1.1 Anšar and Anu

In Enūma Eliš Anšar and Anu are prominent celestial ancestors and promoters of Marduk, including as name-givers, but their own names are not ceded to him. Anu in particular has appropriate celestial associations, including the Sun, winds, upper heaven, Bow constellation, light, and, in one variant, the Moon.Footnote ³

In the poem’s introductory theogony, Anšar (an-šár), “All Heaven”, is paired with Kišar (^d ki-šár), “All Earth”, the latter mentioned only once (Enūma Eliš I 12). Their son, Marduk’s grandfather, Anu (^d a-num), “Heaven”, stands out as Marduk’s only unpaired ancestor (Enūma Eliš I 1–20).Footnote ⁴ It was Anu who elevated the young Marduk to the acme of divine power, calling him Māriutu with solar interpretation and arming him with the winds (Enūma Eliš I 89–108, IV 44, VI 123). The hermeneutics of the name Māriutu are discussed below. From Tablet II onwards Anšar recurs as the junior gods’ first king who yielded his kingship to Marduk (Enūma Eliš II–III passim, IV 83, 125, V 79). Anu and Anšar held these key roles independently of Marduk’s creation of heaven. However, in Marduk’s first phase of populating heaven, he installed Anu in the upper zone (Enūma Eliš IV 145–46, VI 41–42, see below section 1.4).

As specified name-givers, Anu and Anšar predominate in Tablets VI–VII. Anu celebrated and named Marduk’s bow, including astralizing it as the Bow constellation (Enūma Eliš VI 86–94, see below section 1.5). Anšar called Marduk Asalluḫi to express Marduk’s supremacy as a prelude to the list of fifty names, so this act of naming and the name Asalluḫi had a special status in the poem (Enūma Eliš VI 101). Anu gave Marduk two key names associated with light: his earliest and first name, Marduk, and his seventh name, Asalluḫi (Enūma Eliš VI 123, 127–28, 147–50).Footnote ⁵ Anšar, Laḫmu, and Laḫamu are each said to have awarded three of Marduk’s first nine names, implying that Anšar awarded the name Marduk, and Laḫamu awarded the name Asalluḫi, each with two sub-names (Enūma Eliš VI 157–60). Lambert (Reference Lambert2013: 480–81) attributed multiple name-givers to the poem’s composite nature but this could have been a strategy for enhancing a name’s prestige.

Marduk’s Sumerian name Lugal-Šuana (^d lugal-˹šu˺-an-na, “King of Šuana”) is rendered as both “lord, strength of Anu” (be-lu ₄; e-muq ^d a-nim) and “naming by Anšar” (ni-bu-ut an-šár) (Enūma Eliš VII 101–02). The sign “an” in Lugal-Šuana was interpreted as Sumerian an, “heaven”, the base element of the names of the celestial gods Anu and Anšar (George Reference George1992: 38–39, 239–45, I 4–7; Lambert Reference Lambert2013: 490).

1.2 Māriutu and the Sun

In the poem the first name awarded to Marduk is written with the traditional Sumerian logogram ^damar.utu (e.g. Enūma Eliš I 81–82, VI 123). This writing can be understood as ^damar.utu.ak, “Bull-calf of Utu (Sun)”, and corresponded to marūtuk (later marūduk), Marduk’s name in Akkadian (Lambert Reference Lambert2013: 161–163). Interpretation of ^d marūtuk(amar.utu) associates Marduk with the Sun and light very early in the poem and in the first entry in the list of fifty names. Perfected by Anu in his youth, Marduk was saluted with homophonic wordplay on his name:

As an introduced variant in three Babylonian sources, the Sun’s name in the final title has the exegetical spelling ^d šà-máš.Footnote ⁷ The Sun does not recur in the poem until Marduk creates heavenly bodies (Enūma Eliš V 19). In the first entry in the name list, Anu is said to have awarded the name written ^damar.utu from the time of Marduk’s birth and more elaborate interpretation includes the same wordplay:

Marduk saved the gods from the suffering of war by defeating Tiāmtu and VI 127–28 are best understood as referring to the gods’ astral motion regulated by Marduk’s star Nēberu after he had created heaven and the constellations as their astral stations.Footnote ⁸ The name entries on Asalluḫi, where he is described as “light of the gods” (nu-ru šá ilī(dingir.dingir)), Asaralimnuna, Tutu, and Nēberu contain related material (see below section 1.4). The description of Marduk as “Sun of the gods” (I 102, VI 127) and the role of Nēberu, probably signifying Jupiter, as Marduk’s star elsewhere in the poem suggest a correspondence between these two bright heavenly bodies: “Sun of the gods”, deriving from wordplay, may well be an epithet of Nēberu.Footnote ⁹ In any case, “Sun of the gods” and “radiant one” are appropriate epithets of Marduk as the gods’ saviour, who oversaw their astral motion bathed in his light.

1.3 First lumāšu-constellation

In the poem two episodes attest to the prestige of unspecified heavenly bodies termed lumāšū and these episodes frame Marduk’s battle with Tiāmtu and her army. In line with Fincke (Reference Fincke2023: 201–09), the term lumāšū in Enūma Eliš is understood as signifying constellations that represent gods and function as their homes. The ability to destroy and create (a-ba-tu ₄; ù ba-nu-ú) was intrinsic to Marduk’s newly acquired supremacy and, to demonstrate his elevation, he destroyed and recreated one such constellation (lu-ma-šu) specially created by the gods for this purpose (Enūma Eliš IV 19–28; Gabriel Reference Gabriel2025: 43–51; Rochberg Reference Rochberg, Haubold, Helle, Jiménez and Wisnom2024: 241). Gabriel (Reference Gabriel2025: 43–51) highlights the significance of this lumāšu as the representation of a deity but the proposed identification as the planet Venus in an allusion to Ištar’s death and resurrection can only be speculative.Footnote ¹⁰ Marduk’s small-scale demonstration with one pre-created lumāšu-constellation affirmed his kingship. This prefigured his large-scale, original creation and population of heaven with lumāšu-constellations (˹lu˺-ma-ši) as the first type of heavenly body (Enūma Eliš V 1–36).

