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I'd like to draw together in this LJ all the information I can find about Tiamat, the goddess killed by the patron deity of Babylon, Marduk, in the creation epic Enuma Elish. In particular I'm interested in two questions:
Exactly what did Tiamat look like - was she a woman? A dragon?
Was Tiamat ever worshipped - does Enuma Elish describe the triumph of one god's cult over another's?
To start with, here's my crummy summary of Enuma Elish:
At the beginning of time, Tiamat (the salt waters) and her husband Apsu (the fresh waters) were the only creatures in existence. In time they gave birth to numerous gods, whose noise disturbed Apsu so much he decided to kill them, over Tiamat's protest. He failed, killed by the god Ea. Egged on by her new husband Qingu, Tiamat prepared to attack the gods, giving birth to an army of monsters. Gods sent to stop her fled in terror; only Marduk was able to face her, in exchange for which the other gods made him head of the pantheon. Marduk killed Tiamat and used her body to make the world. Her allies became slaves for the victorious gods, but Marduk relented and created humanity from Qingu's blood to serve the gods.
According to Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary, Tiamat's name is a version of the word tiamtum, meaning "sea". The authors note that Enuma Elish doesn't make it clear what Tiamat looks like - sometimes she seems to be human, at other times the salt waters are inside her. In the later Assyrian version of the myth, Marduk's place is taken by their patron deity, Ashur.
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Cites:
Black, Jeremy and Anthony Green. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. British Museum Press, London, 1992.
Exactly what did Tiamat look like - was she a woman? A dragon?
Was Tiamat ever worshipped - does Enuma Elish describe the triumph of one god's cult over another's?
To start with, here's my crummy summary of Enuma Elish:
At the beginning of time, Tiamat (the salt waters) and her husband Apsu (the fresh waters) were the only creatures in existence. In time they gave birth to numerous gods, whose noise disturbed Apsu so much he decided to kill them, over Tiamat's protest. He failed, killed by the god Ea. Egged on by her new husband Qingu, Tiamat prepared to attack the gods, giving birth to an army of monsters. Gods sent to stop her fled in terror; only Marduk was able to face her, in exchange for which the other gods made him head of the pantheon. Marduk killed Tiamat and used her body to make the world. Her allies became slaves for the victorious gods, but Marduk relented and created humanity from Qingu's blood to serve the gods.
According to Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary, Tiamat's name is a version of the word tiamtum, meaning "sea". The authors note that Enuma Elish doesn't make it clear what Tiamat looks like - sometimes she seems to be human, at other times the salt waters are inside her. In the later Assyrian version of the myth, Marduk's place is taken by their patron deity, Ashur.
__
Cites:
Black, Jeremy and Anthony Green. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. British Museum Press, London, 1992.
