Research source

She is depicted as a ferocious monster with wings and scales and terrible claws, and her body is sometimes that…

Date of account: Ancient material presented in a work published 1921
Source: The Babylonian Legends of the Creation
Reference: The Babylonian Legends of the Creation · selected passage 3
Rights: public_domain
Language: English translation and study of Akkadian and Sumerian source material
Translation: E. A. Wallis Budge
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

She is depicted as a ferocious monster with wings and scales and terrible claws, and her body is sometimes that of a huge serpent, and sometimes that of an animal

Published source text

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Source passage

Source text · mention only

She is depicted as a ferocious monster with wings and scales and terrible claws, and her body is sometimes that of a huge serpent, and sometimes that of an animal. In the popular imagination she represented all that was physically terrifying, and foul, and abominable; she was nevertheless the mother of everything, [1] and was the possessor of the DUP SHIMATI or "TABLET OF DESTINIES". No description of this Tablet or its contents is available, but from its name we may assume that it was a sort of Babylonian Book of Fate.[2] Theologically, Tiamat represented to the Babylonians the same state in the development of the universe as did _tohu wa-bhohu_ (Genesis i. 2), i.e., formlessness and voidness, of primeval matter, to the Hebrews She is depicted both on bas-reliefs and on cylinder seals in a form which associates her with LABARTU, [3] a female devil that prowled about the desert at night suckling wild animals but killing men.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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