THE ASSYRIAN COSMOLOGY

3 years | 2 minutes | Mesopotamian Text

Translated by LW King, Cuneiform Texts

The cosmology of the Assyrians is rooted in the cosmology of the Babylonians, and developed quite naturally after the separation of the two peoples began. In Assyria the chief god of Babylon, Marduk, is displaced and the national god, Ashur, takes his place just as Marduk had in earlier times displaced Ellil in Babylonia. The oldest form of the name of Ashur was Ashir, but when speculation and comparison of the older literature began, he was identified with Anshar. Unhappily, no complete Assyrian cosmological text has come down to us, and we can only illustrate their beliefs by two fragments.

Obverse :
Assyrian Creation Text
The key of the rising (?)
After he had [determined] the days . . .
The watch of the night and the day . . .
The breadth of Tiamat . . .
Did Anshar create . . .
He brought together . . .
The assault of the wind . . .
He determined . . .
He established the head . . .
He opened a spring . . .
He opened and . . .
He opened . . .
He opened her 3 nostrils . . .
He poured down . . .
The spring . . .

Reverse :
A cedar
. . . Adad
He placed upon . . .
The sceptre of peace . . .
From the glory . . .
The one that receives him is the mighty ocean
In it . . .
In his sanctuary . . .
The gods, as many as there were . . .
Lakhmu and Lakhamu . . .
They made . . .
In the presence of Anshar . . .
Nannar . . .
The second, he spake . . .
The god . . .
When to . . .
The word . . .
Since the days when thou . . .
Everything which thou hast said . . .
Anshar opened his mouth and spake, to the gods . . .
That which is above the ocean, the home of . . .
A copy of Esharra which I have builded, I . . .
Beneath I have fortified the places . . .
I will build a house, the dwelling . . .
In its interior will I found a city . . .
Afterward from the ocean . . .
The place . . .
. . . the shade . . .
. . . the habitations of the great gods . . .
. . . His father . . .
over all that thy hands have founded
over the earth which thy hands have
created . . .
the city of Asshur, the name of which
thou hast pronounced . . .
. . . I know for eternity . . .
. . . Whatever our work which we have fashioned . . .
The place . . .
They rejoiced . . .
The gods . . .
That which they have known . , .
He opened . . .