In the later Babylonian epic Enûma Eliš, Abzu, the " begetter of the gods ", is inert and sleepy but finds his peace disturbed by the younger gods, so sets out to destroy them.

In other stories, the universe is created by crafting it from pre-existing materials, such as the corpse of a dead god — as from Tiamat in the Babylonian epic Enuma Elish or from the giant Ymir in Norse mythology – or from chaotic materials, as in Izanagi and Izanami in Japanese mythology.

The origins of Babylonian philosophy can be traced back to early Mesopotamian wisdom literature, which embodied certain philosophies of life, particularly ethics, in the forms of dialectic, dialogs, epic poetry, folklore, hymns, lyrics, prose, and proverbs.

Other examples might include the wars of the Æsir with the Vanir and Jotuns in Scandinavian mythology, the Babylonian epic Enuma Elish, the Hittite " Kingship in Heaven " Kumarbi narrative, the struggle between the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomorians in Celtic mythology, and the obscure generational conflict in Ugaritic fragments.

Similar literature of the middle Babylonian period is rather poorly preserved with a fragmentary epic of the Kassite period, that of Adad-šuma-uṣur and of Nabû-kudurrī-uṣur I and Marduk.

One of the most famous of these was the Epic of Gilgamesh, which first appears in Akkadian during the Old Babylonian period as a circa 1, 000 line epic known by its incipit, šūtur eli šarrī, ‘‘ Surpassing all other kings ,’’ which incorporated some of the stories from the five earlier Sumerian Gilgamesh tales.

These are reflected in Mesopotamian religion and in a variety of Babylonian literature in the forms of dialectic, dialogs, epic poetry, folklore, hymns, lyrics, prose, and proverbs.

This first, " Old Babylonian " version of the epic dates to the 18th century BC and is titled Shūtur eli sharrī (" Surpassing All Other Kings ").

The speech of Sidhuri in an old Babylonian version of the epic is so similar to Ecclesiastes 9: 7 – 10 that direct influence is a genuine possibility.

While seeking origins others have suggested examination of some similarities to the Babylonian creature, Humbaba, in the Gilgamesh epic.

He further suggested that Lugalbanda's association with the sun-god in the Old Babylonian version of the epic strengthened " the impression that at one point in the history of the tradition the sun-god was also invoked as an ancestor ".

* Enuma Elish ( Babylonian creation epic )

In the Enûma Elish, the Babylonian epic of creation, she gives birth to the first generation of deities ; she later makes war upon them and is killed by the storm-god Marduk.

" It has long been realized that the Marduk epic, for all its local coloring and probable elaboration by the Babylonian theologians, reflects in substance older Sumerian material ," American Assyriologist E. A. Speiser remarked in 1942 adding " The exact Sumerian prototype, however, has not turned up so far.

" Without corroboration in surviving texts, this surmise that the Babylonian version of the story is based upon a modified version of an older epic, in which Enlil, not Marduk, was the god who slew Tiamat, is more recently dismissed as " distinctly improbable ", in fact, Marduk has no precise Sumerian prototype.

It is generally accepted amongst modern Assyriologists that the Enûma Elish-the Babylonian creation epic to which this mythological strand is attributed-has been written as political and religious propaganda rather than reflecting a Sumerian tradition ; the dating of the epic is not completely clear, but judging from the mythological topics covered and the cuneiform versions discovered thus far, it is likely to date it to the 15th century BCE.

The three-and-a-half hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines each separated by several centuries: ( 1 ) A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption ; ( 2 ) a Judean story: Christ ’ s mission and death ; ( 3 ) a French story: the events surrounding the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572 ; and ( 4 ) a Babylonian story: the fall of the Babylonian Empire to Persia in 539 BC.

She also noted the evident love of nature, both wild and cultivated, in Minoan art and architecture, the lack of a striving for monumentality in the palaces and the absence of war and motives dramatizing a sense of destiny, guilt and brooding in Minoan art, as opposed to the heavy, foreboding and warlike architecture of Mycenae and the strong presence of themes of fate, martial heroism and moral guilt in later Greek mythology, some of the stories of which must, in an early form, already have existed at Mycenae ( as well as similar motives in Babylonian literature, e. g. in the Gilgamesh epic ).

* Mami ( goddess ) or Mama, a goddess in the Babylonian epic Atra-Hasis

This epic is one of the most important sources for understanding the Babylonian worldview, centered on the supremacy of Marduk and the creation of humankind for the service of the gods.

* Apsu, in the Babylonian creation epic the Enûma Elish, was killed by his son Ea in the struggle for supremacy among the gods.

The oldest known copy of the epic tradition concerning Atrahasis can be dated by colophon ( scribal identification ) to the reign of Hammurabi ’ s great-grandson, Ammi-Saduqa ( 1646 – 1626 BCE ), but various Old Babylonian fragments exist ; it continued to be copied into the first millennium BCE.

** Enuma Elish ( Babylonian mythology )

After six generations of Gods, in the Babylonian " Enuma Elish ", in the seventh generation, ( Akkadian " shapattu " or sabath ), the younger Igigi Gods, the sons and daughters of Enlil and Ninlil, go on strike and refuse their duties of keeping the creation working.

The creation myth in Hesiod has long been held to have Eastern influences, such as the Hittite Song of Kumarbi and the Babylonian Enuma Elis.

