The Codex

Primary Texts

The texts themselves, in named public-domain translations, transcribed line by line from the printed editions. Every line keeps the editor's brackets and gaps, and every page links to the scan of the book it came from.

Enūma eliš
Translated by L. W. King (1902) · Akkadian · 7 sections · 739 lines
Earliest manuscript: The oldest datable copies are Neo-Assyrian manuscripts from Assur of about the ninth century BCE; most copies are first-millennium, many from Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh (seventh century BCE). The date of composition is debated (see the entry Mesopotamian Cosmogony).

Only translations that are in the public domain in the United States, or released under an open licence that allows it, are transcribed here. Modern editions are cited and linked, never reproduced. AKASHA does not publish translations of its own. See the timeline for every text and entry in date order, and How to Cite for citing a passage.

Enūma eliš