Although the cause of the original conflict between the Abyss beneath and the Heaven above is left by ancient inscriptions and scriptures to imagination, it is not a very strained hypothesis that ancient Chaos regarded the upper G.o.ds as aggressors on her domain in the work of creation. "When above," runs the Babylonian legend, "were not raised the heavens, and below on the earth a plant had not grown ... the chaos (or water) Tiamat was the producing mother of the whole of them." "The G.o.ds had not sprung up, any one of them." [50]
Indeed in the legend of the conflict between Bel and the Dragon, on the Babylonian cylinders, it appears that the G.o.d Sar addressed her as wife, and said, "The tribute to thy maternity shall be forced upon them by thy weapons." [51] The Sun and Moon would naturally be drawn into any contest between Overworld (with Light) and Underworld (with Darkness).
Though Tiamat is called a Dragon, she was pictured by the Babylonians only as a monstrous Griffin. In the a.s.syrian account of the fight it will be seen that she is called a "Serpent." The link between the two--Griffin and Serpent--will be found, I suspect, in Typhonic influence on the fable. In a hymn to Amen-Ra (the Sun), copied about fourteenth century b.c. from an earlier composition, as its translator, Mr. Goodwin, supposes, we have the following:--
The G.o.ds rejoice in his goodness who exalts those who are lowly: Lord of the boat and barge, They conduct thee through the firmament in peace.
Thy servants rejoice: Beholding the overthrow of the wicked: His limbs pierced with the sword: Fire consumes him: His soul and body are annihilated.
Naka (the serpent) saves his feet: The G.o.ds rejoice: The servants of the Sun are in peace.
The allusion in the second line indicates that this hymn relates to the navigation of Ra through Hades, and the destruction of Apophis.
We may read next the Accadian tablet (p. 256) which speaks of the seven Hathors as neither male nor female, and as born in "the Deep."
Another Accadian tablet, translated by Mr. Sayce, speaks of these as the "baleful seven destroyers;" as "born in the mountain of the sunset;" as being Incubi. It is significantly said:--"Among the stars of heaven their watch they kept not, in watching was their office." Here is a primaeval note of treachery. [52]
We next come to a further phase, represented in a Cuneiform tablet, which must be quoted at length:--
Days of storm, Powers of Evil, Rebellious spirits, who were born in the lower part of heaven, They were workers of calamity.
(The lines giving the names and descriptions of the spirits are here broken.)
The third was like a leopard, The fourth was like a snake ...
The fifth was like a dog ...
The sixth was an enemy to heaven and its king.
The seventh was a destructive tempest.
These seven are the messengers of Anu [53] their king.
From place to place by turns they pa.s.s.
They are the dark storms in heaven, which into fire unite themselves.
They are the destructive tempests, which on a fine day sudden darkness cause.
With storms and meteors they rush.
Their rage ignites the thunderbolts of Im. [54]
From the right hand of the Thunderer they dart forth.
On the horizon of heaven like lightning they ...
Against high heaven, the dwelling-place of Anu the king, they plotted evil, and had none to withstand them.
When Bel heard this news, he communed secretly with his own heart.
Then he took counsel with Hea the great Inventor (or Sage) of the G.o.ds.
And they stationed the Moon, the Sun, and Ishtar to keep guard over the approach to heaven.
Unto Anu, ruler of heaven, they told it.
And those three G.o.ds, his children, To watch night and day unceasingly he commanded them.
When those seven evil spirits rushed upon the base of heaven, And close in front of the Moon with fiery weapons advanced, Then the n.o.ble Sun and Im the warrior side by side stood firm.
But Ishtar, with Anu the king, entered the exalted dwelling, and hid themselves in the summit of heaven.
Column II.
Those evil spirits, the messengers of Anu their king ...
They have plotted evil ...
From mid-heaven like meteors they have rushed upon the earth.
Bel, who the n.o.ble Moon in eclipse Saw from heaven, Called aloud to Paku his messenger: O my messenger Paku, carry my words to the Deep. [55]
Tell my son that the Moon in heaven is terribly eclipsed!
To Hea in the Deep repeat this!
Paku understood the words of his Lord.
Unto Hea in the Deep swiftly he went.
To the Lord, the great Inventor, the G.o.d Nukimmut, Paku repeated the words of his Lord.
When Hea in the Deep heard these words, He bit his lips, and tears bedewed his face.
Then he sent for his son Marduk to help him.
Go to my son Marduk, Tell my son that the Moon in heaven is terribly eclipsed!
That eclipse has been seen in heaven!
They are seven, those evil spirits, and death they fear not!
They are seven, those evil spirits, who rush like a hurricane, And fall like firebrands on the earth!
In front of the bright Moon with fiery weapons (they draw nigh); But the n.o.ble Sun and Im the warrior (are withstanding them).
[The rest of the legend is lost.]
Nukimmut is a name of Hea which occurs frequently: he was the good genius of the earth, and his son Marduk was his incarnation--a Herakles or Saviour. It will be noted that as yet Ishtar is in heaven. The next Tablet, which shows the development of the myth, introduces us to the great female dragon Tiamat herself, and her destroyer Bel.
... And with it his right hand he armed.
His naming sword he raised in his hand.
He brandished his lightnings before him.
A curved scymitar he carried on his body.
And he made a sword to destroy the Dragon, Which turned four ways; so that none could avoid its rapid blows.
It turned to the south, to the north, to the east, and to the west.
Near to his sabre he placed the bow of his father Anu.
He made a whirling thunderbolt, and a bolt with double flames, impossible to extinguish.
And a quadruple bolt, and a septuple bolt, and a ... bolt of crooked fire.
He took the thunderbolts which he had made, and there were seven of them, To be shot at the Dragon, and he put them into his quiver behind him.
Then he raised his great sword, whose name was "Lord of the Storm."
He mounted his chariot, whose name was "Destroyer of the Impious."
He took his place, and lifted the four reins In his hand.
[Bel now offers to the Dragon to decide their quarrel by single combat, which the Dragon accepts. This agrees with the representations of the combat on Babylonian cylinders in Mr. Smith"s "Chaldean Genesis,"
p. 62, etc.]
(Why seekest thou thus) to irritate me with blasphemies?
Let thy army withdraw: let thy chiefs stand aside: Then I and thou (alone) we will do battle.
When the Dragon heard this.
Stand back! she said, and repeated her command.
Then the tempter rose watchfully on high.
Turning and twisting, she shifted her standing point, She watched his lightnings, she provided for retreat.