What does the name Tiamat mean in ancient cuneiform tablets?
The name Tiamat appears as ti'amat, a construct form meaning the sea itself. Thorkild Jacobsen and Walter Burkert argue for a connection with the Akkadian word for sea, tâmtu.
Questions about Tiamat
Short answers, pulled from the story.
How did Tiamat create monsters to battle the deities in the Enuma Elish?
Tiamat fashioned eleven monsters including Bašmu the Venomous Snake and Ušumgallu the Great Dragon after Kingu reported that Enki captured Abzu. She took Qingu as her new consort and bestowed on him the Tablet of Destinies before Marduk dismembered her body.
When was the depiction of Tiamat as a multi-headed dragon popularized?
Depiction of Tiamat as a multi-headed dragon became popular in 1970s as fixture of Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game inspired by earlier sources. Earlier sources associate Tiamat with later mythological characters such as Lotan Leviathan.
Why do scholars believe Tiamat represents primordial waters rather than just a monster?
Harriet Crawford finds mixing of fresh waters from Arabian aquifer and salt waters of the sea to be natural feature of middle Persian Gulf region. The linguistic link suggests goddess was originally just another word for primordial waters of Babylonian world.
What physical features does Tiamat have according to the Enuma Elish text?
Tiamat has tail, thigh, lower parts that shake together, belly, udder, ribs, neck, head, skull, eyes, nostrils, mouth, and lips. Her insides possibly include entrails, heart, arteries, and blood while Assyriologist Alexander Heidel previously recognized that dragon form can not be imputed to Tiamat with certainty.