. This wonderful system was the first to be perfected,
and to the solar deity,[774] which seemed to control everything, was
ascribed the distinction of having introduced the heavenly order. This
notion we may well believe was of popular origin, though elaborated in
the schools to conform to a developed astrological science.

The stars and moon never passed beyond certain limits, and, accordingly,
the view was developed which gave to the canopy of heaven fixed
boundaries. At each end of the canopy was a great gate, properly
guarded. Through one of these the sun passed in rising out of the ocean,
through the other it passed out when it had run its course. Learned
speculation could not improve upon this popular fancy. As the heavens
had their limitations, so also the great bodies of water were kept in
check by laws, which, though eternal, were yet not quite as inexorable
as those controlling the heavenly bodies. The yearly overflow of the
Euphrates and Tigris was too serious a matter to be overlooked, and we
shall see in a following chapter[775] how this phenomenon was
interpreted as a rivalry between Bel and Ea, deliberately caused by the
former in anger toward mankind. Still, as a general thing, the 'deep,'
presided over by Ea, kept within the limits assigned to it. The waters
above the canopy were under rigid control, and the lower waters flowed
around the earth and underneath it, and bordered the canopy of heaven at
its two ends.

The earth itself was a vast hollow structure, erected as a "place of
fertility" under the canopy of heaven and resting on the great 'deep.'
Its vegetation was the gift of the gods. 'Fertility' summed up the law
fixed for the earth. Much as in the Book of Genesis, "to multiply and
increase" was the order proclaimed for the life with which the earth was
filled.

The creation of mankind was the last act in the great drama. Assigned in
some traditions to Ea, in others as it would seem to Bel, the transfer
of the traditions to Marduk is the deliberate work of the schools of
theological thought. The essential point for us is that mankind,
according to all traditions, is the product of the gods. In some form or
other, this belief was popularly held everywhere. Its original form,
however, is obscured beyond recognition by the theory which it is made
to serve.

A second version of the course of creation[776] agrees in the main with
the first one, but adds some points of interest. In this version,