A. The Enuma Elish, pp. 3-11
According to the Babylonian myth, The Enuma Elish, Marduk was considered the wisest of all gods and the one who has accomplished the most. He could control, create, and basically organize the entire world. Within his power, he could easily make things appear and disappear. Marduk also had some fascinating physical characteristics that differentiated him from the other gods; He had four sparkling eyes, four large ears, and an interesting ability of blazing fire forth from his mouth every time that he moved his lips. Marduk was a leader by nature, a powerful god who inspired both terror and majesty at the same time. He was a hero and avenger, the only one who could defeat Tiamat. “He was the ruler of all gods” (Rosenberg). …show more content…
Being able to control the air and some natural forces of the universe was one of the characteristics that made him superior than Tiamat. According to the textbook, “Marduk then brought forth the evil wind, the whirlwind, the hurricane, the fourfold wind, the sevenfold wind, the cyclone, and the matchless wind and sent all seven winds to stir up the inside of Tiamat.” She was trapped between the winds he placed in the four directions, so it was impossible for her to escape. He also used as his mighty weapon the flooding rainstorm, and summoned four beasts that helped him in the battle against Tiamat, Kingu, and his demons.
It was after Marduk defeated Tiamat that the world itself and human beings were created according to this myth. He divided Tiamat’s body in two: From one half, he created the sky, and with the other half the earth. From her saliva, he created the clouds, and with her head the mountains were formed. Then he started to organize and delegate responsibilities to the other gods, making them in charge of the heavens, earth, day, and night respectively. Then he decided to create a temple named Babylon where all the gods would go there to meet in assembly. When order finally existed, then he created the first human beings.
Human beings were created with the mainly purpose of serving the gods. That way the gods could be free to rest at ease. Human beings were also supposed to improve their lands, praise and worship Marduk, and remember …show more content…
It is interesting to consider that without history, all the wisdom and knowledge that we have acquired over the centuries through our ancestors would be lost. We have obtained knowledge and experiences that have been passed from our ancestors to us since prehistoric times up until now. And it was when they learned how to write that history officially began, including myths.
Myths are considered written sacred stories that we can use to understand the culture that created them and also our own. Usually, myths use supernatural events or characters in their stories and give valuable lessons to their readers. Some of the story elements that we can find in a myth are: plot, characterization, conflict, crisis or turning point, climax, similes, metaphors, irony, etc.
Myths are also full of symbolism. Depending on the culture, the same symbol can have a totally different meaning; for example, the color white. Whereas in our culture, brides wear this color in weddings because it represents purity, in other cultures it symbolizes death. We need to be aware of all this symbolism at the moment we are reading any myths. Some of them can be simple objects such as water, tree, sun, moon, colors, season, mother,
According to the Babylonian myth, The Enuma Elish, Marduk was considered the wisest of all gods and the one who has accomplished the most. He could control, create, and basically organize the entire world. Within his power, he could easily make things appear and disappear. Marduk also had some fascinating physical characteristics that differentiated him from the other gods; He had four sparkling eyes, four large ears, and an interesting ability of blazing fire forth from his mouth every time that he moved his lips. Marduk was a leader by nature, a powerful god who inspired both terror and majesty at the same time. He was a hero and avenger, the only one who could defeat Tiamat. “He was the ruler of all gods” (Rosenberg). …show more content…
Being able to control the air and some natural forces of the universe was one of the characteristics that made him superior than Tiamat. According to the textbook, “Marduk then brought forth the evil wind, the whirlwind, the hurricane, the fourfold wind, the sevenfold wind, the cyclone, and the matchless wind and sent all seven winds to stir up the inside of Tiamat.” She was trapped between the winds he placed in the four directions, so it was impossible for her to escape. He also used as his mighty weapon the flooding rainstorm, and summoned four beasts that helped him in the battle against Tiamat, Kingu, and his demons.
It was after Marduk defeated Tiamat that the world itself and human beings were created according to this myth. He divided Tiamat’s body in two: From one half, he created the sky, and with the other half the earth. From her saliva, he created the clouds, and with her head the mountains were formed. Then he started to organize and delegate responsibilities to the other gods, making them in charge of the heavens, earth, day, and night respectively. Then he decided to create a temple named Babylon where all the gods would go there to meet in assembly. When order finally existed, then he created the first human beings.
Human beings were created with the mainly purpose of serving the gods. That way the gods could be free to rest at ease. Human beings were also supposed to improve their lands, praise and worship Marduk, and remember …show more content…
It is interesting to consider that without history, all the wisdom and knowledge that we have acquired over the centuries through our ancestors would be lost. We have obtained knowledge and experiences that have been passed from our ancestors to us since prehistoric times up until now. And it was when they learned how to write that history officially began, including myths.
Myths are considered written sacred stories that we can use to understand the culture that created them and also our own. Usually, myths use supernatural events or characters in their stories and give valuable lessons to their readers. Some of the story elements that we can find in a myth are: plot, characterization, conflict, crisis or turning point, climax, similes, metaphors, irony, etc.
Myths are also full of symbolism. Depending on the culture, the same symbol can have a totally different meaning; for example, the color white. Whereas in our culture, brides wear this color in weddings because it represents purity, in other cultures it symbolizes death. We need to be aware of all this symbolism at the moment we are reading any myths. Some of them can be simple objects such as water, tree, sun, moon, colors, season, mother,