Category Archives: Politics
La Calavera Catrina
Also Known As: La Catrina, Catrina La Calavera Garbancera
Etymology: “Dapper Skeleton” or “Elegant Skull”
Images of La Calavera Catrina are common during the Mexican festival of Dia de los Muertos. Elegant and beautiful skeletons adorn many murals, statues, sugar skulls, and other art. Images of La Calavera Catrina and her male counterparts show her being dressed in bright, colorful clothes during a time to honor, remember and revere one’s ancestors and loved ones who have passed on.
History
The La Calavera Catrina got her start as part of a 1910 to 1913 zinc etching by Mexican printmaker, cartoonist, and lithographer José Guadalupe Posada. La Catrina’s popularity took off from 1946 to 1947 when the artist Diego Rivera completed his mural “Sueño de una Tarde Dominical en la Alameda Central” (“Dream of a Sunday afternoon along Central Alameda”) to commemorate 400 years of Mexican history. This work is also where La Catrina would get her name. Since then, La Catrina has become an iconic image for the Mexican Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
Political Satire
La Calavera Catrina was first created by Posada as part of a series of satirical lithographs commenting on social and political issues.
The figure of La Catrina is dressed elegantly as a reference to high society’s obsession with European fashions, customs, and excessiveness. By extension, it was also a commentary on the then-ruling dictator Porfirio Diaz. While Diaz had modernized Mexico in the late 18th century and brought financial stability, 1910 would see the Mexican Rebellion removing Diaz from power a year later in 1911 due to government corruption. Images of La Catrina circulating around this time would help fuel that rebellion.
La Calavera Garbancera – This is the name of the leaflet that Posada’s La Calavera Catrina appeared in. This name and term of La Calavera Garbancera is a bit derogatory as it referred to a person ashamed of their indigenous origins who would dress in the French style of the times and wear a lot of makeup in order to make their skin look whiter.
La Calavera del Cólera Morbo – “the calavera of the morbid cholera.” 1910 was also a time of the cholera plague. This art piece by Posada depicted a fantastical humanoid figure with the body of a snake and surrounded by a dozen skulls all representing a variety of occupations such as jewelers, tailors, blacksmiths, clerks, and judges. This piece represented that regardless of one’s station, death comes for everyone.
Rivera’s Mural
Painted between the years 1946 and 1947, this mural helped to popularize the image of La Calavera Catrina and cement her place in festivals for Dia de los Muertos. It is the principal or prime work of art at the Museo Mural Diego Rivera next to the Alameda at the historic center in Mexico City. The mural even survived an earthquake in 1985, it would get moved across the street to the Museo Mural Diego Rivera for display.
Fun Fact – Diego Rivera considered Posada to be his artistic father. Rivera was also married to the famous Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.
Día de los Muertos
Now La Catrina is found in her more traditional form from hand-drawn art to sculptures, paper- mâché, and pottery. In some of these, La Catrina will be coupled with a male skeleton. Many people will also dress as La Catrina on Dia de los Muertos. Candy skulls will also be decorated in her likeness.
La Catrina has become a familiar part of the Dia de los Muertos celebrations as Mexicans gather with their families to remember their loved ones who have passed on and to leave offerings of food on the ofrendas for them.
In her modern form, La Catrina is a reminder to live life beautifully. Death does come for everyone, and it isn’t and shouldn’t be something to fear.
Syno-Deities & Entities
Grim Reaper – It’s easy to see a similarity between the Grim Reaper’s skeletal image and how close the two holidays of Halloween and Dia de Los Muertos are. Unlike the Grim Reaper, La Catrina wears bright, colorful clothing.
Mictecacihuatl – There are very noted, strong similarities between the imagery of the Aztec goddess of death and La Calavera Catrina. So much so, that there are many will say that La Calavera Catrina is a continuation of Mictecacihuatl’s worship and how she once presided over the festivals honoring the dead.
San La Muerte – A similar male skeletal figure worshiped as a folk saint found in Paraguay.
San Pascualito – A similar male skeletal figure worshiped as a folk saint.
Santa Muerte – A Mexican folk saint, the imagery of Santa Muerte has been compared to La Calavera Catrina.
Homonoia
Alternate Spelling: Ὁμόνοια
Simply put, in Greek myth and religion, Homonoia is a minor goddess of concord, unanimity and like-mindedness.
As a concept, Homonoia is the term used by the Ancient Greeks to create unity in their politics to govern themselves.
Parentage And Family
Parents
Father – Soter, a savior daimon.
Mother – Praxidike, the goddess of judicial punishment and vengeance.
Alternatively, the mythical king Ogygos and a goddess by the name of Thebes are sometimes placed as Homonoia’s parents.
Siblings
Arete – Goddess of Personifying Virtue
Ktesios – A minor God of the Household.
Praxidikai
Both Arete and Homonoia together are referred to as Praxidikai after their mother.
Basically, with their mother, they formed a trio of goddess or daimones responsible for extracting justice, which actually sounds a lot like the Erinyes, but not quite. The Erinyes went for retribution and vengeance whereas the Praxidikai, go for the straight up justice that’s coming and being meted out.
Sometimes, the Praxidikai will be mentioned as the divine daughters of Ogygos, a primeval king and Titan who rules the land of Boeotia where the city of Thebes would later be founded. Ogygos would be married to a goddess known as Thebes.
You Called Her A Daimon!
Yes, as in the Greek term and meaning for the word spirit. It is Christianity that takes and twists the word and meaning to Demon, for an evil spirit or being.
Among the ancient Greeks, the word daimon means spirit or “replete with knowledge.” They recognized both good (eudemons) and bad (cacodemons). The word or term daimon also means “divine power,” “fate,” or “god.” And in Greek mythology, daimons could also include deified heroes. This seems to be the case for Homonoia if she was seen more as a concept personified and not really a goddess in her own right.
Daimons functioned as messengers or intermediary spirits between men and gods. The good daimons were viewed as guardian spirits who gave guidance and protection to those they watched over. The bad daimons, naturally, weren’t so nice and could mislead people, getting them into trouble.
Grecian Politics
Homonoia’s role for unity and concord were used by the Greeks with how they shaped the politics of Classical Greece. It really came into wide usage under Alexander the Great’s rule when he adopted these principles for ruling his Empire.
For the Greeks, the principles of Homonoia meant no factional or infighting amongst themselves. Outside cultures were viewed as barbarians or savages.
Aristotle had told his young student Alexander the Great to treat Greeks as friends and non-Greeks as animals.
The scholar Isocrates is the first one to try taking this concept beyond the Greek people. While Isocrates didn’t believe that savages could ever be equal with Greeks, he did believe that such savages could be made to adopt Greek ideals and thus be on par with them.
I.e. You are not ever going to be Greek, but you can learn how to think like a Greek and adopt Greek culture and ideals.
