Enuma Elish Myths

Bruce Lincoln, a graduate from Haverford College, has devoted his career to the study of religion and has made a profound impact in the community in regards to the idea of myth. One of his most notable works is “Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Ideology, and Scholarship” that focuses on Levi-Strauss, Dumezil, and Eliade’s ideas about the subject of myth and their own perceptions of it. Lincoln goes on to explain the differences between the three regarding their different ideological and political motives. Lincoln then goes on to conclude that “Myth is not just a taxonomy, but ideology in narrative form” (Lincoln 147). Lincoln had finally came up with his definition of myth after spending a good amount of time analyzing all of the previous ideas

For example, W. G. Lambert states that “The story begins with a Theogony: the descent of the primeval gods culminating quite quickly in Marduk, patron god of the town Babylon” (Lambert 17, which means that before mankind, there were numerous gods named Tiamat, Apsu, Qingu, Mummu, Ansar, Kinsar, and Marduk who ruled over everything and had the power to create. The Enuma Elish speaks of creation in the story throughout the seven tablets that illustrated a narration of the entire story, thus linking it to Lincoln’s theorization of myth. It links up perfectly because the story is so long that it took four tablets for Marduk to kill Tiamat, who then goes on to create mankind and become the god of the gods. In Tablet six in the Enuma Elish, it states that “From his blood he (Ea) created mankind and had imposed the service of the gods upon them” (Enuma Elish 33-36). The Enuma Elish fits Lincoln’s theorization of myth because it’s not just the classification of gods and power that’s established, but the myth also sheds light on the creation of mankind and all the creation before us explained in narrative form by the unknown

Deeper into Lincoln’s article, “Theorizing Myth”, he uses the example of the Old Irish epic Tain Bo to explain his theorization of myth. For example, in the epic Tain Bo Cualnge, it states that “Her menstrual period forces her to withdrawl from battle, submit to Cu Chulainn, and lose the bull… Fitting were the events of this day for those who followed a woman” (Lincoln 148). This Irish epic depicts an ideology that men are more powerful than women because they have weaknesses that men don’t. Because Tain Bo Cualnge expresses the ideology that men outrank women, it is evident that the narration of Tain Bo Cualnge is a myth because it’s a narration in ideological form. To relate Lincoln’s theorization of myth to the Enuma Elish, we can look at the role of man and female gods in the story. As it turns out, Tiamat (primordial goddess of the sea) was the evil god who was then murdered and slain to restore power to the universe by Marduk (Babylonian God (Warrior). For example, in the narration of the Enuma Elish the author speaks of the dangers of Tiamat having too much power and that she must be removed from her position which brings Marduk (the male) into power. It states that “And will Tiamat, who is a woman, attack you with (her) weapons? [“My father], begetter, rejoice and he glad, Soon you will tread on the neck of Tiamat!” (Enuma