Editing Marduk (section)

== Myths and literature ==

=== Enuma Elish ===
{{Main|Enuma Elish}}

The Enuma Elish, generally believed to have been composed in the Isin II period, details Marduk's rise to power as the king of the gods. There are similarities between the Epic of Creation and the Anzu myth as well as other traditions related to Ninurta.{{sfn|Seri|2006|p=517}} The Tablet of Destinies is a key object in both myths, and Marduk uses largely the same weapons as Ninurta.{{sfn|Dalley|2008|p=230}} A ritual tablet mentions how the Epic of Creation would be recited and possibly reenacted during the Akitu festival, on the fourth day of the month of Nisannu.{{sfn|Dalley|2008|p=231}} The epic starts off by mentioning Apsu and Tiamat, here the oldest gods, and created a younger generation of the gods. However, Apsu was disturbed by their noisiness and decided to kill them. Ea, however, found out about the plot and kills Apsu and takes his splendour. Later Marduk was born to Ea and Damkina, and already at birth he was special. Tiamat then decides to wage war against the younger generation of the gods, giving Kingu the Tablet of Destinies and appointing him as the commander. Marduk volunteers to do battle against Tiamat and defeats her. The world was fashioned from Tiamat's corpse with Babylon as the center, and Marduk assumes kingship and receives his fifty names. 
The fifty names taken was based on the An = Anum god list, the columnar arrangement removed and slotted in.{{sfn|Seri|2006|p=515}}
One of his titles, bēl mātāti (king of the lands) originally belonged to Enlil, who was conspicuously missing from the epic except when he gave this title to Marduk{{sfn|George|1997|p=66}}

=== Ludlul bel nemeqi ===
{{Main|Ludlul bel nemeqi}}

Also known as the "Babylonian Job,{{sfn|Oshima|2014|p=3}}" the poem describes the narrator's suffering caused by Marduk's anger, causing him to lose his job and to experience hostility from his friends and family. Diviners were incapable of helping him and his personal protective spirits and gods also did not come to help. He claims that nobody understood the actions of the gods, and despite the narrator's protests of innocence and that he had always been pious to the gods and never abandoned him, he quickly became ill and was on death's bed. Then, in a series of dreams, he met a young man, an incantation priest that purified him, a young woman with a godlike appearance who came to say that his suffering had ended, and an incantation priest from Babylon. Afterwards, the narrator praises Marduk's mercy{{sfn|Oshima|2014|p=11}} which was the main point of the text despite the expressions of Marduk's anger.{{sfn|Oshima|2014|p=9}}

=== Epic of Erra ===

In the Erra epic, Erra convinced Marduk to leave Esagil and to go to the netherworld, leaving Erra to become king. Afterwards, Erra wreaks havoc on all the cities and causes instability. Marduk came back and lamented the state of Babylon. Unlike the Enuma Elish which championed Marduk as the bringer of peace and stability, Marduk is here the one who brought instability by leaving his seat, thus bringing darkness upon the world.{{sfn|Dalley|2008|p=293}} He also indirectly brought war by yielding to Erra.{{sfn|Frahm|2010|p=7}}

=== Marduk Ordeal ===

Written in the Assyrian dialect,{{sfn|Frymer-Kensky|1983|p=131}} versions of the so-called Marduk Ordeal Text are known from Assur, [[Nimrud]] and [[Nineveh]].{{sfn|Nielsen|2018|p=98}} Using sceneries and language familiar to the procession of the Akitu Festival, here Marduk is instead being held responsible for crimes committed against [[Ashur (god)|Ashur]] and was subject to a river ordeal and imprisonment.{{sfn|Nielsen|2018|p=98}} The text opens with Nabu arriving in Babylon looking for Marduk, his father. Tashmetum prayed to Sin and Shamash.{{sfn|Frymer-Kensky|1983|p=134}} Meanwhile, Marduk was being held captive, the color red on his clothes was reinterpreted to be his blood, and the case was brought forward to the god Ashur. The city of Babylon also seemingly rebelled against Marduk, and Nabu learned that Marduk was taken to the river ordeal. Marduk claims that everything was done for the good of the god Ashur and prays to the gods to let him live{{refn|group=lower-alpha|In the Ninevite version of the Marduk Ordeal, it is Sarpanit who prays to let Marduk live{{sfn|Livingstone|1989|p=88}}}}. After various alternate cultic commentaries, the Assyrian version of the Enuma Elish was recited, proclaiming Ashur's superiority.{{sfn|Livingstone|1989|p=85}} However, despite the content, the Marduk Ordeal was not simply an anti-Marduk piece of literature. At no point was Marduk actually accused of a crime, and the end of the text seems to suggest that the gods fought to get Marduk out by drilling holes through the door which he is locked behind.{{sfn|Frymer-Kensky|1983|p=140}} Marduk also appeared in the curse section, so it is possible that the majority of the blame was put on the Babylonians for leading Marduk astray, while Marduk retains a position within the pantheon.{{sfn|Nielsen|2018|p=99}} While most attribute this text to Sennacherib's destruction of Babylon, Frymer-Kensky suggests that the background could be the return of Marduk's statue to Babylon in 669 BCE.{{sfn|Frymer-Kensky|1983|p=140}}

=== Enmesharra's Defeat ===

Known from only one copy and with a badly damaged top half, [[Enmesharra|Enmesharra's]] Defeat is likely composed in the Seleucid or Parthian era.{{sfn|Lambert|2013|p=281}} Structurally similar to the Enuma Elish, the text starts with Enmesharra and his seven sons going against Marduk, who subsequently defeated them and threw them into jail with Nergal as the prison warden. The preserved portion starts with Nergal announcing Marduk's judgement to Enmesharra that he and his sons would all be put to death, and Enmesharra laments about Marduk's terrible judgement and pleads with Nergal. Nergal replies, but the text breaks off.{{sfn|Lambert|2013|p=291}} Nergal is then shown to be escorting Enmesharra and his sons to Marduk, who first beheads the sons, and Enmesharra's radiance was then taken and given to Shamash. Nabu was also given the power of Ninurta, Nergal those of Erra, and Marduk took Enlil's power. Marduk, Nabu and Nergal then shared the throne, which likely previously belonged to Anu, together. The gods were then assigned their cities, and a voice from heaven could be heard. A fish-goat praised Marduk as the exalted lord, and the text ends with the gods gathering at Babylon.