The Tablet of Destinies and the Transmission of Power in Enuma Elis

Organization, Representation, and Symbols of Power

in the Ancient Near EastProceedings of the 54th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale

at Wrzburg 2025 July 2008

edited byGernot Wilhelm

Winona Lake, Indiana eisenbrauns

2012

offprint from

2012 by Eisenbrauns Inc. All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America www.eisenbrauns.com

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American Na-tional Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materi-als, ANSI Z39.481984.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rencontre assyriologique internationale (54th : 2008 : Wrzburg, Germany)Organization, representation, and symbols of power in the ancient Near East :

proceedings of the 54th Rencontre assyriologique internationale at Wuerzburg, 2025 July 2008 / edited by Gernot Wilhelm.

p. cm.Includes bibliographical references.ISBN 978-1-57506-245-7 (hardback : alk. paper)1. Middle EastCivilizationTo 622Congresses. 2. Middle East

Politics and governmentCongresses. 3. Middle EastAntiquities Congresses. 4. AssyriaCivilizationCongresses 5. AssyriaPolitics and governmentCongresses. 6. AssyriaCivilizationCongresses. I. Wilhelm, Gernot. II. Title.

DS41.5R35 2008939.4dc23 2012019372

Contents

Vorwort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ixAbbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiProgram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviiDas Ansehen eines altorientalischen Herrschers bei seinen Untertanen . . . . 1

Walther sallaberGerLexercice du pouvoir par les rois de la I re Dynastie de Babylone:

problmes de mthode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Dominique Charpin

Verwaltungstechnische Aspekte kniglicher Reprsentation: Zwei Urkunden ber den Kult der verstorbenen Knige im mittelassyrischen Assur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

eva CanCik-kirsChbaumBild, Macht und Raum im neuassyrischen Reich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Dominik bonatzDie Rolle der Schrift in einer Geschichte der

frhen hethitischen Staatsverwaltung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73theo van Den hout

Wo r k s h o p : Collective Governance and the Role of the Palace in the Bronze Age Middle Euphrates and Beyond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85aDelheiD otto

Archaeological Evidence for Collective Governance along the Upper Syrian Euphrates during the Late and Middle Bronze Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

aDelheiD ottoTextual Evidence for a Palace at Late Bronze Emar . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Daniel e.fleminGDie Rolle der Stadt im sptbronzezeitlichen Emar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

betina faistLes Frres en Syrie lpoque du Bronze rcent:

Rflexions et hypothses* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129sophie Dmare-lafont

Organization of Harrdum, Suhum, 18th17th Centuries b.C., Iraqi Middle Euphrates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Christine kepinski

Contents

Ein Konflikt zwischen Knig und ltestenversammlung in Ebla . . . . . . 155Gernot Wilhelm

Workshop: The Public and the State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

eva von DassoWThe Public and the State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

eva von DassoWFrom People to Public in the Iron Age Levant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

seth sanDersAdministrators and Administrated in Neo-Assyrian Times . . . . . . . . . 213

simonetta ponChiaThe Babylonian Correspondence of the Seleucid and Arsacid Dynasties:

New Insights into the Relations between Court and City during the Late Babylonian Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

roberto sCianDra

La liste L A et la hirarchie des fonctionnaires sumriens . . . . . . . . . . . 249alexanDra bourGuiGnon

Knigslisten als Appellativ-Quellen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257pavel eCh

From King to God: The NAMEDA Title in Archaic Ur. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265petr Charvt

The Uses of the Cylinder Seal as Clues of Mental Structuring Processes inside Ur III State Machinery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

alessanDro Di luDoviCoEN-Priestess: Pawn or Power Mogul? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Joan GooDniCk WestenholzDie Uruk I-Dynastieein Konstrukt der Isin-Zeit? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Catherine mittermayerNeue Erkenntnisse zu den kniglichen Gemahlinnen der Ur III-Zeit . . . . . . 327

marCos suCh-Gutirrezetinanna und die Mutter des ulgi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

frauke WeiershuserVom babylonischen Knigssiegel und von gesiegelten Steinen . . . . . . . . . . 357

susanne paulusMarduk and His Enemies: City Rivalries in Southern Mesopotamia. . . . . . . 369

