This open access book is the first in a groundbreaking series making Babylonian literature accessible. It presents in transcription and translation, with an introduction for non-specialist readers and essays from leading scholars in the field. Acting as a companion to the poem, the book provides readers with the tools they need to explore in greater depth. Essays cover important historical and contextual information, offer discussions of key topics and explanations of technical terms, as well as suggestions of relevant further reading. The book's interpretive and reflective approach, which pays special attention to questions of poetic style, intertextual resonance, and literary and cultural significance, encourages a greater understanding of the poem as a work of literature while remaining grounded in philology. The critical essays examine and the following themes: the poem's rhythm and style; its modern receptions, issues of gender, motherhood and masculinity; Marduk's rise to power; Babylonian astronomy; intertextuality and the poem as counter myth. and the will be an indispensable companion for anyone interested in the literature, culture and religion of ancient Assyria.