"My knees are marching--my feet are not resting; With no wealth of thy own--grain thou makest for me." The Creation legends were among the most ancient writings. "A plant had not been brought forth, a tree had not been created. A brick had not been made, a beam had not been formed. A house had not been built, a city had not been constructed. A city had not been made, earthly things had not been made glorious. Nipur had not been built, (its temple) E-kura had not been constructed. Erech had not been built, (its temple) E-Ana had not been constructed. The deep had not been made, Eridu had not been constructed. As for the glorious temple (of Eridu), the house of the gods, its seat had not been made. The whole of the lands, the sea also, (had not been formed). When within the sea the current was In that day Eridu was made. E-Sagila was constructed, E-Sagila which the god Lugal-du-azagga founded within the deep; Babylon (also) was built, E-Sagila was completed. The gods and the spirits of the earth were made altogether. The glorious city, the seat of the joy of their hearts, supremely they proclaimed. Merodack (Marduk) bound together the slime before the water. Dust he made and he poured it out with the flood. The gods were made to dwell in a seat of joy of heart. He created mankind. The god Aruru, the seed of mankind, they made with him. He made the beasts of the field and the living creatures of the desert. He made the Tigris and Euphrates, and set (them) in (their) places Well proclaimed he their name. The ussu-plant, the dittu-plant of the marshland, the reed and the forest he made. He made the verdure of the plain; The lands, the marshes, and the greensward also; Oxen, the young of the horse, the stallion, the mare, the sheep, the locust; Meadows and forests also. The he-goat and the gazelle brought forth to him."[1] Babylonian myths often took the form of epics. The epic of Gilgamesh was popular. Twelve tablets composed it, each corresponding to a zodiacal sign. The Deluge Story made up the eleventh chapter. Another epic, the Descent of Ishtar into Arallu, or Hades, was well known. Ishtar, herself a goddess, mourned a departed god, her consort, so greatly that she braved the terrors of the underworld to find him and to carry him water from the fountain of life, that he might rejoin her. This was the earliest form of a myth which later appeared in many lands. Astronomy had its birth in astrology--the so-called science which sought to discover the influences of the planets upon the destinies of mankind. This science was firmly believed in and strongly supported for centuries after the Christian era, and has its followers even today.