Introduction: The Text of Enūma Eliš
35
Many scholars since have drawn on the materials it assembled, but there has been nothing equivalent to a critical review, and such incidental remarks as have shown an independent judgment on its value have been critical of its basic assumptions and conclusions. Thus, Poebel in a footnote remarked: From what has been said above it is obvious that in von Soden’s publication the question as to whether there actually is a basis for the assumption of a special “hymnisch-epischer Dialekt” has not been investigated with the necessary care nor with the necessary impartiality. The question is not even expressly treated but is merely referred to in occasional remarks of more or less programmatic and even apologetic character. This is the more regrettable because, if the basic conception of a special dialect is erroneous, the assumption of the latter’s existence will in the future prove to be a considerable obstacle to a correct apprehension of the historical development of the Akkadian language. Studies in Akkadian Grammar (AS 9; Chicago, 1939) 74 n. 1
F. R. Kraus also questions the underlying assumptions: Der “hymnisch-epische Dialekt” des Akkadischen, den von Soden . . . dargestellt hat, ist ebensowenig ein Dialekt im gewöhnlichen und uns hier interessierenden Sinne wie die dort ebenfalls berücksichtigte aber nicht systematisch behandelte Sprache der Hofkanzlei. Ein Edikt . . . Ammi-ṣaduqa von Babylon (Leiden, 1958) 14
B. R. M. Groneberg published a massive, related work, Syntax, Morphologie und Stil der jungbabylonischen “hymnischen” Literatur (FAOS 14/1–2; Stuttgart, 1987), which presents a vast body of material systematically organized but not taking up everything and not dealing with certain matters. Thus the ending -aš is not mentioned and the ending -āniš (which on feminine nouns supplants the ending -(a)t) is not acknowledged. The aim here is to cast the net more widely and to offer a much more selective but significant body of evidence. In the sense that Old Assyrian and Old Babylonian are dialects, what is offered by much Old Babylonian poetry and Enūma Eliš does not constitute a dialect. In the proper sense, a dialect is marked out by certain obligatory distinguishing forms, such as epēšu(m) in Babylonian and epāšu(m) in Assyrian. But all the features of the “Hymno-Epic Dialect” are optional. No poet was ever obliged to use -š for -ša; in fact, they use both forms. Similarly, poets could use the endings -iš and -um in place of the prepositions ana, ina, or kīma, but while they do so from time to time, the use of the prepositions also occurs. The same applies to the use of the III/II stem and the poetic vocabulary: they are things on which the poets may draw when it suits their purposes, but ordinary prose forms and words are equally drawn upon. All these features are in fact matters of feeling, style, and taste and are better termed a poetic “idiom.” In many cultures, poets use more varied forms of languages than ordinary speech. Some are archaisms, and the endings -iš and -um belong to this class. They appear in the ordinary language of the Old Akkadian dialect, but later, apart from a few particular phrases and usages, they belong to the poets and to writers of stylish prose. An equally serious objection to the assumptions of von Soden’s work concerns the history of these linguistic features. By assigning an Old Babylonian date to Enūma Eliš , it was possible to assert that these linguistic features were peculiarly the product of Old Babylonian poets. Later manifestations of the same or similar phenomena were only cited on the side (or not at all), as if they were mere imitations of the genuine article. The occurrence of many examples in the Assyrian royal inscriptions of the Sargonid period was explained in a footnote as “sicher durch literarische Entlehnung” (ZA 40
Babylonian Creation Myths
General Editor Jerrold S. Cooper, Cooper, Johns Hopkins University Editorial Board
Walter Farber, University of Chicago Piotr Michalowski, University of Michigan Simo Parpola, University of Helsinki Karen Radner, University College, London
Jack Sasson, Va Vanderbilt nderbilt University Piotr Steinke Steinkeller, ller, Harvard University Marten Stol, Free University of Amsterdam Irene Winter, Harvard University