J.a. sCurloCkText im Bild Bild im Text: Bildmotive als Bedeutungstrger von

Machtansprchen im hellenistischen Mesopotamien? . . . . . . . . . . 377karin stella sChmiDt

The Tablet of Destinies and the Transmission of Power in Enma eli . . . . . 387karen sonik

Aur and Enlil in Neo-Assyrian Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397spenCer l. allen

Contents

The Charms of Tyranny: Conceptions of Power in the Garden Scene of Ashurbanipal Reconsidered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

mehmet-ali ataLes archers de sige no-assyriens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

fabriCe y.De baCkerKings Direct Control: Neo-Assyrian Qpu Officials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

peter DubovskyTriumph as an Aspect of the Neo-Assyrian Decorative Program . . . . . . . . . 461

natalie naomi mayLocal Power in the Middle Assyrian Period:

The Kings of the Land of Mri in the Middle Habur Region . . . . . 489Daisuke shibata

Women, Power, and Heterarchy in the Neo-Assyrian Palaces . . . . . . . . . . 507saana svrD

Organising the Interaction Between People: a New Look at the Elite Houses of Nuzi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

DaviD kertaiLes femmes comme signe de puissance royale:

la maison du roi dArrapha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531briGitte lion

Power Transition and Law: The Case of Emar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543lena fiJakoWska

The Representatives of Power in the Amarna Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551J.mynov

Herrscherreprsentation und Kult im Bildprogramm des Airom-Sarkophags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

h.niehrReligion and Politics at the Divine Table: The Cultic Travels of Zimr-Lm . . . 579

Cinzia pappiThe City of batum and its Surroundings: The Organization of Power

in the Post-Hammurabi Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591shiGeo yamaDa

The Horns of a Dilemma, or On the Divine Nature of the Hittite King . . . . . 605Gary beCkman

The Power in Heaven: Remarks on the So-Called Kumarbi Cycle . . . . . . . . 611Carlo Corti anD franCa peCChioli DaDDi

Die Worte des Knigs als Reprsentation von Macht: Zur althethitischen Phraseologie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619

paola DarDanoTreaties and Edicts in the Hittite World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637

elena DeveCChiLuxusgter als Symbole der Macht: Zur Verwaltung der Luxusgter

im Hethiter-Reich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647mauro GiorGieri anD Clelia mora

Contents

Autobiographisches, Historiographisches und Erzhlelemente in hethitischen Gebeten Arnuwandas und Mursilis . . . . . . . . . . . . 665

manfreD hutterThe (City-)Gate and the Projection of Royal Power in atti . . . . . . . . . . . 675

J.l. millerHethitische Felsreliefs als Reprsentation der Macht:

Einige ikonographische Bemerkungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687zsolt simon

. . . Ich bin bei meinem Vater nicht beliebt. . .: Einige Bemerkungen zur Historizitt des Zalpa-Textes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699

bla stipiChDating of Akkad, Ur III, and Babylon I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715

peter J.huberCuneiform Documents Search Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735

WoJCieCh JaWorskiFluchformeln in den Urkunden der Chalder- und Achmenidenzeit . . . . . . 739

JrGen lorenzArbeitszimmer eines Schreibers aus der mittelelamischen Zeit . . . . . . . . . 747

behzaD mofiDi nasrabaDiSiegel fr Jedermann: Neue Erkenntnisse zur sog. Srie lamite Populaire

und zur magischen Bedeutung von Siegelsteinen. . . . . . . . . . . . . 757GeorG neumann

Did Rusa Commit Suicide? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771miChael roaf

ber die (Un-)Mglichkeit eines Glossary of Old Syrian [GlOS] . . . . . . . . 781Joaqun sanmartn

