Editing Marduk (section)

=== 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}}