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In the narrative, it will be recalled, the contest with Tiâmat is sharply separated from that with Kingu and his associates. The division that thus suggests itself between Marduk and Tiâmat, on the one hand, Bel and the monsters with Kingu at their head, on the other, may certainly be termed a natural one.
It has nothing to do with Omoroka. The word used is Lakhami, the plural of Lakhamu. This scene, the description of the monsters and the installation of Kingu, occurs four times in the 'Epic. See p. 424. Delitzsch, Babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos, p. 25. Cory, ib. p. 92. "The chamber of fates" where Marduk sits on New Year's Day and decides the fate of mankind for the ensuing year.
Tiâmat has transferred to Kingu and the eleven monsters all authority, and it is only after they are defeated that Tiâmat but Tiâmat alone enters the fray. The rage of Tiâmat is directed against Anshar, Kishar, and their offspring. Anu, Bel, and Ea, while standing at the head of the latter, are not the only gods introduced.
Such inconsistencies as the assumption, in the Zu version of the nature myth, that En-lil is the original establisher of order in the world, as against the Tiâmat version where Marduk snatches the tablets of fate directly from Kingu, are inevitable when stories that arose among the people are taken in hand by theologians and modified and adapted to serve doctrines developed under scholastic influences.
In the weapons that Marduk employs, particularly the lightning and the winds which belong to an atmospheric god rather than a solar deity, we may discern traces of the older narrative which has been combined with the Marduk-Tiâmat nature myth. It may be that Kingu represents Bel's particular rival.
To be the first in war, supreme in triumph. Tiâmat then addresses Kingu directly: Through my word to thee, I have made thee the greatest among the gods. The rule over all the gods I have placed in thy hand. The greatest shalt thou be, thou, my consort, my only one. Tiâmat thereupon Gives him the tablets of fate, hangs them on his breast, and dismisses him.
Kingu the symbol of chaos, like Tiâmat wears them on his breast, but he is obliged to yield them to the conqueror of Tiâmat and of her brood, who replaces 'chaos' by 'order. This conqueror was originally Bel of Nippur, and the Zu myth in representing En-lil as holding the tablets of fate confirms the view above set forth, according to which the original Tiâmat tale has been modified by the substitution of Marduk for the old Bel.
The second column opens as follows: And the oracles of all the gods he determined. From the context it is clear that Bel of Nippur is meant. Up to this point, the myth reflects the old view according to which it was En-lil who succeeded in overcoming Tiâmat or at any rate, in snatching the tablets of fate from the breast of Kingu.
Allatu is a female like Tiâmat. Nergal acts for the gods just as Marduk does. The attendants of Nergal are suggested by the monsters accompanying Tiâmat; the tables of wisdom which Nergal receives, correspond to the tablets of fate which Marduk snatches from Kingu.
The picture thus furnished of the god, standing upright in his chariot, with his weapons hung about him and the seven winds following in his wake, is most impressive. He makes straight for the hostile camp. The sight of the god inspires terror on all sides. Kingu starts back in alarm. He cannot endure the 'majestic halo' which surrounds Marduk.
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