SPENTA MAINYU
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: 'Ignorance is an outlook on life. Even educated can be ignorant.'
	YOU ARE IN DARKNESS.
home page

Assyrian scribes had written many of the texts which contain the Babylonian myths. These texts were found in Ashurbanipal's library. Prof. Sydney Smith said that, 'it was certain that Assyrian scribes were engaged in transforming the literature they borrowed from Babylonia from the style of the First Dynasty of Babylon to the form in which we found it in Ashurbanipal's library.' It is very important to know that all the 'supreme entities' of Assyria were also worshipped in Babylonia. Assyrian religious festivals were celebrated at the same times and in the same way as those of Babylonia. There are very few myths and legends that are peculiar to Assyria. The legend of Sargon of Agade is one of them. But the myths we shall summarize here are of Babylonian origin, and represent the Semitic transformation of earlier Sumerian material.

Secondly we have the creation myth. The creation myth in Babylonia became associated with the great Babylonian New Year (or Akitu) Festival. It is to be found in the poem or chant known as Enuma Elish. The Babylonian god Marduk is the principal actor in this myth. Marduk kills Tiamat, secures the 'tablets of destiny', and performs the various creative acts described in the poem. In the Assyrian form of Enuma Elish, discovered at the excavations of Ashur - the old capital of the Assyrian empire - Marduk is replaced by Ashur, the chief god of Assyria. The creation myth of Assyria is in the form of seven clay tablets. Tablet one: Only Apsu (the sweet-water ocean) and Tiamat (the salt-water ocean) exists in the beginning. From the union of these two the gods are brought into existence. The first pair Lahmu and Lahamu are interpreted as the silt deposited at the junction of the sea and the rivers. (This time gods are brought into existence also from mud(!)) From this first pair Anshar and Kishar (interpreted as the circular horizons of the sky and earth) are born; Anshar and Kishar give birth to Anu (the sky) and Nudimmud or Ea (the earth and water god). Ea then begets Marduk who is beautiful and very strong. Then follow the stories of conflicts between the primeval gods and the ones they have begotten. Apsu is destroyed. Tiamat creates a horde of creatures and places Kingu - her firstborn - at the head of this host and prepares to avenge Apsu. Tiamat takes measures for the annihilation of Anu and his associates. Tablet two: The assembly of the gods receive the news of the coming attack.... They send Anu armed with the authority of the assembly to turn Tiamat from her purpose, but Anu comes back unsuccessful. Then Anshar rises and proposes Marduk for the task. Tablet three: A feast is organized by the gods at the end of which Marduk is to be officially invested with the authority he had demanded. Tablet four: Marduk is enthroned as the king; He challenges Tiamat, and wins the struggle with Her. Tablet five: Marduk begins organizing the universe. Tablet six: Marduk declared his intention of creating man for the service of the gods. Leader of the rebellion Kingu shall die that mankind may be fashioned. Kingu is killed and from his blood mankind is created for the service of the gods, 'to free them', that is, to perform the menial tasks belonging to the temple ritual and to provide food for the gods. (Mankind was created from mud(!) in Sumer. Now the substance is blood(!) There must be a mix-up(!) somewhere.) Underlying Sumerian elements can easily be detected. These elements, scattered over a number of Sumerian myths have been brought together and a coherent whole was created.

The myth of the flood - The Epic of Gilgamesh: This Sumerian myth has been consideraby expanded in its Babylonian version and has been embedded in the Gilgamesh epic. A very important aspect of the Semitic mythology which does not exist in the Sumerian one, is the problem of the existence of death and sickness, and the quest for immortality. Gilgamesh's companion Enkidu (He was created by the goddess Aruru from clay, he was a wild human creature of the steppes of surpassing strength). Since Gilgamesh has to try his strength against Enkidu, he sends him a temple-prostitute, Enkidu desires her, after seven days of amorous delight Enkidu changes, Gilgamesh and Enkidu try each others strength, neither was able to defeat the other, they become friends, then Enkidu dies. Gilgamesh is disturbed by the realization that he himself too must die. The only mortal who is known to have escaped death and attained immortality is Gilgamesh's ancestor Utnapishtim - the Babylonian equivalent of Ziusudra - the Sumerian hero of the Flood. Gilgamesh decides to search for his ancestor in order to discover the secret of immortality. He braves many dangers and reaches Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that gods have reserved the secret of death and life to themselves. When Gilgamesh asks him how he attained the possession of immortality, Utnapishtim tells him the story of the Flood: '..He is the man of Shuruppak (most ancient of the cities of Akkad). Ea reveals to him through the wall of his reed-hut that the gods have decided to destroy all the seed of life by a flood. Ea instructs Utnapishtim to build a ship into which he is to bring 'the seed of all living things'. The dimensions and shape of the ship are given, according to which it appears that the ship was to be a perfect cube....The storm rages for six days and six nights. On the seventh day it subsides. The ship grounds on Mt. Nisir. Utnapishtim waits for another seven days, sends a dove, it comes back. He sends a swallow it also returns. Finally he sends out a raven , it does not return. Het lets out all that is in the ship. Offers sacrifice. The smell of sacrifice attracts gods. Enlil is pleased, and confers immortality upon Utnapishtim and his wife. The Epic of Gilgamesh, part of which is the myth of the Flood, as a whole embodies a mass of early Sumerian and Akkadian myths and folklore. Underlying the Epic as a whole is the theme which forms the basis for several other Akkadian myths, the grief felt deeply by the human spirit before the fact of death and the loss of immortality. (This theme is not peculiar to the Middle East, it is global. Where there is mankind, there is the yearning for immortality, and of course there are all kinds of machinations on the part of the exploiters of the human race and all kinds of aspirations on the part of the believers to fall prey to the exploiters. As a consequence mankind becomes 'servants' in their kingdom, and the imagined beings become the 'lords.') We find the myth of flood in the oldest Vedic writings, Brahmanas, in the Stapatha-Brahmana. So, we are faced yet again with the perplexing question: Who got what from whom? There are those who maintain that the Indian merchants who brought the Semitic characters to their homeland had also introduced the Semitic legends. But there are also those who suggest that the Flood myth may have come to Mesopotamia from India.

