The LabbuMyth is an ancient Mesopotamian creation epic. Only one copy of it is known from the Library of Ashurbanipal. It is commonly dated no later than the Old Babylonian period, although recent work suggests a later composition. [1] It is a folktale possibly of the Diyala region, since the later version seems to feature the god Tišpak as its protagonist and may be an allegory representing his replacement of the chthonic serpent-god Ninazu at the top of the pantheon of the city of Eshnunna. [2] This part is played by Nergal in the earlier version. [3] It was possibly a precursor of the Enûma Eliš, where Labbu – meaning "Raging One" or "lion", was the prototype of Tiamat [4] and of the Canaanite tale of Baal fighting Yamm. [5] Other similar texts include the Myth of Anzu and KAR 6. [6]
Depending on the reading of the first character in the antagonist's name (always written as KAL and may be read as: Lab, Kal, Rib or Tan), the text might also be called The Slaying of Labbu or Kalbu Myth. This polyvalence of cuneiform readings allows a possible connection to the biblical monster Rahab – more on this below.
The following translation of the Labbu Myth comes from Ayali-Darshan 2020. [7]
The cities became dilapidated, the lands [...]
The people decreased in number [...]
To their lamentation [... did] no[t ...]
On their cry, he has no [pity].
'Who [created] the serpent (MUŠ)?'
'Sea [created] the serpent,
Enlil in heaven designed [his shape]:
His length is 50 bēru (-measure), [his width] one bēru,
Half a nindanu (-measure) his mouth, one ninandu [his ...],
One nindanu the span of [his] e[ars].
For five nindanu he [...] birds,
In the water, nine amma (-measure deep) he drags [...]
He raises his tail [...]'.
All the gods of heaven [were afraid]
In heaven, the gods bowed down before [...]
And the moon's [face] was darkened at its edges.
'Who will go and [kill] Labb[u]?
(Who) will sa[ve ...] the broad land
And exercis[e] kingship [...]?'
'Go, Tišpak, k[ill] Labbu!
Save the broad land [...]!
And exercise kingship [...]!'
You have sent me, O lord, [to kill] the offspring of the River (nāri),
(But) I do not know Labbu's [countenance].
[...] He opened his mouth and [spoke] to [...]:
'Make the clouds (and) the terrible storm arise [...]
[Hold] in front of you the seal (of) your neck,
Shoot (it) and ki[ll] Labbu!'
(Then) he made the clouds (and) the terrible storm [...]
The seal (of) his neck (he held) in front of him,
He shot (it) and [killed] Labbu.
For three years, three months, day and ni[ght]
the blood of Labbu flowed [...].
Extant in two very fragmentary copies; an Old Babylonian one and a later Assyrian from the Library of Ashurbanipal, which have no complete surviving lines – the Labbu Myth relates the tale of a possibly leonine but certainly serpentine monster: a fifty-league [8] long Bašmu (mušba-aš-ma) or sixty-league long Mušḫuššu (MUŠ-ḪUŠ), depending on the version and reconstruction of the text. The opening of the Old Babylonian version recalls that of The Epic of Gilgamesh:
The cities sigh, the people...
The people decreased in number,...
For their lamentation there was none to...
The vast dimensions of Labbu are described. The sea (tāmtu) [9] has given birth to the dragon (line 6). The fragmentary line: "He raises his tail..." identifies him according to Neil Forsyth as a precursor of a later adversary; the dragon of Revelation 12:4, whose tail swept a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them down to earth. [10]
In the later version, Labbu is created by the god Enlil who "drew [a picture of] the dragon in the sky" to wipe out humanity whose raucous noise has been disturbing his sleep, a recurring motif in Babylonian creation epics. Whether this refers to the Milky Way (Heidel 1963)[ citation needed ] or a comet (Forsyth 1989)[ citation needed ] is not clear. The gods are terrified by the apparition of this monstrous creature and appeal to the moon god Sin or the goddess Aruru who addresses Tišpak/Nergal to counter the threat and "exercise kingship", presumably over Eshnunna, as a reward. Tišpak/Nergal raises objections to tangling with the serpent but – after a gap in the narrative, a god whose name is not preserved provides guidance on military strategy. A storm erupts and the victor, who may or may not be Tišpak or Nergal, in accordance with the advice given, fires an arrow to slay the beast.
The fragments of the epic are not part of a cosmogony as noted by Forsyth; since the cities of men are already in existence when the narrative takes place. Frans Wiggerman interpreted the myth's function as a way of justifying Tishpak's ascension to status of king, "as a consequence of his 'liberation' of the nation, sanctioned by the decision of a divine council." [2]
Rahab is one of the various names for the primordial "chaos dragons" mentioned in the Bible (cf. Leviathan, Tiamat/Tehom, and Tannin). As Cuneiform is a complex syllabary, with some signs functioning as logograms, some signs representing multiple phonetic values, and some representing sumerograms, multiple readings are possible. The first syllable of Rahab, written with the sign KAL, might also be read as /reb/. Thus, Labbu could have also been called Rebbu (<*reb-bu), highly resembling the Hebrew monster mentioned in the BIble. [11]
Akkadian literature is the ancient literature written in the Akkadian language in Mesopotamia during the period spanning the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age.