Adapas Licht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795illya vorontsov

Early Lexical Lists and Their Impact on Economic Records: An Attempt of Correlation Between Two Seemingly Different Kinds of Data-Sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 805

klaus WaGensonner

387

The Tablet of Destinies and the Transmission of Power in Enma eli

Karen SonikphilaDelphia

The Tablet of Destinies, a well known if somewhat enigmatic motif, features prominently in Mesopotamian mythology as both an emblem and a receptacle of divine power and kingship.Equated with the rikis Enlilti, the bond(s) of Enlil-ship, in an inscription of Sennacherib from Kuyunjik (K 6177 + 8869), the Tablet is described by Andrew George as the means by which rightful power is exercised: the power invested in the rightful keeper of the Tablet of Destinies is that of the chief of the destiny-decreeing gods . . . which amounts in principle to kingship of the gods. 1

Key to this definition is the point of legitimate ownership: simple acquisition of the Tablet may confer power, even enormous power, over the gods and over the world but it does not, in itself, confer infallibility or legitimacy. The Tablets right-ful keeper is determined based on his or her innate qualities, power, and position in the pantheon, and varies according to chronological and geographical context. 2

Prior to its appearance in this inscription of Sennacherib, in which it is attrib-uted to the Assyrian god Aur, the Tablet serves as a familiar and prominent device in several Mesopotamian texts that explore the nature of legitimate and illegitimate divine power and rulership, the Babylonian epic Enma eli among them. 3

In Enma eli, the Tablet of Destinies is something of a peripheral device, un-surprising given that the text draws on numerous themes and motifs from other mythological traditions to justify the elevation of the Babylonian god Marduk to the

Authors note: Thanks are owed to Stephen Tinney, Barry Eichler, Grant Frame, Erle Leichty, Jeffrey Tigay, and Paul Delnero for their kind suggestions and comments. Any errors, of course, remain my own.

1. George 1986: 138. While a visual representation of the Tablet of Destinies has not yet been recovered, its physical form is described in this inscription of Sennacherib. George (1986: 138) further suggests that a monument depicting such may actually have been undertaken under Sennacherib, who elsewhere commissioned a representation of Ashur defeating Timat in Enma eli, especially in view of his interest in the theology of Assurs divine kingship. Varying conceptions of the Tablet of Destinies in Mesopotamian texts exist: Old Babylonian literary texts commonly presented the idea of cosmic order in terms of divine decrees. . .On rare occasions these decrees were visualized as a finite and predeter-mined set recorded on the Tablet of Destinies possessed by one of the major gods. More regularly, they were presented as a set of ad hoc declarations in response to particular events or prompted by petitions (Jones 2005: 334). Elsewhere, the Tablet of Destinies has been described as a magical, accessory-like object conceptualized as the embodiment of power over the cosmos (Ata, 2007: 307).

2. See Lawson (1994: 41) for a list of gods associated with the Tablet of Destinies.3. The date of composition of Enma eli remains disputed, though the late second millennium bCe

seems the most likely. See Lambert 2008: 178; Horowitz 1998: 1078; and Dalley 1989: 22830.

Oprint from: Gernot Wilhelm, ed., Organization, Representation, and Symbols of Power in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 54th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Copyright 2012 Eisenbrauns. All rights reserved.

karen sonik388

kingship of the pantheon. 4 Nevertheless, the manner in which it is integrated into the events of the composition, first bestowed upon Qingu by Timat, then seized and worn by Marduk while he orders the cosmos, and ultimately presented by Marduk to his grandfather Anu, offers some insight into one of the central problems of the text: where does power legitimately reside and how and why is it properly trans-ferred from one divine entity to another? 5 This paper examines the relationship between the Tablet of Destinies, the possession and transmission of power, and the conferral of legitimacy in the context of Enma eli.

