The Myth-Making Outlook of the Ancient Near East
Personification of Natural Objects
The following excerpts from Mesopotamian literature are
examples of personification. While we regard table salt as an ordinary mineral,
to the Mesopotamians it was alive, a fellow being. In
one passage, a person appeals to salt to end his bewitchment. In the second, an
afflicted person who believes himself bewitched calls on fire to destroy his
enemies.
O SALT
O Salt, crested in a clean place,
For food of gods did Enlil [father of the
Sumerian gods) destine thee.
Without thee no meal is set out in Ekur,
Without thee god, king, lord, and prince do
not smell incense.
I am so-and-so, the son of so-and-so,
Held captive by enchantment,
Held in fever by bewitchment.
O Salt, break my enchantment! Loose my spell!
Take from me the bewitchment.—And as My
Creator
I shall extol thee.
SCORCHING FIRE
Scorching Fire, warlike son of Heaven,
Thou, the fiercest of thy brethren,
Who like Moon and Sun decide lawsuits— Judge
thou my case, hand down the verdict.
Born the man and woman who bewitched me;
Burn, O Fire, the man and woman
who be-
witched me;
Scorch, O Fire, the man and woman who bewitched me;
Burn them, O Fire;
Scorch them, O Fire;
Take hold of them, O Fire;
Consume them, O Fire;
Destroy them, O Fire.
ENUMA ELISH
THE BABYLONIAN GENESIS
The Mesopotamian creation epic Enuma Elish,
(Poem of Creation) is another example of mythical thinking. Marduk,
the chief god of
"Stand thou up, that land thou meet in
single combat!"
When Tiamat heard this,
She was like one possessed; she took leave of her senses.
In fury Tiamat cried out aloud.
To the roots her legs shook both together. She
recites a charm, keeps casting her
spell,
While the gods of battle sharpen their weapons.
Then joined issue Tiamat and Marduk, wisest of gods.
They strove in single combat, locked in battle.
The lord spread out his net to enfold her.
The Evil Wind, which
followed behind, he let
loose in
her flee.
When Tiamat opened her mouth to
consume him,
He drove in the Evil Wind that she close not her lips.
As the fierce winds charged her belly,
Her
body was distended and her mouth was
wide open.
He released the arrow, it tore her belly
It cut through her insides,
splitting the heart,
Having thus subdued her, he extinguished
her life.
He cast down her carcass to
stand upon it.
After he had slain Tiamar, the leader,
Her band was shattered, her troupe
broken up;
And the gods, her helpers who marched at her
side,
Trembling with terror, turned their
backs about,
In order to save and preserve their lives,
Tightly
encircled, they could not escape..
He made them captives and he smashed their weapons.
Thrown into the net, they found themselves ensnared;
Plated in cells, they were filled with wailing;
Bearing his wrath, they were held imprisoned.
When he had vanquished and subdued his
adversaries. . . .
[Marduk] turned back to Tiamat whom he had
bound,
The lord trod on the legs of Tiamat,
With his unsparing mace he crushed her skull.
When the arteries of her blood he
had severed,
The North Wind bore (it) to plates undisclosed.
On seeing this, his fathers were joyful and jubilant,
They brought gifts of homage, they to him.
Then the lord paused to view her dead body,
That he might divide the monster and do artful
works.
He split her like a shellfish into
two parts:
Half of her he set up and ceiled it as sky,
Pulled down the bar and posted guards.
He bade them to allow not her
waters to escape.
He crossed the heavens and surveyed the
regions,
[There] He constructed stations
for the great gods.
Fixing their astral likenesses as
constellations.
He determined the year by designating the
zones:
He set up three constellations for each of the
twelve months.
In her [Tiamat’s] belly he
established the zenith.
The Moon he caused to shine, the night (to
him) entrusting.
He appointed him a creature of the night to
signify
the days.
When Marduk
hears the words of the gods.
His heart prompts (him) to fashion artful works.
Opening his mouth, he addressed [the god] Ea
To impart the plan he had conceived in his
heart:
"Blood I will mass and cause bones to be.
I will establish a savage, ‘man’
shall be his
name.
Verily, savage man I will create.
He shall be charged with the service of the gods
That they might be at ease!"