Epic of Creation - Humanity in the Gods

Just like all other creation stories, the Epic of Creation attempts to explain the phenomena of the world. The list of phenomena includes the creation of the constellations, the seasons, and, of course, humanity, all created by the god Marduk. The story of Epic of Creation also imitate many qualities of humans. Although the gods are powerful above humanity, they still exhibit distinct behaviors, emotions and flaws similar to those of humans, and with that, the Babylonians can relate themselves to the gods.

Many of the gods, despite how powerful they may be, display basic human qualities. Some gods are shown to be scared, nervous, deceitful, annoyed, and angry. These are typical human emotions that occur almost everywhere. Apsu becomes annoyed with his descendents, thinking of them as "noisome,"and strangely desires to kill them (line 37). There are differences one human being has with another, such as intelligence, creativity or strength, but, just like in the epic, humans still hold their basic emotional weaknesses. Marduk, in spite of the obvious dominance in strength over all of the other gods, still shows “confusion” and becomes “panicky” (line 66-67).

The story shows the imperfections of all the gods. The largest of the imperfections is the fact that the gods themselves can die, as shown in the murder of Apsu, Tiamat, and Qingu. Other gods show fear of death, too. Death, and also the fear of death, are of course essential parts of being human. In a way, it is almost equating humanity with the gods.