Breaking the Chains
Page 8
The English word dragon is derived from a Greek term (drakon) meaning serpent and even though there are a variety of dragon forms, all remain serpentine. In ancient China the dragon (lung) was portrayed as a four-legged snakelike creature with big eyes, horns, and claws. The Japanese dragon (ryu or tatsu) can change its size and become invisible; like the Chinese dragon it is usually wingless. Jewish mythology mentions a many headed dragon named Leviathan (Wriggly). According to poems from Ras Shamra, in north Syria, Leviathan had seven heads. Nagas, Hindu dragons, generally have one to seven hooded cobra heads. Apopis, the Egyptian dragon, is usually depicted in simple snake form. European dragons are frequently conceived as monstrous, fire-breathing, bat-winged, lizards with barbed tails. Tiamat, the mother of all dragons, is portrayed as having four legs, wings, and a scaly body - amongst her offspring were giant snakes with venom for blood, cloaked dragons with a godlike radiance and terrible visage, and a horned serpent.
More often than not the dragon is seen as the enemy of a good God. Sometimes the dragon is the enemy of the sun-god. A Canaanite tradition records a battle between the wicked Leviathan and the good gods Baal and Anath. A Hittite myth relates how the weather god was victorious over the dragon Illuyankas. Apopis is constantly at war with the god Re. Babylonian mythology tells how the god Marduk destroyed the great dragon Tiamat.
Tiamat was the mother of a number of children by Apsu (Lahmu, Lahamu, Anshar, and Kishar). These children, the younger gods, proved clamorous. Nevertheless, their mother tolerated them. Apsu and his vizier, Mummu, conspired to quieten the younger gods, but when they advised Tiamat of their plan to quieten the younger gods by killing them she grew angry and rejected the idea. Ea, who had authority over magical formula and sorcery, discovered Apsu’s plan. Ea used his knowledge of magic to cast a sleeping spell over Apsu, and while he was asleep Ea killed him. The murder of Apsu was used to motivate Tiamat to wage war against the younger gods; it was in preparation for this war that Tiamat fashioned various dragons and monsters. Tiamat’s army was commanded by her champion Qingu, and to facilitate his command she furnished him with the Tablet of Destinies. Anshar, one of the younger gods, attempted to goad Ea into attacking Tiamat first. Ea could not be tempted. Anshar then turned to his son Anu, the father of Ea, for help. Anu agreed to go on a peace mission to Tiamat. It failed. War became inevitable.
Anshar arranged through the oldest of the youngest gods, Lahmu and Lahamu, for a council to be called. At the council Ea persuaded his son Marduk to offer himself as the hero who could defeat Tiamat and her forces. In exchange for preponderance amongst the gods, Marduk undertook to lay the body of Tiamat at the feet of Anshar. Marduk attacked Tiamat’s forces but Qingu deployed a stratagem that Marduk found perplexing, and to make matters worse Tiamat attempted to fluster him with flattery concerning his rapid ascent to power. As soon as he had recovered from his initial confusion Marduk began to criticise and condemn Tiamat. Enraged by his jibes, Tiamat attacked. Marduk managed to kill her by shooting an arrow into her heart. Then he crushed her skull. After Tiamat was dead Marduk created the universe out of her carcass: the punctured eyes of the dragon became the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates, the different tributaries of the Tigris flowed from her breasts, half of her skin was used to make the heaven, and the other half was used to make the earth. Qingu, Tiamat’s champion, was taken prisoner, charged with instigating the conflict, sentenced to death, and executed. The gods who fought under Qingu’s leadership were pardoned. In gratitude they promised to help build the city of Babylon. To express their appreciation at being freed from labour all of the gods helped to build Marduk’s temple, Esagila. Marduk became lord of the gods of heaven and earth.
Of the animals sacred to Marduk, the forked-tongued dragon took pride of place. The walls of his city were adorned with them. Marduk may have been a weather god originally. He is often depicted holding a thunderbolt. As the chief god of Babylon he eventually became known as Bel (Lord). Some of the weather gods who battle the dragon are Indo-European: Vrtra was defeated by Indra - one of Indra’s weapons was the thunderbolt - and Anatolian texts tell of a battle between the Hittite weather god Tarhun and the dragon Illuyankas.
Harappan civilisation is associated with the Indus, Mesopotamian civilisation is associated with the Tigris and the Euphrates, Egyptian civilisation is associated with the Nile. Prior to its unification (about 3000 BC) two kingdoms obtained in Egypt: Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt. Nekhbet was the goddess of Upper Egypt. She was sometimes shown as a woman with a vulture’s head, and is often depicted with her wings spread over the pharaoh. Buto, a cobra goddess, was the guardian goddess of Lower Egypt. She is often represented as a cobra entwined round a papyrus stem. After unification both goddesses were represented together on pharaoh’s head-dress.