Who is Tiamat?
Tiamat is a goddess in the Enuma Elish, the creation myth of Babylonia in ancient Mesopotamia. In the distant past, when there was neither heaven nor earth, Tiamat, representing the salt sea, mingled with Apsu, representing fresh water, and the first gods were born from them. In other words, Tiamat can be called the mother of all the gods. In modern games and fantasy, she is sometimes depicted as a dragon with many heads.
War with the gods and the eleven monsters
Because the young gods born from them were noisy, Apsu tried to destroy them, but was instead killed by Ea, god of wisdom. Enraged at her husband’s murder, Tiamat created eleven kinds of terrifying monsters, including great serpents with poisonous blood, dragons and scorpion men, made her son Kingu leader of the army, and waged war on the gods.
Marduk’s victory and the creation of the world
From among the frightened gods, Marduk, son of Ea, stepped forward: “I will fight if you make me king of the gods.” Riding his storm chariot, he faced her, drove a violent wind into Tiamat’s gaping mouth to swell her body, and shot an arrow through her heart.
Marduk split Tiamat’s body in two like a shellfish, making the sky from one half and the earth from the other. From her eyes flowed the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, it is said. This story of defeating a monster of the chaotic sea to create order in the world is thought to have influenced the tradition of the Old Testament sea monster Leviathan.
