instance_of lahamu
Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian - speaking ___MASK20___ and cultural area based in central - southern Mesopotamia ( present - ___MASK37___ Iraq ). A small Amorite - ruled ___MASK20___ emerged in 1894 BC , which contained at this time the minor city of Babylon . Babylon greatly expanded during the reign of Hammurabi in the first half of the 18th century BC , becoming a major capital city . During the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards , Babylonia was called " Mt Akkad " " the country of Akkad " in the Akkadian language . It was often involved in rivalry with its older fellow Akkadian - speaking ___MASK20___ of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia . Babylonia briefly became the major power in the region after Hammurabi ( fl . c . 1792  1752 BC middle chronology , or c . 1696  1654 BC , short chronology ) created a short - lived empire , succeeding the earlier Akkadian Empire , Third Dynasty of Ur , and Old Assyrian Empire ; however , the Babylonian empire rapidly fell apart after the death of Hammurabi . A ___MASK46___ is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it . While in popular usage the term " myth " often refers to false or fanciful stories , formally , it does not imply falsehood . Cultures generally regard their creation myths as true . In the ___MASK93___ in which it is told , a ___MASK46___ is usually regarded as conveying profound truths , metaphorically , symbolically and sometimes in a historical or literal sense . They are commonly , although not always , considered cosmogonical myths  that is , they describe the ordering of the cosmos from a state of chaos or amorphousness . A ___MASK87___ serpent or ___MASK87___ dragon is a type of unclassified marine animal either wholly or partly serpentine . In the Akkadian ___MASK53___ Enuma Elish , Kishar is the daughter of Lahmu and Lahamu , the first children of Tiamat and Abzu . She is the female ___MASK81___ , sister and ___MASK58___ of Anshar , the male ___MASK81___ , and the mother of Anu . Kishar may represent the earth as a counterpart to Anshar , the sky , and can be seen as an earth mother goddess . Her name also means " Whole Earth ". In Mesopotamian ___MASK39___ ( Sumerian , Assyrian , Akkadian and Babylonian ), Tiamat is a primordial goddess of the ocean , mating with Abzû ( the ___MASK9___ of fresh ___MASK30___ ) to produce younger gods . She is the symbol of the chaos of primordial creation . Depicted as a woman , she represents the beauty of the feminine , depicted as the glistening one . It is suggested that there are two parts to the Tiamat mythos , the first in which Tiamat is a creator goddess , through a "" Sacred marriage "" between salt and fresh ___MASK30___ , peacefully creating the cosmos through successive generations . In the second "" Chaoskampf "" Tiamat is considered the monstrous embodiment of primordial chaos . Some sources identify her with images of a ___MASK87___ serpent or dragon . A ___MASK84___ is a female ___MASK10___ in polytheistic religions . Goddesses most often have feminine characteristics that are apotheosize in their pure form . However , in some cases goddesses may embody neutral forms personifying both male and female characteristics ( like Sophia ), or they may even exhibit traits that are traditionally associated with the male gender ( for example , Artemis ). Goddesses have been especially linked with virtues such as beauty , love , motherhood and fertility ( Mother - ___MASK84___ cult in prehistoric times ), but because of their flexibility in gender portrayal , they have also been associated with ideas such as war , creation , and death . Babylon ( or ; Aramaic :  , " Babel ", , " Bavel ", , " Bbil ") was a major ___MASK71___ of ancient Mesopotamia in the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers . ___MASK74___ was built upon the Euphrates and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks , with steep embankments to contain the ___MASK55___ ' s seasonal floods . Babylon was originally a small Semitic Akkadian ___MASK71___ dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c . 