The myth of Adapa - This myth is most probably very popular beyond the limits of Mesopotamia. A fragment of it was found among the Amarna archieves in Egypt. Adapa is the hero of the myth. Assyriologist Ebeling equated Adapa with the Hebrew name Adam. If this is so, then this myth is about the first man. According to the myth, Adapa is the son of Ea, the god of wisdom. Ea had created him 'as the model of man.' Gave him wisdom but not eternal life. One of his duties was to provide fish for the table of the gods. One day he was fishing when south wind blew and overturned his boat. In rage, he broke the wing of the south wind so that it did not blow for seven days. Anu the high god observed this, ordered Adapa to be brought before him. Adapa received advice from his father Ea, and acted precisely as he was told. ..He refused when offered the bread and water in the presence of the high god, (as his father Ea warned) but the bread and water were not of death but of life, because High God Anu presumably thought of him favourably and was going to confer immortality upon him. He accepted a garment and anointing oil. Anu asked him why he acted so strangely, Adapa told Anu that he acted upon his father's advice, Anu told Adapa that he had rejected the gift of immortality (All those seekers of immortality, grieving upon the loss of it. Now you know the culprit. Adapa refused that gem(!)). Anu presumably sent Adapa back to earth with certain priviliges and disabilities.. Eridu was to be freed from feudal obligations, special dignity was conferred upon its priesthood; but misfortune and disease were to be the lot of mankind (Adapa is the culprit(!)), eased however by the ministrations of Ninkarrak, the goddess of healing. So gods have again reserved immortality for themselves.

The largest group is concerned with the adventures and exploits of the god Baal and his relations with the other members of the Canaanite pantheon (The names of many of many of these gods and goddesses are familiar to us from the Old Testament. Also, bits and pieces of Ugaritic mythology could be found in Hebrew poetry.

Second group of tablets consists the Epic of Keret. The poem may have an historical basis - as with the Epic of Gilgamesh. But the mythological element in it is hard to distinguish from the legendary. It is certainly a part of the Canaanite mythology.

The Myth of Baal and the Waters - The characters in this myth are the high god El (Bull El), the Father of the Gods, he dwells at the field of El, at the sources of the rivers; his son Baal, the god of fertility often called 'the rider of the clouds.' As the god of lightning and thunder he is sometimes called Hadad; then there is the god of seas and rivers, Yam-Nahar. There is a feud between Baal and Yam-Nahar. El favors Yam-Nahar and Baal revolts against his father El. Other figures are, the craftsman-god Kothar-u-Khasis; the son-goddess Shapash (the Ugaritic form of the Akkadian Shamash) often called the torch of the gods; Ashtoreth, the wife of El and mother of gods; Asherah, the lady of the sea, who covets the throne of Baal for her son Ashtar; and Anath, the sister of Baal. This Baal myth was taken over by the Hebrew mythology and Baal was transferred to YHWH, when they settled in Canaan. Yam-Nahar represents the hostile aspect of the sea and rivers, while Baal is the beneficient aspect as rain. In another form of the myth Baal's victory over the forces of disorder and chaos is depicted as the killing of the seven-headed dragon Lotan (again the number seven). When we start dealing with the Hebrew mythology we shall deal in detail with these myths, so for the time being just take note of the names, and events.

Anath's Slaughter of Baal's Enemies - This myth appears to be connected with Baal's victory over Yam Nahar and carries echoes of the Egyptian myth of the destruction of mankind by Hathor. Baal's sister, the goddess Anath orders a great feast to celebrate the Baal's conquest of Yam-Nahar. The feast is to be held on Mount Zaphon, the mountain of the gods in 'the sides of the north' (to the north). Mount Zaphon is mentioned in the Hebrew poetry as a divine abode (Psalms 48:2). At the feast Anath closes the doors of the palace and slays all the enemies of Baal. At the end of slaughtering she wades in blood up to her knees (this last detail occurs in the story of Hathor's slaughter of Re's enemies.