Ancient Babylonian texts reveal how the Babylonians connected Marduk, the chief god of ancient Babylon, to the night sky, portraying their chief god through planets, stars, and constellations. A new study finds these celestial links formed a more coherent part of Marduk’s identity than previously recognized and continued to evolve for centuries.
The research, led by Frances Reynolds, examines Marduk’s celestial role in Enūma Eliš, the Babylonian creation epic, alongside later texts that quoted or reworked the poem. The evidence stretches from the first millennium B.C.E. into the Hellenistic period.
Reynolds argues that Babylonian scholars did more than simply associate Marduk with individual heavenly bodies. They used the sky to express his power as creator, protector, and ruler of the gods.
Marduk created and organized the heavens
In Enūma Eliš, Marduk rises to supreme power after defeating Tiāmtu, the primeval sea deity. He then splits her body in two and uses one half to form heaven. Marduk does not stop with creating the heavens. He organizes them. The poem describes him establishing stations for the gods and setting stars and constellations in the sky. These celestial positions also helped structure the calendar. The text says Marduk arranged three stars for each of the 12 months.
The idea fits into a much broader Mesopotamian tradition of observing and interpreting celestial patterns. Ancient cuneiform texts contain some of humanity’s earliest recorded efforts to understand the stars and identify constellations in the night sky.
Reynolds argues that the constellations represented permanent homes for astral gods. This gave the night sky an important theological meaning. It represented the stable cosmic order Marduk established after the chaos of his war with Tiāmtu. The poem also says Marduk created the Moon and regulated its monthly cycle. The Sun appears alongside the Moon as part of the ordered heavens.
Jupiter may have represented Marduk
One of the strongest celestial connections involves Nēberu, a heavenly body closely associated with Marduk. Reynolds follows previous scholarship identifying Nēberu in Enūma Eliš as probably Jupiter. That association was deeply rooted in Babylonian celestial traditions. Babylonian astrology connected individual planets with specific gods, including Jupiter with Marduk, Venus with Ishtar, and Mars with Nergal.
Ancient Babylonians saw more than stars in the night sky.
New research reveals how they linked their chief god Marduk to Jupiter, the Sun and constellations, turning the heavens into a powerful symbol of divine rule and cosmic order. pic.twitter.com/r2BNNxScBK— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) September 25, 2026
Nēberu plays a central role in maintaining order in the sky. The poem describes it controlling the movements of other stars and guiding the gods like a shepherd tending a flock. The image transformed celestial motion into a symbol of Marduk’s authority. His victory was therefore not confined to a distant mythological past. It could be represented repeatedly through movements in the heavens.
Marduk also had strong links to sunlight and brightness. Wordplay surrounding his name allowed Babylonian scholars to describe him as the “Sun of the gods.” Other passages call him the gods’ light or emphasize his radiance. His weapon also reached the heavens. After Marduk killed Tiāmtu, the god Anu placed his bow among the stars as the Bow constellation. Reynolds notes that both Nēberu and the celestial bow effectively projected Marduk’s victory onto the night sky.
Babylonian scholars expanded the celestial story
These ideas survived long after Enūma Eliš took shape. Reynolds examines later Assyrian and Babylonian texts that quoted, interpreted, or adapted the epic. Scholars increasingly connected Marduk with Jupiter, the Sun, and other celestial bodies. Some texts also developed astronomical identities for his wife, Zarpānītu, and his enemy Tiāmtu.
Babylonian interest in celestial movements extended far beyond mythology. Scholars kept detailed records of astronomical events and recognized repeating patterns in the heavens. Their observations eventually allowed them to predict lunar eclipses with remarkable accuracy.
By the Late Babylonian period, scholars created even more elaborate interpretations. Some associated Marduk with Jupiter, the Sun and light, while linking Tiāmtu with Mars, the Moon and darkness. They also connected the ancient conflict with the annual movement of the heavens, including idealized summer and winter solstices. In these later interpretations, the cosmic struggle between Marduk and Tiāmtu became a celestial battle between light and darkness.
Reynolds cautions that Enūma Eliš itself does not explicitly identify Tiāmtu as a goddess of darkness. That interpretation became clearer in later scholarly traditions. The study shows how Babylonian scholars continued to reinterpret one of Mesopotamia’s most important myths across centuries. The stars were not simply objects in the sky. They could represent gods, divine weapons, and moments in a cosmic struggle.
For Babylonian scholars, the heavens offered a way to keep Marduk’s victory visible. Each movement of the celestial bodies could reinforce an ordered universe placed under the authority of Babylon’s supreme god.
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