Marduk, literal meaning "bull calf of the sun," the son of Ea, apparently a god of magic and incantations from early times. This double-headed sun god was given the epithet Bel, "lord" and identified with Enlil, especially he assumed the leadership of the Babylonian pantheon during the cosmis struggle with Tiamat, the sea-dragon of the salt-water ocean. Marduk, appointed as the celestial champion, slew Tiamat, fastened the tablets of destiny on his own breast, and created a new world order that included humankind. This is a paradoxical creation myth: for the chaos-monster, though slain and dismembered remained the body of the universe and was manifest in her children, the gods and goddess from whom Bel-Marduk received homage.
Marduk informed the assembly of gods that the center of the cosmis universe was Babylon where he had built a luxurious house. His prominence in Mesopotamian religion and his wide influence on Canaanite mythology was entirely due to the political and economic influence on the city, which became dominant following the Sumerian power decline.
There was a large henotheistic tendency at work in the Assyrio-Babylonian pantheon so that a large number of deities were treated as manifestations of Marduk: he assumed fifty names. His consort was Sarpanitu, the shining one, the planet Venus. The great festival of the god at the spring equinox was called zagmuk, the beginning of the year, when his resurrection occurred in Esagila, the house that lifts up its head. Nonetheless, King Mursilis I, who led Hittite warriors on a successful raid on Babylon about 1590 BC, robbed this shrine of the sacred image. A.G.H.
