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ENUMA ELISH*
Title of the Babylonian creation epic found during excavations at Nineveh (1848–76). The words enuma elish mean “when on high” and are the first two words of the epic, introducing the reader to a time when the heavens “on high” had not been named and the earth did not yet exist. The cuneiform tablets containing the epic were found in the library ruins of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. The epic was probably composed in the time of the Babylonian king Hammurabi (c. 1791–1750 BC). One of the chief purposes of the epic is to show the sovereignty of the Babylonian god Marduk.
See also Ashurbanipal; Creation; Creation Myths.