With a terseness matched only by the narrative's precision, Act I of the epic of Creation has been swiftly played out before our very eyes. We are informed that Mars and Venus were to grow only to a limited size; but even before their formation was complete, another pair of planets was formed. The two were majestic planets, as evidenced by their names—AN.SHAR ("prince, foremost of the heavens") and KI.SHAR ("foremost of the firm lands"). They overtook in size the first pair, "surpassing them" in stature. The description, epithets, and location of this second pair easily identify them as Saturn and Jupiter. (Fig. 104).
Some time then passed ("multiplied the years"), and a third pair of planets was brought forth. First came ANU, smaller than Anshar and Kishar ("their son"), but larger than the first planets ("of his ancestors a rival" in size). Then Anu, in turn, begot a twin planet, "his equal and in his image." The Babylonian version names the planet NUDIMMUD, an epithet of Ea/Enki. Once again, the descriptions of the sizes and locations fit the next known pair of planets in our solar system, Uranus and Neptune.
There was yet another planet to be accounted for among these outer planets, the one we call Pluto. The "Epic of Creation" has already referred to Anu as "Anshar's first-born," implying that there was yet another planetary god "born" to Anshar/Saturn. The epic catches up with this celestial deity later on, when it relates how Anshar sent out his emissary GAGA on various missions to the other planets. Gaga appears in function and stature equal to Apsu's emissary Mummu; this brings to mind the many similarities between Mercury and Pluto. Gaga, then, was Pluto; but the Sumerians placed Pluto on their celestial map not beyond Neptune, but next to Saturn, whose "emissary," or satellite, it was. (Fig. 105)
As Act I of the "Epic of Creation" came to an end, there was a solar system made up of the Sun and nine planets:
SUN—Apsu, "one who existed from the beginning."
MERCURY—Mummu, counselor and emissary of Apsu.
VENUS—Lahamu, "lady of battles."
MARS—Lahmu, "deity of war."
??—Tiamat, "maiden who gave life."
JUPITER—Kishar, "foremost of firm lands."
SATURN—Anshar, "foremost of the heavens."
PLUTO—Gaga, counselor and emissary of Anshar.
URANUS—Anu, "he of the heavens."
NEPTUNE—Nudimmud (Ea), "artful creator."
Fig. 102. I. In the Beginning: Sun, Mercury, "Tiamat."
Fig. 103. II. The Inner Planets—the "gods in the midst"—come forth.
Fig. 104. III. The SHAR's—the giant planets—are created, together with their "emissary."
Fig. 105. IV. The last two planets are added—equal, in each other's image.
Where were Earth and the Moon? They were yet to be created, products of the forthcoming cosmic collision.
With the end of the majestic drama of the birth of the planets, the authors of the Creation epic now raise the curtain on Act II, on a drama of celestial turmoil. The newly created family of planets was far from being stable. The planets were gravitating toward each other; they were converging on Tiamat, disturbing and endangering the primordial bodies.
The divine brothers banded together;
They disturbed Tiamat as they surged back and forth.
They were troubling the "belly" of Tiamat
By their antics in the dwellings of heaven.
Apsu could not lessen their clamor;
Tiamat was speechless at their ways.
Their doings were loathsome. . ..
Troublesome were their ways.
We have here obvious references to erratic orbits. The new planets "surged back and forth"; they got too close to each other ("banded together"); they interfered with Tiamat's orbit; they got too close to her "belly"; their "ways" were troublesome. Though it was Tiamat that was principally endangered, Apsu, too, found the planets' ways "loathsome." He announced his intention to "destroy, wreck their ways." He huddled with Mummu, conferred with him in secret. But "whatever they had plotted between them" was overheard by the gods, and the plot to destroy them left them speechless. The only one who did not lose his wits was Ea. He devised a ploy to "pour sleep upon Apsu." When the other celestial gods liked the plan, Ea "drew a faithful map of the universe" and cast a divine spell upon the primeval waters of the solar system.
What was this "spell" or force exerted by "Ea" (the planet Neptune)—then the outermost planet—as it orbited the Sun and circled all the other planets? Did its own orbit around the Sun affect the Sun's magnetism and thus its radioactive outpourings? Or did Neptune itself emit, upon its creation, some vast radiations of energy? Whatever the effects were, the epic likened them to a "pouring of sleep"—a calming effect—upon Apsu (the Sun). Even "Mummu, the Counsellor, was powerless to stir."
As in the biblical tale of Samson and Delilah, the hero—overcome by sleep—could easily be robbed of his powers. Ea moved quickly to rob Apsu of his creative role. Quenching, it seems, the immense outpourings of primeval matter from the Sun, Ea/Neptune "pulled off Apsu's tiara, removed his cloak of aura." Apsu was "vanquished." Mummu could no longer roam about. He was "bound and left behind," a lifeless planet by his master's side.
