Marduk Defeats Tiamat

As Marduk gazed, Kingu was troubled in his gait. His will was destroyed and his motions ceased.

The gods, his helpers, who marched by his side, beheld their leader’s…, and their sight was troubled.

But Tiamat… , she turned not her neck, With lips that failed not she uttered rebellious words: “… thy coming as lord of the gods, From their places have they gathered, in thy place are they! "

Then the lord raised the thunderbolt, his mighty weapon, And against Tiamat, who was raging, thus he sent the word:

Thou art become great, thou hast exalted thyself on high, And thy heart hath prompted thee to call to battle.

… their fathers…, … their… thou hatest… Thou hast exalted Kingu to be thy spouse, Thou hast… him, that, even as Anu, he should issue deerees.

thou hast followed after evil, And against the gods my fathers thou hast contrived thy wicked plan. Let then thy host be equipped, let thy weapons be girded on! Stand! I and thou, let us join battle!

When Tiamat heard these words, she was like one posessed. She lost her reason.

Tiamat uttered wild, piercing cries, and trembled and shook to her very foundations.

She recited an incantation, she pronounced her spell, and the gods of the battle cried out for their weapons.

Then advanced Tiamat and Marduk, the counselor of the gods.

To the fight they came on, to the battle they drew nigh.

The lord spread out his net and caught her, and the evil wind that was behind him he let loose in her face.

As Tiamat opened her mouth to its full extent, he drove in the evil wind, while as yet she had not shut her lips.

The terrible winds filled her belly, and her courage was taken from her, and her mouth she opened wide.

He seized the spear and burst her belly, He severed her inward parts, he pierced her heart.

He overcame her and cut off her life; He cast down her body and stood upon it.

When he had slain Tiamat, the leader, her might was broken, her host was scattered.

Her helper-gods marched by her side. They trembled, and were afraid, and turned back.

They took to flight to save their lives;

But they were surrounded, so that they could not escape.

He took them captive, he broke their weapons; In the net they were caught and in the snare they sat down. The … of the world they filled with cries of grief.

They received punishment from him, they were held in bondage.

And on the eleven creatures which she had filled with the power of striking terror, Upon the troop of devils, who marched at her…,

He brought affliction, their strength he…; Them and their opposition he trampled under his feet.

Moreover, Kingu, who had been exalted over them, He conquered, and with the god Dug-ga he counted him.

He took from him the Tablets of Destiny that were not rightly his, He sealed them with a seal and in his own breast he laid them.

After the hero Marduk had conquered and cast down his enemies, And had made the arrogant foe even like And had fully established Ansar’s triumph over the enemy And had attained the purpose of Nudimmud, Over the captive gods he strengthened his durance, And unto Tiamat, whom he had conquered, he returned.

The lord stood upon Tiamat’s hinder parts, And with his merciless club he smashed her skull.

He cut through the channels of her blood, And he made the North wind bear it away into secret places.

His fathers beheld, and they rejoiced and were glad; Presents and gifts they brought unto him.

Then the lord rested, gazing upon her dead body, while he divided the flesh of the … , and devised a cunning plan.

He split her up like a flat fish into two halves; One half of her he stablished as a covering for heaven.

He fixed a bolt, he stationed a watchman, And bade them not to let her waters come forth. He passed through the heavens, he surveyed the regions thereof, And over against the Deep he set the dwelling of Nudimmud.

And the lord measured the structure of the Deep, And he founded E-sara, a mansion like unto it.

The mansion E-sara which he created as heaven, He caused Anu, Bel, and Ea [Enki] in their districts to inhabit.