Nergal was a Mesopotamian god worshiped through all periods of Mesopotamian history, from Early Dynastic to Neo-Babylonian times, with a few attestations indicating that his cult survived into the period of Achaemenid domination. He was primarily associated with war, death, and disease, and has been described as the "god of inflicted death". He reigned over Kur, the Mesopotamian underworld, depending on the myth either on behalf of his parents Enlil and Ninlil, or in later periods as a result of his marriage with the goddess Ereshkigal. Originally either Mammitum, a goddess possibly connected to frost, or Laṣ, sometimes assumed to be a minor medicine goddess, were regarded as his wife, though other traditions existed, too.
Marduk is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to power in the 1st millennium BC. In Babylon, Marduk was worshipped in the temple Esagila. His symbol is the spade and he is associated with the Mušḫuššu.
The Leviathan is a sea serpent demon noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, and the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch. The Leviathan is often an embodiment of chaos, threatening to eat the damned when their lives are over. In the end, it is annihilated. Christian theologians identified Leviathan with the demon of the deadly sin envy. According to Ophite diagrams, the Leviathan encapsulates the space of the material world.
In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat is the primordial sea, mating with Abzû (Apsu), the groundwater, to produce the gods in the Babylonian epic Enûma Elish, which translates as "when on high." She is referred to as a woman, and has—at various points in the epic—a number of anthropomorphic features and theriomorphic features.
Rahab is used in the Hebrew Bible to indicate pride or arrogance, a mystical sea monster, as an emblematic or poetic name for Egypt, and for the sea.
Enūma Eliš, meaning "When on High", is a Babylonian creation myth from the late 2nd millennium BCE and the only complete surviving account of ancient near eastern cosmology. It was recovered by English archaeologist Austen Henry Layard in 1849 in the ruined Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh. A form of the myth was first published by English Assyriologist George Smith in 1876; active research and further excavations led to near completion of the texts and improved translation.
The mušḫuššu or mushkhushshu is a creature from ancient Mesopotamian mythology. A mythological hybrid, it is a scaly animal with hind legs resembling the talons of an eagle, lion-like forelimbs, a long neck and tail, two horns on its head, a snake-like tongue, and a crest. The mušḫuššu most famously appears on the Ishtar Gate of the city of Babylon, dating to the sixth century BCE.
Mummu was a Mesopotamian god. His name is presumed to be derived from the Akkadian word mummu, "creative force". In addition to functioning as a theonym, it is attested as a title of multiple other deities highlighting their respective roles as creators. Ritual texts indicate that Mummu was perceived as an inactive figure, similarly to deities such as Enmesharra or Qingu.
Kumarbi, also known as Kumurwe, Kumarwi and Kumarma, was a Hurrian god. He held a senior position in the Hurrian pantheon, and was described as the "father of gods". He was portrayed as an old, deposed king of the gods, though this most likely did not reflect factual loss of the position of the head of the pantheon in Hurrian religion, but only a mythological narrative. It is often assumed that he was an agricultural deity, though this view is not universally accepted and the evidence is limited. He was also associated with prosperity. It was believed that he resided in the underworld.
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Babylonian religion is the religious practice of Babylonia. Babylonia's mythology was largely influenced by its Sumerian counterparts and was written on clay tablets inscribed with the cuneiform script derived from Sumerian cuneiform. The myths were usually either written in Sumerian or Akkadian. Some Babylonian texts were translations into Akkadian from Sumerian of earlier texts, but the names of some deities were changed.
Ninazu was a Mesopotamian god of the underworld. He was also associated with snakes and vegetation, and with time acquired the character of a warrior god. He was frequently associated with Ereshkigal, either as a son, husband, or simply a member the same category of underworld deities.
Tishpak (Tišpak) was a Mesopotamian god associated with the ancient city Eshnunna and its sphere of influence, located in the Diyala area of Iraq. He was primarily a war deity, but he was also associated with snakes, including the mythical mushussu and bashmu, and with kingship.
Eridu Genesis, also called the Sumerian Creation Myth, Sumerian Flood Story and the Sumerian Deluge Myth, offers a description of the story surrounding how humanity was created by the gods, how the office of kingship entered human civilization, the circumstances leading to the origins of the first cities, and the global flood.
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Ušumgallu or Ushumgallu was one of the three horned snakes in Akkadian mythology, along with the Bašmu and Mušmaḫḫū. Usually described as a lion-dragon demon, it has been somewhat speculatively identified with the four-legged, winged dragon of the late 3rd millennium BCE.
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