| Tiamat | |
|---|---|
| Genealogy | |
| Consort | Abzu; Kingu (after Abzu's death) |
| Children | Kingu, Lahamu, Lahmu |
| Part of a series on |
| Ancient Mesopotamian religion |
|---|
 |
|
|
In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat (Akkadian: 𒀭𒋾𒊩𒆳 DTI.AMAT or 𒀭𒌓𒌈 DTAM.TUM, Ancient Greek: Θαλάττη, romanized: Thaláttē)[1] is the primordial sea, mating with Abzû (Apsu), the groundwater, to produce the gods in the Babylonian epic Enûma Elish, which translates as "when on high." She is referred to as a woman, and has—at various points in the epic—a number of anthropomorphic features (such as breasts) and theriomorphic features (such as a tail).
In the Enûma Elish, the Babylonian epic of creation, Tiamat bears the first generation of deities after mingling her waters with those of Apsu, her consort. The gods continue to reproduce, forming a noisy new mass of divine children. Apsu, driven to violence by the noise they make, seeks to destroy them and is killed. Enraged, Tiamat also wars upon those of her own and Apsu's children who killed her consort, bringing forth a series of monsters as weapons. She also takes a new consort, Qingu, and bestows on him the Tablet of Destinies, which represents legitimate divine rulership.[2][3] She is ultimately defeated and slain by Enki's son, the storm-god Marduk, but not before she conjures forth monsters whose bodies she fills with "poison instead of blood." Marduk dismembers her, and then constructs and structures elements of the cosmos from Tiamat’s body.
Some sources have dubiously identified her with images of a sea serpent or dragon.[4]
- ^ "Tiamat (goddess)". Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses. Penn State University. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
- ^ George, Andrew (1986). "Sennacherib and the Tablet of Destinies". Iraq. 48: 133–146. doi:10.2307/4200258. JSTOR 4200258.
- ^ Sonik, Karen (2012). "The Tablet of Destinies and the Transmission of Power in Enūma eliš". Organization, Representation, and Symbols of Power in the Ancient Near East. Proceedings of the 54th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Würzburg, 20–25 July 2008. pp. 387–395. doi:10.5325/j.ctv1bxgx80.34. JSTOR 10.5325/j.ctv1bxgx80.34.
- ^ Jacobsen 1968, pp. 104–108.