Enuma Elish (Babylonian Creation Epic, c. 12th–7th century BCE)

1. Probable composition in the Second Isin Dynasty

   Jan 1, 1150 BCELabels: Second Dynasty, Marduk

   • Britannica Akitu
   • Enuma Elish Wiki

2. Text standardizes as a seven-tablet Akkadian epic

   Jan 1, 1100 BCELabels: Akkadian text, Seven tablets

   • Enuma Elish Wiki
   • IMSS tablet note

3. Enuma Elish used in Babylon’s Akitu festival

   Jan 1, 900 BCELabels: Akitu festival, Babylon

   • Britannica Akitu

4. Earliest surviving manuscripts appear in Assur

   Jan 1, 900 BCELabels: Assur manuscripts, First millennium

   • Enuma Elish Wiki

5. Neo-Assyrian copies made for royal libraries

   Jan 1, 700 BCELabels: Neo-Assyrian libraries, Royal archives

   • CDLI record
   • IMSS tablet note

6. Seven-century BCE manuscript tradition preserved at Nineveh

   Jan 1, 650 BCELabels: Nineveh, Library of

   • Enuma Elish Wiki
   • BM collection

7. Layard’s Kouyunjik excavations recover Enuma Elish tablets

   Jan 1, 1849Labels: Kouyunjik excavations, Austen Henry

   • Enuma Elish Wiki
   • Layard 1849

8. George Smith publishes a pioneering English treatment

   Jan 1, 1876Labels: George Smith, Chaldean Account

   • Project Gutenberg
   • Cambridge Core

9. Museum catalogs document Enuma Elish-related fragments

   Jan 1, 1893Labels: British Museum, Tablet fragments

   • BM collection

10. German excavations at Assur add important parallels

    Apr 1, 1914Labels: Assur excavations, German archaeological

    • FU Berlin Assur

11. Assur finds published in KAR critical editions

    Jan 1, 1923Labels: KAR publication, Assur texts

    • KAR overview
    • FU Berlin Assur

12. Digital corpora make the epic widely accessible

    Jan 1, 2000Labels: Digital corpora, CDLI

    • CDLI record
    • BM collection