An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic Part 13

Round about thee dig a well!

May there be pure water constantly for thy libation Goblets of water pour out to Shamas.h.!.+

[May] Lugal-banda take note of it!"

[Enkidu] opened his mouth and spoke to Gish: "[Since thou art resolved] to take the road.

Thy heart [be not afraid,] trust to me!

[Confide] to my hand his dwelling(?)!"

[on the road to] Huwawa they proceeded.

....... command their return

(Three lines missing.)

L.E.

............... were filled.

.......... they will go with me.

.................. joyfully.

[Upon hearing] this word of his, Alone, the road(?) [he levelled].

"Go, O Gish [I will go before thee(?)].

May thy G.o.d(?) go .........

May he show [thee the road !] .....

Gish and [Enkidu]

Knowingly ....................

Between [them] ................

Lines 13-14 (also line 16). See for the restoration, lines 112-13.

Line 62. For the restoration, see Jensen, p. 146 (Tablet III, 2a,9.)

Lines 64-66. Restored on the basis of the a.s.syrian version, _ib_. line 10.

Line 72. Cf. a.s.syrian version, Tablet IV, 4, 10, and restore at the end of this line _di-im-tam_ as in our text, instead of Jensen's conjecture.

Lines 74, 77 and 83. The restoration _zar-bis_, suggested by the a.s.syrian version, Tablet IV, 4, 4.

Lines 76 and 82. Cf. a.s.syrian version, Tablet VIII, 3, 18.

Line 78. _(u-ta-ab-bil_ from _abalu_, "grieve" or "darkened." Cf. _us-ta-kal_ (a.s.syrian version, _ib_. line 9), where, perhaps, we are to restore _it-ta-[bil pa-ni-su]_.

Line 87. _us-ta-li-pa_ from _elepu_, "exhaust." See Muss-Arnolt, _a.s.syrian Dictionary_, p. 49a.

Line 89. Cf. a.s.syrian version, _ib_. line 11, and restore the end of the line there to _i-ni-is_, as in our text.

Line 96. For _dapinu_ as an epithet of Huwawa, see a.s.syrian version, Tablet III, 2a, 17, and 3a, 12. _Dapinu_ occurs also as a description of an ox (Rm 618, Bezold, _Catalogue of the Kouyunjik Tablets_, etc., p. 1627).

Line 98. The restoration on the basis of _ib._ III, 2a, 18.

Lines 96-98 may possibly form a parallel to _ib_. lines 17-18, which would then read about as follows: "Until I overcome Huwawa, the terrible, and all the evil in the land I shall have destroyed." At the same time, it is possible that we are to restore _[lu-ul]-li-ik_ at the end of line 98.

Line 101. _lilissu_ occurs in the a.s.syrian version, Tablet IV, 6, 36.

Line 100. For _halbu_, "jungle," see a.s.syrian version, Tablet V, 3, 39 (p. 160).

Lines 109-111. These lines enable us properly to restore a.s.syrian version, Tablet IV, 5, 3 = Haupt's edition, p. 83 (col. 5, 3). No doubt the text read as ours _mu-tum_ (or _mu-u-tum_) _na-pis-su_.

Line 115. _supatu_, which occurs again in line 199 and also line 275._su-pa-as-su_ (= _supat-su_) must have some such meaning as "dwelling," demanded by the context. [Dhorme refers me to _OLZ_ 1916, p. 145].

Line 129. Restored on the basis of the a.s.syrian version, Tablet IV, 6, 38.

Line 131. The restoration _muktablu_, tentatively suggested on the basis of CT XVIII, 30, 7b, where _muktablu_, "warrior," appears as one of the designations of Gilgamesh, followed by _a-lik pa-na_, "the one who goes in advance," or "leader"--the phrase so constantly used in the Huwawa episode.

Line 132. Cf. a.s.syrian version, Tablet I, 5, 18-19.

Lines 136-137. These two lines restored on the basis of Jensen IV, 5, 2 and 5. The variant in the a.s.syrian version, _sa nise_ (written Uk.u.mes in one case and Lumes in the other), for the numeral 7 in our text to designate a terror of the largest and most widespread character, is interesting. The number 7 is similarly used as a designation of Gilgamesh, who is called _Esigga imin_, "seven-fold strong," i.e., supremely strong (CT XVIII, 30, 6-8). Similarly, Enkidu, _ib._ line 10, is designated _a-ra imina_, "seven-fold."