1.4 Creation and organization of heaven

Marduk’s creation of heaven and heavenly bodies in Enūma Eliš IV–V has been extensively studied (e.g. Horowitz Reference Horowitz2014: 1–8; Lambert Reference Lambert2013: 169–92; Rochberg Reference Rochberg, Haubold, Helle, Jiménez and Wisnom2024). This topic features in the narrative before the name list and in the name list itself.Footnote ¹¹ The poem’s opening couplet specifies the primeval setting when heaven (šá-ma-mu) and solid ground (am-ma-tu ₄;) were unnamed, signifying their non-existence (Enūma Eliš I 1–2). Choosing the non-existence of heaven as the subject of the opening line shows its crucial importance for the poem and this couplet works with Enūma Eliš VII 135–36 as a framing device (see below in this section).

Heaven does not recur after I 1 until Marduk creates it from half of Tiāmtu’s corpse, the poet using apt imagery about butterflying a fish to aid drying:

Marduk contained this half of Tiāmtu’s watery corpse with her taut skin (maš-ka) (Enūma Eliš IV 139–40). The final couplet before the population of heaven reads:

Marduk installed Anu in his unnamed shrine in upper heaven, Enlil in his shrine Ešarra in lower heaven, and Ea in his shrine Ešgalla, corresponding to Ešarra, in the Apsû (Enūma Eliš IV 143–46). These allocations are later linked with the building of Marduk’s temple Esagil in Babylon and the division of the gods between heaven and netherworld, which was also called the Apsû (Enūma Eliš V 119–30, VI 39–46, 61–69). Thus, Marduk assigned the traditional triad of great gods to their appropriate cosmic domains, using the Apsû as a pattern, and split the other gods between heaven and netherworld (Lambert Reference Lambert2013: 193–99; Rochberg Reference Rochberg, Haubold, Helle, Jiménez and Wisnom2024: 248–49). Elsewhere in the poem, heaven created by Marduk as the gods’ residence has a prominent role but the netherworld as their other residence occurs only briefly in the stock pair heaven and netherworld.Footnote ¹³

Tablet V opens with Marduk’s astral population and regulation of heaven:

The tablet’s opening line makes the fundamental but under-appreciated point that Marduk created stations (manzāzū) for the astralized gods in the aftermath of the war with Tiāmtu. In this celestial sense, the term manzāzu, “station, standing place”, signifies the correct position in the sky occupied by a heavenly body as the dwelling of an astral deity. Fixed stars, including the lumāšu-constellations, were perceived by the ancient observer as maintaining their relative positions (“stations”) in a pattern that moved overall in the course of each year. The positions (“stations”) of ancient planets were perceived as moving more freely in relation to this pattern. The lumāšu-constellations were the first type of heavenly body created by Marduk and their heliacal risings marked the ideal calendar through the so-called astrolabe system that allocated three stars to each of the twelve months.Footnote ¹⁵ As part of this system, Marduk founded the station (manzāzu) of his star Nēberu, “Crossing”, to define the correct positions of these constellations and also established Enlil and Ea’s stations to prevent any deviation. This alludes to the three heavenly paths along which the stars were believed to move: Enlil’s in the north; Anu’s, including Nēberu, in the centre; and Ea’s in the south (Horowitz Reference Horowitz2014: 1, 6–7, 11–15, 196). As most recently argued by Rochberg (Reference Rochberg, Haubold, Helle, Jiménez and Wisnom2024: 239–40), Marduk’s star Nēberu in Enūma Eliš is probably Jupiter, later Marduk’s principal planet in the first millennium B.C.E.Footnote ¹⁶ Nēberu in the list of Marduk’s names (Enūma Eliš VII 124–34) is discussed below. Marduk enabled and controlled the heavenly bodies’ motion by opening lockable gates (abullātu(abul)^meš) in both sides of Tiāmtu’s ribcage (ṣe-li [k]i-lal-la-an) and positioning heights (e-la-a-ti) in her innards (ka-bat-ti-šá-ma) (Enūma Eliš V 9–11; Hätinen Reference Hätinen2021: 83–84).

Marduk created the Moon (^d nanna-ru, “Luminary”) and instructed him in his monthly cycle.Footnote ¹⁷ After rising glowing in the heights (na-pa-ḫi e-˹la-a˺-ti) at the start of the month, a waxing crescent radiant with horns (qar-ni na-ba-a-ta) was to become a half-crown (a-ga-a [maš]-la) on day seven before opposition with Šamaš on day fifteen and corresponding waning (Enūma Eliš V 12–20).Footnote ¹⁸ Conjunction at the month’s end was particularly important:

The invisible Moon and the Sun jointly issued judgements and V 23 may describe conjunction as an ominous sign (ittu) created by Marduk.Footnote ¹⁹ Fragmentary lines relate Šamaš to human wrongdoing, conjunction, day and night, and New Year (zag-˹muk˺-ku) (Enūma Eliš V 25–46).

In the list of Marduk’s names in Enūma Eliš VI–VII, the following entries contain closely related material about his celestial aspects and could encapsulate the preceding narrative.Footnote ²⁰ Through Marduk’s seventh name Asalluḫi and its sub-names Namtila and Namru, Marduk was linked with light, the gods’ salvation, and purity/luminosity (Enūma Eliš VI 147–56).Footnote ²¹ The main entry reads:

The name is rendered as “light of the gods”, understanding the element “asal/asar” as “light” (see below in this section). With increasing specification, the entry links Marduk’s light with his rescue of the gods’ dwellings through his victory over Tiāmtu. This alludes to the gods’ new astral homes, created by Marduk and controlled by his star Nēberu (see above and below in this section).