The opening lines of the epic describe the mingling of two primordial and el-emental entities, Aps and Timat, who generate the first gods and who seem to evolve thereby into active proto-deities, complete with at least semi-anthropomor-phic forms and divine powers and attributes. 6 As the parents of all the gods, Aps and Timat may also be read as the first rulers of the text, legitimately endowed with divine authority over the gods. Aps, as befits a king, 7 stands at the head of a line of legitimate heirs, among them Lahmu and Lahamu, Anar and Kiar, Anu, Ea, and ultimately Marduk, who comprise the great gods. He is also the apparent progenitor of a mass of unnamed and undifferentiated descendents, who comprise the lesser gods. Legitimate power, so far, is relatively concentrated: it is located in the hands of Aps and Timat and their rightful heirs. This situation, however, does not last.

When the great gods, enormously dynamic, creative, and noisy, keep their par-ents and their lesser siblings from rest by day and sleep by night, Aps makes the terrible decision to destroy them despite Timats objection, thereby fracturing the legitimate holders of divine power into three camps: Aps on one side; the great gods, his heirs, on the other; and Timat, who remains a neutral party in the conflict.

With the swift and prudent execution of Aps by Ea, the situation seems re-solved and consolidation of power in the hands of the great gods, who are both Apss heirs and his conquerors, appears inevitable. Timat, who refused to aid in the destruction of her children, might now reasonably be expected to actively support them. As an independently powerful and authoritative figure, she could as-sume the role of queen mother, as exemplified by Namma in Enki and Ninmah, 8 a

4. While the text may be composite in nature, its authorship is unlikely to be so. As noted by Lam-bert (Mesopotamian Creation Stories, 17), the epics literary character and ideological single-minded-ness mark it as the product of a single author at one point of time, using of course whatever he wanted from existing mythological materials.

5. A similar question about Enma eli was posed in Lawson 1994: 22: So where does the real power reside? Of what real advantage is the Tablet of Destinies? While Lawsons subsequent discussion and interpretation of the Tablet of Destinies in Mesopotamian myth offers an interesting exploration of a difficult topic, and while some of his conclusions and analyses occasionally parallel those presented here, his understanding of the text and its major players frequently deviates significantly from my own.

6. Aps and Timat are not gods proper as has sometimes been suggested, ibid.: 20. Their names, unlike those of the rest of the gods in Enma eli, are never written with the divine determinative (Anar alone is excepted, as his name begins with the dingir sign). Following the generation of the first gods from the mingling of their waters, however, Aps and Timat do seem to evolve into proto-deities, possibly as a result of the civilizing qualities of sexual intercourse, see Mills 2002: 29; Walls 2001: 1734; Sonik 2009. For a discussion of the Sea and the aps as associated with monsters prior to their appearance in Enma eli, see Wiggermann 1992: 155.

7. Whether he is to be understood as the first king or ruler, Aps is certainly the first major male authority figure to appear in Enma eli by virtue of his position as the father of all the gods.

8. Namma, mother of Enki, is commonly without any specified spouse, and since Enki/Ea was god of the subterranean waters, it may be suspected that his mother was similarly associated (Lambert 2008: 31).


The Tablet of Destinies and the Transmission of Power 389

divine peacemaker and peaceweaver serving as the protector of her heirs, the great gods, and as an intercessor and advocate for any of her lesser descendents who are wronged or overburdened. Acting thus, Timat would continue to loom large in the divine realm while still removing herself from the line of succession. Divine power, already effectively claimed by Ea, could then properly descend down the line of her heirs. Timat would also be able to smooth over the growing anger of the lesser gods against their more powerful brethren, who, with the birth of Marduk, have actually intensified their noisome activities. Much to the chagrin of the great gods, however, Timat not merely joins but actually takes over the leadership of these lesser gods. Power is again split between warring divine factions, the great gods on one side, and Timat leading the lesser gods on the other. It is against this dramatic and violent backdrop that the Tablet of Destinies first appears in Enma eli.

