Enuma Elish

Both the Enuma Elish and From the Theogony have a powerful hero in Marduk and Zeus, but, while From the Theogony asserts that Zeus acts heroically because he is innately a hero, the Enuma Elish asserts that Marduk is a hero as a result of his heroic actions without needing purely heroic motivation. A key difference that shows how the myths treat the cause and effect relation of being a hero and heroic actions is how Marduk and Zeus assume the role of the hero in their stories. In the Enuma Elish, Marduk rises to the occasion to defeat Tiamat, but Zeus, in From the Theogony, is destined to be the hero, even before he is born. Their motivations also demonstrate how they are heroes in different ways. Marduk assumes the role of hero as a way to gain power, while Zeus does not gain power over his allies by defeating Kronos and the Titans. The myths also show a difference in how ambition to gain power is rewarded. In the Enuma Elish, Marduk is rewarded and made a hero for his ambition, but in From the Theogony, Kronos, is punished for his ambition and desire for power as he acts out of greed rather than heroic responsibility.…

people living in those societies. Modern science and technology did not exist to help; no scientific experiment could be performed. Ancient societies used myth instead of analysis to answer the questions of existence and purpose; the creation stories were their truths. The purpose of man, the workings of nature, and man’s relationship to a creative power are addressed in these creation stories. The Mesopotamian creation story, the Enuma Elish, and the Hebrew creation story, Genesis,…

The epic poem “Enuma Elish” piece of literature and the film King Lion are two amazing stories. The epic poem leans a lot of the mythical perspective that explores the drama of Apsu and Tiamat as well as the primordial gods. In this story, Apsu is ousted by the help of Tiamat, and later Tiamat turns against the gods that she helped to kill Apsu. In the end, a hero emerges, the divine god of flame and lightning that zaps and executes Tiamat and divide her body. On the other side, the Lion King…

Blog Post Two Reading Genesis 1 and reading Enuma Elish there are major contrasts that are evident. Almost everyone knows a variation of Genesis 1, but reading it after reading Enuma Elish is like reading it with fresh eyes. One notices different things this time around that they might have not before. Even though there are major contrasts between Genesis 1 and Enuma Elish, it is interesting to see the different viewpoints. There were two most striking differences that spoke out to me the…

However, there are similarities between Enuma Elish and Gen 1 in the help of the winds in creating life “marshalled four winds so that no part of her could escape” (Enuma Elish 251) versus in Gen 1 where “While a wind from God swept over the face of the water.”(Gen 1 4-5) This creation mirrors itself with the Enuma Elish Marduke creates the sky and stars similarly to how God created the sky except here he “and the large temple which he built its image was Esharra. It was a great shrine Esharra,…

Through the Enuma Elish and Thorkild Jacobsen's interpretation of the Enuma Elish, one beings to understand the linearity of the development of the gods. Beginning from the primordial beings, Abzu and Tiamat, the sweetwater and the ocean water. The infinite expanses which fills the void of nothingness. It is not until their intermingling the next pair of primordial beings Lahamu and Lahmu are created. Lahamu the primordial daughter and her brother Lahmu who are suggested to represent a sea-bed…

Myth Analysis Paper: The Enuma elish In ancient societies, enduring stories that transcended reality (now called myths) served as a mechanism of transmitting cultural values, the promulgation of religion, and maintaining political control over the general population. Creation myths like the epic poem of Babylonia, Enuma elish served not only to humble the human ruler, but also marked the start of the New Year with an extended 11-day festival falling on the equinox (the day of equal balance of…

from Religious Worlds: The Comparative Study of Religion, Paden explores the role of myth in relation to religion, and how the two create a reality that humans exist and partake in. Paden’s definition of myth indicates that myth is used as a way to explain what is difficult to understand and makes sense of the world by forming narratives. These narratives become integral parts of a culture and create a reality that gives truth to the myths told. The ancient Mesopotamian creation story, Enuma…

Throughout the creation stories of The Enuma Elish and Xowalaci and His Companion, the power dynamic between men and women is seen to be relevant in both, but in extraordinarily different ways. In The Enuma Elish, Tiamat seems to have all of the power she could possibly want, but from further inspection, it can be seen that her character was corrupted from men’s influence from the beginning. Because she was forced to kill her children by men in the beginning, and her husband was later killed,…

to come out of the Ancient Near East. However, that does not mean that it was the only story being told during that period. The Babylonian epic, the Enuma Elish was another creation story that sprung up in the Ancient Near East. It is in essence a history of the Babylonian gods, and in particular, one god, Marduk. It was ultimately written to justify his rise to power as the head of the Babylonian pantheon of gods. It is a mythical account of the foundation of Babylon. This was done in order to…