Marduk’s related tenth name Asare prominently opens Tablet VII and in the entry on its second sub-name Asaralimnuna, a by-name of Asalluḫi that probably means “Asar, Bison of the Prince”, Marduk is linked with light and regulation:

In the interpretation in VII 5 “asal/asar” corresponds to “light” and “nun” to Ea as Asalluḫi–Marduk’s father (Fadhil and Jiménez Reference Fadhil and Jiménez2022: 25). Keeping the decrees in order probably refers to Nēberu’s regulation of the astral deities’ motion in the sky on the paths of Anu, Enlil, and Ea (Rochberg Reference Rochberg, Haubold, Helle, Jiménez and Wisnom2024: 242). In Ea’s title Ninšiku the sign kù alludes to purity/luminosity.

The fourteenth name entry concerns Tutu’s sub-name Ziukkena, “Life of the Host”:

Building on this sub-name’s meaning, Marduk’s saving of the gods’ lives is linked to his creation of pure/luminous heaven for them and his organization of their astral motion and stations.

The thirty-ninth name entry on Aranuna, “Advisor of the Prince”, reads:

In my view VII 98 alludes to Marduk’s motion (alaktu) as his star Nēberu that regulated the positions of the other astral gods.Footnote ²²

The list culminates with Marduk’s names Nēberu, “Crossing”, the longest entry in Tablet VII, and Lord of the Lands:

The position and length of the Nēberu entry indicate this name’s prestige. In an eternal cycle, Nēberu not only looks after the gods by controlling the motion of their stars but also enacts Marduk’s conquest of Tiāmtu in the night sky. The astral content has attracted particular attention (Horowitz Reference Horowitz2014: 6–7, 22–23; Rochberg Reference Rochberg, Haubold, Helle, Jiménez and Wisnom2024: 244–45). Nēberu, from the root ’ b r, is translated by the more general term “Crossing” but meanings of the common noun nēberu also include “ferry, ford” in relation to crossing a body of water (e.g. CAD N/2: 145–47). Building on this root, Nēberu holds the “crossing place(s) of heaven and netherworld” (nēberet šamê u erṣeti) and the astral gods “must not cross” (lā ibberū) above and below but should wait for him. Nēberu should control their turning point (kunsaggêšunu) and they should call him Nēberu because “he constantly crossed” (ītebbiru) inside Tiāmtu.Footnote ²⁴ Although the significance of the terms nēberet and kunsaggêšunu in relation to the sky is unclear, Nēberu should govern the stars’ motion (alkassunu), herding all the gods like sheep (Rochberg Reference Rochberg, Haubold, Helle, Jiménez and Wisnom2024: 244–45). By herding the fixed stars as the astral gods’ dwellings, Marduk ensures that they are always in the correct positions in the sky. The image of a shepherd and his flocks conveys Marduk’s control of and care for the gods. He gives them eternal security and stability in stark contrast to the preceding turmoil of his war with Tiāmtu when the gods were split into the two opposing factions (e.g. Enūma Eliš I 127–32, II 11–18, III 15–22, 73–80, VII 25–32). Marduk had fashioned heaven from half of Tiāmtu’s corpse, using her skin, ribcage, and innards (Enūma Eliš IV 137–40, V 9–11, see above in this section). As well as continually crossing inside Tiāmtu, Nēberu should seize Tiāmtu’s insides and subdue her.Footnote ²⁵ By its eternal motion in and regulation of heaven, Nēberu not only gave the displaced gods security in a post-war world but also viscerally reenacted Marduk’s victory over Tiāmtu.

Marduk’s creation of firmament (ašru) and underworld (dannina) introduce his fiftieth name, Enlil’s title Lord of the Lands (Enūma Eliš VII 135–36; Rochberg Reference Rochberg, Haubold, Helle, Jiménez and Wisnom2024: 241).Footnote ²⁶ This narrative culmination constitutes ring composition with Enūma Eliš I 1–2, when heaven and solid ground were unnamed and did not exist.

Thus, in the narrative before the name list, Marduk’s creation of heaven from Tiāmtu’s corpse has a high degree of materiality. His astral population of heaven begins with the gods’ stations but focuses on heavenly bodies as calendrical markers, especially the Moon and Sun.Footnote ²⁷ Marduk, astralized as Nēberu, controls heaven and the motion of the other heavenly bodies. In the name list, Marduk is a god of light and purity/luminosity, and the gods’ saviour who created their astral stations as havens and controlled their motion (atalluku Gtn; alaktu) for eternity. Heaven’s initial non-existence and Tiāmtu’s disruptive agency endangering the gods form a counterpoint to Marduk’s butchery of her passive corpse to create heaven and the gods’ astral stations. Pure/luminous heaven created by Marduk from Tiāmtu’s corpse, regulated by Nēberu, and populated with stars, including his astralized bow, represented Marduk’s victory and gave the gods permanent security. Marduk as a deity of light saved the gods from their wartime suffering, with Tiāmtu as his principal antagonist.Footnote ²⁸ At nighttime the bright stars, overseen by Nēberu, would have contrasted with the dark sky formed from Tiāmtu’s body. The poem does not specify a light–dark antithesis but, by implication, Tiāmtu can be seen as a deity of darkness.

1.5 Astralized bow

Marduk’s bow launched the arrow fatal to Tiāmtu (Enūma Eliš IV 101–02). Prefiguring the list of Marduk’s fifty names, Anu glorified the bow as “my daughter” and awarded it three names, culminating in its astralization:Footnote ²⁹

In the poem gisgallu as an astral position occurs only once but manzāzu, “station”, is intermittent (Enūma Eliš V 1, 6, 8, VI 79, 145, VII 17). The Bow’s brothers are the gods whom Marduk had rehomed in heaven by creating stations for them (see above section 1.4). In Enūma Eliš the Bow constellation is the only fixed-star name and Anu’s only astral creation (see above section 1.1). Thus, Anu’s astralization of Marduk’s pre-existing weapon is distinct from Marduk’s earlier creation and organization of heaven. However, both episodes project Marduk’s slaughter of Tiāmtu onto the night sky (Gabriel Reference Gabriel2014: 303–06). In the context of Ištar’s disempowerment, Gabriel (Reference Gabriel2025: 27–35) convincingly argues that the bow created and used by Marduk represents Ištar of Elam and that Anu adopted this bow before he astralized it to serve as an omen of Marduk’s martial supremacy. The repurposing of Ištar theology to glorify Marduk would, therefore, be fundamental to this passage.