Preparing for battle, Timat independently generates terrible monsters to swell the ranks of her army, nightmare warriors who are endowed with melammu, whose veins are filled with venom instead of blood, and who are incited to continually at-tack and never to yield (I 133140). 9 From among her divine offspring, the lesser gods who comprise her assembly, she chooses the otherwise unknown Qingu to be her new consort and the general of her battle array, elevating him to the kingship of the gods and bestowing upon him the Tablet of Destinies. 10

This remarkable sequence of events raises several important questions: how did the Tablet of Destinies come to be in the possession of Timat in the first place; what is the mechanism whereby the Tablet is properly bestowed or transferred; and what is the nature of the Tablet in the specific context of Enma eli?

On the question of the Tablets origin in Enma eli, the text itself is unfortu-nately or tellingly silent. Based on its background in other compositions, how-ever, we may speculate that Timat inherited it from her late mate Aps, who, by virtue of his position as the father of all the gods, effectively served as the first king in Enma eli. 11 The Tablet of Destinies, after all, is associated both with divine authority, as in the epic of Anzu, and with the aps, as in Ninurta and the Turtle. 12 As Timat is represented as an enormously and independently powerful entity in

9. For a discussion of melammu and Timats monsters, see Ata 2007: 3068. For further discus-sion of the significance of melammu, see Aster 2006

10. Qingu does appear, briefly but notably, in several more obscure texts, among them Assurbani-pals Acrostic Hymn to Marduk and Zarpanitu (K 7592 + K 8717 + DT 363 + BM 99173), the Marduk Ordeal (K 6333+ etc.), A Cultic Commentary (K 3476), Mystical Miscellanea (VAT 8917), and the Com-mentary to the Assyrian Cultic Calendar (VAT 9947), as published in Livingstone 1989: 7, 90, 92, 1023.

11. On the subject of the Tablets origins, Lawson (1994: 20) suggests that fate emanates from Timat, is embodied as the Tablet of Destinies, and is hers to do with as she wills. That the Tablet may rightly fall under the guardianship of Timat is clearly possible but Lawson omits any discussion here of Timats previous relationship with Aps, the ostensible first king of the gods. If Timat bestows the Tablet on Qingu, is it not possible that she similarly bestowed it on Aps, reclaiming it after his death? Alternate possibilities, that the Tablet originated with Aps and was inherited by Timat, or that the two primordial beings shared possession of it, are explored above. For another reading, suggesting that by killing Aps and Mummu, Ea obtained the Tablet of Destinies, but it returned to Tiamat as it re-turned to the aps in The Twenty-One Poultices, see Annus 2002: 149. According to this interpretation, Ea is identical to either Aps or Timat and the Abzu, as the source of wisdom, is a natural place for the Tablet of Destinies to reside at the beginning of time. Tiamat got it from her dead husband Aps as a rightful inheritance, ibid.: 14950.

12. In the mythological text The Twenty-One Poultices (BM 33999) ll. 67, the Tablet of Destinies is similarly associated with the aps through the god Ea, in which Ea describes the Tablet as the document of my Anuship and demands that it be brought and read before him that he may decree the destiny for Nabu, the revered, see W.G. Lambert 1980: 79. Annus (2002: 150: 150) speculates that the source of


karen sonik390

the epic, at least the equal of Aps, and as the first gods are born of the mingling of Aps and Timats waters, it is also possible that the two primordial entities shared responsibility for the Tablet, the one responsible for holding it and the other for bestowing it, and that it passed into her sole possession following the death of her mate. This would explain why Ea did not take it over following his execution of Aps and assumption of Apss melammu and realm. While various other possi-bilities exist, the fact is that regardless of how she first came to possess it, Timat appears at least to be the rightful guardian of the Tablet of Destinies at the time of its introduction into Enma eli. This underscores both the legitimacy of her power and the enormity of her influence in the text, and offers some insight into why the great gods are so devastated by her defection to their enemies and why even their greatest heroes, Anu and Ea, are powerless to stand against her.

