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The Concept of Creation in Enuma Elish

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The Concept of Creation in Enuma Elish THE CONCEPT OF CREATION IN ENUMA ELISH BY A. KRAGERUD Bergen A creation myth is an account of the divine origin of human existence. Whether the scope is cosmic or more provincial, the myth always deals with the basic conditions which are constituent for the world of man. The purpose of a cosmogony is to "reveal" these conditions, that is to say by interpreting them as manifestations of divine agency and presence. In this sense every creation myth is necessarily anthropo­ centric. We usually look upon Enuma Elish as a creation myth, and possibly no better general classification can be invented. But in every typology there is the danger that the general characteristics may obscure the originality of the phenomenon. Certain features of the Epic go beyond the normal framework of a creation myth. (1) In the first part of the poem the crisis within the pantheon and the struggle of Marduk against Tiamat (I : 108 - IV: 134) is dedicated a space which is out of proportion with the function of the myth as a cosmogony in the usual sense. Here we deal with another kind of mythology: the story of the victorious divine hero. (2) This corresponds, from a structural point of view, with the extended final section of the poem: the hymnic exegesis of Marduk's fifty names (VI: 121 - VII: 144) which is a gene­ ral description of the place and function which the hero occupies within the Babylonian pantheon. These two sections constitute more than 2/3 of the composition. (3) In the remaining middle part of the Epic the cosmogony proper is evidently of secondary importance. It is over­ shadowed by interests connected with the theme of Kingship of the gods. In Mesopotamian theology sarriltu, the "Kingship", is attached to three gods: Enlil, who represents the kingship on earth, Anu, the king of heaven, and Anshar, who represents the kingship in the realm beyond the firmament. In the cosmogony of Enuma Elish, Marduk is three times enthroned as "King". The first time (III: 129 - IV: 32) it occurs within the praecosmic sphere of Anshar, where he receives 40 A.KRAGERUD the sarrut kissat kal gimreti, "Kingship over the totality of the whole universe" (IV: 14), a pleonastic expression which stresses the trans­ cosmic aspect of the kingship. The second time (V: 76-156) the scene takes place in the realm of Anu, where the subjects of the old Heaven God, the Igigi and the Anunnaki, give to Marduk the Anu title Lugal­ dimmerankia, saying: « Formerly the Lord was our beloved son; now he is our king, proclaim his title" (V: 109 ff. 150 ff). The third time (VI: 74 - VII: 144) we are upon earth in the region of Enlil, where the hero is once more proclaimed as the King, this time as bel matati, "Lord of the lands", together with 49 other names making up the Enlil number, !Jansa, 50 (VII, 136 ff). It seems that the cosmo­ logical regions which correspond to these scenes are of minor impor­ tance as such, the mythographer being primarily interested in the successive extension of the kingdom of his hero. Under these circum­ stances it is significant that the authentic summarization of the Epic's content given in its last line ignores the theme of cosmogony: "He vanquished Tiamat and achieved the Kingship" (VII: 162). - Now we usually think that the different aspects of Enuma Elish constitute an inner unity which is due to a general Near Eastern pattern connected with some annual festival of fertility. This might be true. But speaking of patterns it must be kept in mind that the pattern embracing the concept of creation must be located within the Epic itself, using the author's concept of creation as the starting point. The cosmogony proper (IV: 135 - VI : 94) is fundamentally unique. Enuma Elish represents what might be called a theologized cosmogony. Creation js not seen from the human point of view but from the stand­ point of the gods themselves. The motive for this alteration of per­ spective is not the wish to make an impressive sub specie aeternitatis, nor are the gods conceived as archetypical representatives of humanity. The scope of the mythographer is reliant on a specifically theological thematic, namely to elevate Marduk to the position of the god of gods. The motive and purpose of Enuma Elish might be most briefly expressed in the words which the gods utter about Marduk: "He is our god" (VI: 121). Accordingly, the gods occupy the same place in the perspective which in other cosmogonies is occupied by man. The Epic is the story of the "creation" of the gods by Marduk : how they receive "life" and how this life is sustained and developed in its divine order. To this purpose the poet uses elements of traditional cosmogony. But they have all got a new function and can not be held parallel to their formal analogies in other cosmogonies. One example is the .
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