Isocrates believed that being Grecian was a matter of nurture versus nature. During his time in the court of Philip II of Macedon, Isocrates found a receptive audience to teach his ideas and concepts to.
However, being Macedonian, Philip II viewed Isocrates’ ideas as being something reserved only for the Greeks, no matter how much he liked the ideas. Philip II did use the ideas and concepts for creating the Corinthian League, an alliance that proved useful to unite the Greek States against the Persian Empire.
After Philip II was assassinated, his son, Alexander the Great would become the next King of Macedonia and utilize the concepts of Homonoia. While yeah, Aristotle was a young Alexander’s tutor and told him to treat non-Greeks as animals, Alexander would ignore these teachings and instead, for the most part, treat people of other cultures as people.
By adopting Isocrates’ expanded ideals and concepts of Homonoia, Alexander the Great was able to successfully rule his Empire, that at the time, covered most of the known world (as the Greeks knew it).
The ideas of Homonoia allowed Alexander to rule over the Greeks, Egyptians, and Persians. He would adopt various customs and cultures from those conquered such as the Persian dress and courtly etiquette like proskynesis which is the kissing of the hand or prostrating oneself on the ground before superiors. Alexander the Great would also have his Grecian officers take Persian wives to further unite differing cultures.
Ultimately, Alexander wanted to create a new Greco-Oriental Empire instead of one where the ruling class would be the conquerors over the subjugated. After Alexander’s death, many of his reforms continued on.
Kissing the hand and prostrating on the ground? Not just the medieval era.
Roman Politics
Now, for those familiar with the Romans, they were very good with adopting many aspects of Grecian culture, not just their mythologies and deities. Romans also used the concepts of Homonoia. Though this is recognized more as Pax Romana to unite the various regions and territories for peace and stability.
The Social Contract
The Romans and Greeks went for trying to make their system of Homonia or Pax Romana a caste system or hierarchy to it where everyone knew their place. Break that social contract and down comes Homonia in her role as a Praxidikai to mete out justice.
If we are to translate the concept of Homonoia to modern times, this would be the Social Contract. The social agreements we have with each other in society and civilization. Humans are natural pack or herd animals; we are prone to gathering in groups and working together. With these groups, come social norms and rules, whether spoken or unspoken of how we interact with and treat each other. Rules and norms that are generally agreed upon by the whole with taking care of everyone. The larger a group gets, the hard it can be to get the whole in agreement and there end up being lots of sub groups, further making it harder for everyone to connect and realize that at the end of the day, if we want a functioning society, we need to work together.
With the modern theory of Social Contract, as introduced by the likes of Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes, Samuel Pufendorf and John Locke, it proposes that everyone is equal and has fundamental freedoms. Keeping it to an extreme nutshell, one person’s freedom ends where another’s begins. No person has a right to force or exercise power over others unless it is agreed upon to keep government functioning and working for people. Yes, this is noted as a liberal political theory for determining moral and political rules of behavior.
Harmonia – Greek Goddess
Harmonia is a more familiar goddess of harmony, concord, notably marital harmony. As the concept ideas of harmony have changed for what both Harmonia and Homonoia mean, the two have become nearly identical in purpose.
Furthering this connection, Homonoia’s father is sometimes given to be Ogygos, a mythical King of Boeotia and married to a goddess by the name of Thebes who would have the city that Cadmus founded, named for her.
Concordia – Roman Goddess
The Roman goddess of Harmony and Unity who is often equated with Harmonia and Homonoia.
Polar Twins
Just like Harmonia, Homonoia’s polar opposite is Eris; who is often cited as the goddess of chaos with her Roman counterpart being Discordia.
Tiamat
Etymology: Mother of Life
Alternate Spellings & Other Names: Tiahamtu, Baau, Bis-Bis, Hubar, Mammu-Tiamat, Omorca, Omoroka, Tamtu, Tauthe, Tehom, Thalass, Thalassa, Thalatth, Thamte, Thlavatth, Tiawath, Tisalat, Ummukhubar, Θαλάττη Thaláttē (Greek)
Epithets: Mummu Hubur (Mother of Monsters) or “Ummu-Hubur, Who Formed All Things”
Tiamat is an ancient, primordial mother goddess often represented as a draconic personification of the oceans and saltwater from whom all life springs forth from.
Attributes
Animal: All aquatic animals, Dragons, Sharks
Element: Water
Sphere of Influence: Chaos, Creation
Mesopotamian Depictions
Classically, the image of Tiamat is that of a large, primordial dragon who symbolizes the saltwater ocean, the element of Chaos from which all life originates.
Surprisingly, when looking at the Enûma Elish, Tiamat is described as having a tail, thighs, a lower half of the body, belly, udder, ribs, neck, and head. It’s not a clear enough description aside from the tail is that of a dragon. The udder though, makes me think of a cow?
I came across one description, that in her role as creatrix, Tiamat is described as a glistening woman. When connected later to her chaotic element, Tiamat is then shown as a dragon.
More modern authors and sources go with describing Tiamat as a sea serpent or dragon. This connection holds up with Tiamat giving birth to dragons and serpents.
For those familiar with Dungeons & Dragons, Tiamat is a multi-headed dragon, with each head representing a different chromatic dragon race in the game.
Hellenistic Iconography – There’s a relief found in the temple of Bel in Palmyra that shows Marduk and Nabu slaying Tiamat who is represented with a woman’s body and snake legs.
Older Than Time
Not quite.
The oldest reference to Tiamat is an Akkadian incantation dating to the first millennium B.C.E. Once the Enuma Elish was composed, Tiamat begins to be found in several religious texts. However, it must be noted those works refer back to the Enuma Elish. An almost obscure historian, Berossus also writes about Tiamat in the 3rd century B.C.E.
When You Stare Into The Abyss…
This turned out to be a fascinating bit to find. Looking at the Sumerian word, “ti” means “life” and “ama” means “mother.” So Mother of Life or Mother of All could be good translations for Tiamat’s name.
Going by the Akkadian word for the sea, it is tâmtu or ti’amtum. It has also been noted that the long vowel â in tamtu is a contraction of the vowels i and a. This word is a proper form for addressing a person or deity. So… Tiamat, tâmtu is: “O’sea!”
Taking this further for how ancient languages likely influenced each other, there are some scholars who see a connection to the Hebraic word Tehom that means ‘the Deep” or “Abyss,” especially as used in the Torah or Old Testament in the book of Genesis. It makes sense, tehom is a cognate to the Akkadian tamtu and the Ugaritic t-h-m and all share similar meanings. It’s not hard to see how these words would also be found as a root word and meaning to the Babylonian Tiamat.
As a side note, the Greek Septuagint uses the word “abyssos” or Abyss when translating tehom.
Speaking of Greek, Tiamat was called Thalatte in the Hellenistic Babylonian Berossus’ first volume of Universal History. The name Thalatte is a variation to the Greek’s word for the sea of Thalassa. Later, in other translations, Tiamat’s name is altogether replaced for Thalassa as the Akkadian sources for Enuma Elish used the more common word for sea as both names of Thalassa and Tiamat had become synonymous.