That Timat is not the rightful holder of the Tablet, 13 however, but more the medium whereby it is transmitted, is suggested by the manner of its introduction into the narrative: it first appears as Timat names Qingu as her new consort, appointing him to the kingship of the gods and the generalship of her army, and bestowing upon him the Tablet of Destinies, which here seems intended both to symbolize his new position and to bolster his power. This sequence of events also suggests at least one mechanism whereby the Tablet of Destinies, and, by exten-sion, divine kingship, may be properly and legitimately attained: through marriage to or mating with Timat.

One caveat to this point must be noted, however: while a god may gain power through marrying Timat and receiving the Tablet of Destinies, he apparently can-not gain legitimacy unless he is the right god, independently worthy of both honors. 14

In Tablet IV of Enma eli, Marduk reels off the series of charges for which Timat has been condemned and for which she is to be executed by his hand. Re-vealingly, he accuses: You named Qingu to your consortship, / Though it was not his portion, you installed him in the office of lordship (IV 8182). While Timats marriage to Qingu is not explicitly identified as the basis for Qingus elevation, the two acts are implicitly linked and are similarly treated as insupportable transgres-sions. The reason for Marduks objection to Qingus elevation is clear, however, he has no obvious cause to reproach Timat for her choice of consort, worthy or not, unless this affects the balance of divine power. But if we accept that marriage to Timat is linked to the attainment of kingship and, by extension, to the legitimate holding of the Tablet of Destinies, then Marduks accusations unexpectedly take on the conjugal undertones suggested by Philip Jones: Marduk acknowledged the legitimating qualities of marrying Timat. He merely disagreed with her choice of the obscure figure of Qingu as her spouse and hinted that this was an honor that should have been his. 15

Nabus ire in this text is the return of the Tablet of Destinies to the Aps and to Ea. For a discussion of the Tablet of Destinies in Anzu and in Ninurta and the Turtle (UET 6/1 2), see Penglase 1994: 515, 612.

13. A distinction between guardianship and ownership is suggested here, with the implication be-ing that the rightful holder of the Tablet of Destinies may have to be male but that the medium through which it is transmitted may be female.

14. This is supported by the fact that Qingu, the unworthy usurper, is easily defeated in combat by Marduk, the true and rightful king, despite holding the Tablet of Destinies. Lawsons (1994: 23) sugges-tion that like the sword of Excalibur in Arthurian legend, the Tablet is effective according to the person or god that wields it seems a sensible one.

15. Jones 2005: 360. Whether being the mate of Timat is any more legitimating than possessing the Tablet of Destinies is questionable: while both positions confer power, the whole point of the text



On first reading, this suggestion seems unsavory, even obscene. Timat, after all, is mother of the gods and so, presumably, progenitress of Marduk as well. In-cest, however, regardless of taboo, is at least obliquely indicated in Enma eli and a close consideration of the narrative suggests that Marduk is indeed intended as the rightful mate of Timat. 16

Reading Timat as the queen of the gods, as her mate Aps was the first king, her refusal to step aside into the non-sexual role of queen mother requires her to take a new mate who is not only her equal in power and ability but who is also fit to assume the role of king of the gods. Where is such a mate to be found? There is, ultimately, only one place to look: in the line of the great gods, the legitimate heirs of her union with Aps. Among this line, only Marduk, and possibly Anu, are un-coupled with corresponding female deities and Anu, as demonstrated by his abortive mission against Timat, is clearly not up to the challenge (II 105118). Marduk, on the other hand, is a superlative hero god from birth, easily surpassing his fathers in his faculties and his potential. As the direct and most powerful descendent of Aps and Timats original union, and also as the son of Ea, who slew Aps and assumed his realm and stature, Marduk is uniquely situated to actually replace the father of the gods by marrying the now unattached Timat. The problem of incest lingers but only until we realize that the narrative of Enma eli has been carefully ma-nipulated to circumvent it.

