In the seventh tablet Merodach is praised by the gods--the Igigi (spirits of heaven). As he has absorbed all their attributes, he is addressed by his fifty-one names; henceforth each deity is a form of Merodach. Bel Enlil, for instance, is Merodach of lordship and domination; Sin, the moon god, is Merodach as ruler of night; Shamash is Merodach as god of law and holiness; Nergal is Merodach of war; and so on. The tendency to monotheism appears to have been most marked among the priestly theorists of Babylon.
Merodach is hailed to begin with as Asari, the introducer of agriculture and horticulture, the creator of grain and plants. He also directs the decrees of Anu, Bel, and Ea; but having rescued the gods from destruction at the hands of Kingu and Tiamat, he was greater than his "fathers", the elder gods. He set the Universe in order, and created all things anew. He is therefore Tutu, "the creator", a merciful and beneficent god. The following are renderings of lines 25 to 32:
Tutu: Aga-azaga (the glorious crown) may he make the crowns glorious--
The lord of the glorious incantation bringing the dead to life;
He who had mercy on the gods who had been overpowered;
Made heavy the yoke which he had laid on the gods who were his enemies,
(And) to redeem (?) them created mankind.
"The merciful one", "he with whom is salvation",
May his word be established, and not forgotten,
In the mouth of the black-headed ones whom his hands have made.
Pinches' Translation[[164]]
Tutu as Aga-azag may mankind fourthly magnify!
"The Lord of the Pure Incantation", "the Quickener of the Dead",
"Who had mercy upon the captive gods",
"Who removed the yoke from upon the gods his enemies".
"For their forgiveness did he create mankind",
"The Merciful One, with whom it is to bestow life!"
May his deeds endure, may they never be forgotten
In the mouth of mankind whom his hands have made.
King's Translation.[[165]]
Apparently the Babylonian doctrine set forth that mankind was created not only to worship the gods, but also to bring about the redemption of the fallen gods who followed Tiamat.
Those rebel angels (ili, gods) He prohibited return;
He stopped their service; He removed them unto the gods (ili) who were His enemies.
In their room he created mankind.[[166]]
Tiamat, the chaos dragon, is the Great Mother. She has a dual character. As the origin of good she is the creatrix of the gods. Her beneficent form survived as the Sumerian goddess Bau, who was obviously identical with the Phoenician Baau, mother of the first man. Another name of Bau was Ma, and Nintu, "a form of the goddess Ma", was half a woman and half a serpent, and was depicted with "a babe suckling her breast" (Chapter IV). The Egyptian goddesses Neheb-kau and Uazit were serpents, and the goddesses Isis and Nepthys had also serpent forms. The serpent was a symbol of fertility, and as a mother was a protector. Vishnu, the Preserver of the Hindu Trinity, sleeps on the world-serpent's body. Serpent charms are protective and fertility charms.
As the origin of evil Tiamat personified the deep and tempests. In this character she was the enemy of order and good, and strove to destroy the world.
I have seen
The ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam
To be exalted with the threatening clouds.[[167]]
Tiamat was the dragon of the sea, and therefore the serpent or leviathan. The word "dragon" is derived from the Greek "drakon", the serpent known as "the seeing one" or "looking one", whose glance was the lightning. The Anglo-Saxon "fire drake" ("draca", Latin "draco") is identical with the "flying dragon".
In various countries the serpent or worm is a destroyer which swallows the dead. "The worm shall eat them like wool", exclaimed Isaiah in symbolic language.[[168]] It lies in the ocean which surrounds the world in Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek, Teutonic, Indian, and other mythologies. The Irish call it "morúach", and give it a mermaid form like the Babylonian Nintu. In a Scottish Gaelic poem Tiamat figures as "The Yellow Muilearteach", who is slain by Finn-mac-Coul, assisted by his warrior band.