<P> Babylonian myths were greatly influenced by their Sumerian counterparts, and were written on clay tablets inscribed with the cuneiform script derived from Sumerian cuneiform . The myths were usually either written in Sumerian or Akkadian . Some Babylonian texts were even translations into Akkadian from the Sumerian language of earlier texts, though the names of some deities were changed in Babylonian texts . </P> <P> Many Babylonian deities, myths and religious writings are singular to that culture; for example, the uniquely Babylonian deity, Marduk, replaced Enlil as the head of the mythological pantheon . The Enûma Eliš, a creation myth epic was an original Babylonian work . </P> <P> Tablet fragments from the Neo-Babylonian period describe a series of festival days celebrating the New Year . The Festival began on the first day of the first Babylonian month, Nisannu, roughly corresponding to April / May in the Gregorian calendar . This festival celebrated the re-creation of the Earth, drawing from the Marduk - centered creation story described in the Enûma Eliš . </P> <P> In Babylonian religion, the ritual care and worship of the statues of deities was considered sacred; the gods resided simultaneously in their statues in temples and in the natural forces they embodied . An elaborate ceremony of washing the mouths of the statues appeared sometime in the Old Babylonian period . </P>

What was the religion of the babylonian empire