n. He says that according to Babylonian notions the
world is a "boat turned upside down." The kind of boat meant is, as
Lenormant recognized,[738] the deep-bottomed round skiff with curved
edges that is still used for carrying loads across and along the
Euphrates and Tigris, the same kind of boat that the compilers of
Genesis had in view when describing Noah's Ark. The appearance in
outline thus presented by the three divisions of the universe--the
heavens, the earth, and the waters--would be that of two heavy rainbows,
one beneath the other at some distance apart, resting upon a large body
of water that flows around the horizons of both rainbows, and also fills
the hollow of the second one.[739] The upper 'rainbow' is formed by
one-half of the carcass of Tiamat stretched across in semi-circular
shape; the lower one is the great structure Esharra made by Marduk,
while the Apsu underneath is the dwelling of Ea. The creation epic, it
may be noted once more, takes much for granted. Its chief aim being to
glorify Marduk, but little emphasis is laid upon details of interest to
us. The parcelling out of these three divisions among Anu, Bel, and Ea
is therefore merely alluded to in the closing line of the fourth tablet:

He established the districts[740] of Anu, Bel, and Ea.

The narrative assumes what we know from other sources, that the heavens
constitute the domain of Anu, Esharra belongs to Bel, while Apsu belongs
to Ea.

The mention of the triad takes us away from popular myth to the
scholastic system as devised by the theologians. The establishment of
the triad in full control marks the introduction of fixed order into the
universe. All traces of Tiamat have disappeared. Anu, Bel, and Ea
symbolize the eternal laws of the universe.

There are, as we have seen, two factors involved in the role assigned to
Marduk in the version of the creation epic under consideration,--one the
original character of the god as a solar deity, the other the later
position of the god as the head of the Babylonian pantheon. In the
'epic,' the fight of Marduk with Tiamat belongs to Marduk as a solar
deity. The myth is based, as was above suggested,[741] upon the annual
phenomenon witnessed in Babylonia when the whole valley is flooded and
storms sweep across the plains. The sun is obscured. A conflict is going
on between the waters and storms, on the one hand, and the sun, on the
other hand. The latter finally is victorious. Marduk subdues