While Marduk is nominally descended from Timat through his father Ea, and presumably also through his mother Damkina, for whom a genealogy is not given, he is very deliberately described as having been born in the aps, the realm created from the body of the first king of the gods, thus excluding Timat from the equation. The line of succession is drastically abbreviated, leading directly and solely from Aps to his immediate heir and the child of his corpse, Marduk. 17 Indeed, if the incest taboo plays any role in shaping the events of Enma eli, it is in reinforcing the impropriety of Timats union with Qingu, who is explicitly identified as one of her offspring (however many generations removed) in the text. 18

seems to be that they cannot confer legitimacy when bestowed upon an unworthy god, as, in this case, upon Qingu.

16. Incestuous relationships are almost certainly part of the text, despite attempts in modern schol-arship to explain them away. Thus Anu is described as the child, apilunu (I 14), of Anar and Kiar, and Anar and Kiar are likely born of the pair Lahmu and Lahamu, though the text is not explicit on this point. Given that these represent the earliest generations of gods, however, a certain amount of leeway is to be expected. As for the later generations, it is notable that Anu has no named mate and that Ea is paired with Damkina, for whom no genealogy is given. Lambert (2008: 26) poses the question, Is this silence a reaction to the problem in any such theogony that after the first generation it implies brother and sister marriages that were taboo in Sumero-Babylonian society? but no definitive answer is pos-sible. It is worth noting that the fragmentary and unusual Theogony of Dunnu (BM 74329), one of the few Mesopotamian texts to explicitly include incestuous relationships in its narrative, begins with the mother-son union and the sons killing of the father as the means of attaining kingship.Brother-sister pairings feature more prominently as the text continues but it is notable that the queen, the mother, must either be married to or killed by the son, or killed by his sister, in order for the son to gain king-ship.While this text may be well out of the mainstream, it nonetheless indicates the problem posed by the continued existence of Timat following the execution of Aps: Ea cannot marry her, being paired with Damkina, and Marduk, the heir apparent to the kingship of the gods, must either marry her or kill her to be confirmed in his position.

17. While hardly a palatable image, such a relationship between Aps and Marduk would be yet another symbolic boost to Marduks claim to power and seems accurately to sum up the connection the author of Enma eli was trying to evoke in his description of Marduks birth in Aps.

18. Qingu is not, as often described, a monster or a demon but is rather one of the lesser gods who comprise Timats assembly: From the gods, her offspring, those who formed the assembly /She [Timat]


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That Marduk should assume the consortship of Timat, that he should be ele-vated to the kingship of the gods, and that he is, and should be, the rightful holder of the Tablet of Destinies suddenly becomes self-evident. Timats failure to see this does not prevent him from attaining legitimate kingship, which he achieves instead through election in the divine assembly of the great gods, 19 but it becomes ample justification for her treatment at his hands.

This reading of the text is supported by subsequent events. Following his kill-ing of Timat and his retrieval of the Tablet of Destinies from the unworthy Qingu, Marduk seals it with a seal and affixes it to his own chest. 20 In this context, it serves more as a symbol and confirmation of his successful and legitimate attainment of the kingship of the gods than as a source of his power, given what he has already achieved without it. Further proof of his worthiness to hold it follows, as Marduk proceeds to organize the cosmos while wearing it proudly on his breast. The proper balance of power is restored, finally and completely concentrated in the hands of the great gods and, more specifically, in the hands of Marduk, their king.

If this interpretation of Enma eli is correct, however, what are we to make of the fact that Marduk, when the battle against Timat is won and the creation of the world and its features complete, turns over the Tablet of Destinies to his grandfather Anu (V 6869)? If the Tablet is a symbol of divine kingship, are we to understand that Marduk is giving up his hard-won prize to his grandfather?

