So begins the Enuma Elish, the seven tablets of creation, describing the ancient Sumerian creation myth. In the beginning the world is without form, and fresh water (Apsû) and salt water (Tiamat) mingle together. Then, in an act of creation, there follow six generations of gods, each associated with a natural manifestation of the world, such as sky or earth. Light and darkness are separated before the creation of luminous objects: the Sun, the Moon, the stars. The sixth-generation god, Marduk, establishes his precedence over all others by killing Tiamat and dividing her body into two parts – the earth below, and the sky above. He establishes law and order – control over the movement of the stars, twelve constellations through which the Sun and the planets move – and he creates humans from mud mixed with the blood of Tiamat.

The similarity to the Hebrew creation mythology described in the book of Genesis has long been recognized: In the biblical story creation takes place in six days, corresponding to the six generations of “phenomenon” gods in Babylon, and the separation of light and dark precedes the creation of heavenly bodies. There is an initial homogeneous state in which the various constituents of the world are mixed evenly together, and an act of creation at a definite point in time – an act which separates these constituents and makes the world habitable (and more interesting).

These aspects are also evident in the Greek creation mythology3 in which elements of the world are initially mixed together in a formless way – Chaos. However, at some point, two children are born of Chaos – Night and Erebus, an “unfathomable depth where death dwells” (not an obvious improvement over the initial state of Chaos). But then, also in an unexplained way, something positive and truly magnificent happens: Love is born and Order and Beauty appear.