ENUMA ELISH - Babylonian Creation Myth

Now that the principal problems with regard to the contents, date, and influence of the Creation Series, Enuma elish, have been dealt with, it remains to describe in some detail the forty-nine fragments and tablets from which the text, transliterated and translated in the following pages, has been made up. After each registration-number is given a reference to the published copy of the text in Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, etc., in the British Museum, pt. xiii, or in Vol. II of this work, or in Appendices I and II of this volume; a brief description of each tablet is added, together with references to any previous publication of the text. After the enumeration of the known copies of each tablet, a list is given of the authorities for the separate lines of the tablet, in order to enable the reader to verify any passage in the text with as little delay as possible.

The following twelve tablets and fragments are inscribed with portions of the text of the First Tablet of the series:--

1. K. 5,419c: Cuneiform Texts, pt. xiii (illegible), pl. I. Obverse: ll. 1-16; Reverse: catch-line and colophon.

p. XCVIII

Upper part of an Assyrian tablet, 34 in. by 1 7/8 in. For earlier publications of the text, see George Smith, T.S.B.A., vol. iv, the Creation Series, p. 363 f., pl. i; Fox Talbot, T.S.B.A., vol. v, pp. 428 ff.; Menant, Manuel de la langue Asyrienne, p. 378 f.; Delitzsch, Asyrische Lesestücke, 1st ed., p. 40, 2nd ed., p. 78, 3rd ed., p. 93; Lyon, Assyrian Manual, p. 62; and my First Steps in Assyrian, p. 122 f.

2. No. 93,015 (82-7-14, 402): Cun. Texts, pt. xiii, pls. 1 and 3. Obverse: ll. 1-16; Reverse: ll. 124-142 and colophon.

Upper part of a Neo-Babylonian tablet, 2 1/8 in. by 2 1/4 in. For an earlier publication of the text, see Pinches, Bab. Or. Rec., vol. iv, p. 26f. The fragment is probably part of the same tablet as that to which No. 10 belonged.

3. No. 45,528 + 46,614: Vol. II, pls. i-vi. Obverse: ll. 1-48; Reverse: ll. 111-142, catch-line, and colophon.

Part of a Neo-Babylonian tablet, formed from two fragments, which I have joined; 2 1/4 in. by 5 ½ in. This text has not been previously published.

4. No. 35,134: Vol. II, pl. vii. Obverse: ll. 11-21; no reverse.

Part of a Neo-Babylonian tablet, 1 3/8 in. by 2 in. This text has not been previously published.

5. No. 36,726: Vol. II, pl. viii. Obverse: ll. 28-33.

Neo-Babylonian "practice-tablet"; the text, which forms an extract, measures 2 7/8. by 1 1/4 in. This text has not been previously published.

6. 81-7-27, 80: Cun. Texts, pt. xiii, pl. 2. Obverse: ll. 31-56; Reverse: ll. 118-142.

Part of an Assyrian tablet, 25/8 in. by 3 in. This text, which was referred to by Pinches in the Bab. Or. Rec., vol. iv, p. 33, was used by Zimmern for his translation in Gunkel's Schöpfung

p. XCIX

und Chaos, p. 402 f.; it was given in transliteration by Delitzsch, Weltschöpfungsepos, p. 25 f., and by Jensen, Mythen una Epen, pp. 2 ff.

7. K. 3,938: Cun. Texts, pt. xiii, pl. 3. Obverse: ll. 33-42; Reverse: ll. 128-142.

Part of an Assyrian tablet, 1 1/6 in. by 1 3/4 in. This fragment was used by George Smith, Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 93 f., and by subsequent translators; the text was given in transliteration by Delitzsch, Weltschöpfungsepos, p. 27.

8. K. 7,871: Vol. I, Appendix II, pp. 183 ff. Obverse: ll. 33-47; no reverse.

Part of an Assyrian tablet, 1 1/6 in. by 1 3/4 in. The fragment may belong to the same tablet as No. II. This text has not been previously published.

9. No. 36,688: Vol. II, pl. vii. Obverse: ll. 38-44.

Part of a Neo-Babylonian "practice-tablet"; the text, which forms an abstract, measures 1½ in. by 1 1/8 in. This text has not been previously published.

10. No. 46,803: Vol. II, pls. ix-xi. Obverse ll. 46-67; Reverse: ll. 83-103.

Part of a Neo-Babylonian tablet, 2 in. by 2 in. The fragment is probably part of the same tablet as that to which No. 2 belonged. This text has not been previously published.

11. K. 4,488: Vol. I, Appendix II, pp. 185 ff. Obverse: ll. 50-63; no reverse.

Part of an Assyrian tablet, 1 3/4 in. by 1½ in.; see above, No. 8. This text has not been previously published.

12. 82-9-18, 6,879: Vol. II, pls. xii and xiii. No obverse; Reverse: ll. 93-1 18.

Part of a Neo-Babylonian tablet, 1 7/8 in. by 2 5/8 in. This text has not been previously published.

p. C

The authorities for the lines of the First Tablet are as follows:--