Enûma Eliš

[Ragnarrök]

Has anyone ever heard of the oldest story of creation ever written? Enûma Eliš is the Babylonian creation epic, and it has a Dragon as the supreme goddess. Sadly, though, this Dragon of khaos, called Tiamat, is slain be the storm god Marduk. Many say that Tiamat was an evil Dragon, but this is not so. All she wanted was a little silence, to leave the void in peace and harmony, but then all the gods that she and Apsu created partied loudly, day and night. Apsu goes first to silence the gods, but he is slain. Now Tiamat, lemanting over her lover's death wages war herself. In the end, Marduk became victorious, and the world was created. The bad part of that is the fact that Marduk can be described as a Devil-God.

Quite frankly, I would have voted that Tiamat had Victory and all be in peace and silence, rather than the world being sent from Khaos into Chaos. Not that I believe in Enûma Eliš, but if that existence was so, I would rather have the Mother Goddess, Ummu-Hubur Tiamat 'who formed all things', be reigning Dragon champion.
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Into Eternity,

Ragnarök

[Jaspar]

Ooo, thats where the name Tiamat came from! i've not heard the story, but i read a book about a dragon of that name a long time ago...cant for the life of me remember what it was called...

Yeah, Tiamat should have won...
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Fallen Dusk

[Dariune]

Well the tale goes back to before the Enuma Elish I believe. Tiamat and Merodach or Marduk as he is more commonly known were interpretations of Ea and Apsu. This is not proven but it is very likely.

[pommie]

Yes, I have heard of Tiamat before. I used her legend in an article I wrote from a Uni assignment (I love my degree ). Tiamat pre-dates Chinese dragons, making Babylon the origin of dragon legends, not the Orient as many people believe.
Another dragon from Babylon is Mushussu, who guarded the Ishtar Gates. Note the similarity to the name Mushu, the little dragon from Mulan :P

But yeah, I found that reading the parts of the Enûma Eliš I could find was very interesting. I also believe Tiamat had many children too, but I'm not entirely sure on that one...
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It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.
J.R.R. Tolkien

[Jasriella]

Final Fantasy must have caught on with this one because Tiamat is the dragon God and unfortunately is considered evil.
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I am trapped between heaven and hell. My wings carry me upon the winds. Above lies heaven, below hell. Yet I must land in hell to soar in heaven. I am a Dragon!

[QueenOfTheShadows]

Quite frankly the timats that have followed the Tiamat of Bablyonian myth are all portrayed as either a) very chaotic, or B) very evil beings; if not being both Chaotic and evil.


It has somthing to do with that whole waging war on the beings you yourself created thing Not to mention what happened later in history: creatures decribed ad being dragons and serpents became related to the devil. The word "devil" itself if I recall correctly is bel;ieved to be a drivitive from the name of an anchient diety as well, one that could be described as being "evil" whre as many of the features you see commonly atributed to such things as devils, demons, and dragons are likwise derivedd from anchient immagre reliating to gods and spirits.

Part f Timat's modorn interpitation as an "evil" entity Is thus likly at the hands of faiths that over time became much more predominant.It was a perfectly normal prctice that was fairly common in the anchient world. When you took over your nabhors, often anybody who didn't convert to your faith, or interpitation of you faith, if you happened to belive in the same god(s). would all to often find themselve being bucherd out right of killed slowly, their cities, and temples looted and burned. any "idols" they created as part of their worship smashed melted or burned, and the deities demonized.

It happend in Bablonian times, throught all of Mesopotamia. It happemed with both Rome and Persia, and it happened during the crusades, and in some ways it happened again with the taliban. Heck Even portions of the Bible mention of such a practice, and it is also the reason why the Jewish/christian god no longer has what apperas to have been a consort in the modorn faiths.

I Will add more to this as Dark and I unpack our books on on Myths, legands and faits of the anchient world
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say hello! at zahz's keep;P

[Jasriella]

Perhaps you should make it a whole new thread because I think that this will go very in depth and I myself want to hear more. I always loved ancient mythology, their theocracies, and such.
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I am trapped between heaven and hell. My wings carry me upon the winds. Above lies heaven, below hell. Yet I must land in hell to soar in heaven. I am a Dragon!

[DarkDragon]

this thread will suffice. The topic is relevent to our research.
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May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows you're dead.
-An Irish toast