{'Apason---Tauthe} Apsu---Tiamat
|
{Moumis} Mummu
{Lakhos---Lakhe}(2) Lakhmu---Lakhamu
{'Assoros---Kissare} Anshar---Kishar
{'Anos, 'Illinos, 'Aos} Anu, ( ), Nudimmud (= Ea)
{'Aos---Dauke}
|
{Belos}

(1) _Quaestiones de primis principiis_, cap. 125; ed. Kopp,
p. 384.

(2) Emended from the reading {Dakhen kai Dakhon} of the
text.

In the passage of the poem which describes the birth of the great gods
after the last pair of primaeval deities, mention is duly made of Anu
and Nudimmud (the latter a title of Ea), corresponding to the {'Anos}
and {'Aos} of Damascius; and there appears to be no reference to Enlil,
the original of {'Illinos}. It is just possible that his name occurred
at the end of one of the broken lines, and, if so, we should have a
complete parallel to Damascius. But the traces are not in favour of the
restoration;(1) and the omission of Enlil's name from this part of
the poem may be readily explained as a further tribute to Marduk, who
definitely usurps his place throughout the subsequent narrative. Anu and
Ea had both to be mentioned because of the parts they play in the Epic,
but Enlil's only recorded appearance is in the final assembly of the
gods, where he bestows his own name "the Lord of the World"(2) upon
Marduk. The evidence of Damascius suggests that Enlil's name was here
retained, between those of Anu and Ea, in other versions of the poem.
But the occurrence of the name in any version is in itself evidence
of the antiquity of this strand of the narrative. It is a legitimate
inference that the myth of the Birth of the Gods goes back to a time at
least before the rise of Babylon, and is presumably of Sumerian origin.

(1) Anu and Nudimmud are each mentioned for the first time
at the beginning of a line, and the three lines following
the reference to Nudimmud are entirely occupied with
descriptions of his wisdom and power. It is also probable
that the three preceding lines (ll. 14-16), all of which
refer to Anu by name, were entirely occupied with his
description. But it is only in ll. 13-16 that any reference
to Enlil can have occurred, and the traces preserved of
their second halves do not suggestion the restoration.

(2) Cf. Tabl. VII, . 116.

Further evidence of this may