Tiamat: The Anunnaki Mother Dragon Goddess of Chaos and Creation

Tiamat is an ambiguous deity who played an important role in the creation myth of ancient Mesopotamia. She was their personification of the primordial sea, from which the first generation of gods were born. Eventually, Tiamat is defeated by Marduk, the patron deity of Babylon. Traditionally, Tiamat is thought to have taken on the form of a dragon, though there is no image dating to Mesopotamian times which has been identified beyond a doubt The main myth featuring Tiamat is the Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation myth. In this myth, Tiamat is a somewhat ambiguous character, as she is first depicted as a positive, mother-like figure, though later on in the myth, she is transformed into the antagonist. The Enuma Elish begins by with the creation of the gods, as a result of the union between Apsu and Tiamat. When skies above were not named, nor earth below pronounced by name, Apsu, the first one, their begetter and maker Tiamat, who bore them all, had mixed their waters together. Then gods were born within them. According to Mesopotamian belief, Apsu was the personification of the freshwater underground waters, whilst Tiamat was the salty seawater. The first two gods created from the union of Apsu and Tiamat were Lahmu and Lahamu, who in turn gave birth to Anshar and Kishar. Two more generations of gods were created, and the younger deities became a nuisance to Apsu and Tiamat. In spite of the trouble caused by the younger gods, Tiamat tolerated them. Apsu, however, could not stand their behavior any longer, and intended to destroy them. When he told his plan to Tiamat, she was not pleased, she was furious and shouted at her lover. She shouted dreadfully and was beside herself with rage, but then suppressed the Apsu, however, listened to his vizier, Mummu, and continued with his plot to destroy his children. The gods, however, learned about Apsu's plan, and one of them, Ea, put a sleeping spell on Apsu and killed him. It was also after this that Marduk was born, and was given the four winds to play with. Some of the younger gods were disturbed, and complained to Tiamat. As a consequence of their goading, Tiamat decided to avenge Apsu. She created an army of monsters, and appointed Chingu, her new consort, as their commander. When the gods learned about Tiamat's plan to destroy them, they took counsel, but were incapable of doing anything. Eventually, Marduk offered to do battle with Tiamat, on the condition that if he emerged victorious, he would be given rulership over the gods. This was agreed to, and Marduk fought Tiamat. Using the winds, Marduk incapacitated Tiamat, shot an arrow into her belly, and split her down the middle. Tiamat becomes the world. Finally, Marduk created the world using the remains of Tiamat. Leave us your thoughts in the comment section. Like and share this video, and make sure to subscribe for more interesting content.