Epic of Erra
Also known as: Epic of Erra and Ishum, Poem of Erra, Erra and Ishum
A first-millennium Akkadian poem in five tablets where the war-and-plague god Erra, urged on by the fearsome Seven, unleashes devastation when Marduk relinquishes his regalia. Ishum counsels and ultimately restrains Erra, restoring order and reaffirming Babylon’s divine kingship.
Description
The Erra Epic ("Poem of Erra") narrates a crisis of cosmic and civic order. When Marduk sets aside his garments and weapons to have them ritually cleansed, Erra seizes the opportunity to assert his power, rousing the Seven (Sebitti) to spread war and pestilence across the lands. Cities falter, kings fear, and order teeters as Erra boasts of his might. Ishum—Erra’s faithful companion—admonishes excess, reports the suffering of peoples and temples, and urges restraint. In the climax, Erra is appeased, boundaries are reset, and Marduk’s supremacy is tacitly reestablished. Both a theological meditation on divine wrath and a text with apotropaic overtones, the poem reflects first-millennium anxieties about invasion, plague, and the fragility of kingship and cult.
Historiography
The poem is preserved on numerous first-millennium tablets from Assyria and Babylonia, with colophons attributing authorship to Kabti-ilāni-Marduk. Copying traditions show minor redactional variants and scholia; excerpts circulated independently for ritual use. Its transmission in Neo-Assyrian libraries (e.g., Nineveh) and Babylonian archives indicates canonical status in scribal curricula and in apotropaic contexts.
Date Notes
First-millennium BCE composition commonly attributed by colophons to Kabti-ilāni-Marduk; widely copied in Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods.
Major Characters
- Erra (Nergal)
- Ishum
- Marduk
- Ea
Myths
- Erra’s Assault on Babylon
- Marduk’s Withdrawal and the Plague
- The Restoration of Order
Facts
- Attributed by colophons to the Babylonian scholar Kabti-ilāni-Marduk.
- Composed in Akkadian and preserved on five tablets with first-millennium copies.
- Centers on Erra (identified with Nergal), god of war and plague.
- Ishum functions as counselor and mediator, tempering Erra’s excess.
- Marduk’s temporary removal of his regalia precipitates cosmic instability.
- The Seven (Sebitti) personify destructive martial force allied with Erra.
- Manuscript evidence spans Assyrian and Babylonian libraries, including Nineveh.
- Sections were used apotropaically, reflecting ritual and exorcistic applications.
- Depicts social collapse—famine, invasion, and pestilence—as signs of divine wrath.
- Influenced first-millennium reflections on kingship, temple order, and divine justice.