d their bodies.
Furious vipers she clothed with terror,
Fitted them out with awful splendor, made them high of stature(?)
That their countenance might inspire terror and arouse horror,
Their bodies inflated, their attack irresistible.
She set up basilisks (?) great serpents and monsters[712]
A great monster, a mad dog, a scorpion-man
A raging monster, a fish-man, a great bull,
Carrying merciless weapons, not dreading battle.

In all, eleven monstrous beings are created by Tiamat for the great
conquest. At their head she places a being Kingu, whom she raises to the
dignity of a consort.

The formal installation of Kingu is described as follows:

She raised Kingu among them to be their chief.
To march at the head of the forces, to lead the assembly.
To command the weapons to strike, to give the orders for the fray.
To be the first in war, supreme in triumph.
She ordained him and clothed him with authority (?).

Tiamat then addresses Kingu directly:

Through my word to thee, I have made thee the greatest among the gods.
The rule over all the gods I have placed in thy hand.
The greatest shalt thou be, thou, my consort, my only one.

Tiamat thereupon

Gives him the tablets of fate, hangs them on his breast, and
dismisses him.
'Thy command be invincible, thy order authoritative.'[713]

The plan of procedure, it would appear, is the result of a council of
war held by Apsu and Tiamat, who feel themselves powerless to carry on
the contest by themselves. The portion of the tablet[714] in which this
council is recounted is in so bad a condition that but little can be
made out of it. Associated with Apsu and Tiamat in council, is a being
Mummu, and since Damascius expressly notes on the direct authority of
Berosus that Apsu and Tiamat produced a son Moumis,[715] there is every
reason to believe that Mummu represents this offspring. In the
subsequent narrative, however, neither Apsu nor Mummu play any part.
Tiamat has transferred to Kingu and the eleven monsters all authority,
and it is only after they are defeated that Tiamat--but Tiamat
alone--enters the fray.

The rage of Tiamat is directed against Anshar, Kishar, and their
offspring. Anu, Bel, and Ea, while standing at the head of the latter,
are not the only gods introduced. When the contest begins, all the great
gods and also the minor ones are in existence.

The cause of Tiamat's rage is indicated, though vaguely, in the