Monsters in Mythology
Every mythology has its tales of terrifying monsters. Enormous dragons and multi-headed serpents are common in ancient civilizations.
These creatures are often considered the apex or origin of all other monsters.
In Mesopotamian mythology, this title fell to the primordial deity Tiamat.
However, some stories suggest she was much more than just a monster.
While she may have been the creator of monsters, she was also the creator of all life.
The Mesopotamian Creation Stories
Mesopotamian mythology includes various creation stories, attributed to rivalries and discrepancies between the Sumerian cities.
Regarding Tiamat, we turn to the Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation myth.
This epic, recovered in 1849, was written on seven clay tablets in Akkadian.
The Enuma Elish begins before the creation of the world, where there was only a singular body of water swirling in chaos.
This body was divided into two, creating the first primordial beings: Abzu (sweet fresh water) and Tiamat (bitter salt water).
From their union came other deities: Lahmu and Lahamu, followed by Anshar and Kishar.
From Anshar came Anu, the primordial deity of the sky, and from Anu came Enki, the god of water and knowledge.
This creation would forever change the world's dynamics.
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The chaos caused by these new gods disturbed Tiamat, and her disapproval grew over time. Abzu sought help from Mummu, his advisor, to restore order.
Mummu suggested destroying the new gods, a plan Abzu reluctantly agreed to.
However, the gods overheard and acted swiftly. Enki cast a spell that put Abzu into eternal slumber.
When Mummu tried to intervene, he was imprisoned alongside Abzu.
Enki killed Abzu, taking his crown and creating his home within Abzu’s remains.
The Birth of Marduk
Inside Abzu’s heart, Enki and his wife Damkina birthed their son Marduk, who was described as the most spectacular of the gods.
Tiamat, upon hearing of Abzu’s death, was enraged. Her hatred for her children grew.
Seeking counsel, she turned to Kingu, who suggested war to avenge Abzu and stop the new gods.
Tiamat granted Kingu the Tablet of Destinies, making him the new king and an undisputed general.
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| Marduk, his spouse Sarpanit and father Enki |
Tiamat: Mother of Monsters
To challenge her children, Tiamat created 11 monstrous hybrids, including venomous snakes, dragons, scorpion men, and fish men.
These creatures formed her fearsome army. Learning of this, Enki sought advice from his grandfather Anshar, who proposed electing a champion to confront Tiamat.
The gods chose Marduk, who agreed to fight her on the condition that he would be proclaimed supreme god if victorious.
The Battle Between Marduk and Tiamat
Armed with divine weapons and aided by the four winds, Marduk set out to battle Tiamat.
He trapped her with the winds and accused her of creating chaos. Tiamat attempted to swallow him, but he used his net and the evil wind to immobilize her.
Finally, Marduk shot an arrow that pierced her heart, killing her.
He defeated her army, chained the monsters, and took the Tablet of Destinies from Kingu.
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| Enuma Elish Creation Story; Marduk in battle |
Creation from Chaos
Using Tiamat’s body, Marduk created the heavens and the earth.
Her eyes formed the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and her tail became the Milky Way.
Marduk established the cosmos, assigning roles to the gods, creating constellations, and instituting the night and day cycle.
Humans were created from Kingu’s blood to serve the gods.
Tiamat: Chaos or Evil?
Tiamat is often portrayed as a chaotic, monstrous entity.
However, the story doesn’t define good or evil; it depicts chaos.
This type of myth is known as Chaoskampf, the struggle against primordial chaos before creation.
Over time, Mesopotamians viewed Tiamat more as a malevolent monster than a life-giving creator.
Modern Depictions
Modern interpretations of Tiamat often emphasize her monstrous nature, portraying her as a dragon-like figure.
These depictions align with the Mesopotamian shift toward vilifying her.
The Enuma Elish remains the more developed and enduring version of her story, symbolizing the triumph of order over chaos.
Excerpt from the poem translated by N. K. Sandars
They set up a throne for Marduk
and he sat down facing his forefathers to receive the government.
‘One god is greater than all great gods, a fairer fame, the word of command, the word from heaven,
O Marduk, greater than all great gods, the honor and the fame,
the will of Anu, great command, unaltering and eternal word!
Where there is action the first to act, where there is government the first to govern;
to glorify some, to humiliate some, that is the gift of the god,
Truth absolute, unbounded will; which god dares question it?
In their beautiful places a place is kept for you, Marduk, our avenger.
‘We have called you here to receive the scepter, to make you king of the whole universe.
