old
legal documents, gold paint, glass lenses; wood, hardware, video monitor,
vcr, video image
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Tiamat
versus Marduk is a thirty-two-century-old Babylonian myth, Creation Epic,
social allegory. Tiamat was one of the first entities of the cosmos, sometimes
repre-sented as a giant, fiery, female dragon-like monster in command
of an army of demons and monsters, and sometimes as the swirling, watery
Chaos of the Universe prior to the creation of life. She would sabotage
the work of the younger gods with magic and destructive rage. After so
many failed efforts, a hero emerged from the young gods in the form of
the four-eyed, four-mouthed Marduk. Marduk wielded a magic net and had
at his command the Four Winds, two factors that contributed to his eventual
conquest over Tiamat, after a long and terrible battle. He subsequently
used her carcass to form Heaven and Earth. Marduk was made King of the
Gods. He created Babylon and human beings to dwell there and toil for
the gods. He created Language and established Order amongst the ranks
of beings. |