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May 8, 2024 · Genesis narrates the primeval history of the world (chapters 1–11) and the patriarchal history of the Israelite people (chapters 12–50). The primeval history includes the familiar stories of the Creation, the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, and the Tower of Babel.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Overview
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- Importance in Babylonian society
- Origins
Enuma elish, ancient Mesopotamian creation epic that tells the tale of Marduk, the chief god of the city of Babylon. He defeats the elder goddess Tiamat and brings order to chaos and thus becomes the Lord of the Gods of Heaven and Earth. The title of the poem comes from the first line of the work and translates to “When on high” or “When above.”
Written by an unknown poet at an undetermined date—possibly in the 14th century bce—the epic begins with the universe as a watery chaos with no sky or land. The sea, personified by the goddess Tiamat, and the sweet waters underground, identified as the god Apsu, mingle their waters together. In their midst the gods are born. The first pair, Lahmu and Lahamu, represent the powers in silt; the next, Anshar and Kishar, those in the horizon. Anshar and Kishar produce the sky god Anu, who in turn fathers the god Ea, also known as Nudimmud or Enki.
The younger gods were full of vitality and often had rowdy gatherings, and the elder gods, Apsu and Tiamat, were upset by their noise. With his page Mummu, Apsu plots to kill the younger gods, which enrages Tiamat. Ea, however, recites a spell that causes Apsu to fall into a deep sleep and kills him. Ea then erects shrines for himself and the other gods on the body of Apsu and lives there with his wife, Damkina. Marduk is born of their union and grows to be a majestic and powerful figure. Tiamat, however, is furious about the death of Apsu and gives birth to a host of dragons and monsters. She then leads them and other gods to battle. Marduk kills her and cuts her body in two, using one half to create earth and the other half to create heaven. The remainder of the story deals with Marduk’s organization of the cosmos, his creation of human beings, and his assigning to the gods their various cosmic offices and tasks.
The Enuma elish was recited during Akitu, the Babylonian festival of the new year that occurred in the spring. It marked the annual flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which deposited rich, fertile silt necessary for a successful growing season. The festival also celebrated the ritual renewal of the foundation of the world, resetting the societal order for the upcoming year. The reading of the Enuma elish expressed this reordering with its theme of salvation from chaos and evil forces. The epic may have also been considered protection from high flood waters.
The text established the divinely ordained dominance of the Babylonian city-state. At a time when competing civilizations had their own chief gods, a dominant city-state was considered to have a more powerful god than those under its dominion. Thus, by elevating Marduk, the epic elevates Babylon.
The Enuma elish shares characteristics with other ancient Middle Eastern cosmogonies (creation myths), including the literature of Sumer and Ugarit. Most of these stories begin with chaos or a primordial sea, from which a divine creator proceeds to create the world. An antagonist or opponent arises, which results in a battle between good and evil or organization and chaos. With the triumph of good and organization, the narrative advances to the creation of such elements as the sky, sea, land, and finally humans.
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Conversely, other Middle Eastern creation myths draw on the Enuma elish. The Assyrian retelling replaces Marduk with Ashur, their chief deity. Genesis, the first book of the Bible, also has many similarities. The creation stories of such civilizations as the Canaanite, Greek, Egyptian, and Phoenician share characteristics with the Enuma elish as well.
Eridu Genesis, in Mesopotamian religious literature, ancient Sumerian epic primarily concerned with the creation of the world, the building of cities, and the flood. According to the epic, after the universe was created out of the primeval sea and the gods were born, the deities fashioned man from.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The myth of creation is the symbolic narrative of the beginning of the world as understood by a particular community. The later doctrines of creation are interpretations of this myth in light of the subsequent history and needs of the community.
Scholars. Article. Images & Videos. Related. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The religious theories of creationism hold that matter, the various forms of life, and the world were created by God out of nothing, retain their original God-created forms, and are unchangeable.
May 3, 2024 · Biblical, or young-Earth, creationists believe that the story told in Genesis of God’s six-day creation of all things is literally correct and that Earth is only a few thousand years old, as extrapolated from the biblical genealogies that begin with Adam, the first man.
In several myths it is stated that the primordial stuff of creation was some form of undifferentiated matter (e.g., water, chaos, a monster, or an egg). It is from this undifferentiated matter that the world evolves or is made. In the case of the egg and monster symbols, there seems to be a notion of a definite original form, but the.