1. The Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur , by Piotr Michalowski 2. Schlaf, Kindchen, Schlaf! Mesopotamische Baby-Beschwörungen und -Rituale, by Walter Farber 3. Adoption in Old Babylonian Nippur and the Archive of Mannum-mešu-liṣṣur, by Elizabeth C. Stone and David I. Owen 4. Third-Millennium Legal and Administrative Texts in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad , by Piotr Steinkeller and J. N. Postgate 5. House Most High: The Temples Temples of Ancient Mesopotamia, by A. R. George 6. Textes culinaires Mésopotamiens / Mesopotamian Culinary Texts , by Jean Bottéro 7. Legends of the Kings of Akkade: The Texts , by Joan Goodnick Westenholz Westenholz 8. Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography , by Wayne Horowitz 9. The Writing on the Wall: Studies in the Architectural Context of Late Assyrian Pa Palace lace Reliefs , by John M. Russell 10. Adapa and the South Wind: Language Language Has the Power of of Life and Death, by Shlomo Izre’el 11. Time at Emar: The Cultic Calendar and the Rituals from the Diviner’s Diviner’s Archive , by Daniel E. Fleming 12. Letters to the King of Mari: A New Translation, Translation, with Historical Introduction, Notes, and Commentary , by Wolfgang Heimpel 13. Babylonian Oracle Questions , by W. G. Lambert 14. Royal Statuary of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia , by Gianni Marchesi and Nicolò Marchetti 15. The Correspondence of the Kings of Ur: An Epistolary History of an Ancient Mesopotamian Kingdom , by Piotr Michalowski 16. Babylonian Creation Myths , by W. G. Lambert 17. Lamaštu: An Edition of the Canonical Series of Lamaštu Incantations In cantations and Rituals and Related Texts Texts from the Second and First Millennia B.C., by Walter Farber 18. The Lamentation over the Destruction of Ur , by Nili Samet 19. The babilili-Ritual from Hattusa (CTH 718), by Gary M. Beckman
Babylonian Creation Myths
W. G. Lambert
Winona Lake, Indiana E ISENBRAUNS
2013
© Copyright 2013 Eisenbrauns All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. www.eisenbrauns.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publicat Cataloging-in-Publication ion Data
Enuma elish. English. Babylonian creation myths / W. G. Lambert. pages cm. — (Mesopotamian civilizations ; 16) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-57506-247-1 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Creation. 2. Cosmology, Cosmology, Babylonian. 3. Akkadian language—T language—Texts. exts. I. Lambert, W. G. (Wilfred G.) II. Enuma elish. III. Title. PJ3771.E5.E3 2013 892′.1—dc23 2013020960
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. ♾™
Contents Editor’s Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editor’s Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ix xi
Part I
Enūma Eliš: The Babylonian Epic of Creation Introduction: The Text of Enūma Eliš . . . . . . . . . . . The Sources 3 Evidence of Recensions 4 Quotations, Allusions, and References in Other Texts Texts Spelling and Variants 9 Syntax and Metre 17 The “Hymno-Epic Dialect” 34 Tablet I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tablet II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
3
6
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Tablet III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Tablet IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Tablet V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Tablet VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Tablet VII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 The Commentaries on Enūma Eliš and the Triple-Column God-List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Part II
Enūma Eliš and Marduk Marduk’s Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Meanings of the Fifty Names The Organization of the Universe . . . The Splitting of Heaven and Earth The Organization of the Heavens
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 160 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 169 172 v
vi
Contents
The Thirty-Six Stars 180 The Phases of the Moon 186 The Duties of the Sun 192 The Organization of the Earth 192 The Organization of the Pantheon 193 The Organization of the Heavenly Bodies 196 Babylon as the First City 200 The Conflicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Ninurta’ss Victories Ninurta’ Victories 202 Mythological Conflicts in Expository Texts 207 Groups of Defeated Gods 209 Apsû 217 Mummu 218 Qingu 221 The Monsters 224 Marduk’ss Dragon 232 Marduk’ Tiāmat 236 “Lord of the Sea” 240 The Rise of Marduk in the Sumero-Babylonian Pantheon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 Marduk and Babylon in the Third Millennium 249 The First Dynasty of Babylon: Marduk and Asalluḫi 251 Marduk’ss Position Marduk’ Position in in the Old Babylonian Pantheon after Hammurabi Hammurabi 255 Marduk’ss Position in the Late Babylonian Pantheon 263 Marduk’ The Middle Babylonian Evidence 265 The Second Dynasty of Isin 271 Marduk’ss Exaltation in the Reign of Nebuchadnezzar I 273 Marduk’ Other Evidence of Marduk’s Status in the Pantheon 274 The Rise of Nabû 275