By depriving the Sun of its creativity—stopping the process of emitting more energy and matter to form additional planets—the gods brought temporary peace to the solar system. The victory was further signified by changing the meaning and location of the Apsu. This epithet was henceforth to be applied to the "Abode of Ea." Any additional planets could henceforth come only from the new Apsu—from "the Deep"—the far reaches of space that the outermost planet faced.
How long was it before the celestial peace was broken once more? The epic does not say. But it does continue, with little pause, and raises the curtain on Act III:
In the Chamber of Fates, the place of Destinies,
A god was engendered, most able and wisest of gods;
In the heart of the Deep was MARDUK created.
A new celestial "god"—a new planet-now joins the cast. He was formed in the Deep, far out in space, in a zone where orbital motion—a planet's "destiny"—had been imparted to him. He was attracted to the solar system by the outermost planet: "He who begot him was Ea" (Neptune). The new planet was a sight to behold:
Alluring was his figure, sparkling the lift of his eyes;
Lordly was his gait, commanding as of olden times....
Greatly exalted was he above the gods, exceeding throughout....
He was the loftiest of the gods, surpassing was his height;
His members were enormous, he was exceedingly tall.
Appearing from outer space, Marduk was still a newborn planet, belching fire and emitting radiation. "When he moved his lips, fire blazed forth."
As Marduk neared the other planets, "they heaped upon him their awesome flashes," and he shone brightly, "clothed with the halo of ten gods." His approach thus stirred up electrical and other emissions from the other members of the solar system. And a single word here confirms our decipherment of the Creation epic: Ten celestial bodies awaited him—the Sun and only nine other planets.
The epic's narrative now takes us along Marduk's speeding course. He first passes by the planet that "begot" him, that pulled him into the solar system, the planet Ea/Neptune. As Marduk nears Neptune, the latter's gravitational pull on the newcomer grows in intensity. It rounds out Marduk's path, "making it good for its purpose."
Marduk must still have been in a very plastic stage at that time. As he passed by Ea/Neptune, the gravitational pull caused the side of Marduk to bulge, as though he had "a second head." No part of Marduk, however, was torn off at this passage; but as Marduk reached the vicinity of Anu/Uranus, chunks of matter began to tear away from him, resulting in the formation of four satellites of Marduk. "Anu brought forth and fashioned the four sides, consigned their power to the leader of the host." Called "winds," the four were thrust into a fast orbit around Marduk, "swirling as a whirlwind."
The order of passage—first by Neptune
, then by Uranus—indicates that Marduk was coming into the solar system not in the system's orbital direction (counterclockwise) but from the opposite direction, moving clockwise. Moving on, the oncoming planet was soon seized by the immense gravitational and magnetic forces of the giant Anshar/Saturn, then Kishar/Jupiter. His path was bent even more inward—into the center of the solar system, toward Tiamat. (Fig. 106)
The approach of Marduk soon began to disturb Tiamat and the inner planets (Mars, Venus, Mercury). "He produced streams, disturbed Tiamat; the gods were not at rest, carried as in a storm."
Though the lines of the ancient text were partially damaged here, we can still read that the nearing planet "diluted their vitals ... pinched their eyes." Tiamat herself "paced about distraught"—her orbit, evidently, disturbed.
The gravitational pull of the large approaching planet soon began to tear away parts of Tiamat. From her midst there emerged eleven "monsters," a "growling, raging" throng of satellites who "separated themselves" from her body and "marched at the side of Tiamat." Preparing herself to face the onrushing Marduk, Tiamat "crowned them with halos," giving them the appearance of "gods" (planets).
Of particular importance to the epic and to Mesopotamian cosmogony was Tiamat's chief satellite, who was named KINGU, "the first-born among the gods who formed her assembly."
She exalted Kingu,
In their midst she made him great....
The high command of the battle
She entrusted into his hand.
Fig. 106
Subjected to conflicting gravitational pulls, this large satellite of Tiamat began to shift toward Marduk. It was this granting to Kingu of a Tablet of Destinies—a planetary path of his own—that especially upset the outer planets. Who had granted Tiamat the right to bring forth new planets? Ea asked. He took the problem to Anshar, the giant Saturn.
All that Tiamat had plotted, to him he repeated:
"... she has set up an Assembly and is furious with rage.
she has added matchless weapons, has borne monster-gods.
withal eleven of this kind she has brought forth;
from among the gods who formed her Assembly,
she has elevated Kingu, her first-born, made him chief ...
she has given him a Tablet of Destinies, fastened it
on his breast."
Turning to Ea, Anshar asked him whether he could go to slay Kingu. The reply is lost due to a break in the tablets; but apparently Ea did not satisfy Anshar, for the continuing narrative has Anshar turning to Anu (Uranus) to find out whether he would "go and stand up to Tiamat." But Anu "was unable to face her and turned back."
