build Babylon.]

45. "I will make ... a city, I will fas.h.i.+on a splendid shrine."

46. The Anunnaki worked the mould [for making bricks], their bricks were ...

47. In the second year [the shrine was as high as] a hill, and the summit of E-Sagila reached the [celestial] Ocean.

48. They made the ziggurat[1] [to reach] the celestial Ocean; unto Marduk, Enlil, Ea [shrines] they appointed,

[Footnote 1: This is the word commonly used for "temple-tower." The famous ziggurat of E-Sagila here mentioned was built in Seven Stages or Steps, each probably having its own distinctive colour. It was destroyed probably soon after the capture of Babylon by Cyrus (539 B.C.) and when Alexander the Great reached Babylon he found it ruins.]

49. It (i.e., the ziggurat) stood before them majestically: at the bottom and [at the top] they observed its two horns.[1]

[Footnote 1: This is the first known mention of the "horns" of a ziggurat, and the exact meaning of the word is doubtful.]

50. After the Anunnaki had finished the construction of E-Sagila, and had completed the making of their shrines,

51. They gathered together from the ... of the Ocean (Apsu). In BAR-MAH, the abode which they had made,

52. He (i.e., Marduk) made the G.o.ds his fathers to take their seats ... [saying]: "This Babylon shall be your abode.

53. "No mighty one [shall destroy] his house, the great G.o.ds shall dwell therein.

[After line 53 the middle portions of several lines of text are obliterated, but from what remains of it it is clear that the G.o.ds partook of a meal of consecration of the shrine of E-Sagila, and then proceeded to issue decrees. Next Marduk a.s.signs seats to the Seven G.o.ds of Fate and to Enlil and Anu, and then he lays up in E-Sagila the famous bow which he bore during his fight against Tiamat. When the text again becomes connected we find the G.o.ds singing a hymn of praise to Marduk.]

94. "Whatever is ... those G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses shall bear(?)

95. "They shall never forget, they shall cleave to the G.o.d (?)

96. "... they shall make bright, they shall make shrines.

97. "Verily, the decision (concerning) the Black-headed [belongeth to]

the G.o.ds

98. "... all our names have they called, he (Marduk) is most holy (_elli_)

99. "... they proclaimed and venerated (?) his names.

100. "His ... is exceedingly bright, his work is ...

101. "Marduk, whose father Anu proclaimed [his name] from his birth,

102. "Who hath set the day at his door ... his going,

103. "By whose help the storm wind was bound ...

104. "Delivered the G.o.ds his fathers in the time of trouble.

105. "Verily, the G.o.ds have proclaimed his sons.h.i.+p.

106. "In his bright light let them walk for ever.

107. "[On] men whom he hath formed, the created things fas.h.i.+oned by his fingers

108. "He hath imposed the service of the G.o.ds, and them he hath set free

109. "...

110. "... they looked at him,

111. "[He is] the far-seeing _(maruku)_ G.o.d, verily ...

112. "Who hath made glad the hearts of the Anunnaki, who hath made them to ...

113. "The G.o.d Marudukku--verily, he is the object of trust of his country ...

114. "Let men praise him ...

115. "The 'King of the Protecting Heart,' (?), hath arisen and hath [bound] the Serpent ...

116. "Broad is his heart, mighty [his] belly.

117. "King of the G.o.ds of heaven and of earth, whose name our company hath proclaimed,

118. "We will fulfil (?) the utterance of his mouth. Over his fathers the G.o.ds,

119. "Yea, [over] the G.o.ds of heaven and earth, all of them,

120. "His kings.h.i.+p [we will exalt].