Parentage and Family
Consort
Apsu – Or Abzu, Primordial God of Freshwater
Kingu – Or Qingu, her consort after Apsu’s death, also her son and general of her army.
Children
Lachmu and Lachamu – The first pair of gods born. From them, all of the other gods within the Mesopotamian pantheon come.
Monstrous Children & Demon – After the death of Apsu, Tiamat creates a host of monstrous children, among whom dragons and serpents are but a few.
Grandchildren
Anšar and Kišar – Through Lachmu and Lachamu.
Igigi – Ultimately the second and third generation of gods.
Babylonian Mythology
In this mythology, Tiamat is a primordial, monstrous sea goddess depicted as a dragon. She represents the formless chaos from which life began. It is with her consort, Apsu, the primordial god of freshwater that the first generation of gods are born.
Enuma Elish
This an ancient epic creation poem written in the 18th century B.C.E. (1700 to 2000 B.C.E. are other estimated guesses) when the city of Babylon becomes the political capital of Mesopotamia. It’s largely written to show Marduk’s birth, many of his heroic deeds and how Ea (Enki) steps down to allow Marduk, in a relatively peaceful transfer of power to become the king and head of the pantheon.
The Enuma Elish begins at the start of time, when the universe is nothing more than chaos with freshwater represented by Apsu and saltwater (or the abyss) represented by Tiamat, a dragoness. The male and female principles, not unlike the concept seen in the Japanese Yin & Yang. The joining of these two primordial deities would see the creation of all the other gods and other beings. Their most notable children are Lachmu and Lachamu along with others who become the other gods and goddesses, known as the Anunnaki. The other children of Apsu and Tiamat are giant sea serpents, dragons, snakes, storm demons, fish-men, scorpion-men
While Tiamat loved all her children, Apsu on the other hand didn’t care for them, saying they were too noisy, keeping him up all night and unable to get any work done during the day. Apsu’s response to this problem was to kill his children, specifically the younger, Igigi deities.
A horrified Tiamat told her eldest son, Enki (later version its Ea) of what Apsu has planned. Enki decided that the best plan for dealing with this was to capture and put Apsu into a deep sleep and then kill him. From Apsu’s corpse, Enki then creates his home, the earth and the marshy region of Eridu.
Kingu, one of Tiamat and Apsu’s sons, soon to be consort to Tiamat is upset and goes to report what happened. This further horrifies Tiamat who wasn’t expecting for Enki to just up and kill Apsu. As a result, she decided to wage war on her own children. The mighty Tiamat raised up an army of chaos consisting of twelve monsters: Bašmu, “Venomous Snake,” Ušumgallu, “Great Dragon,” Mušmahhu, “Exalted Serpent,” Mušhuššu, “Furious Snake,” Lahmu, the “Hairy One,” Ugallu, the “Big Weather-Beast,” Uridimmu, “Mad Lion,” Girtablullû, “Scorpion-Man,” Umu dabrutu, “Violent Storms,” Kulullû, “Fish-Man,” and Kusarikku, “Bull-Man” who are all led by Kingu (Quingu) as the general of this army.
This has Enki and the other gods worried about what to do. That is, until Marduk steps forward, saying he will lead everyone in this war. Marduk has one condition, that is that he be named as the new king of the pantheon. Enki agrees and Marduk leads the Anunnaki to battle.
Marduk prepares his weapons consisting of bow and arrows, a mace, lightning as he is a storm god, flames and a net. Gathering up the four winds, Marduk encircles and nets the mighty Tiamat to prevent her from escaping him. New winds are created by Marduk such as whirlwinds and tornadoes. As he is a storm god, Marduk brings down a fierce flood of rain. It’s a battle between a storm god and a primordial goddess of chaos and the sea, it’s epic as Marduk rides in his storm-chariot pulled by four horses who have poison in their mouths. Spellcasting and an herbal antidote as Marduk faces off against one of the mightiest dragons known in mythology.
After Marduk finally slays Tiamat with an arrow to her stomach, he then goes after Tiamat’s son, Kingu who oversaw the army and wears the Tablets of Destiny over his chest. Marduk makes short work of Kingu in single combat, claiming the tablets and establishing himself as the new head of the pantheon.
This is a lot of power that Marduk has now accumulated and he sets about to create the universe. But didn’t that already exist? He’s at least making a new one as Marduk takes the two halves of Tiamat’s corpse to create the heavens and the earth, completing the work started by Enki. From Tiamat’s eyes, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow.
With Kingu’s blood, Marduk mixes it with the earth to create the first humans who would be the servants of the Igigi (the younger Mesopotamian gods). The creation of humans would allow the gods the leisure time and the time to focus on higher purposes, taking care of human needs as humanity basically did the grunt work. All humans would need to do is respect and give heed to the will of the gods living in Eridu with Marduk ruling overall as a benevolent god.
That doesn’t sound like it will end well and I’m sure there’s another story concerning that.
Side Note: Early versions of this story have Anu, later replaced by Enlil and then in the last version, it is Marduk who gets the promise from the other gods about becoming head of the pantheon.
Marduk’s version dates from the first dynasty of the Babylonians, whereas the other versions are much older. Even then, depending on the version of the creation myth, it is solely Marduk involved in all of it and there’s no mention of Enki at all. Scholars who look at when the Enuma Elish was written generally believe that it represents political and religious propaganda meant justify and install Marduk as the head of the Babylonian pantheon as the city-state rose to political power in the region.
As for Apsu, the Enuma Elish is the first time he’s treated as a deity. Before, he’s just a concept, what they called the freshwater found beneath the earth in the aquifers.
Mother Of Gods & Monsters
If this were Greek mythology, I would say that sounds like Echidna who is infamous for giving birth to several monsters or Gaia with the numerous monstrous children that she gave birth to that were later imprisoned in Tartarus.
The first children that Tiamat gives birth to are those gods who will become part of the collective Mesopotamian pantheon. It is after the death of her consort Apsu, that Tiamat gives birth to a host of monstrous creatures, some of whom are dragons and serpents to go after her first group of children, the gods. Some of Tiamat’s monstrous children also become the signs of the zodiac.
As the mother of all creation, Tiamat’s mating with Apsu is seen as a Sacred Marriage. It more a poetical explaining the creation of life and in the ancient Mesopotamian mythology, where the saltwater sea met and mixed with the freshwater sea in the Persian Gulf. One notable region in the area is Bahrain, which means “two seas” in Arabic. It’s thought by some scholars that Bahrain might be the site Dilmun and corresponding with the original Sumerian creation story.
Anunnaki – These are the first generation of gods that Apsu and Tiamat gave birth to at the beginning of the creation. Now, depending on which of the Mesopotamian mythologies you follow, Akkadian, Babylonian, Sumer, their number can vary and it’s inconsistent. Lahmu and Lahamu, meaning “hairy” are the firstborn, from there, the other gods are born.
