A Brief Introduction to Enūma Eliš as Manual of Magic
by Cory C. Childs
Introduction
Enūma Eliš is a Babylonian poem that recounts the myth of Marduk slaying the monstrous Tiamat to form an ordered cosmos. Much has been said of its influence on the core stories of other cultures, such as the creation narratives of Genesis[1] and Hesiod's Theogony,[2] but this particular cosmogony’s applications as a means of practical magic seem to have largely gone unexplored by the modern practitioner outside of a handful of questionable books, with much of Mesopotamian esotericism dominated by a cold-blooded host of regrettable conspiracy theories.
It is curious that modern occultists haven’t yet more whole-heartedly embraced this once widely celebrated cosmogony, seeing that magic was such an integral part of Mesopotamian life that "all manifestations of magic or of divination must not be seen as distinct subsystems outside a mainstream concept of religion but rather as homogeneously integrated into it,”[3] and curiouser still when considering that “the literature of Chaldea—especially its religious literature—teems with references to magic, and in its spells and incantations we see the prototypes of those employed by the magicians of medieval Europe.”[4]
Enūma Eliš appears to have served four core magical functions still relevant today, being initiation, evocation, divination, and creation. Initiation introduces the novice to the hidden magical nature of both the text and reality. Evocation calls on the supernatural to influence the natural world. Divination grants visions of the future. Creation taps into the primordial cosmos to produce works of art and magic. As a proper introduction to these applications requires a greater scope than this essay can provide (and a detailed account even greater still), I’ll here only briefly mention one example from the text for each to excite your interests.
Initiation
These three lines from the final column should suffice as evidence for the existence of a mystery tradition hidden in the text that was meant to serve as a means of initiation for novices:
VII.145: They (the fifty names) must be grasped: the “first one” should reveal (them),
VII.146: The wise and knowledgeable should ponder (them) together,
VII.147: The master should repeat, and make the pupil understand.[5]
One example of such a revelation can be seen among a host of others in an ancient commentary on Enūma Eliš that explores the hidden nature of certain words and names, here the Sun god Šamaš in connection with the name Šazu: “Šazu, who knows the heart of the gods, who examines the insides” (Ee VII 35): [(…)] (the god) Šamaš (dšà-máš!), who examines the heart [(…); šà (?) means “heart”]; máš means “examination/divination.”[6]
Evocation
The last sixth of Enūma Eliš presents fifty divine names of Marduk, each explained using some incredibly impressive word play.[7] When we consider certain ancient strains of ideas that see a supreme deity’s body representing the cosmos and the other gods as their parts or expressions, such as with Zeus in the Derveni Papyrus,[8] our modern magical minds might be reminded of two things especially. First, each description could be considered a miniature hymn closely resembling the style and content of that of the Orphic Hymns, and thus might be seen as a little spell in its own right. Second, the list reads very much like the lists of demons and angels we see in many later grimoires, like the Key of Solomon. The eighth name is an excellent example of both:
VI.151: “Asalluhi they named secondly (8) NAMTILA, god who maintains life,
VI.152: “Who, in accordance with its meaning, repaired the shattered gods,
VI.153: “The lord who revived the moribund gods by his sacral magic spell,
VI.154: “Let us praise him as destroyer of the wayward foes!"[9]
Divination
Astrology has long been a central means of divination for the modern magician, another thing we share in common with the writers of Enūma Eliš: “Historically speaking, perhaps the most influential area of Mesopotamian divination was astrology… With the exception of horoscopes, which were developed only late under Hellenistic influence, the accumulation and collection of astrological omens gained in importance after the Old Babylonian Period and peaked in the first half of first millennium BCE.”[10] Column V begins with Marduk establishing the familiar constituent parts of astrology:
V.001: He made positions for the great gods,
V.002: He set up constellations, the star images.
V.003: He marked the year, drew (its) boundaries,
V.004: He set up twelve months of three stars each.[11]
As the column continues, we see some accounts of celestial activity regarding the moon’s course:
V.015: “At the beginning of the month, waxing over the land,
V.016: “You shine with two horns to mark the naming of six days,
V.017: “At the seventh day, the crown is [ha]lf.
V.018: “At the fifteenth day, you shall be in opposition, at the midpoint of each [month].
V.019: “When the sun can see you on the horizon,
V.020: “Wane at the same pace and form in reverse.
