Brought to you by Altrusian Grace Media and human-narrated by Matthew Schmitz. E. A. Wallis Budge’s Enuma Elish: The Seven Tablets of Creation presents the ancient Babylonian creation epic in which the ordered cosmos emerges from a primordial struggle among the gods. The poem begins with the mingling of the primeval waters, Apsu and Tiamat, from whom successive generations of deities arise, eventually provoking conflict between the older and younger gods. After Tiamat becomes the champion of chaos and raises a monstrous army, the god Marduk accepts the challenge of defeating her in exchange for supreme authority. He kills Tiamat, divides her body to fashion heaven and earth, establishes the celestial order, and helps create humanity to serve the gods and maintain the divine structure of the world. Beyond its dramatic mythology, the Enuma Elish functions as a theological and political statement about cosmic order, divine kingship, and the elevation of Marduk as the chief god of Babylon.