Igigi – These are the second and third generations of gods born. Who were meant to be servants to the Anunnaki. When Apsu decides to kill their children for being too noisy, some retellings will explain it to mean, it’s the Igigi he plans to kill. And it’s the Igigi for whom Tiamat gets angry and decides to retaliate against. The Igigi in their victory, will then create humans to be their servants.
Chaoskampf
The struggle against Chaos; this is a familiar motif found throughout the world in many different regions and mythologies of a culture hero or god going up against a creature of chaos. This creature is often shown as and takes the form of a great serpent or dragon. This is the familiar Knight slaying the Dragon seen in many European mythologies. Parallels to this concept are even found in other cultures.
It is no different for the myth of Tiamat with her connection as a primordial goddess of Goddess. With her death, either Anu, Enlil or Marduk establishes order and with her corpse, creates the heavens and the earth.
Tiamat’s story is very likely the origin of the hero slaying the dragon motif where she becomes a symbol of not just chaos, but evil. There’s a commentary that suggests that the female deities of Mesopotamian mythology are older than the male deities. This would then strongly suggest that the hero slaying the dragon is the establishment of monotheistic patriarchal religions over matriarchal religions.
The only other goddess who is likely older than Tiamat is the Sumerian goddess Nammu, who is also a primordial goddess of the sea.
Canaanite Mythology
Scholars tend to agree that Tiamat originates with later Babylonian mythology. Looking at Tiamat’s connection with the sea, scholars do note a similarity in Levantine mythology between the sea god Yamm and Baal.
As the story goes, from the Ras Shamra and other Ugarit texts that have been translated, Baal and Yamm weren’t the best of buddies and their conflicts are symbolic of the short Syrian winters with the conflicting weather of rain, hail and tides. Baal and Yamm were fighting over who would take over as head of the pantheon after El is stepping down. El had told Yamm he would get to take charge and Baal wasn’t happy with the news.
Yamm keeps on sending messengers to Baal about this edict and Baal is having none of it. With the aid of Kothar creating some magical clubs, Baal eventually defeats Yamm.
Baal’s conquering of Tannin and defeating Yam has been seen as being similar to the myths of Zeus defeating the Titans to become King of the Gods or when Zeus usurps Poseidon as King of the Gods from Mycenean Greece to the more well-known Ancient Greece.
Jumping back to the Judaic mythology, scholars have noted that a passage in the book of Isaiah parallels the Baal Cycle. In the Ugaritic passage for the Baal Cycle, Tannin is described as “the encircler.” The other description given is “the mighty one with seven heads.” It gets debated between the Ugaritic and Hebraic texts if this is three separate figures being described or if these are epitaphs of Lotan or Leviathan.
Me, being a lover of mythology, “the encircler” makes me think of Norse mythology and the Midgard serpent Jormungand. And the seven heads, D&D anyone and the evil dragon goddess of chaos, Tiamat?
Biblical Connections?
That seems very likely. Given the close proximity of the cultures in the Mesopotamian and Canaanite regions, it stands to reason that elements of each culture might cross over.
Some scholars take note of the similarity with the Book of Genesis chapter 1:2 “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” And the comparison to the story of Tiamat’s and Apsu’s procreation with the mixing of saltwater and freshwater to give birth to the first gods and life in a universe where nothing else existed.
Tannin – the giant sea monster of Canaanite mythology and the Judiac Torah is sometimes through to be a connection to Tiamat. It has been noted the similarities between Tannin in the Baal Cycle with Marduk defeating Tiamat.
It’s not hard to see a similarity and a possible connection between the two. And, for the longest time, Biblical scholars did think that the Old Testament or Torah referenced the Babylonian myths. That would change with the discovery of texts found in Ras Shamra or Ugarit as it was anciently known. Once the Ugarit texts were translated, it became apparent that the Old Testament references the ancient Canaanite mythology more.
Anzu – Fire Bird?
There is another Mesopotamian monster, born from the waters of Apsu and the Earth. Think of either a Griffin or a lion-headed eagle that can breathe both fire and water. There have been similarities pointed out between the story of Tiamat being slain by Marduk the Sumerian-Akkadian myths where one text has Marduk slaying this monstrous bird and another text where the god Ninurta slays it with arrows.
Akitu Festival – Happy New Years!
This was the ancient New Year’s festival that the Sumerians and Mesopotamian cultures celebrated. This festival occurred sometime during March and April, marking the planting of barley. This festival was presided over by Nabu and Marduk to such a degree, that a text known as the Akitu Chronicle documents a time when the festival couldn’t be observed as Marduk (his physical statue, thus him) wasn’t present in the city of Babylon.
Every year at the Akitu House located outside the city, the Enuma Elish would be recited for the New Year’s festival. There was also involved a ritual slapping of the king. Gotta’ stay humble, I guess. With the Enuma Elish being recited on the fourth day, the battle between Marduk and Tiamat would be a symbolic reenactment of this mythical battle.
Otherwise, as far as any cults or worship of Tiamat go, there really isn’t any.
Tethys – Greek Titaness
In Greek myth, Tethys is a Titaness and primordial goddess of the ocean.
Tethys as Tiamat. She is the wife of Oceanus, the Titan god of the seas. There isn’t much known about their myths and some scholars go so far as to suggest that Tethys is a syno-deity or similar to Tiamat given their age and functions.
Nammu – Sumerian
A primordial goddess of the sea who is often equated with Tiamat. There is not much in the way of surviving texts that attest of her. Her myth is similar in that, with Apsu, the freshwater oceans beneath the earth, she gives birth to the first gods, An (Heaven) and Ki (Earth).
Omoroca – Stargate-SG1
This source claims to be from Chaldean mythology, which works when you remember that that’s the whole of Mesopotamian mythology between 10th to 6th-century B.C.E.
I had a hard time pinning this one down. During the Hellenistic-Greek era, there is a Babylonian scholar by the name of Berossus who wrote a history of Babylonia. He lived during the time of Alexander, the son of Philip. There’s a lot of Babylonian history that he writes, much of which, modern scholars would see as mythology. He’s not very well known beyond that, making his obscurity excellent fodder for a show to draw from.
A quick search of Omoroca brought up a lot of Stargate-SG1 references, which would imply that the writers are drawing on a historical/mythological source. At the very least, a T.V. show is linking Tiamat with Chaldean mythology to make a show’s mythos more in-depth.
With that grain of salt in mind, Omoroca’s myth starts off much like that of Tiamat’s, wherein the beginning, there is nothing, just darkness and the abyss of water wherein numerous hideous beings and creatures dwell. This is an infinite variety of different beings of every description. All of which are recorded in the temple of Belus in Babylon.
