Tiamat

In the Enuma Elish, Tiamat is the primordial goddess of the salt sea who, along with her consort Apsu (fresh water), gives birth to the first generation of gods. When the younger gods become unruly, she creates an army of monsters led by her consort Kingu to destroy them. She is ultimately slain by Marduk, who forms the world from her divided body.

In later Mesopotamian art, particularly from the Neo-Assyrian period, Tiamat is often depicted as a massive dragon or serpent-like creature. However, in the original Enuma Elish text, she is described more as the embodiment of primordial salt waters than as a dragon. The dragon imagery became more prominent in later artistic representations, influenced by the epic's battle scene.

Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, defeats Tiamat in single combat after the other gods prove unable to face her. He traps her with a net, fills her body with wind, and shoots an arrow through her open mouth. From her split body, he creates the sky from her upper half and the earth from her lower half, establishing cosmic order.

In Mesopotamian cosmology, Tiamat represents the primordial salt waters and Apsu represents the primordial fresh waters. Together, they existed before the gods and the organized world, representing the chaotic waters that preceded creation. The Enuma Elish myth uses their union and subsequent conflict with younger gods as an allegory for the triumph of cosmic order over primordial chaos.