The Babylonian Legends of the Creation Part 16

121. "[We] will look unto the King of all the heaven and the earth at night when the place of all the G.o.ds is darkness (literally sadness).

122. "He hath a.s.signed our dwelling in heaven and in earth in the time of trouble,

123. "He hath allotted stations to the Igigi and the Anunnaki.

124. "The G.o.ds themselves are magnified by his name; may he direct their sanctuaries.

125. "ASAR-LU-DUG, is his name by which his father Anu hath named him.

126. "Verily, he is the light of the G.o.ds, the mighty ...

127. "Who ... all the parts of heaven and of the land

128. "By a mighty combat he saved our dwelling in the time of trouble.

129. "ASAR-LU-DUG, the G.o.d who made him (i.e. man) to live, did the G.o.d ... call him in the second place

130. "[And] the G.o.ds who had been formed, whom he fas.h.i.+oned as though [they were] his offspring.

131. "He is the Lord who hath made all the G.o.ds to live by his holy mouth."

[Lines 132-139 are too fragmentary to translate, but it is clear from the text that remains that Lakhmu, and Lakhamu, and Anshar all proclaimed the names of Marduk. When the text again becomes connected Marduk has just been addressing the G.o.ds.]

140. In Up-shukkinaku[1] he appointed their council for them.

[Footnote 1: From this text it seems clear that Up-shukkinaku was the name of a chamber in the temple of E-Sagila. This name probably means the "chamber of the shakkanaku," i.e., the chamber in which the governor of the city (_shakkanaku_) went annually to embrace the hands of the G.o.d Bel-Marduk, from whom he thereby received the right of sovereignty over the country.]

141. [They said]:--"Of [our] son, the Hero, our Avenger,

142. "We will exalt the name by our speech."

143. They sat down and in their a.s.sembly they proclaimed his rank.

144. Every one of them p.r.o.nounced his name in the sanctuary.

SEVENTH TABLET.

1. O ASARI,--giver of plantations, appointer of sowing time,

2. Who dost make grain and fibrous plants, who makest garden herbs to spring up.

3. O ASARU-ALIM--who art weighty in the council-chamber, who art fertile in counsel,

4. To whom the G.o.ds pay wors.h.i.+p (?) reverent ...

5. O ASARU-ALIM-NUNA--the adored light of the Father who begat him,

6. Who makest straight the direction of Anu, Bel, [and Ea].[1]

[Footnote 1: This line seems to imply that Marduk was regarded as the instructor of the "old" G.o.ds; the allusion is, probably, to the "ways"

of Anu, Bel and Ea, which are treated as technical terms in astrology.]

7. He is their patron who fixed [their] ...

8. Whose drink is abundance, who goeth forth ...

9. O TUTU--creator of their new life,

10. Supplier of their wants, that they may be satisfied [or, glad],

11. Let but [Tutu] recite an incantation, the G.o.ds shall be at rest;

12. Let but [the G.o.ds] attack him (i.e., Tutu) in wrath, he shall resist them successfully;

13. Let him be raised up on a high throne in the a.s.sembly of the G.o.ds....

14. None among the G.o.ds is like unto him.

15. O G.o.d TUTU, who art the G.o.d ZI-UKKINA, life of the host of the G.o.ds,

16. Who stablished the s.h.i.+ning heavens for the G.o.ds,

17. He founded their paths, he fixed [their courses].

18. Never shall his deeds be forgotten among men.

19. O G.o.d TUTU, who art ZI-AZAG, was the third name they gave him--holder (i.e., possessor) of holiness,

20. G.o.d of the favourable wind, lord of adoration and grace,

21. Creator of fulness and abundance, stablisher of plenty,

22. Who turneth that which is little into that which is much.

23. In sore straits we have felt his favouring breeze.

24. Let them (the G.o.ds) declare, let them magnify, let them sing his praises.

25. O TUTU, who art the G.o.d AGA-AZAG in the fourth place--let men exult.

26. Lord of the holy incantation, who maketh the dead to live,

27. He felt compa.s.sion for the G.o.ds who were in captivity.

28. He riveted on the G.o.ds his enemies the yoke which had been resting on them.

29. In mercy towards them he created mankind,