cosmos-godsWe're still mapping where this idea was first discussed. Key passages and related ideas below.

Creation of the World (Cosmogony)

In the beginning was not nothing, but water — and the gods who divided and named it.

Mesopotamian texts do not tell one creation story but several. Sumerian poems open with heaven (An) and earth (Ki) parted from a primeval unity, after which the gods set the world in order; the great Babylonian epic Enuma Elish has the god Marduk form sky and earth from the body of the slain sea-goddess Tiamat. Creation here is organization, not creation out of nothing: pre-existing waters and matter are shaped, named, and assigned their places. The emphasis falls on order, kingship among the gods, and the founding of cities and temples.