t to direct attention[685] and which Zimmern[686]
clearly established. Each line consists of two divisions, and as a
general thing four or eight lines constitute a stanza. The principle of
parallelism, so characteristic of Biblical poetry, is also introduced,
though not consistently carried out.

The epic was known from its opening words as the series 'when above.'
Through this name we are certain of possessing a portion of the first
tablet--but alas! only a portion. A fragment of fifteen lines and these
imperfectly preserved is all that has as yet been found. So far as
decipherable, it reads:

There was a time when above the heaven was not named.[687]
Below, the earth bore no name.
Apsu was there, the original, their begettor,[2]
Mummu [and] Tiamat, the mother of them all.[688]
But their waters[689] were gathered together in a mass.
No field was marked off, no marsh[690] was seen.
When none of the gods was as yet produced,
No name mentioned, no fate determined,
Then were created the gods in their totality.
Lakhmu and Lakhamu, were created.
Days went by[5] ...
Anshar and Kishar were created.
Many days elapsed[691] ...
Anu [Bel and Ea were created].[692]
Anshar, Anu (?) ...

At this point the fragment breaks off.

Brief as it is, it affords a clear view of the manner in which the
Babylonians regarded the beginning of things. Water was the primaeval
element. 'Apsu' is the personified great 'ocean'--the 'Deep' that covers
everything. With Apsu there is associated Tiamat. Tiamat is the
equivalent of the Hebrew T'hom,[693] which occurs in the second verse of
the opening chapter of Genesis, and which is, like Apsu, the
personification of the 'watery deep.' Apsu and Tiamat are, accordingly,
synonymous. The combination of the two may be regarded as due to the
introduction of the theological doctrine which we have seen plays so
prominent a part in the systematized pantheon, namely, the association
of the male and female principle in everything connected with activity
or with the life of the universe. Apsu represents the male and Tiamat
the female principle of the primaeval universe. It does not follow from
this that the two conceptions are wholly dissociated from popular
traditions. Theological systems, it will be found, are always attached
at some point to popular and often to primitive beliefs.

Tiamat was popularly pictured as a huge monster of a forbidding aspect.
Traces of a similar