Among the findings were the Enuma Elish, also known as the Epic of Creation, which depicts a traditional Babylonian view of creation, the Epic of Gilgamesh, a large selection of " omen texts " including Enuma Anu Enlil which " contained omens dealing with the moon, its visibility, eclipses, and conjunction with planets and fixed stars, the sun, its corona, spots, and eclipses, the weather, namely lightning, thunder, and clouds, and the planets and their visibility, appearance, and stations ", and astronomic / astrological texts, as well as standard lists used by scribes and scholars such as word lists, bilingual vocabularies, lists of signs and synonyms, and lists of medical diagnoses.

In the Babylonian creation story Enuma Elish the universe was in a formless state and is described as a watery chaos.

* Enuma Elish-The Babylonian Creation Story

* Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation story

Among the findings was the Enuma Elish, also known as the Epic of Creation, which depicts a traditional Babylonian view of creation where the god Marduk slays Tiamat, the personification of salt water, and creates the world from her body.

The Anunnaki appear in the Babylonian creation myth, Enuma Elish.

Parallels between the Hebrew Genesis and the Babylonian Enuma Elish were established by H. Gunkel in 1910.

This Venus tablet is part of Enuma anu enlil (" In the days of Anu and Enlil "), a long text dealing with Babylonian astrology, which mostly consists of omens interpreting celestial phenomena.

In the Babylonian creation story Enuma Elish the primordial world is described as a watery chaos from which everything else appeared.

An example is the Babylonian Enuma Elish.

The Abzu freshwater sea was also depicted as a deity in the Babylonian creation myth, the Enûma Elish, where he was a primal being made of fresh water and a lover to another primal deity, Tiamat, who was a creature of salt water.

And by a skillful and unobtrusive use of imagery ( the enclosure is called a `` Roman-camp stockade '', the hastily erected lean-to is a `` Babylonian hovel '', the men begin to look like `` Peruvian mummies '' and to acquire `` Gothic faces '' ), Malraux projects a fresco of human endurance -- which is also the endurance of the human -- stretching backward into the dark abyss of time.

Aplu, it is suggested, comes from the Akkadian Aplu Enlil, meaning " the son of Enlil ", a title that was given to the god Nergal, who was linked to Shamash, Babylonian god of the sun.

In a Hittite text is mentioned that the king invited a Babylonian priestess for a certain " purification ".

It is the belief of Old Babylonian scholars such as Carruccio that Old Babylonians " may have used the abacus for the operations of addition and subtraction ; however, this primitive device proved difficult to use for more complex calculations ".

Aquarius is identified as " The Great One " in the Babylonian star catalogues and represents the god Ea himself, who is commonly depicted holding an overflowing vase.

It is called Hanat in a Babylonian letter, ( about 2200 BC ), a-na-at by the scribes of Tukulti-Ninurta ( 885 BC ), and An-at by the scribe of Assur-nasir-pal ( 879 B. C.

In addition, there is no evidence whatsoever in Assyrian, Babylonian, Median, Persian, Greek or Egyptian records of the time mentioning deportations of Assyrians from their homelands

In the annals of the Babylonian schools the year of his arrival is recorded as the starting-point in the chronology of the Talmudic age.

As a haggadist, Rav is surpassed by none of the Babylonian Amoraim.

He is the only one of the Babylonian teachers whose haggadistic utterances approach in number and contents those of the Palestinian haggadists.

There are several other Abbahus mentioned in the Talmudim and Midrashim, prominent among whom is Abbahu ( Abuha, Aibut ) b. Ihi ( Ittai ), a Babylonian halakist, contemporary of Samuel and Anan ( Eruvin 74a ), and brother of Minyamin ( Benjamin ) b. Ihi.

Of special historical interest is the observation of Abbahu in regard to the benediction " Baruk Shem Kebod Malkuto " ( Blessed be the Name of His glorious Kingdom ) after the " Shema ' Yisrael ," that in Palestine, where the Christians look for points of controversy, the words should be recited aloud ( lest the Jews be accused of tampering with the unity of God proclaimed in the Shema '), whereas in the Babylonian city of Nehardea, where there are no Christians, the words are recited with a low voice ( Pesahim 56a ).

# The remainder of 2 Chronicles ( chapters 10 – 36 ) is a chronicle of the kings of Judah to the time of the Babylonian exile, concluding with the call by Cyrus the Great for the exiles to return to their land.

The earliest parts of the book are possibly chapters 2 – 11, the story of the conquest ; more certain is that this section was then incorporated into an early form of Joshua that was part of then original Deuteronomistic history, written late in the reign of king Josiah ( reigned 640 – 609 BCE ); it seems clear that the book was not completed until after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586, and possibly not until after the return from the Babylonian exile late in the 6th century.

Its subject is the Return to Zion following the close of the Babylonian captivity, and it is divided into two parts, the first telling the story of the first return of exiles in the first year of Cyrus the Great ( 538 BC ) and the completion and dedication of the new Temple in Jerusalem in the sixth year of Darius ( 515 BC ), the second telling of the subsequent mission of Ezra to Jerusalem and his struggle to purify the Jews from the sin of marriage with non-Jews.

The book is made up of six court tales and four apocalyptic visions set in the time of the Babylonian captivity.

Porteous and Roche agree that the Book of Daniel is composed of folktales that were used to fortify the Jewish faith during a time of great persecution and oppression by the Hellenized Seleucids some four centuries after Babylonian captivity.

Instead, it is put in parallel with chapter 4 ( C ) where divine judgements are pronounced against the Babylonian kings.

The fragments describe a Babylonian king ( spelled N-b-n-y ) who is afflicted by God with an " evil disease " for a period of seven years ; he is cured and his sins forgiven after the intervention of a Jewish exile who is described as a " diviner "; he issues a written proclamation in praise of the Most High God, and speaks in the first person.