Did Marduk create the world? Who created the world in Enuma Elish?

Foreword:
This article mainly talks about the creation of the world by Marduk (Marduk create the world). Tiamat and Apsu created the gods, then thought they were noisy and wanted to destroy them. When Eya heard about it, she killed Apsu. Tiamat wanted to avenge Apsu, so she provoked war against Eya and other gods. In the end, Tiamat and other gods were defeated. Marduk created the world.

The ancient Babylonian kingdom was another peak of Mesopotamian culture after the Sumerians. In the temple of Babylon City, many great gods are enshrined. The head of the Great God is Marduk, the patron saint of Babylon City and the creator of the universe. His heroic deeds are truly thrilling.

Apsu and Tiamat made gods – Marduk create the world

According to legend, before the formation of the universe in ancient times, the world had not yet divided into high sky and low ground, there were no rivers, hills, sky, sun, moon, and stars. It was just a sticky and misty chaos. However, there are two abysses surging in this chaos – Tiamat, the abyss of bitter water, and Apsu, the abyss of sweet water.

Tiamat is the spirit of the sea. She has a violent temper, is unpredictable, has infinite power, and is pregnant with the seeds of life. Although Apsu is sweet water with a gentle and stable temperament, it lacks the vitality of life. After a long period of time, Apsu flowed to the side of the sea and combined with Tiamat to produce the first life and the earliest gods.

Apsu and Tiamat looked at the large group of sons and daughters, and their hearts were filled with joy. They ordered some of their children to live in the void far away from themselves, to manage the things around them, and called this void the high sky. He also ordered some of his children to live in a place not far from him to manage all affairs in this side, calling this place a lowland. The gods work hard and do a good job. Gradually, the universe was divided into high and low, up and down, and the chaos became a little clearer. In the upper air there are the palaces of the gods, in the lowlands there are rivers, hills, and plains.

Later, a great god Anu was born in the river, and she gave birth to a particularly intelligent god Eya, who later became the god of wisdom and magic, assisting Anu in managing the affairs of heaven. They gave birth to many new gods, and they all lived in high temples, and the high sky became more and more lively.

Apsu and Tiamat disliked the gods they created

Apsu and Tiamat in the abyss were very tired after finishing the great work of making gods, and they lay down contentedly. They are in the warm and dark abyss, swaying with the waves, preparing for a long sleep. However, the noise and laughter of the gods above came clearly, and they could hear it very clearly in the quiet, which disturbed them all the more. So Apsu said to Tiamat: “Their noise is so disrespectful, it makes me very uncomfortable. I can’t rest during the day and sleep at night. I want to destroy them.”

Although Tiamat hated the noise in the sky, but when she thought about it, the descendants of these gods should be considered as her own descendants. How could the old grandmother be willing to destroy her own descendants? She shook her head and snorted displeasedly. Apsu had no choice but to give up.

Eya, the god of magic, kills Apsu

However, they never expected that their quiet conversation was overheard by Eya, the god of wisdom and magic. “The father of the gods wants to destroy us! Is this okay?” Eya immediately decided: it’s better to strike first! That night, taking advantage of the darkness, he sneaked into the abyss and poured a large bucket of drowsiness on Apsu’s head. Apsu even yawned a few times and fell into a drowsy sleep. Eya quickly put a chain around Apsu’s neck, led him up the bank, walked into a deep mountain, and locked him tightly under the rock. Apsu was asleep and didn’t know anything, Eya drew his long sword and killed him.

Apsu died and turned into a pool of clear water. Eya built her own temple and tall palace on the edge of this pool, and took charge of the ruling power here. There are beautiful mountains and clear waters here, and Eya and his wife are leisurely and happy.

Eya announces to the gods her son Marduk (the god who created the world) – Marduk create the world

One day, the calm deep pool suddenly surged with waves. A wave gushed out high, and another wave piled up on top of it. Soon, in the middle of the snow-white waves, a handsome and strong boy rose out of the water. He wears a golden helmet, armor, a bow and arrow hanging from his waist, and combat boots on his feet. Holding a spear in his left hand and a big mallet in his right, he is heroic and shining. When Eya saw her, she was overjoyed, hurriedly pulled the boy over, and announced to the gods, “This is Maduk, the son of Eya!”

Eya’s voice was loud, proud, and eager. When the gods heard this, they all felt that it seemed to herald a great change.

