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    This Babylonian story of creation comes largely from the Enuma Elish and the Astrahasis, which appear to have been written between 1900 and 1500 BC, perhaps during the time of the Babylonian King Hammurabi. The tablets of both are broken and incomplete. At the end of the story here, the details of the creation of humans are supplemented with material from fragments of later writings. The latter may date as late as the 500's BC, but their consistency with the earlier Enuma Elish suggests that they tell the same story. The main actor in these tablets is Marduk, the most powerful of the Babylonian gods. Like most Babylonian gods, he has many names, and elsewhere he is sometimes known as Bel.

     這個巴比倫的創世故事主要來自於大約寫於西元前1900年到西元前1500年巴比倫國王漢摩拉比時代的《埃努瑪埃利什》和《阿特拉哈西斯》。這兩個泥板上的內容都已破碎且不完整。在以下的這個故事結尾，有關創造人類的細節是由後來的著作片段所補充而成。後者可追溯至西元前五世紀，但它們與早先的《埃努瑪埃利什》的故事有一致性，顯示它們講的是同一個故事。這些泥板中的主角是巴比倫神中最強大的神，瑪爾杜克。如同大多數的巴比倫神，他也有許多名字。有時候，他在其他地方會被稱為彼勒。

Marduk Creates the World from the Spoils of Battle[1]

瑪爾杜克從戰利品中創造世界

      In the beginning, neither heaven nor earth had names. Apsu, the god of fresh waters, and Tiamat, the goddess of the salt oceans, and Mummu, the god of the mist that rises from both of them, were still mingled as one. There were no mountains, there was no pasture land, and not even a reed-marsh could be found to break the surface of the waters.

起初，天與地都沒有名字。淡水之神阿普蘇、海水之神提亞馬特，以及從他們之中出現的霧神穆木，仍然混合為一體。沒有山、沒有牧草地，甚至沒有能夠破壞地表水的蘆葦沼澤地。

      It was then that Apsu and Tiamat parented two gods, and then two more who outgrew the first pair. These further parented gods, until Ea, who was the god of rivers and was Tiamat and Apsu's geat-grandson, was born. Ea was the cleverest of the gods, and with his magic Ea became the most powerful of the gods, ruling even his forebears.

就在那時，阿普蘇和提亞馬特生了兩個神，然後又有兩個神從第一對中誕生。就這樣不斷的生出神來，直到河流之神，同時也是提亞馬特和阿普蘇的曾孫伊亞誕生。伊亞是最聰明的神，而他的神力也讓他成為最強大的神，甚至讓他得以統治他的祖先們。

      Apsu and Tiamat's descendents became an unruly crowd. Eventually Apsu, in his frustration and inability to sleep with the clamor, went to Tiamat, and he proposed to her that he slay their noisy offspring. Tiamat was furious at his suggestion to kill their clan, but after leaving her Apsu resolved to proceed with his murderous plan. When the young gods heard of his plot against them, they were silent and fearful, but soon Ea was hatching a scheme. He cast a spell on Apsu, pulled Apsu's crown from his head, and slew him. Ea then built his palace on Apsu's waters, and it was there that, with the goddess Damkina, he fathered Marduk, the four-eared, four-eyed giant who was god of the rains and storms.

阿普蘇和提亞馬特的後代成了一群無法無天的神。阿普蘇最後因為這些喧囂感到挫敗無法入睡而去找提亞馬特。他向她提議說他要殺死這些吵鬧的後代。提亞馬特對於他要殺死他們的氏族感到憤怒，但在離開她之後，阿普蘇仍然決定繼續這個兇殘的計劃。當年輕的眾神們聽到了這個對他們的陰謀時，他們陷入沉默並感到恐懼，但不久之後，伊亞密謀出一個計劃。他在阿普蘇身上施了一個咒語，從阿普蘇的頭上扯下王冠，然後殺了他。之後伊亞就在阿普蘇的水域中建造了他的宮殿，而就在那裡，他和女神達姆金娜生下了四耳四眼的巨人，暴風之神瑪爾杜克。

      The other gods, however, went to Tiamat and complained of how Ea had slain her husband. Aroused, she collected an army of dragons and monsters, and at its head she placed the god Kingu, whom she gave magical powers as well. Even Ea was at a loss how to combat such a host, until he finally called on his son Marduk. Marduk gladly agreed to take on his father's battle, on the condition that he, Marduk, would rule the gods after achieving this victory. The other gods agreed, and at a banquet they gave him his royal robes and scepter.

