THE BABYLONIAN STORY OP THE CREATION. 



23 



sharp of tooth, unsparing with their stings, and filled with poison 

 as if it were blood. Fierce dragons then she clothed with 

 terrors, and surrounding them with dazzling splendour, left them 

 on high in order that their monstrous aspect might of itself 

 annihilate those whom she deemed her foes, whilst their tower- 

 ing forms remained undismayed. To these she added other 

 monsters, which may be rendered tentatively by the expressions 

 cockatrice and basilisk, and there were likewise some which 

 resembled in form the god of the heavens, Lahamu, with other 

 great monsters, raging dogs, and scorpion-men. Then there 

 were certain swift-moving monsters, fish-men, and mountain- 

 rams. All these wielded unsparing weapons, and feared not 

 the conflict, being pledged to obey her powerful, irresistible 

 commands. Altogether, the number of the different kinds of 

 monsters which she created was eleven. 



These were naturally quite independent of the gods, some of 

 whom were her offspring, and who, it is noteworthy, are described 

 as her firstborn. These, too, prepared for the fray, and over 

 them she set Kingu, whom " she made great among them, (among) 

 those going in front before the army (as) leaders of the host," 

 who excited their followers to the strife. Having delivered the 

 chief leadership into Kingu's hand, and set him on the rampart, 

 she is represented as reminding him how she had set firm his 

 word, and made him great in the assembly of the gods, delivering 

 the rule of the gods, "all of them," into his hand. She exhorts 

 him then to be " exceeding great," and, apparently as an addi- 

 tional inducement to act up to his exalted position, she calls him 

 " her only spouse." Delivering to him the " Tablets of Fate," 

 which she places in his breast, she informs him that, for the 

 future, his command shall not be changed, and shall stand firm 

 — a power which was apparently regarded as due to the posses- 

 sion of the documents in question. "Now," continues the 

 Babylonian bard, "is Kingu raised on high, assuming Ann's 

 dignity, among the gods (who are) her sons, he holdeth the 

 command." This apparently means, in other words, that the 

 position now occupied by Kingu among the powers of evil, was 

 similar to that of Anu among the gods of heaven, and that he 

 would occupy this place in the case of Tiamthu's success. Kingu 

 now seems to address to his followers a short exhortation to act 

 valiantly — to be fearful in the fight, and let resistance be laid 

 low. But the passage is a difficult one, and the meaning of the 

 lines therefore not altogether certain. 



At this point the first tablet of the Semitic Babylonian legend 

 of the Creation comes to an end, and from the parallel passages 



c 



