Essay Questions

How is morality viewed in the narrative?

Morality in the Enuma Elish is seen as an extension of divine will, or as in many cases divine whim, as the Sumerian gods are, by and large, are a fickle, quarrelsome lot who are often in conflict with each other. Having said that the modern classification of good versus evil doesn’t quite fall into neat black-and-white definitions but rather a more savage “might makes right” definition of morality. Ergo to “do good” and following that logic being a “good guy/protagonist” necessarily means that one should affiliate himself/herself to whichever gods are currently in power through veneration and obedience to whichever ethical code they espouse.

What does water symbolize in the narrative?

Water is a frequently encountered symbol within the epic and it symbolizes both chaos and, ironically, life as well. This outlook upon water as a symbol of disorder and life is unsurprising as the Sumerian people were all but at the mercy of the Euphrates and the Tigris, two rivers that they depended on to irrigate the crops that they relied on for their food and to fuel their economy. If these rivers overflowed, the Fertile Crescent would be flooded; crops and whole communities would be ruined physically and devastated financially as well. The epic opens up with creation as being nothing but an immense swirling maelstrom of water--water being both a primordial element of formless but nonetheless powerful potential. From this maelstrom the primordial deities, Apsu and Tiamat, enjoy an unchallenged state of existence until the coming of Marduk who forms order from chaos by killing Tiamat and creating the world through her carcass thus continuing the duality of water as both as symbol of chaos and life.

There is a significant irony in the way the Sumerian deities are presented. What is this irony? Support your answer.

The Sumerian pantheon is depicted as a divine kingdom where the gods serve specialized roles and have specific duties. In following this earthly, decidedly human, structure a hierarchy is formed which also means that there is a system of rank and file as well as divine “families” that results from such as organization. This is highly ironic, as the gods should, by virtue of their divine nature, beyond human systems and structures. The Sumerian gods however are depicted as not only rigidly tied up to hierarchy but also very subject to human emotions--that is to say that many of them are very fickle--some are even prone to mad fits of lust as well as the odd temper tantrum.