Tiamat was a primary Goddess in Babylonia:

She was mother of all the Gods. Before She gave birth to them, there were no Gods... only She and then later Her consort, Apsu (whom she also created).

Tiamat was known as the Pure, the Shining, the Glistening, the Deeps, "Ummu-Hubur who formed all things."

She was the primordial chaos, and the all-powerful, nurturing mother of everything in existence.

She was associated with the salt water ocean, the origin of life on earth. From her waters, she  gave rise to the land and separated it from the sky, as the ocean's horizon does.

Tiamat was sometimes seen as a dragon (and mother of dragons) — the personification of elemental forces of nature that can never be tamed or constrained. She is the original Dragon — a sort of winged lion — the powerful Goddess that men have been trying to slay for millennia.

As the Dragon, Tiamat also holds fire within Her, and breathes the fire to warm Her children — both in the waters and on land — so that they can live.

She is not only the nourishing and tender Mother, but the powerful protective Mother as well. In the Babylonian creation myth, Tiamat's son/consort Apsu wants to kill Their children, perhaps out of fear for His own life, but Tiamat refuses. When the children kill Apsu, however, She becomes the furious Goddess intent on visiting ancient justice on the murderers.