2.1 Source overview

This analysis examines compositions relevant to celestial Marduk that are hymnic pastiches of Enūma Eliš or contain literal quotations from the poem, including recitation references.Footnote ³² The sources range from Neo-Assyrian tablets from Nineveh and Aššur to Neo- and Late Babylonian tablets from northern Babylonia that can usually be attributed to Sippar and Babylon.Footnote ³³ Pastiche and quotation added authority to hymns, prayers, and exegesis. Scholars incorporated elements of the poem’s portrayal of celestial (and non-celestial) Marduk into different celestial contexts, expressing their own contexts and priorities.

As part of a Marduk-focused syllabus that helped form trainee scholars in northern Babylonia, Neo- or Late Babylonian school tablets include dictated Enūma Eliš extracts and the Moon and its conjunction with the Sun were popular topics.Footnote ³⁴ An Enūma Eliš VII commentary on tablets from Nineveh was perhaps composed in Babylon (Lambert Reference Lambert2013: 139–42). A commentary on Enūma Eliš I–VII occurs on tablets from Nineveh and Aššur, as well as Sippar Collection tablets from northern Babylonia, and may have been composed by a Nippur scholar in Assyria (Frahm and Jiménez Reference Frahm and Jiménez2015: 293–333). Only particularly relevant material in these commentaries is discussed here.

Assurbanipal’s acrostic hymn to Marduk and Zarpānītu can be considered a pastiche of the poem (Livingstone Reference Livingstone1989: no. 2; see above in this section with n. 32). Three Assyrian exegetic works quote, or allegedly quote, the poem: Marduk’s Ordeal, an anti-Marduk polemic that reinterprets Babylon’s New Year festival and is linked with Sennacherib (Livingstone Reference Livingstone1989: no. 34, 35); a compendium with cosmogonic and ritual material, some of which is Assyrianizing (Livingstone Reference Livingstone1989: no. 39, copied by Kiṣir-Aššur under Assurbanipal); and a compendium focused on calendars and Nabû (Rawlinson and Pinches Reference Rawlinson and Pinches1909: no. 43, with an ‘Assurbanipal Library’ colophon). These four Assyrian works occur solely on tablets from Nineveh and Aššur, so their Assyrian-oriented content may have been of interest only in the Assyrian heartland.

Three compositions are attested on tablets both from the Assyrian heartland and from later Babylonia. Eriš šummi, a Babylonian hymn to Marduk, occurs on Aššur, Nineveh, Sippar Library, and Babylon Collection tablets (Fadhil and Jiménez Reference Fadhil and Jiménez2022).Footnote ³⁵ Two treatises quote Enūma Eliš. One on Elamite month names is likely to be an Assyrian composition and is found on a Babylonian tablet from Nineveh copied from an Assyrian source and on a Babylon Collection tablet probably copied in Achaemenid Borsippa, although the colophon has a note referring to Babylon (Frahm and Jiménez Reference Frahm and Jiménez2015: 334–43).Footnote ³⁶ The other treatise, called I.NAM.GIŠ.ḪUR.AN.KI.A, was probably composed in Babylonia and occurs on three Nineveh tablets written by Nabû-zuqup-kēna, one dated to Sennacherib’s twenty-second year (683 B.C.E.), and on a Babylon Collection tablet written by Bēl-nādin-apli, linked with an Esagil butcher’s prebend, in the thirty-third year of Darius I (488 B.C.E.) (Livingstone Reference Livingstone1986: 17–52).Footnote ³⁷ These three works do not have a comparable Assyrian focus and remained of interest to later scholars in northern Babylonia.

A commentary on Tablet IV of the diagnostic series Sagig quotes Enūma Eliš and is attested on a Sippar Collection tablet, which dates from the Neo- or Late Babylonian period and may come from Babylon.Footnote ³⁸ Two other exegetic works quoting the poem occur on Babylon Collection tablets that are probably Achaemenid from library holdings associated with Esagil. A copy of a compilation commentary (cento) was written in Babylon by a member of the Atkuppu family; and two duplicate tablets with interpretation of Simānu ritual were probably written by Iprāʾya of the Ēṭiru family, one copy specifying oral transmission (Jiménez Reference Jiménez2015; Reference Jiménez2016b).Footnote ³⁹ Late Babylonian compositions that can be identified as Hellenistic works harking back to Babylonian past sovereignty and Esagil’s centrality are attested on Hellenistic or Parthian tablets attributable to library collections associated with Esagil. Texts describing Babylon’s New Year festival include prayers astralizing Marduk and Zarpānītu in association with the recitation of Enūma Eliš (Debourse Reference Debourse2022: 116–21, 124–31, 138–40, 144–49 (lines 222–333)).Footnote ⁴⁰ A Babylon calendar treatise attested on three Babylon Collection tablets interprets Esagil rituals as apotropaic against Babylon’s invasion and includes astral exegesis linked to the poem’s battle narrative (Reynolds Reference Reynolds2019: 50–54, 190–195, 206–11 (§§ 2–4, 13)).Footnote ⁴¹

2.2 Celestial ancestry and heaven

The Marduk Ordeal associated Anšar with Aššur and subverted Marduk’s role as the creator and organizer of heaven. Eriš šummi syncretized the triad Anšar (Anu) – Dagan (Enlil) – Ninšiku (Ea) with Marduk.Footnote ⁴² The Anu–Enlil–Ea triad was also identified with Marduk in the cento and, with astralization, in a New Year festival prayer. With varying degrees of closeness to the poem, Marduk as heaven’s creator and organizer featured in other Assyrian works and was astralized in the New Year festival prayers. Compositions on Neo-Assyrian tablets linked unspecified lumāšu-constellations with unspecified gods but did not portray them as the gods’ havens after Marduk and Tiāmtu’s war.

