Babylonian Creation Myths

In this essay I will compare and contrast the Babylonian creation story found in the Enuma Elish with the creation accounts presented in Genesis, the Jahwist and Priestly source. The reason for this comparative essay is to show that the creation stories in the Jahwist and Priestly sources of Genesis, and that the Enuma Elish have some similarities along with major differences. Including but not limited to a chaotic primitive state, the creation of mankind, the idea of “image”, and the division of primitive waters. I will then close the essay by stating what we can learn from the comparisons between these accounts.

After cutting the body of Tiamat in two, he made the Earth having the sun and moon come in and out of her ribs. Her head he made a mountain and out of her eyes flowed the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Then he disposed her eleven monster-serpents, which include a snake, and made them into the signs of the Zodiac. In the Egyptian story Rae names things and they come into being and creates man last. He then takes the form of a man and becomes Pharaoh or the “God King.” Similarly, in Genesis, God creates the Earth from a formless void into geophysical features, as we know it. Then he creates all the plants and animals and last creates man, then on the seventh day he rested. In having God take seven days to make everything it sets up a weekly calendar, where as on the seventh day everyone rests. The one difference in the stories is that he let man name and have dominion over all things he created. This shows how all things came into being in all three stories and even sets up the political environment of the Babylonian and Egyptian cultures. There are other parallels in the Babylonian and Genesis stories not told here for example; in the Babylonian story one of the first Gods to appear is Lahmu, meaning Mud. In the Genesis story, the first man called Adam, also meaning Mud. You can also see the relationship in their calendars

In Enuma Elish, the story beings with two main gods who are resembled as bodies of water, which then combine to make godlike children. In Genesis, there is only one god who creates the world from his own power. The Babylonian story then goes on to name off the children of these two primary gods who have powers of their own. The Babylonian story uses a polytheistic viewpoint on the creation of the world, while Genesis uses a monotheistic viewpoint.

There are several types of creation stories. There is the Genesis Chapter 1 and the Babylonian creation myth “Enuma Elish”. Genesis Chapter 1 is a more fictional type of story whereas the Babyonian creation myth is a more mythical type of story. The Babylonian creation myth story occurred from a battle between Marduk and Tiamat. Marduk succeeded in the battle, and sliced Tiamat into half. One half of Tiamat became the earth and the other half became heaven. Marduk ended up becoming the king for that civilization and created planet, moons, star, and the sun. This is how the Babylonians believed in how the world was created the world.

Often a topic of debate, there are several different takes on the creation story existent in literature. Dependent on one’s religion, different beliefs about how the world we live in was created may arise. Looking deeper into the literature, one will realize there are also many similarities between creation stories. Based on the strong possibility that Genesis was influenced by the Enuma Elish, there are similarities that stem from the fact that they both describe the creation of a new world as well as differences in their interpretations and approaches to creationism.

Genesis illustrates the way Biblical writers J (Yahwist), E (Elohist) and P (Priestly) drew upon the cultural and religious legacy of the Ancient Near East (ANE) along with its stories and imagery and transformed it to conform to a new vision of a non-mythological God and a monotheistic, superior religion.

The Greek and Genesis creation stories resemble each other in many ways but also they have their differences too. Imagine two stories that come from two different places could have so many similarities, but it also has it’s differences.

The Babylonians were an interesting society with many amusing practices in life. They were a patriarchal society, however, the women did have a good amount of rights. Marriages were arranged by parents, however, a woman could leave her husband and keep her stuff if he was cruel. This was not considered divorce though. Some Babylonians were very skilled astronomers. The study of planets heavily influenced the Babylonians’ beliefs. Their religious beliefs were directly tied to astrology and this is where they developed their practices. The Babylonians were the first to invent the composite bow, and they made it out of wood and animal bone or horn to make it stronger. This weapon gave them a great advantage over their rivals in battle. They had

Properly dating the book of Genesis would allow us to build a timeline of creation which we can be used to trace back to day one of creation. However, this is extremely difficult to determine for two fundamental reasons: (1) the Bible provides no controllable statis- tical data that apply to the problem of absolute chronology; (2) most of the events took place in the preliterate period for which we have no extrabiblical written documents. (Ch. 1 Pg. 28)

    The Enuma Elish, often known as The Creation Epic, is often considered the primary source of Mesopotamian cosmology. However, to view the Enuma Elish as a cosmological myth obscures the true intent of the epicís author. The cosmological elements of the Enuma Elish are secondary to the authorís effort to explain the supremacy of Marduk, to justify absolute oriental monarchy, and to defend Babylon as the axis mundi.

Since the beginning of time, societies have created stories to explain the mystery of the origin of man and the universe. In the Babylonian text, Enuma Elish and the book of Genesis-which originated in the same part of the world-one finds two very different stories about the creation of man. These two creation stories contrast the two societies that created them: the chaotic lives of servitude of the Babylonians and the lives of the recently freed Jewish people.

The narrative of the creation of the world in Genesis mirrors elements of other ancient creation stories, including that of the ancient Egyptians. This should hardly be surprising for two reasons: The first is that Egyptian culture (including its religion) remained one of the most important influences in the world at the time during which the earliest versions of Genesis were being

In order to better illustrate this, the scriptures will be color coded to indicate which group of authors wrote specific verses. There is for example several times where up to three different authors that contributed to just one chapter as well as two authors contributing to just one verse. The scriptures used to illustrate Documentary Hypothesis are from the Septuagint - 1998 Translated Version, Masoretic Text - Jewish Publishing Society 1917 Version, Orthodox Jewish Bible - 2002 Translated Version and the King James Bible - 1611 Version. Panbabylonism explains how the influence from the civilizations and cultures of Mesopotamia affected the development of the Old Testament. Written in the Old Testament are stories such as the Creation, the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, Noah and the Flood, the Tower of Babel, Moses and the Ten Commandments. All of these came from Mesopotamian mythologies such as the Enuma Elish, the Eridu Genesis, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Epic of Atra-Hasis and Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta that similar content or parallel story lines. When applicable, comparisons between the stories from the Old Testament and Panbabylonism are placed in a side by side comparison such as the Creation story from the Old Testament and the Sumerian creation myth called Enuma Elish or the story of Noah and the Flood when put next to the Epic

Now that we have been introduced to similarities that exist between what we find within the Old Testament, and what we find from the Ancient Near East, we must know explore what specifically the similarities are, as well as finding some differences among them. First, we should start by comparing the origin stories found in Genesis 1-11, and their ANE counterparts. The Mesopotamian Enuma Elish starts off by describing a cosmic conflict that is occurring between two deities, Marduk and Tiamat. After killing the evil Tiamat, Marduk uses her carcass to create heaven and earth, and then, with help from his father, uses her and her co-conspirator’s blood to create humankind to do the hard labor on the earth. Coming from an Old Testament background, we can infer that the conflict between Marduk and Tiamat points to Cain and Abel the first murder, as well as Adam and Eve, where the women, Eve, first partakes in the sin which eventually brings evil into the world. In addition, the fact of human kind being the labor force on earth refers to God’s creation of Adam and His curse to him saying he would have to work the land in order to

I agree that the Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 accounts of creation definitely counteract the pagan Myths of creation (page 144 DTIB). The epic of Gilgamesh seems to share some similar words and concepts, but Genesis 1 reminds us that all these things created were created by one God. I believe God constructed the scriptural stories (like the ones found in Genesis 1-11) in such a way