When you sit down in the Synod you are the arbiter; in the battle your weapon crushes the enemy.
‘Lord, save the life of any god who turns to you;
but as for the one who grasped evil, from that one let his life drain out.’
The conjured then a kind of apparition and made it appear in front of him,
and they said to Marduk, the first-born son, ‘Lord, your word among the gods
arbitrates, destroys, creates: then speak and this apparition will disappear.
Speak again, again it will appear.’
He spoke and the apparition disappeared.
Again he spoke and it appeared again.
When the gods had proved his word they blessed him and cried, ‘MARDUK IS KING!’
They robed him in robes of a king, the scepter and the throne they gave him,
and matchless war-weapons as a shield against the adversary.
‘Be off. Slit life from Tiamat, and may the winds carry her blood to the world’s secret ends.’
The old gods had assigned to Bel (Marduk) what he would be
and what he should do, always conquering, always succeeding;
Then Marduk made a bow and strung it to be his own weapon, he set the arrow against the bow-string,
in his right hand he grasped the mace and lifted it up, bow and quiver hung at his side,
lightnings played in front of him, he was altogether an incandescence.
He netted a net, a snare for Tiamat; the winds from their quarters held it,
south wind, north, east wind, west, and no part of Tiamat could escape.
With the net, the gift of Anu, held close to his side, he himself raised up
IMHULLU the atrocious wind, the tempest, the whirlwind, the hurricane,
the wind of four and the wind of seven, the tumid wind worst of all.
All seven winds were created and released to savage the guts of Tiamat, they towered behind him.
Then the tornado ABUBA his last great ally, the signal for assault, he lifted up.
He mounted the storm, his terrible chariot, reins hitched to the side,
yoked four in hand the appalling team, sharp poisoned teeth,
the Killer, the Pitiless, Trampler, Haste, they knew arts of plunder, skills of murder.
He posted on his right the Batterer, best in the mêlée;
on his left the Battle-fury that blasts the bravest, lapped in this armor,
a leaping terror, a ghastly aureole; with a magic word clenched between his lips,
a healing plant pressed in his palm, this lord struck out.
He took his route towards the rising sound of Tiamat’s rage, and all the gods besides,
the fathers of the gods pressed in around him, and the lord approached Tiamat.
He surveyed her scanning the Deep, he sounded the plan of Kingu her consort;
but so soon as Kingu sees him he falters, flusters, and the friendly gods
who filled the ranks beside him- when they saw the brave hero, their eyes suddenly blurred,
But Tiamat without turning her neck roared, spitting defiance from bitter lips,
‘Upstart, do you think yourself too great?
Are they scurrying now from their holes to yours?’
Then the lord raised the hurricane, the great weapon he flung his words at the termagant fury,
‘Why are you rising, your pride vaulting, your heart set on faction, so that sons reject fathers?
Mother of all, why did you have to mother war?
‘You made that bungler your husband, Kingu!
You gave him the rank, not his by right, of Anu.
You have abused the gods my ancestors, in bitter malevolence you threaten Anshar, the king of all the gods.
‘You have marshaled forces for battle, prepared the war-tackle.
Stand up alone and we will fight it you, you and I alone in battle.’
When Tiamat heard him her wits scattered, she was possessed and shrieked aloud,
her legs shook from the crotch down, she gabbled spells, muttered maledictions,
while the gods of war sharpened their weapons.
Then they met: Marduk, that cleverest of gods, and Tiamat grappled alone in singled fight.
The lord shot his net to entangle Tiamat, and the pursuing tumid wind, Imhullu,
came from behind and beat in her face.
When the mouth gaped open to suck him down he drove Imhullu in,
so that the mouth would not shut but wind raged through her belly;
her carcass blown up, tumescent, She gaped-
And now he shot the arrow that split the belly, that pierced the gut and cut the womb.
Now that the Lord had conquered Tiamat he ended her life, he flung her down and straddled the carcass;
the leader was killed, Tiamat was dead her rout was shattered, her band dispersed.
Those gods who had marched beside her now quaked in terror,
and to save their own lives, if they could, they turned their backs on danger
But they were surrounded, held in a tight circle, and there was no way out.
He smashed their weapons and tossed them into the net; they found themselves inside the snare,
they wept in holes and hid in corners suffering the wrath of god.
For those who prefer visual content, you can watch the video below that covers the same topic in detail.
Tiamat in Mesopotamian Mythology the Queen of Monsters in the Enuma Elish Babylonian Myths