The Assyrian-dialect Marduk’s Ordeal can be associated with Sennacherib’s religious reset and links singing Enūma Eliš before Marduk’s statue to his imprisonment in an Assyrianizing reinterpretation of Babylon’s New Year festival.Footnote ⁴³ Marduk’s denigration in favour of the god Aššur includes an alleged, marked quotation from Enūma Eliš:

This rescheduling of Marduk’s birth subverts Enūma Eliš. It ousts Marduk from his prestigious roles as saviour of his royal predecessor Anšar, conqueror of primeval Tiāmtu (directly relevant in this ritual context), and creator of heaven and netherworld (Reynolds Reference Reynolds, Haubold, Helle, Jiménez and Wisnom2024: 143–44).

In the Assyrian compendium with cosmogonic material, a ruled-off section on Marduk’s creation of a tri-partite heaven and a tri-partite netherworld begins:

In the Marduk interpretation of the three stone heavens, he placed the Igigī highest and had his own heaven.Footnote ⁴⁵ Marduk enthroned in splendour with a bright lamp, presumably the source of astral light, is distinctive to this text. Contrastingly, in Enūma Eliš IV–V Marduk created heaven from Tiāmtu’s corpse, installed Anu above Enlil, and created heavenly bodies, including lumāšu-constellations as the gods’ stations controlled by his star Nēberu. In both works Marduk populates heaven, including lumāšu-constellations for the gods, and is associated with light. The compendium continues with Marduk’s defeat of Tiāmtu as the source of material for world creation and quotes Enūma Eliš IV 137 (Livingstone Reference Livingstone1989: no. 39, r. 2: iḫ-pi-ši-ma kīma(gin₇) nūnī(ku₆)^meš maš-ṭe-e a-na šini(2)-˹šú˺; see above section 1.4). Thus, it combines traditions that diverge from and accord with the poem. Assurbanipal’s acrostic hymn includes a damaged entry on Marduk as Engišgalana (^den-gišgal-an-na, “Lord of the Positions of Heaven”) that mentions “stations of the gods” (43: man-za-zi ilī(dingir)^me[^š]),Footnote ⁴⁶ followed by ritual content (Livingstone Reference Livingstone1989: no. 2, 43–44). In a later entry Marduk (^damar.utu) created and regulated the lumāšu-constellations:

The ideas and phraseology accord with Enūma Eliš V 1–8, including V 2: ˹lu˺-ma-ši uš-zi-iz (see above section 1.4).

The hymn Eriš šummi syncretically awards the names and identities of other gods to Marduk. Anšar (Anu), Dagan (Enlil), and Ninšiku (Ea) form an initial triad and Marduk as Anšar (an-šár) is linked with celestial supremacy (Fadhil and Jiménez Reference Fadhil and Jiménez2022: 2, 5–6, 18–21). The cento on an Achaemenid tablet interprets Marduk’s name Asaralimnuna and includes supporting quotation of Enūma Eliš VII 5 (see above section 1.4):

Enūma Eliš VII 6 (see above section 1.4) links Asaralimnuna with this triad and probably their astral paths. In the New Year festival prayers, Marduk created heaven from Tiāmtu’s corpse, and this astralized triad was syncretized with him (see below section 2.5.2 with Table 2).

2.3 Sun without Moon

As in Enūma Eliš, Marduk was linked with the paired Sun and Moon or the Sun alone, but never with the Moon alone. Neo-Assyrian works associating Marduk with the Sun accord closely with the poem, albeit once probably to promote Nabû. Marduk’s non-astral name Šazu was reinterpreted as Šamaš. This instance of increased astralization is attested in the earlier first millennium B.C.E. and was elaborated in Achaemenid ritual exegesis. The cento on an Achaemenid tablet includes Marduk’s representation in the Sun.

A Neo-Assyrian compendium aligns month names in six calendars with Standard Babylonian month names, possibly in relation to ritual practice, and interprets names of Nabû before a final ruled-off section:

These lines incorporate quotation of Enūma Eliš I 101–2 and are related to VI 127 (see above section 1.2). In the compendium the wordplay on Marduk’s name has been reconfigured to suit the list format. In my opinion this final celebration of Marduk probably added lustre to his son Nabû, and the Sun’s calendrical role may have been relevant.Footnote ⁴⁹

Assurbanipal’s acrostic hymn links Marduk with the Sun, light, and cleansing:Footnote ⁵⁰

The terms, nebû, namru, and related ellu are linked with Marduk in Enūma Eliš (see above sections 1.2 and 1.4).

