This is a very interesting Babylonian creation story. Unlike the Christian story of creation, there are many gods involved. The creation of the world starts off where there is no material form to anything in the universe, and a male and a female god came about in this formless state. Apsu is the male god, and Tiamat is the female god. Mummu seems to also be apart right from the beginning as well. Apsu means sweet primeval waters, and Tiamat means salt primeval waters. Sweet and salt water come together at the merging of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which is where the origin of Mesopotamian civilization occurs. (This is interesting because we are starting off studying the early Mesopotamia civilization.) Mummu means maker. Next Lahmu and Lahamu come about, and their names mean slime, mud, and silt. From these two gods come Anshar, which means whole sky, and Kishar, which means whole earth. Anshar and Kishar come together to make Anu, the sky god. He produces Ea, which means image fashioner.
Ea begins to stir up trouble, and Apsu becomes angry, but Tiamat does not seem to mind. However, after awhile, Apsu and Mummu go before Tiamat and suggest that they destroy Ea. Tiamat is troubled by this and does not agree. Apsu and Mummu plan to destroy the younger gods anyway. However, Ea overhears the plots to destroy him, and puts a spell on Apsu and Mummu, causing Apsu to fall asleep and Mummu to be unable to move. Ea killed Apsu and captured Mummu. Then Marduk is born to Ea and his wife, Daminka. Marduk means son-of-the-sun. Marduk is more powerful than his father and impressive in appearance.
The other gods go to Tiamat complaining about Marduk, and saying she did not stand to defend her husband Apsu or Mummu. Tiamat goes to battle against Marduk, but Marduk prevails and Tiamat is destroyed. Marduk decides to create a savage man, who will be "charged with the service of the gods". Ea suggests that the god who caused Tiamat to rebel should be killed in order to make the savage man. Kingu is the one who caused the uprising, so they killed him and made mankind out of him. He was used to "let free the gods".
I thought it was very interesting that Apsu and Mummu wanted to destroy the other gods, which were his sons, but Tiamat did not. Tiamat said, "What? Should we destroy what we have built? Their ways are indeed troublesome, but let us attend kindly!" Tiamat wanted to be gracious and merciful, and not destroy her own children. These two gods were the original gods according to this story. One wanted to destroy what he had created, the other did not. This concept caused me to think about God, the Christian, biblical God. When God decided to destroy mankind except for Noah and his family, or when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, or even when He allowed His one and only son, Jesus, to be sacrificed for the world's sin, I am sure that God did not want to destroy his creation, or allow His son to be crucified, but because of His justice and wrath against sin, He knew it was the right thing to do.
This creation story seems to have modern parallels with monarchies. In the creation story, certain gods are more powerful than others, and that power seems to stay in the same "family" of gods. Ea is the most powerful god and defeats Apsu and Mummu. He then gives birth to Marduk who is even more powerful. He then defeats Tiamat and continues to reign. This family of gods is clearly in charge and in power. Throughout history and even currently, some nations are ruled by monarchies. All the power remains and in the same family, and rulers often rule for a lifetime.
Source: http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/Enuma_Elish.html
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