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Recommended: Similarities and differences between genesis and enuma elish

The Hebrew book of Genesis and the Babylonian Enuma Elish both tell accounts of creation. The stories of creation in Genesis and the Enuma Elish are noticeably different; however, upon closer examination, the two myths share similarities. Each myth explains different processes of creation. In Genesis, man is formed from the Earth, but in the Enuma Elish man is created from the blood of the god Quingu. Also, the Enuma Elish is polytheistic, but Genesis is monotheistic. In Genesis, creation is the work of one god, Elohim, while in the Enuma Elish, many gods are involved in creation. Many aspects of the myths are evidence of similarities between them. In both Genesis and the Enuma Elish, the primordial waters are split in half by a god.
Genesis and the Enuma Elish offer a different telling of the creation of certain aspects. In the Enuma Elish, the heavens and the earth are created from the body of the god Tiamat. After defeating Tiamat in battle, the storm god Marduk splits her in half. According to the Enuma Elish, “Half of her he put up to roof the sky”. Later the creation of the earth is explained. The author of the Enuma Elish says, “He (Marduk) opened the Euphrates and the Tigris from her eyes, closed her nostrils, [ ]. He piled up clear-cut mountains from her udder”. Marduk used Tiamat in his creation of earth and sky. Creation of the heavens and the earth in Genesis is quite different. God split the waters and forms a firmament in between the waters. He called this firmament heaven. The author of Genesis tells how God created earth. The author says, “God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together in one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so.” In the Enuma Elish, heaven and earth are c...

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...n. It is a polytheistic myth, and the Babylonian’s were polytheistic. Genesis, however, only tells of one god creating everything. The early Hebrews practiced monolatrism. They recognized the existence of many gods from other cultures, but the Hebrews only believed in and worshipped one god, Elohim. Another conclusion that can be drown about the cultures from looking at the myths is the way the Hebrews and the Babylonians viewed their creators. In the Enuma Elish, Marduk becomes the King of the gods. Humans were also created to be slaves for the gods in the Enuma Elish. The Babylonians may have thought of their maker as more of a ruler, instead of a creator. On the other hand, in Genesis, God does not create mankind as slaves, and there are no other gods for him to rule over as king. Therefore, the Hebrews may have looked to their god as their maker and protector.

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