The commentary on Enūma Eliš I–VII and exegesis of a Simānu ritual quote Enūma Eliš VII 35 introducing Marduk’s name Šazu (^d šà-zu), “One who Knows the Heart”, and link it with Šamaš written ^d šà-máš and interpreted as “heart” (libbu) plus “diviner/divination” (bārû/bīru), alluding to Šamaš as an extispicy god.Footnote ⁵¹ The ritual exegesis links ^d šà-máš with rare Amgarud ([^d]˹am?˺.gar.ud) and Amgara ([^dam].gar.a), and I understand this as implicitly exploiting the partial homophony with ^damar.utu, the relationship between “am”, “wild bull”, and “amar”, “bull calf”, and that between “ud”, “day”, and “utu(UD)”, “sun”.Footnote ⁵²

The cento’s interpretation of Marduk’s name Asaralimnuna generates further light-related exposition:Footnote ⁵³

The related Māriutu material in Enūma Eliš may have contributed to these associations and, as discussed below, Marduk in the Sun usually had lunar counterparts.Footnote ⁵⁴

2.4 Paired Sun and Moon

Calendrical exegesis in I.NAM.GIŠ.ḪUR.AN.KI.A and the Elamite month-name treatise quotes Marduk’s regulation of the Moon and Sun in Enūma Eliš. In Eriš šummi and a Hellenistic New Year festival prayer, both Sun and Moon are syncretized with Marduk. His enduring representation in the Sun generated counterparts in the Moon: Nabû in the Neo-Assyrian compendium with cosmogonic material and, as new evidence, the commentary on Enūma Eliš I–VII; and Tiāmtu in the Late Babylonian calendar treatise. The Assyrianizing compendium also subverts summer-solstice theology to Marduk’s detriment.

I.NAM.GIŠ.ḪUR.AN.KI.A focuses on numerical explanations with extensive interpretation of the lunar cycle. In a Nineveh source, after a ruled-off lunar phase summary, quotation of Enūma Eliš V 17 introduces the first interpretative section on the waxing Moon (Livingstone Reference Livingstone1986: 22–23, 11: u₄ ˹7˺.[kam agâ(aga) ma-á]š-˹la˺, “Day seven a half [crown]”). In a subsequent section, Sîn and Šamaš in conjunction on day twenty-seven make decisions for the land and give it an ominous signal ([ṣ]a-ad-du) before supporting quotation of Enūma Eliš V 21 as a ruled-off section:

Both quotes are from Marduk’s direct-speech instructions to the Moon (Livingstone Reference Livingstone1986: 40–42; see above section 1.4).Footnote ⁵⁶ In the later copy of the Elamite month-name treatise, a ruled-off section ends with quotation from the same speech, this time Enūma Eliš V 24 (see above section 1.4) addressed to the Moon and Sun:

As discussed by Frahm and Jiménez (Reference Frahm and Jiménez2015: 342–43), Pīti-bābi, “Opening of the Gate”, may have been interpreted in terms of sun-rise through the eastern celestial gate and the quotation, occurring in the poem after Marduk’s creation of this gate, concerns conjunction at the month’s end. Du’ūzu day thirteen, the only specific day in this treatise, and the focus on the Sun and its rising may indicate the ideal summer solstice, Du’ūzu day fifteen in MUL.APIN.Footnote ⁵⁷

In Eriš šummi the fifth god syncretized with Marduk is the Moon called Nannāru (^d nanna-ri, “Luminary”) and the entry focuses on calendrical regulation and the provision of decisions and omens, epithets including “one who lights up gloom” (mu-nam-mir e-ṭu-ti) (Fadhil and Jiménez 2022: 8, 34–37; Reference Fadhil and Jiménez2023: 34–37). The sixth god is Šamaš (^d šamaš(utu)) and epithets concern judgement but predominantly light, terms including “light” (nu-úr), “bright one” (na-mar), “one who lights up the people’s darkness” (mu-nam-mer ek-let nišī(ùg)^meš), and “his brilliance” (na[m]-˹ri˺-ir-ru-šú) (Fadhil and Jiménez 2022: 8, 38–40; Reference Fadhil and Jiménez2023: 38–40). In a Hellenistic New Year festival prayer to Marduk, his astralizations conclude with Šamaš (^d šamaš(utu)) “light of the world regions” and Sîn (^d sîn(30)) “the one who lights up darkness” (Debourse Reference Debourse2022: 139, 148–49, 311, lines 314–15; see below section 2.5.2 with Table 2). The Eriš šummi pastiche follows the Moon–Sun order in Enūma Eliš V but the prayer prioritizes Šamaš as Marduk’s primary association.Footnote ⁵⁸

The Neo-Assyrian compendium with cosmogonic material moves from the Enūma Eliš quotation about splitting Tiāmtu and the related creation of rivers to solar and lunar disk (ḪAB-rat) dimensions (Fincke Reference Fincke2023: 190–93; Livingstone Reference Livingstone1989: no. 39, rev. 3–4; see above section 2.2). Entities inside the Sun and Moon, and the summer solstice follow:

The solar and lunar disks depict Marduk and his son Nabû respectively: Marduk is with a bašmu-serpent, probably his conquest, while Nabû, as a lumāšu, is the conqueror of a lion.Footnote ⁵⁹ Marduk’s portrayal can be seen as developing Enūma Eliš elements: the solar interpretation of Marduk’s name (see above section 1.2) and the bašmu-serpent in Tiāmtu’s army (Enūma Eliš I 141, II 27, III 31, 89). The poem does not mention Nabû but his depiction as Marduk’s counterpart and fellow victor accords with Nabû’s promotion in the first millennium B.C.E. (Agnethler et al. Reference Agnethler, Gogokhia, Jiménez, Pilloni and Setälä2022: 216–19; Rubin Reference Rubin2021: 2–4, passim). As with the preceding disks, the order is Sun–Moon and Marduk remains the focus. In my revised reading of rev. 7–8 (see above in this section; cf. Livingstone Reference Livingstone1986: 234–35), an Assyrianizing reinterpretation explains Meslamtaea’s descent to the netherworld at the ideal summer solstice as Marduk’s entrapment there by Aššur/Anšar. Meslamtaea/Nergal was usually linked with Mars and an ascent at the ideal winter solstice, the longest night; a summer-solstice descent was less prominent (Horowitz Reference Horowitz2014: 85–88). Antithetically, Marduk was usually linked with Jupiter, the Sun, and the ideal summer solstice, the longest day (see below sections 2.5.1, 2.5.2, and 2.5.3).

