THIRD TABLET.
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
1. Anshar opened his mouth, and
2. Unto the god Gaga (), his envoy, spake a word [saying],
3. "O Gaga, my envoy, who makest glad my liver.
4. "I will despatch thee unto the gods Lakhmu and Lakhamu.
Portion of a tablet inscribed in Assyrian with a text of the Third Tablet of the Creation Series. [No. 93,017.]
5. "Thou must know and understand the [intention of my heart]
6. "... are brought before thee
7. "... all the gods.
8. "Let them make a council, let them sit down to a feast
9. "Let them eat bread, let them heat sesame wine.
10. "Let them issue decrees to Marduk as their avenger.
11. "Get thee gone, Gaga, take up thy stand before them.
12. "All that I am now going to tell thee do thou repeat to them [saying],
13. "'[O ye gods], Anshar your son hath charged me,
14. "'The intention of his heart he hath made me to know in this wise:--
15. "'Mother Tiâmat who gave us birth hath sown these things,
16. "'She hath set in order her assembly, she rageth furiously,
17. "'All the gods have joined themselves to her.
18. "'They march by her side together with those whom ye have created.
19. "'They formed a band and went forth to battle to help Tiâmat.
20. "'They were exceedingly wroth, they made plots by day and by night without ceasing.
21. "'They offered battle, foaming and raging.
22. "'They set the battle in array, they uttered cries of defiance.
23. "'Ummu-Khubur, who formed all things,
24. "'Set up the unrivalled weapon, she spawned huge serpents,
25. "'Sharp of tooth, pitiless in attack (?)
26. "'She filled their bodies with venom instead of blood.
27. "'Grim, monstrous serpents arrayed in terror.
28. "'She decked them with brightness, she fashioned them in exalted forms,
29. "'So that fright and horror might overcome him that looked upon them,
30. "'So that their bodies might rear up, and no man resist their attack.
31. "'She set up the Viper, and the Snake, and the god Lakhamu,
32. "'The Whirlwind, the Ravening Dog, the Scorpion-man,
33. "'The Storm-wind, the Fish-man, the Horned Beast.
34. "'They carried the Weapon which spared not, nor flinched from the battle,
35. "'Most mighty were Tiâmat's allies, they could not be resisted.
36. "'Thus she caused Eleven [monsters] of this kind to come into being.
37. "'Among the gods, her first-born son who had collected her company,
38. "'That is to say, Kingu, she set on high, she made him the great one among them,
39. "'Leader of the hosts in the battle, disposer of the troops,