Line 149. A difficult line because of the uncertainty of the reading at the beginning of the following line. The most obvious meaning of _mi-it-tu_ is "corpse," though in the a.s.syrian version _salamtu_ is used (a.s.syrian version, Tablet V, 2, 42). On the other hand, it is possible--as Dr. Lutz suggested to me--that _mittu_, despite the manner of writing, is identical with _mittu_, the name of a divine weapon, well-known from the a.s.syrian creation myth (Tablet IV, 130), and other pa.s.sages. The combination _mit-tu sa-ku-u-_, "lofty weapon," in the Bilingual text IV, R2, 18 No. 3, 31-32, would favor the meaning "weapon" in our pa.s.sage, since _[sa]-ku-tu_ is a possible restoration at the beginning of line 150. However, the writing _mi-it-ti_ points too distinctly to a derivative of the stem _matu_, and until a satisfactory explanation of lines 150-152 is forthcoming, we must stick to the meaning "corpse" and read the verb _il-ku-ut_.

Line 152. The context suggests "lion" for the puzzling _la-bu_.

Line 156. Another puzzling line. Dr. Clay's copy is an accurate reproduction of what is distinguishable. At the close of the line there appears to be a sign written over an erasure.

Line 158. _[ga-ti lu-]us-kun_ as in line 186, literally, "I will place my hand," i.e., I purpose, I am determined.

Line 160. The restoration on the basis of the parallel line 187. Note the interesting phrase, "writing a name" in the sense of acquiring "fame."

Line 161. The _kiskatte_, "artisans," are introduced also in the a.s.syrian version, Tablet VI, 187, to look at the enormous size and weight of the horns of the slain divine bull. See for other pa.s.sages Muss-Arnolt _a.s.syrian Dictionary_, p. 450b. At the beginning of this line, we must seek for the same word as in line 163.

Line 162. While the restoration _bele_, "weapon," is purely conjectural, the context clearly demands some such word. I choose _bele_ in preference to _kakke_, in view of the a.s.syrian version, Tablet VI, 1.

Line 163. _Putuku_ (or _putukku_) from _pataku_ would be an appropriate word for the fabrication of weapons.

Line 165. The _rabtim_ here, as in line 167, I take as the "master mechanics" as contrasted with the _ummianu_, "common workmen," or journeymen. A parallel to this forging of the weapons for the two heroes is to be found in the Sumerian fragment of the Gilgamesh Epic published by Langdon, _Historical and Religious Texts from the Temple Library of Nippur_ (Munich, 1914), No. 55, 1-15.

Lines 168-170 describe the forging of the various parts of the lances for the two heroes. The _sipru_ is the spear point Muss-Arnolt, _a.s.syrian Dictionary_, p. 886b; the _isid patri_ is clearly the "hilt,"

and the _meselitum_ I therefore take as the "blade" proper. The word occurs here for the first time, so far as I can see. For 30 minas, see a.s.syrian version, Tablet VI, 189, as the weight of the two horns of the divine bull. Each axe weighing 3 _biltu_, and the lance with point and hilt 3 _biltu_ we would have to a.s.sume 4 _biltu_ for each _pasu_, so as to get a total of 10 _biltu_ as the weight of the weapons for each hero. The lance is depicted on seal cylinders representing Gilgamesh and Enkidu, for example, Ward, _Seal Cylinders_, No. 199, and also in Nos. 184 and 191 in the field, with the broad hilt; and in an enlarged form in No. 648. Note the clear indication of the hilt. The two figures are Gilgamesh and Enkidu--not two Gilgameshes, as Ward a.s.sumed. See above, page 34. A different weapon is the club or mace, as seen in Ward, Nos. 170 and 173. This appears also to be the weapon which Gilgamesh holds in his hand on the colossal figure from the palace of Sargon (Jastrow, _Civilization of Babylonia and a.s.syria_, Pl. LVII), though it has been given a somewhat grotesque character by a perhaps intentional approach to the scimitar, a.s.sociated with Marduk (see Ward, _Seal Cylinders_, Chap. XXVII). The exact determination of the various weapons depicted on seal-cylinders merits a special study.

Line 181. Begins a speech of Huwawa, extending to line 187, reported to Gish by the elders (line 188-189), who add a further warning to the youthful and impetuous hero.

Line 183. _lu-uk-su-su_ (also l. 186), from _akasu_, "drive on" or "lure on," occurs on the Pennsylvania tablet, line 135, _uk-ki-si_, "lure on" or "entrap," which Langdon erroneously renders "take away"

and thereby misses the point completely. See the comment to the line of the Pennsylvania tablet in question.

Line 192. On the phrase _san bunu_, "change of countenance," in the sense of "enraged," see the note to the Pennsylvania tablet, l.31.

Line 194. _nu-ma-at_ occurs in a tablet published by Meissner, _Altbabyl. Privatrecht_, No. 100, with _bit abi_, which shows that the total confine of a property is meant; here, therefore, the "interior"

of the forest or heart. It is hardly a "by-form" of _nuptum_ as Muss-Arnolt, _a.s.syrian Dictionary_, p. 690b, and others have supposed, though _nu-um-tum_ in one pa.s.sage quoted by Muss-Arnolt, _ib._ p. 705a, may have arisen from an aspirate p.r.o.nunciation of the _p_ in _nubtum_.