2300 BC . A ___MASK59___ is a legendary creature , typically scaled or fire - spewing and with serpentine , reptilian or avian traits , that features in the myths of many cultures around world . The two most well - known cultural traditions of ___MASK59___ are Mesopotamia ("[ land ] between rivers "; from Ancient Armenian  ( Mijagetq ); " bild ar - rfidayn " " miyn rodn "; " Beth Nahrain " " land of rivers ") is a ___MASK26___ for the area of the Tigris  Euphrates ___MASK55___ system , in modern days roughly corresponding to most of Iraq plus Kuwait , the eastern parts of Syria , Southeastern Turkey , and regions along the Turkish - Syrian and Iran  Iraq borders . Sumer was the first urban ___MASK73___ in the ___MASK43___ of southern Mesopotamia , modern - ___MASK37___ southern Iraq , during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze ages , and arguably the first ___MASK73___ in the world with Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley . Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates , Sumerian farmers were able to grow an abundance of grain and other crops , the surplus of which enabled them to settle in one place . Lamu , Lakhmu , Lache , Lumasi , or Assyro - Akkadian Lammasu is a ___MASK10___ from Akkadian mythology that represents the zodiac , parent stars , or constellations . Anu ( in Akkadian ; Sumerian : An , from  " An " " ___MASK92___ , heaven ") is the earliest attested ___MASK92___ Father ___MASK10___ . In Sumerian religion , he was also " King of the Gods ", " Lord of the Constellations , Spirits and Demons ", and " Supreme Ruler of the Kingdom of Heaven ", where Anu himself wandered the highest Heavenly Regions . He was believed to have the power to judge those who had committed crimes , and to have created the stars as soldiers to destroy the wicked . His attribute was the Royal Tiara . His attendant and vizier was the god Ilabrat . Anu means ___MASK92___ and heaven . Lahamu ( also Lakhamu , Lachos , Lumasi , or Assyro - Akkadian Lammasu ) was the first - born daughter of Tiamat and Abzu in Akkadian ___MASK29___ . With her brother Lahmu she is the ___MASK64___ of Anshar and Kishar , who were in turn parents of the first gods . Lahamu is sometimes seen as a serpent , and sometimes as a woman with a red sash and ___MASK35___ curls on her ___MASK24___ . It is suggested that the pair were represented by the silt of the ___MASK87___ - bed , but more accurately are known to be the representations of the zodiac , parent - stars , or constellations . She and her brother / husband are never mentioned separately . In the Sumerian , Akkadian , Assyrian and Babylonian ___MASK46___ Enuma Elish , Anshar ( also spelled Anshur ), which means " whole heaven ", is a primordial god . His consort is Kishar which means " Whole Earth ". They were the children of Lahamu and Lahmu and the grandchildren of Tiamat and Apsû . They , in turn , are the parents of Anu , the god of heaven , lord of constellations , king of gods , spirits and demons . Akkadian (" akkadû ", ak - ka - du - u ; logogram : URI ) is an ___MASK80___ East Semitic ___MASK27___ ( ___MASK97___ of the greater Afroasiatic ___MASK27___ ___MASK100___ ) that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia . The earliest attested Semitic ___MASK27___ , it used the cuneiform writing ___MASK5___ , which was originally used to write the unrelated Ancient Sumerian , a ___MASK27___ isolate . The ___MASK27___ was named after the city of Akkad , a major centre of Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire ( ca . 2334  2154 BC ), but the ___MASK27___ itself precedes the founding of Akkad by many centuries . In ___MASK88___ , ___MASK9___ is conceived of as the Supreme Being and ___MASK68___ object of faith . The concept of ___MASK9___ as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience ( infinite knowledge ), omnipotence ( unlimited power ), omnipresence ( present everywhere ), divine simplicity , and as having an eternal and necessary existence . Many theologians also describe ___MASK9___ as being omnibenevolent ( perfectly good ) and all loving . Assyria was a major Mesopotamian East Semitic - speaking kingdom and ___MASK72___ of the ancient Near East . It existed as an independent state from perhaps as early as the 25th ___MASK94___ BC in the form of the Assur city - state , until its lapse between 612 BC and 599 BC , spanning the Early to Middle Bronze ___MASK57___ through to the late Iron ___MASK57___ .