Mythology and purpose
ea called on marduk, a great warrior god, saying that if what is the purpose of this passage from the myth?
marduk should be victorious, he would be the lord of all
to explain how the first humans came to exist on
the gods. a great battle ensued, with gods raging against earth
each other. marduk reached tiamat, the embodiment of
chaos, and smashed her head with his great club. he
to explain how the heavens, earth, and rivers were
1 sliced her in half, making the north wind bear her pieces created
away. from each half of her ribs he created the vault of
teated the vault of
10
to explain how humans should act toward one
the heavens and the earth. her weeping eyes became
another
sacred rivers, and tiamat was no more.
- "enuma elish,"
early babylonian myth