“O great mountain of Bêl, O airy mountain, Whose summit reaches heaven, Whose foundation in the shining deep is firmly laid, On the land like a mighty bull lying, With gleaming horns like the rays of the rising sun, Like the stars of heaven that are filled with lustre!”[19] When Babylon became the chief city of all Babylonia, it was natural that its god should be regarded as supreme. It was at this point that political lordship seemed to pass from the old Bêl to the new, namely to Marduk. Ḥammurabi, one of the early kings at Babylon, speaks of Bêl as voluntarily transferring his power to Marduk. In the Assyrian legend of the Creation this transfer is dramatically enacted. The task of overcoming the monster Tiâmat naturally belonged to Bêl. But Marduk, the youthful god of Eridu, the son of Ea, was urged to attempt the feat. When he had slain the monster, there was joy among the gods. They vied with each other in bestowing honor on the victor. Finally Bêl steps forward and confers an honor also. He bestowed on Marduk his own title with these words: “Father Bêl calls Marduk the lord of the world.”[20] Marduk, therefore, is sometimes called the new Bêl in distinction from En-lil, the old Bêl. The idea of origins is apparently not very fully elaborated in Babylonian literature. For instance, the Babylonians did not come so near to the idea of creation _ex nihilo_ as the Hebrews. Their cosmogony starts with chaos. The expanse of the heavens appears specked with stars, some of which move with regularity. The moon travels across the expanse according to a prescribed order. Then the Babylonian bilingual account of the Creation gives a short statement of the creation of the land and sea, of man and beast. Generally, however, the divinity that planned and perfected order seems to be far in the background. The bilingual account says: “Marduk constructed an enclosure before the waters, He made dust and heaped it up within the enclosure. Mankind he created. Animals of the field, creatures of the field he created. The Tigris and the Euphrates he made and in place put (them) By their names joyfully he called them”.[21] Now Marduk, we know, took the place of Bêl and Bêl handed over his prerogatives to Marduk. In transferring his rights he must have given over also his power to create. If Marduk possessed the power to create in the time of his popularity, Bêl must have had the same power in the days of his glory, before he was succeeded by Marduk. Therefore we are led to the belief that the early Babylonians looked upon Bêl as the creator of animal and human life on earth. The following hymn may be regarded as embodying a legendary view of Bêl as creator, while the idea of destruction is also incorporated in the hymn: