Enuma Elish

Found in the ruins of the Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, written on cuneiform tablets, it is the Babylonian “Epic of Creation”. The tablets tell the story of the god Marduk’s victory over the chaos goddess Tiamat, the cosmic ocean, and Apsu, the ground water, whose union produced young gods. In the beginning, the young gods were too boisterous for Apsu, who plotted to hurt the young gods. One of the gods, Ea, found out and killed Apsu first, which enraged Tiamat. She then created an army of monsters to fight her own childern.

The young gods agreed to make Marduk their king if he should fight Tiamat. Marduk then battled his great-great grandmother Tiamat, cutting her body in two pieces. He used one half to make the sky and the other half to make the earth, using her eyes to make the rivers. Marduk and Ea then created man out of clay and the blood of Tiamat.