V.021: “At the day of di[sappeara]nce, approach the sun's course,
V.022: “On the thirtieth day, you shall be in conjunction with the sun as a double."[12]
Creation
The actions of Marduk as a model with which a practitioner performs magical deeds was a common practice outside of Enūma Eliš: “In many exorcistic rituals, the priest impersonates Marduk. For example, in Bīt mēseri II 226,[13] the āšipu is the image of Marduk.[14] Marduk himself was called the “exorcist among the gods” (see CAD A/2 432).[15] Accordingly, the exorcist in healing rituals was identified as Marduk/Asalluhi himself, or his messenger Adapa.”[16] In the fifty names, we see a range of specialized magical operations that each could possibly perform. In the story that precedes the names, however, there is only one essential operation: the formation of a well-ordered cosmos through naming and division. The secret of ordering an artistic cosmos like a god is, sadly, far outside the scope of this little essay.
Conclusion
All four of these functions have but barely been approached here, with, most lamentably, the final function of creation almost not at all. These short examples should, however, suffice to arouse the appetite while whetting it a bit as well. At the very least, it’s been made apparent that we’ve only begun to broach the tip of some monumental iceberg of multifaceted modern magical operation in the cosmogony of Enūma Eliš. Fear not, for more soon. Until then, happy hunting!
[1] Heidel, The Babylonian Genesis.
[2] López-Ruiz, When the Gods Were Born: Greek Cosmogonies and the Near East.
[3] Farber, Sasson, and Baines, “Witchcraft, Magic, and Divination in Ancient Mesopotamia.”
[4] Spence, Myths & Legends of Babylonia & Assyria.
[5] Heinrich, Poem of Creation (Enūma eliš).
[6] Frahm and Jiménez, “Myth, Ritual, and Interpretation: The Commentary on Enūma Eliš I-VII and a Commentary on Elamite Month Names.”
[7] Danzig, Name Word Play and Marduk’s Fifty Names in Enuma Eliš.
[8] Myerston, “Divine Names in the Derveni Papyrus and Mesopotamian Hermeneutics.”
[9] Heinrich, Poem of Creation (Enūma eliš).
[10] Farber, Sasson, and Baines, “Witchcraft, Magic, and Divination in Ancient Mesopotamia.”
[11] Heinrich, Poem of Creation (Enūma eliš).
[12] Heinrich, Poem of Creation (Enūma eliš).
[13] Schwemer, “Bīt Mēseri at Aššur.”
[14] Kvanvig, Primeval History: Babylonian, Biblical, and Enochic.
[15] Gelb et al., “The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.”
[16] Annus, The Overturned Boat: Intertextuality of the Adapa Myth and Exorcist Literature.
Bibliography
Annus, Amar. The Overturned Boat: Intertextuality of the Adapa Myth and Exorcist Literature. State Archives of Assyria Studies, 2016.
Danzig, David. Name Word Play and Marduk’s Fifty Names in Enuma Eliš. Yale University, 2013.
Farber, Walter, Jack M. Sasson, and John Baines. “Witchcraft, Magic, and Divination in Ancient Mesopotamia.” Civilizations of the Ancient Near East 3 (January 1, 1995): 1895–1909.
Frahm, Eckart, and Enrique Jiménez. “Myth, Ritual, and Interpretation: The Commentary on Enūma Eliš I-VII and a Commentary on Elamite Month Names.” Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel 4, no. 3 (January 1, 2015): 293.
Gelb, I. J., Miguel Civil, J. A. Brinkman, and Robert D. Biggs. “The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.” Language 33, no. 3 (July 1, 1957): 475.
Heidel, Alexander. The Babylonian Genesis. University of Chicago Press, 1963.
Heinrich, A. C. Poem of Creation (Enūma eliš). https://www.ebl.lmu.de/corpus/L/1/2.
Kvanvig, Helge S. Primeval History: Babylonian, Biblical, and Enochic. Brill, 2011.
López-Ruiz, Carolina. When the Gods Were Born: Greek Cosmogonies and the Near East. Harvard University Press, 2010.
Myerston, Jacobo. “Divine Names in the Derveni Papyrus and Mesopotamian Hermeneutics.” Trends in Classics 5, no. 1 (January 1, 2013).
Schwemer, Daniel. “Bīt Mēseri at Aššur.” Zeitschrift Fur Assyriologie Und Vorderasiatische Archaologie 113, no. 1 (November 29, 2022): 51–72.
Spence, Lewis. Myths & Legends of Babylonia & Assyria. The Ballantyne Press, 1928.
Image shown is upper fragment of a clay tablet, part of the Creation legend Enuma elish I, 14 + 8 lines of inscription. British Museum, collection number K.5419.c.
© 2023 Cory C. Childs
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