Enûma Eliš
The Babylonian creation epic in which Marduk defeats Tiamat and orders the cosmos. Composed by unnamed priests, probably in the second millennium BCE.
- Original byline
- Anonymous
- Published
- Date not recorded
- Form
- Other works
- Authorship
- Still unknown
- Reason for anonymity
- Unrecorded
- Copyright
- Public domain
- Reference
- Wikipedia · Wikidata
The authorship story
Enuma Elis, named from its opening words, When on high, is the Babylonian epic of creation: the god Marduk defeats the sea mother Tiamat, builds the world from her body, and is crowned king of the gods, a theology that exalted Babylon itself. It was recited at the New Year festival and survives on tablets from Nineveh and other sites. The composition is the work of Babylonian priestly scholars, probably of the later second millennium BCE, and no author is named in the tradition. Its anonymity is institutional: the poem speaks for a temple and a city, not a poet.
Questions readers ask
Who wrote Enûma Eliš?
Nobody knows. No author for Enûma Eliš has been identified in the documented record.
Can I read Enûma Eliš for free?
Yes. Enûma Eliš is in the public domain and the full text is free to read at the Internet Archive.
Related works
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Amduat
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- Still unknown
Book of Caverns
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- Still unknown
Book of the Dead
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- Still unknown
Book of the Earth
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