Historians use Primary Sources to study the past. Creation myths explain a particular culture's belief in how the Earth and life came to be (Sources, 1). The document "A Mesopotamian Creation Myth: The Battle Between Marduk and Tiamat" portrays Mesopotamian belief of how the Earth was created, whereas the document "The Hebrews Explain Creation: Book of Genesis" gives an explanation of how the Hebrews believe the Earth was created. Based on the primary sources, these two cultures have both similarities and differences in their beliefs. .
Mesopotamians believed that Gods and Goddesses ruled the world. These Gods and Goddesses represented some type of nature, such as the sun or the seas (McKay, 14). In the document "A Mesopotamian Creation Myth", the writer proves this by explaining how Marduk, the sun-god and ruler of Babylon, and Tiamat, the sea-goddess, get into a fight that results in a battle. The Babylonians came to take over other cities of the Euphrates Valley, which Tiamat was not happy about. She created an army of monsters to help defeat the Babylonians, however her army was defeated. Marduk then faced Tiamat one on one in which he shot her with an arrow. Marduk sliced her body in two pieces. One half was transformed into the sky, and the other half was turned into the land and water. He created humans by using Tiamats blood that he turned to bones. According to Marduk, humans were created to be savage, and their only purpose on Earth was to serve the gods (Sources 1-3). The Mesopotamians lived in cities along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These bodies of water were extremely important to them for agriculture and trading their goods. The Mesopotamians also got their water from these rivers (Mckay, 11). The document proves the importance of these water systems to the Mesopotamians when the author explains how Marduk "Pulled down the bar and posted guards, He bade them to allow not her waters to escape" (Sources, 3).
