The Creation Story from Enūma Eliš
The Creation story begins on Tablet 4 and continues on Tablet 5, which is, unfortunately, the least well-preserved section of the epic. In this translation, brackets indicate gaps in the text. (The photo shows Tablet 3.)
Tablet 4
… The Lord [Marduk] trampled the lower part of Tiamat,
With his unsparing mace smashed her skull,
Severed the arteries of her blood,
And made the North Wind carry it off as good news.
His fathers saw it and were jubilant: they rejoiced,
Arranged to greet him with presents, greetings gifts.
The Lord rested, and inspected her corpse.
He divided the monstrous shape and created marvels (from it).
He sliced her in half like a fish for drying:
Half of her he put up to roof the sky,
Drew a bolt across and made a guard hold it.
Her waters he arranged so that they could not escape.
He crossed the heavens and sought out a shrine;
He leveled Apsû, dwelling of Nudimmud.
The Lord measured the dimensions of Apsû
And the large temple (Eshgalla), which he built in its image, was Esharra:
In the great shrine Esharra, which he had created as the sky,
He founded cult centers for Anu, Ellil, and Ea …
Tablet 5
He fashioned stands for the great gods.
As for the stars, he set up constellations corresponding to them.
He designated the year and marked out its divisions,
Apportioned three stars each to the twelve months.
When he had made plans of the days of the year,
He founded the stand of Neberu to mark out their courses,
So that none of them could go wrong or stray.
He fixed the stand of Ellil and Ea together with it.
Opened up gates in both ribs,
Made strong bolts to left and right.
With her liver he located the Zenith;
He made the crescent moon appear, entrusted night (to it)
And designated it the jewel of night to mark out the days.
Go forth every month without fail in a corona,
At the beginning of the month, to glow over the land.
…
He [Marduk] put into groups and made clouds scud.
Raising winds, making rain, making fog billow, by collecting her poison,
He assigned for himself and let his own hand control it.
He placed her head, heaped up [ ]
Opened up springs: water gushed out.
He opened the Euphrates and the Tigris from her eyes,
Closed her nostrils, [ ].
He piled up clear-cut mountains from her udder,
Bored waterholes to drain off the catch-water.
He laid her tail across, tied it fast as the cosmic bond (?),
And [ ] the Apsû beneath his feet.
He set her thigh to make fast the sky,
With half of her to make fast the sky,
With half of her he made a roof; he fixed the earth.
He [ ] the work, made the insides of Tiamat surge,
Spread his net, made it extend completely.
He … [ ] heaven and earth …
From Stephanie Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia (New York: Oxford, 1989).