What i'm hoping to do here is look at Biblical Apocalyptic tradition as it was sourced from the Babylonian state cult of Marduk, first appearing in the Book of Daniel, and further look at how that derived from the Sumerian cult of Ninurta, my main source being this excellent paper Ninurta and the Son of Man
This calls into question the appropriateness of using earlier mythological archetypes in the context of Messianic expectation.
I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea”
The “four winds of heaven” correspond exactly to four winds, created by Anu and delivered to his son Marduk in Enuma Elish
He created four winds, Anu begot these he filled his hands, (saying) “whirl these,my son!
The Son of Man ideology of Daniel is with regards to mighty events in the Heavens being reflected upon the Earth, were astrology and cosmological occurences are reflected in tumultuous socio-political events and transformations, were archetypal chaos is triumphed over.
“and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.”
These monsters are, of course, with similarities to the enemies of Ninurta or of Marduk in Enuma Elish, which are traditionally numbered eleven . The last monster in Daniel’s vision has comparably eleven horns. That there are only four monsters in Daniel’s vision, is dictated by the political message of Daniel.
The Babylonians since the time of the Amorites had taken great liberties with Sumerian mythology, to the outrageous extent even of Marduk slaying Anu to claim sole supremacy of the Universe, he had also assimilated the cults of Enlil and Ninurta, thus many elements of Enuma Elish were formerly appropriate to Ninurta, and with Marduk having direct association with the King those former cosmological powers could be seen as potentially manifest within human person and thus Messianic context
The main enemy of Ninurta in Mesopotamian mythology is considered the eagle Anzu, which becames one with Ninurta, his symbol, after Ninurta has conquered him
On the second night I had a dream: I saw rising from the sea an eagle that had twelve feathered wings and three heads. I saw it spread its wings over the whole earth, and all the winds of heaven blew upon it, and the clouds were gathered around it
The understanding then that a singular person could overcome all the multitudes of the Earth and establish his own absolute rule was already formulated in Babylon, the Hebrews liked what they saw and developed their own expectations, adapting the Babylonian texts, and creating the potential job vacancy that awaited taking up.
In the Second Esdra Book the Son of Man rises from the Sea and then prepares for the battle ‘against multitudes’ on the mountain, thus resembling the demon Azag in the Sumerian Lugal-e hymn:
And I looked and saw that he carved out for himself a great mountain, and flew up on to it… I saw only how he sent forth from his mouth something like a stream of fire and the flaming breath and the great storm (ud-gal, one of Ninurta’s weapons), his “word” and fell on the onrushing multitude that was prepared to fight, and burned up all of them, so that suddenly nothing was seen of the innumerable multitude.
(Ninurta’s weapon šár-ùr “the Slayer of the Multitudes”)
Ninurta in the Lugal-e myth makes his “new creation” from the material of the subdued Azag and his stones. Thus the kingship of the antagonist ends up in the new creation
Established powers of an empirical basis were symbolized as 'mountains', these could not only be moved they could also be smashed into pieces and from the debris one's own order estsablished, or at least that was the way Ninurta had gone about things, also Inanna was no respecter of mountains.
The last of the beasts is different from all the beasts that preceded it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, when another horn appeared, a little one coming up among them; to make room for it,
A Neo-Assyrian mystical text mentions also the horns of the “dromedary”of Tiamat , which is not evidenced at all in the Epic, but certainly was part of the myth: “The dromedary is the ghost of Tiamat. Bel defeated her. Bel cut off her horns, clove her feet and docked her tail.” The same text mentions also a particular horn, which is somehow identified with Tiamat herself
The power involved was generally that of the storm and deluge, as in the days of Noah, the flood was seen as the primary example of a world changing event and that had been unleashed by Ninurta in the Atrahasis myth, to bring about the new age of Dynastic rule and civilization, that was always a clear dividing line for the Sumerians, the expecation was that this would again occur if necessary.
In some passages the Son of Man occurs as the divine judge, who comes at the end of days, riding on the clouds, and also in some cases in the context of a deluge, The last two cases are especially telling, because Ninurta himself is also “a great deluge,” and causes a flood in Atrahasis,with the victory over the forces of chaos Ninurta became the king of the universe,like the kerygmatic Christ.
The defeated cosmological powers of chaos and misrule were personified as 'donkeys' that the victor would ride upon in his triumph, this of course translated into an aspect of Hebraic Messianic expectation, the 'donkey of the big waters' getting a mention in the Bible. Generally such powers were understood as the preserve of Yahweh but the Son of Man is as a Son and apprentice to him and is taught in such powers, which is derivative of the cult of Asalluhi in his relationship to his Father Enki and also assimilated by the cult of Marduk, there were differing facets to the Messianic expectation.
Ninurta’s chariot is drawn by the ghost of Anzu, and Marduk rides, one may infer, on the ghost of Tiamat who is named logographically “donkey of the sea” At Mari the donkey also has symbolic value as the riding animal of the victorious king and symbol of his legitimate kingship
In Sumero-Akkadian lexical texts, the Thunderbird Anzu is said to be imeru šamê “Donkey of Heaven.”
You trampled the sea with your horses, and with the donkey of the big waters
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