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The Sleeping Almanac

Enuma Elish: The Babylonian Creation Story

3 hours · The Sleeping Almanac · September 25, 2026

Enuma Elish: The Babylonian Creation Story
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The voice you hear is the creator's own. He cloned it from recordings of his own voice, so every story is told in his voice. If you enjoy falling asleep to it, follow the show so each new story arrives on its own, and leave a rating on Apple Podcasts so other people can find it.

Enuma Elish is the Babylonian creation story, and it is not called that at all. Its name is simply the first two words on the first tablet, When above. Seven tablets, about a thousand lines, and a world made first out of water, then out of noise, then out of a quarrel, and at last out of the body of the oldest thing there was. Tonight you will hear how the sky was fastened up, where the Tigris and the Euphrates were said to come from, how a city put its own name on the making of everything, and why, once a year, the most powerful man in Babylon was slapped in the face by a priest until he cried. A slow, calm 3 hour sleep story to help you fall asleep and stay asleep.

Settle in, close your eyes, and let it drift over you. The pacing is slow, the voice is soft, and the music never spikes. You do not have to follow it. You do not have to remember any of it in the morning.

These are retellings drawn from the real tablets and the real history. Where the old stories turn toward fear or cruelty, we turn gently toward comfort, choosing the telling that serves a calm night. Where scholars disagree, the disagreement is said out loud rather than smoothed over.

Season Five of The Sleeping Almanac: Mesopotamia. Twelve nights.

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This channel uses AI tools (script research, narration, visuals) under the direction of a human editor. Every episode is researched, reviewed, and revised before publication.

Chapters

  1. 0:00Welcome
  2. 7:07When Above
  3. 12:40The First Births
  4. 17:43The Noise in the Water
  5. 22:44Apsu Sleeps Forever
  6. 27:47The Mother Arms
  7. 34:06The Court That Could Not Answer
  8. 40:58The Bargain of the Young God
  9. 44:57The Net, the Winds, the Bow
  10. 49:19The Battle, and the Quiet After
  11. 55:18What Was Made From Her
  12. 1:01:08The People and the City
  13. 1:12:51The Night the King Wept
  14. 1:20:17Calm music to drift off

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