然而，其他眾神卻去找提亞馬特並向她抱怨伊亞如何殺死她的丈夫。被喚醒之後，她召集了一支由龍和怪物所組成的軍隊，並指派金谷為首領，然後她也賦予了金谷神力。即便是伊亞也不知道該如何才能擊敗這樣龐大的軍隊，直到他最後召來了他的兒子瑪爾杜克。瑪爾杜克欣然同意得接手了他父親的戰役，條件是他，瑪爾杜克，在取得勝利之後能統治眾神。其他的神同意了，並在宴會上送上長袍與權杖。

      Marduk armed himself with a bow and arrows, a club, and lightning, and he went in search of Tiamat's monstrous army. Rolling his thunder and storms in front him, he attacked, and Kingu's battle plan soon disintegrated. Tiamat was left alone to fight Marduk, and she howled as they closed for battle. They struggled as Marduk caught her in his nets. When she opened her mouth to devour him, he filled it with the evil wind that served him. She could not close her mouth with his gale blasting in it, and he shot an arrow down her throat. It split her heart, and she was slain.

帶上弓箭、棍棒和閃電，瑪爾杜克前去尋找提亞馬特的怪物軍隊。釋放出他的閃電與暴風，他展開攻擊，不久後金谷的作戰計畫就被瓦解了。提亞馬特獨自前去攻擊瑪爾杜克，在戰鬥的結尾時，她發出了長嚎。瑪爾杜克在他們扭打著的時候用網子抓住她。當她張開嘴來要吞噬他時，他把為他所控的妖風灌入她的嘴中。由於這股大風在她的嘴中肆虐，使她無法閉上嘴，然後他就往她的喉嚨裡射了一箭，爆開她的心臟，殺死了她。

      After subduing the rest of her host, he took his club and split Tiamat's water-laden body in half like a clam shell. Half he put in the sky and made the heavens, and he posted guards there to make sure that Tiamat's salt waters could not escape. Across the heavens he made stations in the stars for the gods, and he made the moon and set it forth on its schedule across the heavens. From the other half of Tiamat's body he made the land, which he placed over Apsu's fresh waters, which now arise in wells and springs. From her eyes he made flow the Tigirs and Euphrates. Across this land he made the grains and herbs, the pastures and fields, the rains and the seeds, the cows and ewes, and the forests and the orchards.

在征服了她的大軍之後，他用棍棒將提亞馬特含滿水的身體像蚌殼一般分成兩半。他將一半放在空中，製造出天。為了確保提亞馬特的海水無法逃脫，他在那裡設置了警衛。他為眾神在天上的星辰中建立站點，並製造出月亮，讓月亮依照時間表在天上運行。從提亞馬特另一半的身體中，他創造了土地，並將現今出現在泉井中的阿普蘇的淡水遍布其上。他從她的眼睛製造出底格里斯河和幼發拉底河。在這片土地上，他製造出穀物和草藥、牧地和田地、雨水和種子、母奶和母羊，以及森林和果園。

      Marduk set the vanquished gods who had supported Tiamat to a variety of tasks, including work in the fields and canals. Soon they complained of their work, however, and they rebeled by burning their spades and baskets. Marduk saw a solution to their labors, though, and proposed it to Ea. He had Kingu, Timat's general, brought forward from the ranks of the defeated gods, and Kingu was slain. With Kingu's blood, with clay from the earth, and with spittle from the other gods, Ea and the birth-goddess Nintu created humans. On them Ea imposed the labor previously assigned to the gods. Thus the humans were set to maintain the canals and boundary ditches, to hoe and to carry, to irrigate the land and to raise crops, to raise animals and fill the granaries, and to worship the gods at their regular festivals.

瑪爾杜克為那些之前支持提亞馬特而被他征服的眾神安排各種任務，包括在田野和運河中工作。不過，不久之後，他們就抱怨這些工作並反抗地燒了他們的鏟子和籃子。瑪爾杜克找出一個可以解決這些勞務的方法，並向伊亞提議。他在那些被擊敗的眾神之中，找了提亞馬特的將軍金谷並殺死他。用金谷的血液、大地上的黏土，以及其他眾神的唾液，伊亞和生育女神寧圖創造出人類。伊亞把先前分配給眾神的勞務交給他們。因此，由人類保持運河和邊界壕溝的運作、鋤地和搬運、灌溉土地和種植莊稼、飼養動物和填滿糧倉，並在固定的節日中敬拜眾神。