| “ | I am not just the greatest god of Shinar! I am all the gods of Shinar and beyond! I am Anu, father of the gods, lord of the entirety of heaven and earth! I am Enlil, who captures the disobedient ones and tramples them with his foot! I am Ea, creator of everything, without whom nothing whatsoever was formed, sire of the gods, shaper of creatures, and creator of wonders! I am Adad, the coverer of the sky, whose roaring resounds in the banks of clouds! I am Sin, the renewer of the month, the weigher of the measurement of day and night and the illuminator of darkness! I am Shamash, the light of heaven and earth, the most luminous of the great gods, and the valiant, august judge! I am Ninurta, the mighty lord, harnesser of the deluge, rider of the storm, and trampler of the wicked! I am Nergal, the mighty lord, endowed with might and strength, the killer of the killers! All these and more are in me! I declare the destinies of gods and men alike, and vanquish over all the chaotic forces to bring forth the divine order! Babylon is my seat, and from there I shall bring order and civilisation into all the world! | „ |
| ~ Marduk describes himself as the mightiest god[1]. |
Marduk was a Mesopotamian chief deity, who presided creation, water, vegetation, judgment, and magic, as well as the patron of the ancient city of Babylon.
Overview[]
He is the protagonist in the story of Enūma Eliš, similar to Zeus, Thor and other thunder-based deities in their own creation myths. Marduk was one of the earliest pagan gods and the child of Second Generation Primordial Ea and Damgalnuna, and is husband of the goddess Sarpanit and father of Nabu.
History[]
Enūma Eliš[]
In the beginning of time, the universe was undifferentiated swirling chaos which separated into fresh water, known as Abzu (the male principle) and salt water known as Tiamat (the female principle). These two deities then gave birth to the other gods.
Tiamat loved her children, but Abzu complained because they were too noisy and distracted him from his work during the day all while he was unable to sleep during the night. Eventually, he decided to kill them and Tiamat, horrified, told her eldest son Enki about the plan. Enki then considered the best possible course of action: put his father into a deep sleep, and killed him.
From Abzu's remains he created his home in the marshy region of Eridu. Tiamat never expected her son to kill his father and so declared war on her children, raising up an army of chaos to assist her. At the head of her forces she placed the Leviathan, her new consort, who alongside the marine monstrosities begotten by Phorcys and Ceto, the grandchildren of Tiamat, is victorious over the younger gods in every battle all while he makes his way towards Heaven.
Slayer of Tiamat[]
Enki and his siblings begin to despair when the young god Marduk steps forward and says he will lead them to victory if they will first proclaim him their king. His first order of business was to deal with the Leviathan who commanded the monsters of the unknowable deep. Knowing that he could not penetrate the Leviathan's nigh-indestructible hide, Marduk sought assistance from the archangel Jophiel who crafted for him a great sword of "seething thunderous fire." Seeing Leviathan nearly breach the walls of Paradise, the Powers would ensnare Leviathan in a net of chains, briefly subduing him, and giving Marduk only one chance to wound the great beast, and wound it he did, for the attack deterred it from its course in sheer pain, and forced it to flee.
Marduk, armed with his new weapon, then proceeded to battle and eventually kill Tiamat herself by fashioning his sword into a bow and arrow before shooting her with said arrow that splits her in two; from her eyes flow the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and, from her corpse, Marduk forms the heavenly abode of the Mesopotamian gods and completes the creation begun by Enki. In consultation with Enki, Marduk then created their own human beings from the remains of the defeated gods who had encouraged Tiamat to wage war on her children.
Marduk then regulates the workings of the world which includes humanity as co-workers with the gods against the forces of chaos. Henceforth, Marduk decrees, humans will do the work which the gods have no time for, freeing the divine to concentrate on higher purposes and care for human needs. As the gods will care for humans and supply all their needs, humans will respect and heed the will of the gods, and Marduk will reign over all in benevolence.
Personality[]
Marduk differed from the dingir-gods by being much more reserved and less petty, especially towards humans. If he showed wrath or anger towards humanity, it was usually due to immoral or sinful actions committed by the humans, unlike Enlil or Ishtar, who often carried out their anger arbitrarily. Marduk could also show mercy and restitution towards human-sinners if they showed remorse, regret and true repentance for their mistakes.
Despite his ethical side, he, like most other ancient gods, loved to lead his nation to war against other nations and their deities. Marduk often prided over the great kings of Babylon and their military and imperial achievements across the centuries. Among the gods, his closest allies were his father Ea and grandfather Anu, who gave him much counsel in his younger years. In his court, his wife Sarpanit and son Nabu were his closest allies, with whom he also had close personal bonds. Marduk and Sarpanit loved each other, and reportedly never had affairs. Nabu's wife Tashmetum and Asarluhi, a minor god of exorcisms, also became close confidants in Marduk's inner circle.
He distrusted a lot of the more powerful gods of the pantheon, such as Ninurta, Adad, Nergal, and (especially) Ishtar, since they often engaged in a petty fights among each other and enjoyed playing with the lives of the humans. Ishtar even tried to add him to her list of lovers, but Marduk refused, wanting to honour his wife. Another god he did not trust, was Enlil, whom he had replaced as the king of the pantheon, especially when he re-emerged as Ashur, national god of the Assyrian Empire, who tried to dethrone Marduk several times.
Outside the pantheon, Marduk formed a good friendship with Jophiel, a female archangel, with whom they managed to prevent the Leviathan from breaching Heaven.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Fadhil, A.A. and Jiménez, E., 2022. Literary Texts from the Sippar Library III: ‘Eriš šummi’, A Syncretistic Hymn to Marduk. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, 112 (2), pp.229-274.