The Epic of Erra and Išum

The Erra epic runs to approximately 660 lines, covering 5 Tablets. It is an exceptional Akkadian composition, in its style and especially its content. Its main theme is violence, and disasters engendered by the arrival of chaos.

Unfortunately, despite the many surviving copies, some passages of the composition remain fragmentary and thus enigmatic. In many ways, the poem of Erra and Išum is close to Enūma Eliš but seems to reverse its main topics. The god Marduk, for instance, plays an important part in the story and is clearly portrayed as a wise ruler, essential for maintaining order, but who fails to thwart Erra's machinations.

Tablet 1 (see STT 1, 16 [/cams/gkab/P338333/]) starts with a praise poem to the god Išum, Erra's closest companion, who afterwards narrates most of the story. At the beginning, Erra, the god of destruction and violence, complains that human beings are neglecting him. The Seven Demons convince him to go to war. Erra manages to persuade Marduk to leave him his place as a ruler, while Marduk goes to the Netherworld to repair his own cult image.
Tablet 2 recalls how Erra becomes more and more violent, and bursts into anger after Marduk's return. He then lauds the slaughter and destruction of war.
In Tablet 3, Išum tells of the ravages of Erra's war using the second person singular ('you'), which is exceptional in Akkadian literature.
Tablet 4 opens with a vivid tale of the horrors of war, still narrated by Išum. It depicts the invasion of the Suteans and Aramaeans, which may refer to a real historical event, and the consequent destruction of the Babylonian cities. Marduk himself laments over the ruins of Babylon: "Alas for Babylon, whose crown I fashioned luxuriant as a palm's, but which the wind has scorched".
Finally Išum manages to calm down his companion. Tablet 5 first recalls Erra's formidable strength but ends in an unusual and unexpected way. A certain Kabti-ilani-Marduk claims to be the author of the composition, explaining that the story has been revealed to him in a dream by Erra himself, and that the story is a "sign" sent by the god.

Thanks to this ending, the composition acquires protective value. Indeed, some versions were written on amulets and they were probably used to protect their owners from violence and ruin.

There are only two manuscripts of this epic in the CAMS/GKAB corpus, both from Huzirina. STT 1, 17 [/cams/gkab/P338334/] is a short and fragmentary manuscript of Tablet 2. Nabu-šum-iškun PGP , who was most probably a scribal apprentice, copied the Huzirina manuscript STT 1, 16 [/cams/gkab/P338333/] of Tablet 1 of Erra and Išum.

The Epic of Erra and Išum

Further reading