Tiamat plans revenge

At this time, Tiamat in the Abyss was very old. Apsu’s death hit her hard. She saw that the gods gave birth to so many offspring, and their power became stronger and stronger, making the universe beyond recognition, and she was very troubled. She regretted not listening to Apsu’s words and killing them all, causing endless troubles. After Apsu died, she gave birth to many gods and monsters, who lived in the abyss to serve her. At this time, these gods and monsters were also angry, and persuaded Tiamat to fight against the gods in the sky, destroy them, and avenge Apsu.

Tiamat paced back and forth in the abyss, thinking, and finally made up her mind: “Destroy the gods and return to chaos!”

She chose her eldest son Kingu as the chief general, and gave him a “fate card” that could determine the fate of the gods, and hung it on his chest, endowing him with great power. The two of them also created a giant snake with sharp teeth and full of venom, grinning and barking wild dogs, ferocious poisonous dragons, poisonous scorpions, grotesque murlocs and violent winds. Form an ugly and vicious army of them. They were gearing up, wailing and screaming, ready to fight to the death with the gods of the upper world.

The gods suggested that Marduk lead the army to fight against Tiamat

When the gods of the upper world heard that Tiamat, the mother of the abyss, was preparing to fight them, they were very frightened and immediately held a meeting to discuss a plan to retreat from the enemy. The gods recommended the great gods Anu and Oia to fight against the monster army, but Oia and Anu were so afraid that they waved their hands repeatedly, fearing that the gods would push them onto the battlefield. The gods did not dare to force the two great gods, so they looked at each other and fell silent.

Gods, you look at me and I look at you, communicating with each other with their eyes. Finally, their eyes fell on Marduk, looking at him longingly.

Marduk stood up, looked around at the gods, and said loudly: “I can lead troops to go to war, but you must give me great power so that I can dispatch troops and generals and command them freely.”

The gods are all happy. At this time, why don’t they agree to anything? They immediately supported Marduk as king and shouted in unison: “You are the most noble god among the gods. We give you the power to govern all things and obey your command and dispatch. Obey!!!”

The gods gave war gifts to Marduk – Marduk create the world

The gods took out another leather robe and tested Marduk’s power on the spot. Marduk shouted: “Broken!” With a finger, the leather robe broke immediately; he also shouted “Hold!” The leather robe remained intact. The gods were extremely surprised and admired him. They rushed to wish him good news and even more sincerely accepted him as the lord of the gods.

The great god Anu gave Marduk a large net and asked him to hang it in all directions to catch water monsters. He also created seven strange winds and a flood to hide them. After the arrangements were made, Marduk, fully clothed, set off in a carriage drawn by four horses. The electric light opens the way in front, and the thunderbolt cheers behind. Marduk was majestic and came straight to the abyss of the lower world.

The war between Marduk and Tiamat

On the edge of the abyss, Tiamat’s water monster soldiers formed a long snake formation and had been waiting for a long time. Tiamat stood on the crest of the wave in the middle of the abyss and personally supervised the battle. She looked calm and confident about destroying this little kid named Marduk.

Marduk’s chariot stopped in front of the monster formation. He stood upright on the car and shouted loudly: “Big and small monsters, come and fight!” The poisonous dragons, big snakes, dog soldiers, and scorpion generals who were roaring just now were so frightened when they saw Marduk’s majestic appearance that they all retreated back. Some of them disappeared into the abyss.

General Ke Yingu hesitated for a long time, but he also sneaked into the monster’s fleeing team and refused to step forward to fight. The monster soldiers had not yet engaged in battle and were already in disarray.

Marduk and Ewell killed Tiamat – Marduk create the world

When Tiamat saw the actions of these unsatisfactory things, she was so angry that she was shaking all over. She roared so loudly that it shook the mountain peaks and made the sea ripple. She jumped into the abyss.

I saw a flash of white light in the waves, and Tiamat had transformed into a giant dragon with fangs and claws, and rushed onto the shore. This dragon’s eyes are like copper bells, its mouth is like a basin of blood, with sharp teeth bared, and its body is covered with gleaming scales. The dragon leaped into the air, shaking off a shower of broken rain that made Marduk’s chariot jingle.

Marduk was not willing to show weakness. He suddenly jumped out of the chariot, descended from the mountain like a hungry tiger, brandished his long spear, and stabbed the dragon’s eyes directly. The giant dragon shook its head, and its curled tail swept towards Marduk with a whirring sound. Marduk ducked down quickly and stabbed at the dragon again. The two great gods were fighting in a massacre, and it was difficult to tell them apart. Marduk is like a golden ball, the gold is shining, and the tiger steps like the wind; Tiamat is more like a silver train, the silver is shining, and it is flying and circling.

