Side by side, from the sources
Marduk vs Tiamat
These two are set against one another in the texts, which is itself a claim worth attributing. The founding act of the Enuma Elish.
Deity · Mesopotamian · c. 1100 BCE
Marduk
also called Bel, Merodach, Bēl, Bel-Marduk, Marutuk, Mardochaios, Merōḏaḵ, 𒀭𒀫𒌓
Splits Tiamat and builds the world from her body, and is voted fifty names and supreme authority for doing it.
- Alignment
- Disputed
- Rank
- King of the Gods
- First attested
- Enuma Elish · c. 1100 BCE
- Named there as
- Marduk
- Texts naming it
- 3
- Powers attributed
- 5
90attestedMesopotamian
Deity · Mesopotamian · c. 1100 BCE
Tiamat
also called Ti'amat, Ti'awath, Tiawath, Tiʾāmat
The saltwater ocean personified as the mother of the gods, split in two by Marduk to make heaven and earth.
- Alignment
- Disputed
- Rank
- Primordial Sea
- First attested
- Enuma Elish · c. 1100 BCE
- Named there as
- Tiamat
- Texts naming it
- 2
- Powers attributed
- 2
60attestedMesopotamian
Where do they actually overlap?
Texts naming both
Powers credited to both
Common questions
Are Marduk and Tiamat the same figure?
These two are set against one another in the texts, which is itself a claim worth attributing. The founding act of the Enuma Elish. ColossiansOne records the link rather than asserting the identity: where texts disagree about whether two names denote one figure, the disagreement is what gets shown.
Which is older, Marduk or Tiamat?
Both are first attested in the same period, around c. 1100 BCE.
Do any texts name both Marduk and Tiamat?
Yes — 1 text names both. A single text naming both figures is the strongest evidence available here that its author treated them as distinct, whatever later writers did with the pair.