centre.

Merodach decreed that the moon god should rule the night and measure
the days, and each month he was given a crown. Its various phases the
great lord determined, and he commanded that on the evening of its
fullest brilliancy it should stand opposite the sun.[162]

He placed his bow in heaven (as a constellation) and his net also.

We have now reached the sixth tablet, which begins with a reference to
words spoken to Merodach by the gods. Apparently Ea had conceived in
his heart that mankind should be created. The lord of the gods read
his thoughts and said: "I will shed my blood and fashion bone... I
will create man to dwell on the earth so that the gods may be
worshipped and shrines erected for them. I will change the pathways of
the gods...."

The rest of the text is fragmentary, and many lines are missing.
Berosus states, however, that Belus (Bel Merodach) severed his head
from his shoulders. His blood flowed forth, and the gods mixed it with
earth and formed the first man and various animals.

In another version of the creation of man, it is related that Merodach
"laid a reed upon the face of the waters; he formed dust, and poured
it out beside the reed.... That he might cause the gods to dwell in
the habitation of their heart's desire, he formed mankind." The
goddess Aruru, a deity of Sippar, and one of the forms of "the lady of
the gods ", is associated with Merodach as the creatrix of the seed of
mankind. "The beasts of the field and living creatures in the field he
formed." He also created the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, grass,
reeds, herbs and trees, lands, marshes and swamps, cows, goats,
&c.[163]

In the seventh tablet Merodach is praised by the gods--the Igigi
(spirits of heaven). As he has absorbed all their attributes, he is
addressed by his fifty-one names; henceforth each deity is a form of
Merodach. Bel Enlil, for instance, is Merodach of lordship and
domination; Sin, the moon god, is Merodach as ruler of night; Shamash
is Merodach as god of law and holiness; Nergal is Merodach of war; and
so on. The tendency to monotheism appears to have been most marked
among the priestly theorists of Babylon.

Merodach is hailed to begin with as Asari, the introducer of
agriculture and horticulture, the creator of grain and plants. He also
directs the decrees of Anu, Bel, and Ea; but having rescued the gods
from destruction at the hands of Kingu and Tiamat, he was greater than
his "fathers", the el