This poem was written in the 12th century BC,
but the myths on which it was based date back to ancient Sumer. The most
complete text was found on seven clay tablets. Below is a translation from
Tablet IV which tells of the great battle between the sky god Marduk and the
earth goddess Tiamat.
They set up a throne for Marduk and he sat down
facing his forefathers to receive the government. 'One god is greater than all
great gods, a fairer fame, the word of command, the word from heaven, O Marduk,
greater than all great gods, the honor and the fame, the will of Anu, great
command, unaltering and eternal word! Where there is action the first to act,
where there is government the first to govern; to glorify some, to humiliate
some, that is the gift of the god, Truth absolute, unbounded will; which god
dares question it? In their beautiful places a place is kept for you, Marduk,
our avenger. 'We have called you here to receive the scepter, to make you king
of the whole universe. When you sit down in the Synod you are the arbiter; in
the battle your weapon crushes the enemy. 'Lord, save the life of any god who
turns to you; but as for the one who grasped evil, from that one let his life
drain out.' They conjured then a kind of apparition and made it appear in front
of him, and they said to Marduk, the first-born son, 'Lord, your word among the
gods arbitrates, destroys, creates: then speak and this apparition will
disappear. Speak again, again it will appear.' He spoke and the apparition
disappeared. Again he spoke and it appeared again. When the gods had proved his
word they blessed him and cried, 'MARDUK IS KING!'
They robed him in robes of a king, the scepter
and the throne they gave him, and matchless war-weapons as a shield against the
adversary. 'Be off. Slit life from Tiamat, and may the winds carry her blood to
the world's secret ends.'
The old gods had assigned to Bel what he would
be and what he should do, always conquering, always succeeding; Then Marduk made
a bow and strung it to be his own weapon, he set the arrow against the
bow-string, in his right hand he grasped the mace and lifted it up, bow and
quiver hung at his side, lightnings played in front of him, he was altogether an
incandescence. He netted a net, a snare for Tiamat; the winds from their
quarters held it, south wind, north, east wind, west, and no part of Tiamat
could escape.
With the net, the gift of Anu, held close to
his side, he himself raised up IMHULLU the atrocious wind, the tempest, the
whirlwind, the hurricane, the wind of four and the wind of seven, the tumid wind
worst of all. All seven winds were created and released to savage the guts of
Tiamat, they towered behind him. Then the tornado ABUBA his last great ally, the
signal for assault, he lifted up. He mounted the storm, his terrible chariot,
reins hitched to the side, yoked four in hand the appalling team, sharp poisoned
teeth, the Killer, the Pitiless, Trampler, Haste, they knew arts of plunder,
skills of murder. He posted on his right the Batterer, best in the mêlée; on his
left the Battle-fury that blasts the bravest, lapped in this armor, a leaping
terror, a ghastly aureole; with a magic word clenched between his lips, a
healing plant pressed in his palm, this lord struck out.
He took his route towards the rising sound of
Tiamat's rage, and all the gods besides, the fathers of the gods pressed in
around him, and the lord approached Tiamat. He surveyed her scanning the Deep,
he sounded the plan of Kingu her consort; but so soon as Kingu sees him he
falters, flusters, and the friendly gods who filled the ranks beside him- when
they saw the brave hero, their eyes suddenly blurred.
But Tiamat without turning her neck roared,
spitting defiance from bitter lips, 'Upstart, do you think yourself too great?
Are they scurrying now from their holes to yours?' Then the lord raised the
hurricane, the great weapon he flung his words at the termagant fury, 'Why are
you rising, your pride vaulting, your heart set on faction, so that sons reject
fathers? Mother of all, why did you have to mother war? 'You made that bungler
your husband, Kingu! You gave him the rank, not his by right, of Anu. You have
abused the gods my ancestors, in bitter malevolence you threaten Anshar, the
king of all the gods. 'You have marshaled forces for battle, prepared the
war-tackle. Stand up alone and we will fight it you, you and I alone in
battle.'
When Tiamat heard him her wits scattered, she
was possessed and shrieked aloud, her legs shook from the crotch down, she
gabbled spells, muttered maledictions, while the gods of war sharpened their
weapons. Then they met: Marduk, that cleverest of gods, and Tiamat grappled
alone in singled fight. The lord shot his net to entangle Tiamat, and the
pursuing tumid wind, Imhullu, came from behind and beat in her face. When the
mouth gaped open to suck him down he drove Imhullu in, so that the mouth would
not shut but wind raged through her belly; her carcass blown up,
tumescent.
She gaped- And now he shot the arrow that split
the belly, that pierced the gut and cut the womb. Now that the Lord had
conquered Tiamat he ended her life, he flung her down and straddled the carcass;
the leader was killed, Tiamat was dead, her rout was shattered, her band
dispersed.
Those gods who had marched beside her now
quaked in terror, and to save their own lives, if they could, they turned their
backs on danger But they were surrounded, held in a tight circle, and there was
no way out. He smashed their weapons and tossed them into the net; they found
themselves inside the snare, they wept in holes and hid in corners suffering the
wrath of god. When they resisted he put in chains the eleven monsters, Tiamat's
unholy brood, and all their murderous armament. The demoniac band that has
marched in front of her he trampled in the ground.
But Kingu the usurper, he chief of them, he
bound and made death's god. He took the Tables of Fate, usurped without right,
and sealed them with his seal to wear on his own breast. When it was
accomplished, the adversary vanquished, the haughty enemy humiliated; when the
triumph of Anshar was accomplished on the enemy, and the will of Nudimmud was
fulfilled, then brave Marduk tightened the ropes of the prisoners. He turned
back to where Tiamat lay bound, he straddled the legs and smashed her skull (for
the mace was merciless), he severed the arteries and the blood streamed down the
north wind to the unknown ends of the world.
When the gods saw all this they laughed out
loud, and they sent him presents. They sent him their thankful tributes. The
lord rested; he gazed at the huge body, pondering how to use it, what to create
from the dead carcass. He split it apart like a cockle-shell; with the upper
half he constructed the arc of sky, he pulled down the bar and set a watch on
the waters, so they should never escape. He crossed the sky to survey the
infinite distance; he station himself above apsu, that apsu built by Nudimmud
over the old abyss which now he surveyed, measuring out and marking in. He
stretched the immensity of the firmament, he made Esharra, the Great Palace, to
be its earthly image, and Anu and Enlil and Ea had each their right
stations.