Ancient Near-Eastern Concepts of Creation

At the beginning of recorded history, some 5,000 years ago, the Sumerians of Mesopotamia left accounts of their creation myths inscribed on cuneiform tablets. The first civilizations of the Fertile Crescent all had similar creation accounts, but the only one without myth and with a moral and perfect God is the biblical version.

It is quite natural to conclude, as nations gradually distanced themselves from the true Creator God and sank into immorality and polytheism, that their understanding became corrupted and eventually was used to prop up their political, social and philosophical outlooks. Nevertheless, a kernel of truth was left as a witness of the original, uncorrupted account.

The Sumerians conceived the earth as being flat and the sky as a canopy of clouds and stars. They believed earth and sky were created by two gods: An, the male sky god, and Ki, the female earth god. These two gave birth to a multitude of other gods, each with a particular power and responsibility over a part of the creation or physical phenomena (lightning, trees, mountains, sickness, etc.). They lived in a kingly court in heaven with An, the supreme god, surrounded by four subordinate creator gods. Below them was a council of seven gods and, finally, the 50 remaining minor gods.

All physical occurrences could be interpreted by the priests as the result of the particular mood or whim of one of these gods. They could be placated by offerings and sacrifices. Although these deities were considered immortal, their supposed conduct was nothing but human. They were depicted as often fighting among themselves, full of petty envies and lusts and subject to hunger and even death.

A few centuries later the Babylonians conquered the Sumerians and modified these myths to exalt their own civilization. Now it was the Babylonian god Marduk who was in charge, and he formed the heavens and the earth by killing a female god, Tiamat. By dividing her into two pieces, the heavens and earth were separated.

Such are some of the reasonings of the human imagination.

-- Mario Seiglie