I would argue for several reasons that the answer is an unequivocal no. First, Marduks sealing of the Tablet of Destinies, followed by his organizing of the world while wearing the Tablet on his breast, has already emphasized the finality of his establishment of order and the enormity of his power, so he hardly requires the continued possession of the Tablet as a symbol of his primacy or rule. 21 Second, the bestowal of the Tablet on Anu suggests both Marduks devotion and loyalty to his fathers and the continuity of the traditional pantheon, 22 with Anu nominally at its head, even while proposing a radical change in its active leadership. 23 Third, the turning over of the Tablet to a more senior figure in the pantheon evokes com-elevated Qingu from among them, she exalted him, I 147148. His misidentification may be at least partly due to the fact that he is promoted to the generalship of Timats battle array, which includes her recently generated monsters, see Wiggermann 1992: 163. Timats mating with Qingu thus represents the clearest case of incest (though the exact relationship between them is unspecified) in the text.

19. The suggestion that Enma eli portrays an evolution of political authority from an assembly of equals working out policy to an absolute monarch proclaiming policy, is briefly discussed in Foster 2005: 436, and in Jacobsen 1943: 167, 16970. Such a scenario does not accurately reflect the events of the text, however, if we accept that Aps effectively functions as the first king or ruler of the text and that even Qingu is elevated to kingship prior to Marduks election. See also Wiggermann 1992: 163. For a more recent, if problematic, political analysis of Enma eli, see Boer 2006: 13660.

20. George (1986: 139) discusses the symbolism of wearing the Tablet of Destinies, writing that the victor put it on and wore it as an emblem of power. . .One can probably imagine it to have been hung from a cord strung round the neck, after the fashion of an amulet. He also includes a brief but thorough discussion of the act of sealing the Tablet of Destinies, which appears also in K 6177 + 8869, and treats the subject of the Seal of Destinies, which is known from the Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon and which functions to seal both human and divine destinies as decreed by Aur, king of the gods, ibid.: 141.

21. Further, Marduk has already put his own seal on the Tablet of Destinies, IV 122.22. Marduks devotion to his ancestors has already been emphasized in IV 123126. It is reiterated

when Marduk gives Ea the lead ropes, V 68, and, later in the same passage, when he gives out and receives other gifts.

23. Enlil is often the (more) active ruler of the pantheon with Anu often appearing as little more than a figurehead. Enlil is mostly absent from the text of Enma eli, suggesting that it is his position of divine rulership that Marduk is usurping. Enlil does, however, appear in the final line of Tablet IV, in



parisons to, and aligns Marduk with, other Mesopotamian hero gods such as Nin-urta, who so dutifully returns the Tablet of Destinies to Enlil in Anzu. In this case, however, the context suggests not that the Tablet is being returned to its rightful owner, as Anu has never possessed the Tablet, but rather that it is being bestowed by Marduk upon his grandfather as a gift or trophy. 24 Anus position in the pantheon is thus subtly attributed to Marduks largesse.

In securing the suzerainty of the gods and establishing the structure and order of the cosmos, Marduk has at last firmly consolidated divine power. His claim to kingship bolstered by his place as the greatest and most powerful of Apss heirs, by his birth in the aps, and by his election to the leadership of the great gods, Marduk is clearly indicated as the rightful holder of the Tablet of Destinies and as the sole contender for the role of Timats consort, if that position is to be filled.

When Timat, the only female in Enma eli who plays any significant role in the succession of power or the conferral of legitimacy, subverts the divine order through her marriage to Qingu and bestowal upon him of the Tablet of Destinies, Marduk resorts to martial force both to recover and to prove his birthright. In kill-ing Timat and seizingand sealingfor himself the Tablet of Destinies, Marduk excises the female element, already excluded from any real part in ordered creation in the text, from the transmission of divine power and lays his own indelible stamp upon what is, in the right hands, the ultimate symbol of divine authority. Kingship and divine power are henceforth properly and permanently concentrated in his person.

which Marduk establishes the domains of Anu, Enlil, and Ea, IV 146, and as an active entity in TabletV, in which he appears alongside Anu and Ea presenting Marduk with a gift, V 80.

24. The term used is tmartu, in this context a gift, tribute, or present.

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The Tablet of Destinies and the Transmission of Power in Enuma Elis

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