Mesopotamia Creation Stories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Mesopotamia Creation Stories - Essay Example This is because a text's genre serves to channel writers and readers by providing a common ground to determine the production and interpretation of specific texts. Biblical and Mesopotamian creation stories are linguistically, culturally, and historically very different from modern day ways of thinking, experiencing and interpreting the world. So as to correctly as possible interpret the writings of Genesis it is necessary to school oneself in other Near Eastern creation stories. The present paper will compare and contrast Mesopotamian creation stories with that of the Bible. Firstly, the creation story, "Epic of Creation" will be used to develop the Mesopotamian interpretation of how the cosmos and humankind came to be. Secondly, the Biblical interpretation of creation of this universe and humans will be presented. Next, issues of translation will be addressed. Finally, a conclusion shall synthesize the main arguments of the paper, and demonstrate the critical need for comparative analysis of creation stories in the Near East. The Mesopotamian myth of creation is quite violent, especially with regard to later civilizations, such as Egypt, and the later Biblical Creation Story. ... In turn these serpents produced Anshar, the heavens, and Kishar, the earthly world. And from these two came the great gods, Anu, Enlil, and Ea, as well as the other gods of the sky, earth, and the underworld. Many of these new gods were noisy, which upset Apsu and Tiamat, since they could not rest. These primordial goddesses then discussed whether they should annihilate their progeny. When Ea, the all-knowing, learned of Apsu's plan to destroy the gods he used his magic to capture her and Mummu. Tiamat was furious and created a monstrous army of gods and freak creatures to punish Ea and his cohorts. Ea went to his father Anshar, and Anshar advised him to send Anu to fight Tiamat. But both Anu and Ea were afraid of the goddess and her army. Then Ea called Marduk forth. Marduk promised to conquer Tiamat if he were given supreme authority over the gods. The gods agreed that he was to have lordship scepter, the throne, and an invincible weapon. Armed with bow and arrows, lightning, the winds, a hurricane, and a special net, Marduk rode forth to meet Tiamat in his chariot, which was a tempest, drawn by four fearsome steeds. They clashed and Marduk caught Tiamat in his net. When she opened her mouth to swallow him, Marduk let loose the hurricane, which filled her jaws and belly, thereby stunning her. The Marduk shot an arrow into her belly and killed her. Tiamat's army fled in confusion at her downfall, but Marduk caught them in his net, chained them, and cast them into the underworld. As he was cutting up Tiamat's body, Marduk conceived a plan. From one half he made the dome of the heavens, and with the other half he made the earth. He