Enuma Elish | The Babylonian Epic of Creation | Complete Audiobook | With Commentary
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Keywords: Enuma Elish, enuma elish gilgamesh, enkidu, Gilgamesh, Sumerian, Ancient, Ancient History, babylonia tiamat, Babylonian History, Bible History, Semitic, Indo European, Mesopotamian, mesopotamia history, mesopotamian gods, Babylonian Empire, Babylonian Story of Creation, Creation Myth, Ancient Near East, Bronze Age, Akkadian, mesopotamian mythology, Ashurbanipal, Marduk, Babylon, anunnaki, audiobook, Mythology, audiobook mythology, cuneiform, sumerian language, history of sumerian, Hebrews
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Length: 77min 42sec (4662 seconds)
Published: Sun Nov 08 2020
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The Enuma Elish, although often associated with the cultures of Assyria and Babylon has its ultimate origins with the ancient Sumerians. For those of you who might not know, the Sumerians were the world’s oldest known civilization and the keystone culture for Mesopotamia and by extension Western civilization. The Sumerians, from what I understand are a linguistic isolate, meaning that even though they lived in modern Iraq, they were linguistically and perhaps weren’t genetically related to any of the cultures (Akkadia, Babylon, Assyria) that followed them. But they did create the cultures and religious beliefs that would be foundational to Mesopotamian and by extensive Levantine cultures.
So were am I going with this? Well, if you’ve read any of my previous posts, you’ll likely already know that Jehovah/Yahweh/El was originally a native Canaanite god who was worshipped Palestine long before Israel was ever a thing. That he was part of a much larger pantheon which included his wife and children and that these gods where worshiped deep into the time of Israel. Well, here another influence on the religion of ancient Israel, the legacy of the ancient Sumerians. If you ever get a chance to read or listen to the Enuma Elish, you’ll likely see many similarities between it and the book of Genesis. Except it’s a lot more complex and kinda action packed (it’s like Genesis....but actually interesting) . It details how the peoples of Mesopotamia and the larger Middle East belived the world was made. In the beginning there was only salt water, represented by a goddess/dragon named Tiamat and her consort fresh water Abzu. It details how they created the first generation of gods who intern overthrew them in a cosmic war which lead to Marduk becoming king of the gods (with a freaking thunderbolt) and the creation of the world and humanity. In comparison, the book of Genesis seems to be a sanitized version of the Sumerian myth, and in some ways, seems to take place sometime in the aftermath of this cosmic war.
I can’t really do the story justice, so I recommend you listen to the Enuma Elish. You’ll likely see some similarities between the creation of the world and the references to the first flood myth.
Again, these posts are meant to be fun and informative. Just a history nerd who likes to share.
*Another thing I think is kinda interesting is the fact that this replacement of the gods motif occurs in nearly every mythology. There’s a hypothesis that whenever gods are replaced in mythologies, it’s reflective of a religious or cultural shift in deep history. Example, people worshiped Chronos as the sky god in Greece until another proto Greek group migrated into the region and replaced the previous group. Retaining the memory of the old god via a replacement myth. This might be the case in the Mesopotamian creation myth.
I made a post about how Genesis borrows from the Enuma Elish a long time ago. Might be worth a read: https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/fjhj39/the_bible_stole_the_babylonian_creation_myth/
I found a Yale seminar on YouTube that discusses the old testament. I've only watched through the first 4 or 5 but it's fascinating so far. The professor discusses Enuma Elish and the similarities and differences.