Monday 12 March 2012

TIAMAT: Babylonian Goddess

For week 2 of the 13 Goddesses challenge, I have chosen to represent TIAMAT. She is the primordial being from which all life sprang, and is generally known as the Sea Serpent of Chaos.There do not seem to be any images of Tiamat, and I think she gets a pretty bad press. The earliest version of her story is that she was the salt water that merged with the fresh water(male counterpart) to spawn the first generation of Gods. Her offspring become numerous and noisy, and her husband wanted to kill them. Tiamat prevented this, and emboldened, they killed her husband instead. Enraged by grief, Tiamat waged war on her own offspring. They defeated her, and used her body to create the planets and sky.
As the story got passed down, Tiamat has become the evil chaos of war, whereas it is my belief the original "chaos" referred to the state of the universe before the forming of the planet.
I have tried to create a sea serpent image of her, but one that has a soft maternal vibe, rather than "scary death bringer".
She is rising from the ocean, flanked by the Sun and the Moon( for she is the sky)
I used Stickles to make her page shimmery...
...and gold paint on her fin and eyes, as befits a great Goddess.
My Babylonian Goddess TIAMAT
Blessed Be :D XXX
Photobucket

12 comments:

  1. I love her Gina! Must admit I'd never heard of her but such a fascinating story.
    Hugs xx

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  2. She is amazing. Claiming the moon and the sun, and with daisy-shaped stars makes the entire image very earthy. Lovely!

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  3. Great choice, Gina! :) I chose her too only mine looks a little different. :) Great seeing all the stages.

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  4. Ahahaha! We had the same idea!! :) She's a fascinating Goddess and you rendered her very well!!

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    1. I think we have all chosen the same goddess this week lol, and I hadn't heard of her til this challenge :D

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    2. Eheheh! I think she's the most famous. :)

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  5. I love that delicious representation of Tiamat. Greetings.

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  6. Beautiful Gina!! I love how your represented her ;o) I love how she is rising out of the ocean, with the moon and sun beside her ;o) I did a different Goddess ;o) I did Ishtar ;o) Have a great one ;o)

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  7. Wow,wow,wow... standing ovations for this wonderful painting. I really love it.

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  8. An amazing work of art and fabulous story to go with it.
    Hope all is well with you.
    hugs {brenda} xox

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  9. WOW - she is pretty formidable. Great rendering of her ... really really well done. I actually had not heard of her before, so thanks for sharing the story. Always find it so interesting. xoDonna

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  10. He is amazing!!! I love how his face and especcialy his eyes turned out and the sky with lovely sun moon and stars is stunning! How the sun shines and the stars sparkels !!!

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