Home > Myths and Legends of the World > Enuma Elish

Enuma Elish was the creation myth of the people of Babylonia, a civilization of the ancient Near East. Written in the form of an epic,long poem about legendary or historical heroes, written in a grand style Enuma Elish gives the Babylonian account of the origin of the world. The myth is similar to the biblical story of creation in the book of Genesis.

The poem, inscribed on seven tablets, probably dates from around 1100 B.C., although earlier, unrecorded versions of it may have existed long before that time. Its title, meaning "When on high," comes from the first line of the epic, which begins: "When on high the heaven had not been named/Firm ground below had not been called by name."

Enuma Elish tells how the Babylonian deitiesgod or goddess were born from a