Enuma Elish And From The Theogony Analysis

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. …show more content…
Marduk says to Anshar, the ruler of the gods, “if I must be your avenger, Call the Assembly, give me precedence over all the rest… now and forever let my word be law… I, not you, will decide the world’s nature, the things to come” (PM 97). The key takeaway from this is that Marduk is asking for all of the power he can get his hands on. Marduk does not seem to have any influence before he is called upon to defeat Tiamat, and he is asking to have the final decision on everything. For Marduk to have this much ambition for power shows that the world that exists in the Enuma Elish must allow for a hero who is not driven by the responsibility of being a