The Seven Tablets of Creation
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Enuma Elish I
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Genesis 1:2
Enuma Elish I
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Daniel 7:2
Enuma Elish I
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Job 41:25
Enuma Elish I
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Ezekiel 1:10
Enuma Elish I
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Exodus 32:32
Enuma Elish IV
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Daniel 7:14
Enuma Elish IV
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Daniel 7:9
Enuma Elish IV
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Isaiah 45:12
Enuma Elish IV
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Daniel 7:10
Enuma Elish IV
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Habakkuk 3:5
Enuma Elish IV
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Genesis 1:21
Enuma Elish IV
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Psalm 148:4
Enuma Elish IV
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Genesis 1:6
Enuma Elish IV
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Psalm 104:3
Enuma Elish V
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Genesis 1:14
Enuma Elish V
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1 Enoch 72:2
Enuma Elish V
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Psalms 74:16
Enuma Elish VI
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Genesis 2:2
Enuma Elish VI
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Genesis 9:13
Enuma Elish VI
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Daniel 2:37
Enuma Elish VI
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1 Enoch 9:4
Enuma Elish VI
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Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 1.55.7
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Summary
Date: 1800 - 1750 B.C.E.
The Enuma Elish (also known as The Seven Tablets of Creation) is the Babylonian creation myth whose title is derived from the opening lines of the piece, "When on High". The myth tells the story of the great god Marduk's victory over the forces of chaos and his establishment of order at the creation of the world.
All of the tablets containing the myth, found at Ashur, Kish, Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh, Sultantepe, and other excavated sites, date to c. 1200 BCE. Their colophons, however, indicate that these are all copies of a much older version of the myth dating from long before the reign of Hammurabi of Babylon (1792-1750 BCE), the king who elevated the god Marduk to patron deity of Babylon. The poem in its present form, with Marduk as champion, is thought to be a revision of an even older Sumerian work.
The English text is based on L. W. King's 1902 translation, The Seven Tablets of Creation, with archaic language lightly modernized. Where King's edition has a gap, or later finds changed the reading, the text follows W. G. Lambert's translation in Mesopotamian Creation Stories (2008).
All of the tablets containing the myth, found at Ashur, Kish, Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh, Sultantepe, and other excavated sites, date to c. 1200 BCE. Their colophons, however, indicate that these are all copies of a much older version of the myth dating from long before the reign of Hammurabi of Babylon (1792-1750 BCE), the king who elevated the god Marduk to patron deity of Babylon. The poem in its present form, with Marduk as champion, is thought to be a revision of an even older Sumerian work.
The English text is based on L. W. King's 1902 translation, The Seven Tablets of Creation, with archaic language lightly modernized. Where King's edition has a gap, or later finds changed the reading, the text follows W. G. Lambert's translation in Mesopotamian Creation Stories (2008).
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