Damascius on the Gods #4: Babylonian Theology (Problems and Solutions 125.1)

At the end of his great original metaphysical treatise, the Problems and Solutions Concerning First Principles, Damascius reviews his system by describing different mythological accounts in which he finds it expressed. At the very end, he gives the accounts of four "barbarian" peoples. We already saw in #1 that Damascius had a particular interest in non-Greek divine names, and this shows again here.

In this part, I am giving Damascius' first barbarian theology, that of the Babylonians, with an explanation of the Semitic names, but without commentary on the content. This is unnecessary because Damascius is copying an older Greek text which summarized a Babylonian text, the Enûma Eliš (Wikipedia), in almost exactly the form in which it has been rediscovered in modernity.

The translation is basically that of Sara Ahbel-Rappe, but I have made a number of changes to bring it more in line with the Greek (several names were misspelled, for one thing).

Chapter 125.1

[III 165] ... But of the non-Greeks, while the Babylonians seem to have passed over the unique principle of all in silence, they make the two [=Limit and Infinitude] Tauthe (Tauthe) and Apason (Apasôn), making Apason the husband of Tauthe, and calling her Mother of Gods. From these, the single child is born, Moymis (Moymin), the intelligible world, I think, produced from the two principles. And from the same couple, another generation proceeds, Dache (Dachên) and Dachos (Dachon), and then a third generation from the same couple, Kissare (Kissarê!) and Assorus (Assôron), from which three [gods] are born, Anos (Anon) and Illinos (Illinon) and Aos (Aon). And a son of Aos and Dauke (Daukês) is Belus (Bêlon), who they say is the demiurge.

This account, usually assumed to be taken from Eudemus like some of the other theologies, would have no longer been available in Babylonian at the time - cuneiform literacy had been lost for centuries -, but today we know that it follows a specific Babylonian text, the Enûma Eliš, very closely. It is independent of the Babyloniaca of Berossus, which was one of the main sources of Mesopotamian lore in the Greco-Roman world; indeed, it seems to be an Assyrian version of the Babylonian story, which Berossus (who was from the city of Babylon) certainly would not have propagated. The god Assorus (Assôros) appears to represent Aššur, the eponymous god of the Assyrian capital, who replaced Anšar in Assyrian versions of Enûma Eliš. On the other hand, Aššur has not replaced the Babylonian chief god, Bel, which is the more important change of the Assyrian version.

Bel would have been the only god, presumably, whom Damascius recognized from other sources, and even from personal experience in Syria and Phoenicia (although strictly speaking the Syro-Phoenician gods called Bêl or Bêlos in Greek were not all related to the Babylonian god). Nevertheless, it is worth going through the other gods quickly:

• Tauthe (short e!) represents Tamte - still often wrongly transliterated as 'Tiamat' - in the Late Babylonian pronunciation Tawte or Taute. Berossus' Hellenization of the Babylonian name is lost to textual corruption, but he translates is as Thalattê.
• Apason is Apsû (< Sumerian Abzu). Since Greeks had no problems pronouncing -ps-, the second -a- is probably a feature of the Semitic pronunciation of the time. the final -û has been transformed into a declinable -ôn ending. (Tauthe is the only undeclinable name.)
• Moymis, or perhaps rather Moumis, represents Babylonian Mummu.
• Dache and Dachos are Lakhamu and Lakhmu. I am guessing that the pronunciation at the time was closer to Lakhawu and Lakhwu, but I'm not sure.
• Kissare is Kišar; although the Greek has Kissarê where one would expect an accusative Kissarên, I take this to be a scribal error, as the final vowel cannot be explained from the Babylonian form.
• Assorus is either Aššur or Anšar.
• Anos is Anu.
• Illinos is Enlil.
• Aos is Ea. Berossus had not transliterated his name (that we know of), but had translated it as Kronos in the context of the Babylonian flood myth.
• Dauke represents Damkina, in the Late Babylonian pronunciation Dawkina/Daukina.
• Belus is Bēl.