The commentary on Enūma Eliš I–VII probably includes related comment on Enūma Eliš VII 98 on Marduk’s name Aranuna (see above section 1.4).Footnote ⁶⁰ One version on a Nineveh tablet and probably also a tablet from Sippar has this entry:

A variant entry occurs on an Aššur tablet:

In my opinion this probably concerns Nabû’s visibility as a “man’s shadow” on the Moon’s surface, with Marduk in the Sun as an implicit counterpart, and the second version adds alternative comment about an eclipse shadow entering the lunar disk.Footnote ⁶¹ A shadow-like anthropomorphic figure in the Moon, identified as Nabû, would be linked with a lunar-eclipse shadow. On the Uruk micro-zodiac tablet VAT 7851 obv., an anthropomorphic figure fighting a lion inside the Moon has been linked with Nabû and, in various ways, with lunar eclipses (Fincke Reference Fincke2023: 184–90, 206). The commentary recontextualizes a line of the poem in relation to a god and astral concepts unattested there.

The Late Babylonian calendar treatise closely related to Enūma Eliš includes Tiāmtu’s complex and unparalleled astralization in response to the poem (Reynolds Reference Reynolds2019: 42–45, 50–51). Tiāmtu and Marduk are probably depicted in the Moon and Sun respectively in a Simānu omen:

This omen revealed by Marduk and portending the Babylonian king’s downfall, attributed to Elamite invasion, is probably morning opposition, with a secondary interpretation that the Moon and Sun’s surfaces depict Tiāmtu and Marduk as analogues to the Elamite and Babylonian kings (Reynolds Reference Reynolds2019: 245–50). In the Ṭebētu section Tiāmtu probably “stood in a crown of splendour” (ina agê(aga) taš-ri-iḫ-tu ₄ iz-ziz-[ma?]), referring to her depiction on the Moon’s surface in the same Simānu omen (Reynolds Reference Reynolds2019: 208–09, 372–73 § 13 iv 16). The exclusive focus is on one battle between two protagonists, Marduk and Tiāmtu, one per heavenly body, probably in appropriate opposition. Marduk’s traditional presence in the Sun is related to Enūma Eliš but Tiāmtu’s secondary presence in the Moon is unparalleled. This interpretation scales up their astral battle, prioritizes the Moon and Tiāmtu, and gives her and Marduk corresponding astral roles. In Enūma Eliš, celestial Tiāmtu is passive: Marduk created heaven from her corpse and she is not astralized. In the treatise against enemy attack, Tiāmtu’s dangerous agency is prominent.

2.5 Planets and specific fixed stars

Nēberu, understood as Jupiter, and the Bow are the only specific planet and constellation in Enūma Eliš and they continued to represent Marduk and his bow into the Hellenistic period. However, astralizations often combined material found in the poem with syncretic reinterpretations and Late Babylonian sources expressed complex networks of association. A range of planets and fixed stars represented Marduk, while fixed stars represented his weapons and his temple Esagil. As counterparts to astral Marduk, planetary and fixed-star astralizations centred on two female figures: Zarpānītu as Marduk’s wife through parallelism and Tiāmtu as his principal opponent through antithesis, with her spouse Qingu in a secondary role. A broken passage of Enūma Eliš mentions New Year in connection with Marduk’s organization of heaven (Enūma Eliš V 41, see above section 1.4). However, the full scheme of ideal solstices and equinoxes and the related concept of (ašar) niṣirtu, “(place of) secrecy/protection”, became recurrent features in Neo-Assyrian and, more prominently, Late Babylonian sources.Footnote ⁶² The Babylon calendar treatise linked Tiāmtu with the ideal winter solstice and the corresponding Goat-Fish zodiac sign and her related astralizations included Mars, the Goat-Fish, and the She-Goat. Her powerful astral agency contrasts starkly with her passive celestial roles in Enūma Eliš and the New Year festival prayers. These schematic astralizations and the prominence of the winter solstice in relation to Esagil ritual were Late Babylonian innovations.Footnote ⁶³

2.5.2 New Year festival prayers

In Hellenistic texts describing Babylon’s New Year festival, the Esagil priest “Elder Brother” (aḫu rabû) recites two pairs of nocturnal prayers, one to Marduk and one to his wife Zarpānītu in each pair, chiefly to secure their blessings for Babylon’s citizens (Debourse Reference Debourse2022: 116, 118–21, 124–26, 128–131, 138–40, 144–49, 302–28; see Table 1).

Table 1:

Prayers AF 4 – AF 7 in Hellenistic texts describing Babylon’s New Year festivalFootnote ⁷³

Table 1: Long description

The table contains five columns: Line Name, Epithet, Structure, with 16 rows of data. Each row lists a celestial body or divine entity, its epithet, and the structure it is associated with. The Line Name column includes entries such as God of Heaven and Netherworld, Hitched Yoke, Eridu, Asare, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Mars, Arrow, ŠU.PA, NE.NE.GAR, Numušda, Scorpion's Chest, Šamaš, and Sîn. The Epithet column provides descriptive titles like mu-šim šimāti(nam)meš, who carries sceptre and ring, who possesses wisdom, grantor of arable land, carrier of a signal for all, the one who makes it rain, star of truth and justice, fierce Fire, measurer of Tiāmtu's water, lord of Enlils, who was created from himself, who makes the rain last, trampler of Tiāmtu's chest, light of the world regions, and the one who lights up darkness. The Structure column categorizes these entities into groups such as Triad Enlil–Anu–Ea, Solo, Quartet: Planets, Quintet: Fixed-star names, Pair: Sun and Moon.

