'Tiamat' is the primeval saltwater, the 'salt sea', the embodiment of the primordial state [S1][S5]. In Sumerian cosmology, Tiamat (the salt water) and Apsu (the fresh water) are the two primeval waters [S3][S5]. In the Enuma Elish, Tiamat is the great adversary of Marduk: she raises an army of monsters (led by Kingu) to fight Marduk, and is slain by Marduk, who splits her body in two to make the sky (the upper half) and the earth (the lower half) [S1]. Tiamat is the embodiment of chaos, the 'salt sea', the primordial state from which the ordered world emerges [S1][S5].