Babylonian Creation Myths

     With the discovery of texts from ancient civilizations, many people have come to believe that various texts are common to one another. Examples of these texts are the creation stories from the Hebrews found in the Bible, The Hymn of Ra from the Egyptians, and the Enuma Elish stories from the Babylonians. In addition to these stories are the flood stories. These stories have caused many discussions among scholars involved with ancient civilizations.

To study Genesis in terms of its literary and historical content is not to say that we are in any way being irreverent in our reading of this part of the Old Testament. In other words, it is possible to read Genesis in both a spirit of appreciation for its position as the opening exegetical narrative of the Bible and as a document that reflects literary and historical realities and influences during the time when it was being written down. This paper examines some of the contemporary sources that influenced the two sets of writers who recorded the events of Genesis.

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.

    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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

After reading the Enuma Elish I found several correlations and distinct differences between the ancient Mesopotamian text and Genesis 1. Both stories share a similar beginning, a time without form, covered in darkness. From here they deviate in a very noticeable way, the Enuma Elish is a polytheistic story where Genesis 1 is decidedly monotheistic. While they share plot elements such as light, the separation of sky and earth, creation of night and day, and the creation of humans, they differ in the way they are introduced. The creation story in Genesis 1presents each new element of the freshly created Earth as derived entirely from one god: the all-powerful God.

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

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.

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

In the article, “The Bible, Science, and Creation”, Ernest Lucas writes about the biblical and nonbiblical beliefs of the Genesis creation. Throughout his article he talks about how there is one thing that the ‘new atheists’ and fundamentalist Christians agree on; this being that Genesis 1-3 should be read as a scientific account of the origin of the cosmos and of the humans. He states that it leads new atheist to reject the biblical account as a piece of outmoded pre-scientific speculation. And it leads the Christians to reject modern scientific theories of origins. In the article he proposes that Genesis 1-3 should be read as a figurative theological account of the nature and purpose of God’s creation. The article goes on about how we should

Genesis 1 has a broad outline which shows how God created the Earth. The author gives a general account of the creation. Genesis 1 does not have any detailed information in it, but rather some overview on what happened. However, people want to know not just how our world was created, but also how exactly humankind came to life. And Genesis 2 successfully explains how God created man from the dust, and woman from the man’s ribs. It has many details that the first story does not. Therefore, it is easy to conclude that the first story is more chronological and general, whereas the second one is topical. The first story summarizes the whole process, while the second is more specific about man and his environment. Moreover, the second story could never be the only creation story because it does not have a sufficient information needed to explain how God created the Earth. For example, there is no mention of the creation of the day and night. There are no explanations how the oceans and fish were generated. Clearly, these two stories are complementary as they are supplying each other’s

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