The Stargate wiki in question says that a woman by the name of Omoroca ruled over all of them. That Omoroca’s name in Greek is Thalassa, the sea or the Moon. Belus comes and kills her, creating heaven and earth much like Tiamat’s myth.
Once again, a Stargate-SG1 television source and it does work when linking Belus to Bel-Marduk and thus to Tiamat.
Sitchin Time
According to Zecharia Sitchin, the claim is made that the great battle between Tiamat and Marduk is symbolic for the creation of our solar system’s asteroid belt. Sitchin writes that this asteroid belt was once a planet that the Sumerians called Tiamat. Due to an impact, the planet was destroyed, creating the “Great Band” or asteroid belt. The planetary impact responsible is that of the planet Nibiru, associated with the god Marduk.
Babylonian Astronomy
I will call bunk on Sitchin’s ideas.
When you look at the word Nibiru in the Akkadian language, it refers to a crossing or transition point like with rivers. In Babylonian astronomy, Nibiru came to refer to the Equinox, notably, the Autumn Equinox. In their star lore, the term nibiru can refer to any crossing. Tracking the movement of the stars and planets in the heavens as they appear from Earth. The star or planet associated with Marduk is the one we know modernly as Jupiter.
For the Babylonians, the Autumn Equinox occurred in the month of Tisritum, roughly coinciding with between September and October. If we’re following the Greek Zodiac, then the constellation of Libra is prominent. A further fun fact, depending on the time of the year and the location, the planet Mercury could sometimes be called Nibiru.
Some of it is confusing. Mainly it’s understanding how to read and interpret what the Babylonians meant when tracking the night sky.
Cetus – Greek Mythology & Constellation
While many are familiar with the constellation’s connection to the Grecian story of Andromeda and Perseus in its role as the giant sea monster sent by Poseidon to destroy the coast of Aethiopia.
The constellation of Cetus has been identified with Tiamat, the dragon goddess of Chaos. Marking Tiamat’s story one of many that the Greeks likely inherited from the Mesopotamians and retold for their own legends.
Marduk
Etymology: “Bull Calf of the Sun,” “Calf of the Sun” or “Solar Calf”
Also known as: Bel (“Lord,” Akkadian), Bel-Marduk, Murdoch
Other Spellings: 𒀭𒀫𒌓 (Cuniform), dAMAR.UTU, Amar utu k (Sumerian), Μαρδοχαῖος, Mardochaios (Greek), מְרֹדַךְ, Mərōdaḵ (Masoretic Hebrew), Merōḏaḵ (Tiberian), Marōdak (Septuagint), Merodach (Biblical Hebrew), Martuk
Pronunciation: mah’-duk
In Mesopotamian mythology, Marduk is a fertility and storm deity of Babylon. He is known for defeating the dragon goddess Tiamat and becoming the Leader of the Babylonian pantheon.
Marduk came to prominence as the patron deity of the city of Babylon during the rule of Hammruabi, the sixth king of the First Babylonian dynasty of the Amorites in the 18th century B.C.E. when Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley. Marduk’s full acceptance as the head of the Babylonian pantheon would be completed by the last half of the second millennium B.C.E.
Attributes
Animal: Dogs, Horse, Mušḫuššu (Snake-Dragon)
Element: Air, Water
Planet: Jupiter
Sphere of Influence: Fertility, Judgement, Storms, Vegetation
Symbols: Hoe, Spade
Weapon: Imhullu
Mesopotamian Depictions
In what surviving art and texts we have, Marduk is shown as being human dressed in royal robes decorated with stars. Marduk is often accompanied by his snake-dragon that he got from the god Tishpak.
When shown riding in his war chariot, Marduk carries his other emblems of a scepter, arrows, bow, spear, net and lightning bolt.
What’s In A Name?
To start, there is some controversy over the translation of Marduk’s name. There is the Sumerian dAMAR.UD that translates as: “calf of the sun/sun-god.” Then comes the suggestion that this spelling should call for the translation of: “calf of the storm,” “the son of the storm, and “maker of storms.” The latter translation is often rejected due to a lack of evidence with Marduk’s role as a storm god. Accepting this interpretation of the name nixes any connection to Marduk as a solar deity.
The Akkadian spelling for Marduk’s name is AMAR.UTU that translates to mean MERI.DUG. The name is translated to mean “Solar Calf.” In the Hebrew Torah, his name is spelled as Merodach and the Greek spelling of his name is given as Mardochaios.
Marduk’s name is thought to derive from the phrase: amar-Utu meaning: “Bull Calf of the Sun God Utu.” This naming convention could easily be an indicator of early genealogy. Or, it’s an indicator of cultural ties to the city of Sippar, whose main deity was Utu, a Sun God. The city of Sippar dates to the third millennium B.C.E.
The Encyclopedia of Religion comments that the name Marduk was likely pronounced as Marutuk.
Temple Sites
Esagila – “Temple whose top is raised” or “Proud/Honored Temple.” While Marduk would come to claim prominence throughout most of Mesopotamia, his primary temple is Esagila, located in Babylon. This is the famous ziggurat that’s described by Herodotus.
Etemenanki – “Temple that is the foundation of Heavens and Earth” A ziggurat with Marduk’s shrine located at the top. This may be the temple that inspired the “Tower of Babel.”
Cult of Marduk – As the patron god of Babylon, this city was the main location for Marduk’s worship. The rise and popularity of this religion venerating Marduk is tied closely with the rise of Babylon as a strong political power and capital of the Mesopotamian empire. To the degree that many other deities were subsumed and seen as aspects and epitaphs of Marduk. Outside of Babylon, Marduk was worshipped in Borsippa, Nippur, and Sippar.
In the Assyrian period of Babylonian history, Aššur becomes the head of the pantheon and Marduk takes on a symbolic role of Babylon’s resistance to Assyrian rule. The cult of Aššur would compete with the cult of Marduk. In the Assyrian version of the Enūma Eliš, it is Aššur who becomes the head of the pantheon, not Marduk.
The Marduk Prophecy also shows the conflicts of this change of power as Marduk’s statue is continually “taken captive” until finally the resulting destruction of Babylon and Esagila with the different shifts of power in the region.
Marduk Statue
This is a very important aspect of the ancient world beliefs and Mesopotamia is no different. Within the temple of Esagila there was a golden statue of Marduk. This statue wasn’t just dedicated to Marduk, the ancient Mesopotamians believed that statue to actually be the god himself. Seen in the Marduk Prophecy, if the statue of the god wasn’t present, then he wasn’t in his temple or there to protect his city-state and all sorts of calamities and problems would happen.
Originating during the rule of the Kassites, a new king wishing to see his rule as legitimate, needed to “take the hands of Marduk,” symbolizing the king’s submission and accepting the will and guidance of the god.
