Marduk

Marduk in an image from a cylindrical seal in lapis lazuli dating back to the ninth century BCE.

Marduk or Bēl, king of the gods in the Babylonian religion and protective deity of the ancient city of Babylon.

Quotes from Marduk:

Enûma Eliš:

• Above the Apsû | Dwelling place that you occupy; | As a copy of the Ešarra | Which I myself built for you, | But further down: in a place | Of which I have consolidated the base, | I want to build myself a Temple | Which will be my favorite home, | In the midst of which | I will plant my Sanctuary | And I will assign my apartments, | To establish my kingdom there. | When you leave the Apsû, | To go up to the Assembly, | That will be your stop, | To receive you all together; | When you leave Heaven | To go down to the [Assembly]; | That will be your stop, | To welcome you all together! | [I] will give it the name "Babylon: | The Temple of the Great Gods".
• That nothing has changed | Of what I will have. | And that every order uttered by my lips | May it remain irreversible and irrevocable!
• I want to condense some blood, | Building a framework | And thus create a human prototype, | Who will be called "Man"! | This Prototype, this Man, | I want to create it | So that the labors of the gods may be imposed on him | And let them have free time."

Quotes on Marduk:

• Marduk redeemed the gods following Tiāmat from slavery, he freed them from slavery by creating men and making them carry the burden of serving the gods. That is, Marduk, to spare the vanquished gods from serving the other victorious gods, forms humanity which is therefore destined by original and natural disposition to serve the gods, to religion. Humanity is therefore the subject of redemption, it is not to be redeemed, but a part of the gods is redeemable: men redeem the gods. (Giuseppe Furlani)^{[citation needed]}

Domenico Bassi:

• Among all the gods of the Babylonian-Assyrian pantheon he was the one who had the most widespread and long-lasting cult. It is already mentioned in the private documents of the ancient dynasties of Babylon, from which it appears that the god was venerated together with Sin and Samas. All the monarchs of the Babylonian empire competed in paying homage to him.^{[citation needed]}
• The cult of Marduk flourished again during the Persian lordship through the work of Cyrus II of Persia, who with fine political understanding was able to make the powerful priests of the deity favorable, who remained even in the period of decline of the Chaldean empire- Babylonian the chief deity of Babylon. Cambyses, following his father's example, held the ancient god in great honor, whose city continued for a long time to be the capital of the new empire founded by Cyrus. The great sanctuary of Marduk was then sacked and destroyed by Xerxes I of Persia; which marked the end of his cult.^{[citation needed]}
• Originally he was a solar god in general, in the local aspect the sun-god of Eridu, and his cult connected with the worship of the sun. Then when the concept of the sun in its entirety was concretized in Samas, then in Marduk the morning sun and at the same time the spring sun were seen. He later passed from Eridu to Babylon, rising to the honor of the local and tutelary god of the great metropolis. As the political and religious importance of this city grew, Marduk simultaneously rose higher and higher in the celestial hierarchy; until at the apogee of Babylon's power he appears as head of all the Mesopotamian gods.^{[citation needed]}

Enûma Eliš:

• His nature was exuberant; | His withering gaze; | He was a made man from birth, | And full of strength from the beginning."
• Its shapes are incredible, | Admirable: | Impossible to imagine, | Unbearable to watch. | Four are his eyes, | And his ears are four. | When he moves his lips, | The Fire blazes! | Four ears | They're ticked off, | And his eyes, in equal number, | They inspect the Universe!
• Oh Marduk, only you emerge | Among the Great Gods! | Your destiny is unmatched, | Your command, sovereign! | From now on, | Your orders will be irrevocable! | Raise or tear down | It will be in your power! | What comes out of your mouth will come true, | Your command will never be deceptive! | None, among the gods, | It will go beyond the limits you set! | And like our places of worship | You will have your assigned seat | In all our sanctuaries! | Oh Marduk, to you alone, | Our avenger, | We have conferred Kingship | On the totality of Universality around!