Enuma Elish

🔍 What Is the Enuma Elish?

The Enuma Elish is the Babylonian myth about the creation of man, etched in Cuneiform script onto seven clay tablets discovered in the ancient city of Nineveh, dated to around 1100 BCE, but likely transcribed from earlier oral traditions. Its name comes from the opening words of the first tablet, meaning “When on high…” in Akkadian.

📜 Dating the Enuma Elish

The reason the Enuma Elish is regarded to be a writing of great importance is that it is estimated to pre-date the Bible by 500 to 1,000 years. It is estimated that the Enuma Elish was written down in its known form around the 12th–11th century BCE, during the reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar I. However, scholars widely believe it originated from even older Sumerian and Akkadian oral traditions, possibly as far back as 1800–2000 BCE or earlier.

🌀 The Cosmic Drama

More than just a creation story, the Enuma Elish serves as a cosmological blueprint - detailing a primordial battle between order and chaos, the birth of gods, and the origins of humankind. The myth begins with two primordial entities:

Apsu (the sweet waters)

Tiamat (the salt waters and personification of chaos)

From their mingling, the first gods are born. But when the younger gods disrupt Apsu’s peace, he plots to destroy them. Tiamat rises in fury, creating monsters and appointing the war-god Kingu as her champion.

Enter Marduk, the heroic storm god of Babylon, who agrees to defeat Tiamat in exchange for supreme authority among the gods. He slays her, cleaves her body to form the heavens and the earth, and uses Kingu’s blood to create humans - to serve the gods.

Tiamut The Communicator

The Marvel movie Eternals clearly draws upon the ancient Mesopotamian creation epic, the Enuma Elish. The film's storyline features a powerful Celestial named Tiamut The Communicator, whose emergence from the Earth would result in the birth of a new Celestial but also the planet's destruction. This mirrors the role of the goddess Tiamat in the Enuma Elish, where she also represents a primordial force of chaos and her defeat leads to the creation of the cosmos.

🧠 Why It Matters 

The Genesis creation story of the Bible shares has striking parallels with the Enuma Elish:

• Both start with chaos or a formless void.

• Both describe creation by divine decree (e.g., “Let there be light”).

• Both establish order from chaos and elevate a singular god to supreme status.

Given these similarities, it has led many scholars to believe the Enuma Elish influenced parts of Genesis, especially as the Hebrews were exposed to Babylonian culture and texts during the Exile.

🔐 Esoteric Interpretations

On a deeper level, the Enuma Elish may reflect:

The Duality of Spirit and Material (Matter) Worlds - Order and Chaos.

The creation of reality from sound, breath, or Vibration - a theme echoed in other esoteric traditions (e.g., “Logos” in Greek thought, “Om” in Hindu Cosmology).

Tiamat as a symbol of feminine cosmic chaos - later demonized, yet originally revered as a primordial force. Seven tablets, echoing the seven heavens, chakras, or planetary spheres in various mystical traditions.

🌌 Connection to Ancient Astronaut Theory

Some theorists point to parallels between the Enuma Elish and modern Scientific Cosmology and Ancient Astronaut Theory narratives:

Creation from a cosmic battle resembles theories of planetary collisions.

The genetic engineering of humans from divine blood is reminiscent of the Anunnaki narratives in Sumerian texts.

Marduk’s dominion echoes tales of extra-terrestrial “gods” shaping early Civilization and demanding servitude or reverence.

📜 Historical Impact

The Enuma Elish was more than Mythology - it was recited annually during the Akitu Festival which is still celebrated today, in Babylon to reinforce divine kingship and cosmic order. Importantly, it is recognised that the themes of the Enuma Elish are likely to have also influenced the Genesis creation narrative in the Hebrew Bible and later theological and Mythological texts across Mesopotamia and beyond.

The Enuma Elish invites us to reflect on our cosmic origins, the power of myth, and the intersections between Science, Spirituality, and Symbolism. Whether viewed as ancient literature, encoded wisdom, or evidence of otherworldly influence, it continues to raise profound questions.

Symposium Discussion Points 🔥

When Organising your Symposium you can use this list of questions to get you started!

• 🧠 What truths about human nature, power, and creation can we still recognize today?

• 🌎 How does the Enuma Elish mirror our modern struggles with chaos, leadership, and societal order?

• ✨ Is the Enuma Elish purely mythology, or could it encode hidden wisdom or historical memories passed down through symbolic language?

• 🔥 What lessons about pride, creation, destruction, and legacy does the Enuma Elish teach us?

• 🧿 What spiritual truths might archetypes Tiamat and Marduk represent in our own internal struggles?

• 🧬 If the universe was birthed from chaos, does that suggest chaos is not to be feared, but embraced as part of the creative process?

• 📜 In a world drowning in information, could ancient texts like the Enuma Elish hold a wisdom modern society has forgotten how to hear?

• 🌠 If stories like the Enuma Elish survive across millennia, does that hint that myth — rather than fact — is the truest form of human memory?