In the agitated heavens, a confrontation builds; one god after another steps aside. Will no one do battle with the raging Tiamat?
Marduk, having passed Neptune and Uranus, is now nearing Anshar (Saturn) and his extended rings. This gives Anshar an idea: "He who is potent shall be our Avenger; he who is keen in battle: Marduk, the Hero!" Coming within reach of Saturn's rings ("he kissed the lips of Anshar"), Marduk answers:
"If I, indeed, as your Avenger
Am to vanquish Tiamat, save your lives–
Convene an Assembly to proclaim my Destiny supreme!"
The condition was audacious but simple: Marduk and his "destiny"—his orbit around the Sun—were to be supreme among all the celestial gods. It was then that Gaga, Anshar/Saturn's satellite—and the future Pluto—was loosened from his course:
Anshar opened his mouth,
To Gaga, his Counsellor, a word he addressed....
"Be on thy way, Gaga,
take the stand before the gods,
and that which I shall tell thee
repeat thou unto them."
Passing by the other god/planets, Gaga urged them to "fix your decrees for Marduk." The decision was as anticipated: The gods were only too eager to have someone else go to settle the score for them. "Marduk is king!" they shouted, and urged him to lose no more time: "Go and cut off the life of Tiamat!"
The curtain now rises on Act IV, the celestial battle.
The gods have decreed Marduk's "destiny"; their combined gravitational pull has now determined Marduk's orbital path so that he can go but one way—toward a "battle," a collision with Tiamat.
As befits a warrior, Marduk armed himself with a variety of weapons. He filled his body with a "blazing flame"; "he constructed a bow ... attached thereto an arrow ... in front of him he set the lightning"; and "he then made a net to enfold Tiamat therein." These are common names for what could only have been celestial phenomena—the discharge of electrical bolts as the two planets converged, the gravitational pull (a "net") of one upon the other.
But Marduk's chief weapons were his satellites, the four "winds" with which Uranus had provided him when Marduk passed by that planet: South Wind, North Wind, East Wind, West Wind. Passing now by the giants, Saturn and Jupiter, and subjected to their tremendous gravitational pull, Marduk "brought forth" three more satellites—Evil Wind, Whirlwind, and Matchless Wind.
Using his satellites as a "storm chariot," he "sent forth the winds that he had brought forth, the seven of them." The adversaries were ready for battle.
The Lord went forth, followed his course;
Towards the raging Tiamat he set his face....
The Lord approached to scan the innerside of Tiamat–
The scheme of Kingu, her consort, to perceive.
But as the planets drew nearer each other, Marduk's course became erratic:
As he looks on, his course becomes upset,
His direction is distracted, his doings are confused.
Even Marduk's satellites began to veer off course:
When the gods, his helpers,
Who were marching at his side,
Saw the valiant Kingu, blurred became their vision.
Were the combatants to miss each other after all?
But the die was cast, the courses irrevocably set on collision. "Tiamat emitted a roar" ... "the Lord raised the flooding storm, his mighty weapon." As Marduk came ever closer, Tiamat's "fury" grew; "the roots of her legs shook back and forth." She commenced to cast "spells" against Marduk—the same kind of celestial waves Ea had earlier used against Apsu and Mummu. But Marduk kept coming at her.
Tiamat and Marduk, the wisest of the gods,
Advanced against one another;
They pressed on to single combat,
They approached for battle.
The epic now turns to the description of the celestial battle, in the aftermath of which Heaven and Earth were created.
The Lord spread out his net to enfold her;
The Evil Wind, the rearmost, he unleashed at her face.
As she opened her mouth, Tiamat, to devour him—
He drove in the Evil Wind so that she close not her lips.
The fierce storm Winds then charged her belly;
Her body became distended; her mouth had opened wide.
He shot there through an arrow, it tore her belly;
It cut through her insides, tore into her womb.
Having thus subdued her, her life-breath he extinguished.
Here, then, (Fig. 107) is a most original theory explaining the celestial puzzles still confronting us. An unstable solar system, made up of the Sun and nine planets, was invaded by a large, comet-like planet from outer space. It first encountered Neptune; as it passed by Uranus, the giant Saturn, and Jupiter, its course was profoundly bent inward toward the solar system's center, and it brought forth seven satellites. It was unalterably set on a collision course with Tiamat, the next planet in line.
But the two planets did not collide, a fact of cardinal astronomical importance: It was the satellites of Marduk that smashed into Tiamat, and not Marduk himself. They "distended" Tiamat's body, made in her a wide cleavage. Through these fissures in Tiamat, Marduk shot an "arrow," a "divine lightning," an immense bolt of electricity that jumped as a spark from the energy-charged Marduk, the planet that was "filled
with brilliance." Finding its way into Tiamat's innards, it "extinguished her life-breath"—neutralized Tiamat's own electric and magnetic forces and fields, and "extinguished" them.
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