In 485 B.C.E., the Persian king Xerxes attacked the city of Babylon and there is no mention of Marduk’s statue. The same goes when Alexander the Great conquers Babylon in 331 B.C.E., there’s no mention of the statue. This lack of evidence and records leads many scholars to believe and agree that Marduk’s statue disappearance from history means that it has, in all likelihood been destroyed.
Without a statue, the Babylonian religion and worship of Marduk declined.
Akitu Festival
This was the ancient New Year’s festival that the Sumerians and Mesopotamian cultures celebrated. This festival occurred sometime during March and April, marking the planting of barley. This festival was presided over by Nabu and Marduk to such a degree, that a text known as the Akitu Chronicle documents a time when the festival couldn’t be observed as Marduk (his physical statue, thus him) wasn’t present in the city of Babylon. Without the statue to carry through the city out to a small house outside the city walls, the people thought that disaster would soon befall them if the patron god wasn’t there to stop the forces of chaos.
Every year at the Akitu House located outside the city, the Enuma Elish would be recited for the New Year’s festival. There was also involved a ritual slapping of the king. Gotta’ stay humble, I guess.
Parentage and Family
Anu – Grandfather and the original head of the Mesopotamian pantheon before other deities arrive on the scene.
Parents
Ea – The previous head and leader of the gods before stepping down. Known as Enki in Sumerian. Ea was the creator god, associated with the fresh, life-giving waters.
Damkina – A Fertility and Mother goddess originally known as Ninhursag.
Consort
Sarpanitu – Also spelled Zarpanitu. She is a Mother and Fertility Goddess
Nanaya – She is sometimes given as Marduk’s wife in the myths.
Children
Nabu – Son and god of literature, scribes and wisdom. Nabu was originally Marduk’s first minister before being identified as his son.
Birth Of A Legend
For as old and ancient as the Mesopotamian mythologies are, it makes sense that we might not know that much about them. To a point.
Marduk goes from obscurity with almost nobody knowing anything about him in the third millennium B.C.E. to the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon in Babylon in the first millennium B.C.E.
By the time the Enuma Elish is written, Marduk’s original nature has already been altered and obscured. As now, he’s a deity linked to the attributes of judgment, magic, vegetation, and water. He is now identified as the son of Ea and Damkina.
As the politics of Babylon and the whole of the Euphrates Valley ramped up, Marduk’s attributes and aspects begin to alter as he would be placed as the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, especially for his patron city-state of Babylon.
Once Babylon becomes the capital of Mesopotamia, Marduk who was currently just a patron deity of the city now ascends to become the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon and a supreme deity, ruling or presiding over everything else. Explaining this power shift of head honcho, head god and the transfer of power from Ea to Marduk, the Enûma Elish gets written, showing a peaceful abdication of power as Ea steps down and concedes rulership to his son.
There are a couple little snags later on, such as the revival of the god Enlil’s worship to Marduk, reflecting a real-world, historical rise of the cult of Enlil during Kassite control in Babylon between 1570 B.C.E. to 1157 B.C.E. The worship of Marduk and thus, his triumph over Enlil returns at the end of this era of Kassite control.
The other snag to Marduk’s popularity and his being the supreme deity comes during 1000 B.C.E. when the deity Aššur up north in Assyria gains popularity and worship. Down in the southern parts of the region, Marduk is still the head deity. The history of these events is reflected in the Marduk Prophecy.
Enuma Elish
This ancient epic creation poem was written in the 18th century B.C.E. when the city of Babylon becomes the political capital of Mesopotamia. It’s largely written to show Marduk’s birth, many of his heroic deeds and how Ea (Enki) steps down to allow Marduk, in a relatively peaceful transfer of power to become the king and head of the pantheon.
The Enuma Elish begins at the start of time when the universe is nothing more than chaos with freshwater represented by Apsu and saltwater represented by Tiamat, a dragoness. The male and female principles, not unlike the concept seen in the Japanese Yin & Yang. The joining of these two primordial deities would see the creation of all the other gods, known as the Anunnaki.
While Tiamat loved all her children, Apsu, on the other hand, didn’t care for them, saying they were too noisy, keeping him up all night and unable to get any work done during the day. Apsu’s response to this problem was to kill his children.
A horrified Tiamat told her eldest son, Enki of what Apsu planned. Enki decided that the best plan for dealing with this was to put Apsu into a deep sleep and then kill him. From Apsu’s corpse, Enki then creates his home, the earth and the marshy region of Eridu.
This further horrifies Tiamat who wasn’t expecting for Enki to just up and kill Apsu. As a result, she decided to wage war on her own children. The mighty Tiamat raises up an army of chaos and sets Kingu (Quingu) as the general of this army and her new consort.
This has Enki and the other gods worried about what to do. That is, until Marduk steps forward, saying he will lead everyone in this war. Marduk has one condition, that is that he be named as the new king of the pantheon. Enki agrees and Marduk leads the Anunnaki to battle.
Marduk prepares his weapons consisting of bow and arrows, a mace, lightning as he is a storm god, flames and a net. Gathering up the four winds, Marduk encircles and nets the mighty Tiamat to prevent her from escaping him. New winds are created by Marduk such as whirlwinds and tornadoes. As he is a storm god, Marduk brings down a fierce flood of rain. It’s a battle between a storm god and a primordial goddess of chaos and the sea, it’s epic as Marduk rides in his storm-chariot pulled by four horses who have poison in their mouths. Spellcasting and an herbal antidote as Marduk faces off against one of the mightiest dragons known in mythology.
After Marduk finally slays Tiamat with an arrow to her stomach, he then goes after Tiamat’s son, Kingu who oversaw the army and wears the Tablets of Destiny over his chest. Marduk makes short work of Kingu in single combat, claiming the tablets and establishing himself as the new head of the pantheon.
This is a lot of power that Marduk has now accumulated and he sets about to create the universe. But didn’t that already exist? He’s at least making a new one as Marduk takes the two halves of Tiamat’s corpse to create the heavens and the earth, completing the work started by Enki. From Tiamat’s eyes, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow.
With Kingu’s blood, Marduk mixes it with the earth to create the first humans. The creation of humans would allow the gods the leisure time and the time to focus on higher purposes, taking care of human needs as humanity basically did the grunt work. All humans would need to do is respect and give heed to the will of the gods living in Eridu with Marduk ruling overall as a benevolent god.
That doesn’t sound like it will end well and I’m sure there’s another story concerning that.
Side Note: Depending on the version of the creation myth, it is solely Marduk involved in all of it and there’s no mention of Enki.
Further, knowing that this is a revision of the original myths, I’m curious about what the originals may have been.
Eridu – The First City
Yes, there really is a historical site for an ancient city of this name. Eridu is the oldest city built by the Mesopotamians around 5400 B.C.E. Depending on who you ask, it may be the oldest city in the world. In the Babylonian texts, namely Enuma Elish, it is a holy city where all the other gods lived a life of leisure.