Marduk and Tiamat fought hard to determine the winner

Gods poked their heads out of the clouds, and water monsters emerged from the abyss, each cheering for their coach. The two gods fought so hard that it was hard to tell the winner. The gods and water monsters were dazzled and frightened. For a while, all I could hear was the thunderous roar of war drums. This fight, unexpectedly, shook the still somewhat chaotic universe into something clear and clear.

As they were fighting to determine the winner, Marduk remembered his secret weapon. He quietly loosened the ropes of the big net, and when Tiamat pounced fiercely, he suddenly shook the net open and covered her. Then he quickly released a strange wind, surrounding Tiamat.

Ewell breathed his last to Tiamat – Marduk create the world

Strange wind’s name is Ewell, and he is a guy who likes to play pranks. He chuckled and blew Tiamat’s face. Tiamat was blown away by the seven strange winds and couldn’t open her eyes. Thousands of wrinkles were squeezed out of her once smooth, mirror-like face, making her extremely ugly. She was so angry that she opened her mouth wide and wanted to swallow Ewell.

Marduk saw the opportunity and pushed forward. Ewell penetrated Tiamat’s throat and suddenly blocked her mouth. Tiamat’s body swayed and swollen, her face turned purple from the suffocation, she couldn’t breathe, and her open mouth could no longer be closed. Her body turned into a large, bulging, long and thick tube, and she lay upright on the edge of the abyss, and her tail could no longer swing.

Seeing that the time had come, Marduk shot an arrow into her stomach. The arrow penetrated her body with a “bang” and split her heart. Tiamat didn’t even have time to scream. Like a deflated fish bubble, she twisted a few times, blood flowed from her mouth, and died.

When the water monster soldiers saw that their commander had been killed, they were horrified and fled in all directions with a “hurrah” sound. Maduk shook the net and covered them all inside. The main general Ke Yingu was also taken down and tied into a ball. Marduk took the destiny card from him and hung it around his neck. From then on, he had the highest power to determine the fate of the gods.

After the victory, Marduk began to create heaven and earth

After conquering all his enemies, Marduk returned to Tiamat. He smashed her skull with a mallet, severed her blood vessels, and let the north wind carry them to places no one knew existed. Marduk cut Tiamat’s body in half like a clam, and lifted one half up to become the sky, while the other half was spread under his feet to become the earth. Where her head is hidden, a high mountain rises. From her eyes, which had not yet lost their luster, emerged two great rivers—the Euphrates and the Tigris. Many hills grew out of her chest, covered with dense woods and shrubs. The god Marduk connects the sky and the earth with her curled tail, and supports the sky with her spine.

Marduk created the order of heaven and earth (Marduk create the world)

Marduk returned to heaven, assigned status and jurisdiction to the gods, and jointly governed the universe. He stretched out the time, divided it into day and night, and created the sun, moon and stars to illuminate the heaven and earth. He also stipulated the length of a year and ordered the sun and moon to follow a certain route and orbit, without being a little tired or deviating from the track. In addition to being the great god of the sky, he himself also became the god of the sun, in charge of spring and warmth in the universe.

Marduk created human beings – Marduk create the world

After Marduk created the heaven and earth and the universe was in order, Marduk decided to do a more ingenious job. He suggested to Ea, the god of wisdom and magic, to kill a god and use his blood to create a new animal – human beings. The gods gathered for discussion and unanimously agreed to let Keyingu, the leader of the water monster soldiers, die. So the gods tied up Keingu and brought him to Oia, saying that he was guilty and cutting off his arteries.

Ke Yingu’s blood spurted out and seeped into the clay. The clay became moist and soft, like the skin of a god. The ingenious Ea used the clay to create human beings in the image of God himself. The human head he created has a round head, a high and straight nose, deep eye sockets and slightly protruding eyeballs, a tall stature, and slender limbs. The best thing is that these human beings have bare heads and no beards or hair. When exposed to the sun, their eyes shine and their heads shine. When the gods saw it, they liked it very much and created many animals to accompany them.

Humans thank Marduk and the gods and do not build temples for them

The gods put humans and animals on the earth and allowed them to marry and reproduce; they also taught humans to farm, hunt, and fish to support themselves, while the gods enjoyed human sacrifices in temples and palaces in the sky. With gratitude, humans built a temple for Marduk with their own hands. This is the famous Temple of Isagoras. In order to remember Marduk’s great achievements in creating the world, humans have worshiped him and sung his stories from generation to generation.

Did Marduk create the world? Who created the world in Enuma Elish? Do you all know the answer?