The prayer to Zarpānītu is secondary within each pair and AF 4–5 implicitly astralize Marduk as Jupiter and, in my view, Zarpānītu as Venus, whereas AF 6–7 have explicit, multiple astralizations (Krul Reference Krul, Proust and Steele2019: 230–31). This accords with the description of Marduk in the earlier prayer AF 1 as “light of mankind” (14: nūr(zálag) amēlūtu(lú) ^tú ) and “light of the Igigī” (26: nūr(zálag) ^d í-gì-gì) (Debourse Reference Debourse2022: 95, 100-01).Footnote ⁷¹ These prayers align with the New Year festival context: Marduk is supreme and Tiāmtu has a minor, passive role. Comparable to the prospective syncretism of Eriš šummi, they express the localized focus of Late Babylonian temple cult.Footnote ⁷²

AF 4 includes two balanced poetic lines:

240 e-bir šamê(an) ^e ḫā’iṭi(lal) ^ṭi erṣeti(ki) ^tì

241 ma-di-di mê(a)^meš tam-tì mu-ur-riš mēreštu(uru₄) ^tú

Debourse Reference Debourse2022: 124, 128–29, 240–41

240 the one who crosses heaven, the one who inspects the netherworld,

241 the one who measures Tiāmtu’s water, the one who cultivates arable land

Line 240 and Enūma Eliš IV 141 about Marduk’s creation of the world from Tiāmtu’s corpse share the same terminology, except the prayer uses contrasting erṣetu, “netherworld”, not complementary ašratu, “firmament” (see above section 1.4). In my opinion, the creation context applies in line 240, which generated parallel but less relevant epithets for Zarpānītu in AF 5.Footnote ⁷⁴ AF 6 awards the first epithet in line 241 to the Arrow and an epithet related to the second one to Asare (see below in this section with Table 2). Measuring Tiāmtu’s water refers to Marduk’s conversion of Tiāmtu’s corpse into heaven (Debourse Reference Debourse2022: 308). I would argue that line 241 develops the heaven/netherworld contrast in line 240.Footnote ⁷⁵ In AF 4 Marduk is also “bright light” (Akkadian: [nu-u-r]i nam-ri) and can provide light (namirtu(zálag) ^tú ) for Babylon’s citizens (Debourse Reference Debourse2022: 116–19, 124, 128–29, lines 230–31, 249). AF 5 includes Zarpānītu’s epithet “radiant one of the stars” (na-bat kakkabānī(mul)), also awarded to Venus in AF 7 (see below in this section), and mentions her light (nūru(izi.gar)), station (man-za-zu), and brightness (nam-rat) (Debourse Reference Debourse2022: 125, 128–29, lines 252–56).Footnote ⁷⁶

Table 2:

Prayer AF 6 in Hellenistic texts describing Babylon’s New Year festival

Table 2: Long description

A table with four rows and three columns. The columns are labeled Lines, Prayer siglum, Recipient statue, and Night. Row 1: Lines 222-49, Prayer siglum AF 4, Recipient statue Marduk, Night starting Nisannu day four. Row 2: Lines 250-72, Prayer siglum AF 5, Recipient statue Zarpānītu, Night not specified. Row 3: Lines 289-316, Prayer siglum AF 6, Recipient statue Marduk, Night starting Nisannu day five. Row 4: Lines 318-33, Prayer siglum AF 7, Recipient statue Zarpānītu, Night not specified.

Immediately after AF 5, the Elder Brother recites a prayer three times to the Field (^múl ikû(aš.iku), Pegasus), representing Esagil, outside in Esagil’s Great Court and, later that morning, he recites Enūma Eliš before Marduk’s statue (Debourse Reference Debourse2022: 117, 120-21, 125, 130–31, 138, 144–47, lines 273–75, 279–84).Footnote ⁷⁷ In my understanding the two pairs of prayers, with intensified astralization in AF 6–7, frame these pivotal events.

AF 6–7 astralized Marduk and Zarpānītu as specific planets and fixed stars (Debourse Reference Debourse2022: 125–26, 130–31, 139–40, 146–49, 302–21, lines 301–15, 324–32). After the initial pair Dimmerankia and Damkiana, both referencing heaven and netherworld, six of the seven ancient planets are allocated to Marduk and only “Venus, radiant one of the stars” to Zarpānītu, as her second name and first astralization (Debourse Reference Debourse2022: 140, 148–49, line 325: ^múl dele-bat na-bat kakkabānī(mul); see above section 2.5.1(Assurbanipal hymn)). Each deity has seven fixed-star names, giving three groups of seven in total, and Marduk is also called Asare. Table 2 clarifies the structure in AF 6 for the first time.

The most important member opens each group: Dimmerankia (Enlil) leads a triad in Anu’s stead; Asare stands alone; Jupiter is the first planet; the Arrow heads a fixed-star group; and the Sun precedes the Moon.Footnote ⁷⁸ They all have Enūma Eliš associations: Enlil, the pantheon’s previous head, gave Marduk his own name (VII 136);Footnote ⁷⁹ “Asare grantor of arable land” is the incipit of Tablet VII and a major Marduk name in a light-related group (VII 1: ^d asar-re šá-rik mé-reš-ti); Marduk’s star Nēberu was a name for Jupiter (V 5–6, VII 124–34); Marduk’s bow that shot the fatal arrow was astralized as the Bow (IV 101–02, VI 90–91);Footnote ⁸⁰ and Marduk’s name has solar interpretation (I 101–02, VI 127–28). Two bright stars, the Arrow (Sirius) and Scorpion’s Chest (Antares), frame the fixed-star quintet with epithets about Marduk’s victory. He either butchers Tiāmtu’s corpse to create heaven or tramples her in an interpretation of the Scorpion and its brightest star, both with her subjugation built in.Footnote ⁸¹ Šamaš and Sîn’s epithets concern light and Jupiter’s name múl.babbar is intrinsically luminous (Thavapalan Reference Thavapalan2020: 137). As noted by Debourse (Reference Debourse2022: 312–18) and Krul (Reference Krul, Proust and Steele2019: 231), the astralization of Zarpānītu, in a secondary role as Marduk’s partner, is a striking development and gendered associations in AF 7 include Venus (^múl dele-bat), the Bow (^múlpan), She-Goat (^múlùz), Eru (^múl e ₄ -ru ₆), and Ninmaḫ (^múlnin.maḫ).