This city was originally the city-state for the god Enki who is later known as Ea by the Akkadians. For modern times, it was first excavated by John George Taylor in 1855. Later, archeological discoveries found that the city was ultimately abandoned around 600 B.C.E. due to a change in climate as the water became more salinized from all the constant irrigation.
As seen later, in the Marduk Prophecy, with the Enuma Elish, the story here likely reflects on the transition from Eridu to Babylon as it became the political and religious center of the Euphrates valley and a cultural shift as the newer city becomes more prominent over the older city of Eridu.
Revisionist History – Scholars have noted that the city of Eridu is founded in the 5th millennium B.C.E. and that Marduk ascends to head of the Mesopotamian pantheon in the 2nd millennium B.C.E. That is a lot of time to have passed. It clearly marks that someone decided to rewrite the myths to favor Marduk when his popularity and the importance of Babylon as a political center become prominent.
Fertility God
Marduk is a god of fertility and vegetation and thus, agriculture. The triangular spade or hoe that Marduk is shown with in some art represents his role and power over fertility and vegetation.
The roles and aspects of Marduk being a Spring, Storm and Solar god also blend in with this function. However, making these connections relies on accepting certain etymological interpretations for Marduk’s name.
Patron God
As a patron god, Marduk, not just King of the gods, also presided over the city of Babylon. The importance of a patron deity is shown in the Marduk Prophecy where Babylon has fallen to chaos and disarray when Marduk’s statue and thus the god himself leaves and order is later restored when King Nebuchadnezzar returns Marduk’s statue to the city.
Not the Original Patron – This was a fun little fact to come across. Before Marduk became the patron god of Babylon, that honor belonged to Inanna, goddess of sexuality and warfare. She would still be a prominent and important goddess throughout the Mesopotamian culture.
Protector
Marduk’s role as Patron, also places him prominently as a protector deity. Aside from the Akitu Chronicles and the Marduk Prophecy, there are two other texts: “The Ludlul-Bel-Nimeqi” and “The Wrath of Erra” that highlight just how vital having one’s patron deity present was, not just for the city, but for the individual as well.
The Ludlul-Bel-Nimeqi – Also called the “Let me praise the Lord of Wisdom” or “The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer,” it is often classified as “Wisdom Literature.” This text is a long treatise some four tablets long with 120 lines each. that details the amount of suffering that Tabu-utu-bel, a city official of Nippur goes through because Marduk isn’t close enough to help as he is too far away for any meaningful help. Biblical scholars have compared this text with the Book of Job for the themes of suffering when one’s God seems absent.
The Wrath of Erra – This is another text, in which the war god, Erra (Irra or Nergal) grows bored and decides the only way to cure his boredom is to attack Babylon. The other gods try to persuade Erra that this is a bad idea and don’t do it. Undaunted, Erra heads off to Babylon anyways. Once there, Erra convinces Marduk that his clothes are shabby and perhaps he should go about getting some new threads. Marduk says he’s much too busy to take of this matter and Erra convinces Marduk that he’ll watch over the city. Off Marduk goes and Erra takes advantage of the opportunity to proceed with destroying the city and killing civilians. Depending on the source translated from, either the other gods stop Erra’s path of destruction or he’s halted when Marduk finally returns with his fancy new duds. Regardless, the story ends with giving praise to Erra, the god of war for sparing a part of the city so people could rebuild.
Yay?
The idea of having a protector and patron god of one’s city was very strong among the Babylonians. This was their whole city and personal identity that in 485 B.C.E. the Persian king Xerxes had Marduk’s statue destroyed when he sacked the city. Eventually, with the sands of time, Babylon is deserted and left to ruin and people have forgotten about worshiping Marduk.
King Of The Gods
As head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, Marduk takes on a lot of aspects. In some cases, this is taking over the role of other gods who had previously been the head of the pantheon. Such aspects that Marduk comes to preside over are justice, compassion, mercy, healing, regeneration, magic.
Mušḫuššu
A “snake-dragon, mušḫuššu is Marduk’s sacred animal that he got from the god Tishpak. The mušḫuššu is depicted on the city walls of Babylon.
50 Titles
If you ask me this is a lot of titles and epitaphs to be known by. We get this list from two different sources, “The Seven Tablets of Creation” that Leonard W. King studied in 1902 to reconstruct from fragments a list of names. Then there is the “King’s List” that Franz Bohl studied in 1936. Finally, we get to 1958, when Richard Litke compared and noticed similarities with Marduk’s name between the two lists of An (Anum, a deity list) and Enuma Elish.
These names demonstrate the level of prominence that Marduk held within the Babylonian pantheon. These fifty names of Marduk are found and documented in the Enûma Elish and the Anum.
Why 50? – The number 50 was originally associated with the god Enlil, the former head of the pantheon. So this is just part of showing the transfer of power from Enlil to Marduk.
Asalluhi – As Marduk came to prominence, he took over the role and identity of Asalluhi, the son of Ea and god of incantations and magic. With both Asalluhi and Marduk becoming equated as the same entity, Asalluhi’s name survives as one of Marduk’s many names and epitaphs. Some commentary has noted that equating or syncretizing Marduk and Asalluhi together is a means to create a stronger tie to the god Ea and the city of Eridu as Ea was not part of the original pantheon.
Bel – Meaning “Lord,” this is the name that Marduk would eventually be known by, making him a god of order and destiny.
He is normally referred to as Bel “Lord”, also bel rabim “great lord”, bêl bêlim “lord of lords”, ab-kal ilâni bêl terêti “leader of the gods”, aklu bêl terieti “the wise, lord of oracles”, muballit mîte “reviver of the dead”, etc.
The Marduk Prophecy
This is an interesting text, not so much as it’s telling prophecies, but more about being a history around the movement of Marduk’s cult as they follow Marduk’s statue from Babylon. This text was found at the House of the Exorcist in Assur and dates from 713 to 612 B.C.E. It appears to be similar to another set of texts, the Shulgi prophecy.
It begins with Marduk’s statue getting stolen by Mursilis I of Hatti in 1531 B.C.E. The god Marduk is described as visiting the land of Assyria. Then, when a Tukulti-Ninurta I overthrows Kashtiliash IV in 1225 B.C.E., Marduk’s statue is taken Assur and then Elam as Kudur-nahhunte sacks the city in 1160 B.C.E.
Each time, Marduk is described as willingly heading off to visit these places. Which makes sense when you remember that this far back, a statue of a deity… hence an idol was the actual deity in question, not just a representation.
The way Marduk’s travels are told, they are allegories of the history involved. The first couple of journeys that Marduk takes are fairly favorable. When it comes to the city-state of Elam, that’s a whole other matter as the other gods following after Marduk, likely shows the changing climate of the region as they abandon Babylon due to famine and pestilence.
There’s also a familiar theme as Marduk prophecies that he will return again to Babylon with a new king will rise to power bringing about redemption and salvation to the city, taking it back from the Elamites and restoring the Ekursagila temple. Where the Marduk Prophecy is concerned, King Nabu-kudurri-uṣur (Nebuchadnezzar), who reigned from 1125 to 1103 B.C.E. is accepted as being the king who returns Marduk’s statue to Babylon and is victorious over the Elamites.
The main importance of the Marduk Prophecy text is to highlight the necessity of the patron deity staying in Babylon. Each time that the Marduk statue (Marduk himself) is abducted, chaos falls on the city of Babylon while the places where the statue resides, prosper.
Like some epic game of football where the opposing team comes and steals the home team’s mascot to weaken their morale.
Propaganda?
No! Say it isn’t so!
Remember the previously mentioned King Nebuchadnezzar? It’s been noted that the dates of when the Marduk Prophecy (1 millennium B.C.E.) and even the Enuma Elish both date to around the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule and reign between 1125-1103 B.C.E. It makes him look good for restoring order (his defeat of the Elamites and bringing Marduk’s statue back) that he’s the prophesied king come to do Marduk’s will.
Jupiter – Roman
With Marduk’s position and role as the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, the Romans equated him with Jupiter, the head of their pantheon.
Zeus – Greek
With Marduk’s position and role as the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, the Greeks equated him with Zeus, the head of their pantheon.
Bel – Babylonian
Yes, Bel is previously mentioned earlier as one of Marduk’s fifty names.
He is mentioned as being a separate deity here as in the 1 millennium B.C.E., by the time we get to this era of history, as a title, Bel is the name that other deities Enlil and Dumuzid, not just Marduk have been known by.
Taken separately, Bel holds all the titles and aspects that Enlil did. To the point that Bel eventually becomes a god of order and destiny. Even Greek historians mentioned Bel in their writings. As a separate deity, Bel was the god of order and destiny. Both Marduk and Bel’s cults were similar, so it’s not hard to see how Bel becomes absorbed and an epitaph for Marduk.
Bel and the Dragon – This is a Jewish story and apocryphal addition to the Book of Daniel in which the Babylonians offer a substantial amount of food and wine every day to an idol of Bel. This vast quantity of food seemingly, miraculously disappears each night. This is enough to convince the Persian king Cyrus the Great that the idol is alive, and he tells Daniel this.
Daniel being a wise man and rather smart knows this isn’t the case. Afterall Daniel says it’s clay on the inside and bronze outside. It likely has never eaten anything. To prove this, Daniel discreetly covers the floor of the temple with ash.
Both Daniel and Cyrus leave for the night. When they return in the morning, Daniel is able to point out the footprints left behind, thus proving that it is the seventy priests of Bel who are eating the food, not the idol.
Biblical Connections
Some scholars point out that the name Bel is derived from the Semitic word “Baal” that has the same meaning of “Lord.” There are several places within the Bible where Bel is mentioned, this more than likely referencing Marduk. The Hebrew version of Marduk’s name, Merodach is found in many places in the Bible as a surname for non-Israeli kings.
Continuing this trend for Biblical Connections, Marduk and a couple other Mesopotamian and Canaanite deities are made mention of in the Torah or Old Testament.
Thanks to Cyrus the Great of Persia, when he captured Babylon, he reversed the policies of the previous ruler by calling for the rebuilding of temples and reinstating religions that had been destroyed or banned before.
Where the Bible (Torah) is concerned, Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple to Yahweh. Cyrus records inspiration for this as coming from Marduk. The bible will say that it is Yahweh who inspired Cyrus.
The “Cyrus Cylinder” found in 1879 at Babylon records the following: “Marduk, the great Lord, established as his fate for me a magnanimous heart of one who loves Babylon, and I daily attended to his worship… I returned the images of the gods, who had resided there [in Babylon], to their places; and I let them dwell in eternal abodes. I gathered all their inhabitants and returned to them their dwellings… at the command of Marduk.”
In the Book of Ezra 5:13 this event is recorded: “In the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God.”
The Book of Isaiah is where Yahweh is given credit for inspiring Cyrus.
“I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness:
I will make all his ways straight.
He will rebuild my city
and set my exiles free” (Isaiah 45:13)
The connections don’t end there, Biblical scholars see a similar theme with Marduk’s slaying Tiamat with the Canaanite story of Baal slaying Tannin and notably Yahweh’s defeating the giant sea monster Leviathan in Psalm 74: 13-14 or a future time in Isaiah 27:1.
The previously mentioned Etemenanki temple is thought to be the inspiration for the Tower of Babel. Babylon’s destruction is prophesied in the book of Jeremiah (50:2).
Who do you accept? It’s a matter of two different religions, cultures and perspectives. Of course, it’s easy, after the fact, to say there was divine intervention and that it is all prophesied.
Sitchin Time
According to Zecharia Sitchin, the claim is made that the great battle between Tiamat and Marduk is symbolic for the creation of our solar system’s asteroid belt. Sitchin writes that this asteroid belt was once a planet that the Sumerians called Tiamat. Due to an impact, the planet was destroyed, creating the “Great Band” or asteroid belt. The planetary impact responsible is that of the planet Nibiru, associated with the god Marduk.
Babylonian Astronomy, Astrology & Zodiac
I will call bunk on Sitchin’s ideas.
When you look at the word Nibiru in the Akkadian language, it refers to a crossing or transition points like with rivers. In Babylonian astronomy, Nibiru came to refer to the Equinox, notably, the Autumn Equinox. In their star lore, the term nibiru can refer to any crossing. Tracking the movement of the stars and planets in the heavens as they appear from Earth. The star or planet associated with Marduk is the one we know modernly as Jupiter.
For the Babylonians, the Autumn Equinox occurred in the month of Tisritum, roughly coinciding with between September and October. If we’re following the Greek Zodiac, then the constellation of Libra is prominent. A further fun fact, depending on the time of the year and the location of the planet Mercury, it could sometimes be called Nibiru.
Some of it is confusing. Mainly it’s understanding how to read and interpret what the Babylonians meant when tracking the night sky.
It should come as no surprise, that as old as the Mesopotamian cultures and religions are, that they would have mapped out the night sky to mark the turning of the seasons, creating a calendar. Many of these early constellations and zodiacs were adopted by the later Greeks who incorporated the constellations into their own mythology.
In Babylonian beliefs, it is Marduk who creates the astrological calendar and mapped out the different signs of the Zodiac. Marduk would be identified with the planet Jupiter, who of course is later equated with the Greek Zeus and renamed for the Roman deity Jupiter as all three are heads of their respective pantheons.
Cetus – Greek Mythology & Constellation
While many are familiar with the constellation’s connection to the Grecian story of Andromeda and Perseus in its role as the giant sea monster sent by Poseidon to destroy the coast of Aethiopia.
The constellation of Cetus has been identified with Tiamat, the dragon goddess of Chaos. Marking Tiamat’s story one of many that the Greeks likely inherited from the Mesopotamians and retold for their legends.
Brickthology 