Tablet 1
The one who saw all [Sha nagba imuru ]I will
declare to the world,
The one who knew all I will tell about
[line missing]
He saw the great Mystery, he knew the Hidden:
He recovered the knowledge of all the times before
the Flood.
He journeyed beyond the distant, he journeyed beyond
exhaustion,
And then carved his story on stone. [naru :
stone tablets ]
This great hero who had all knowledge [nemequ
], Gilgamesh, built the great city of Uruk; the tablet
invites us to look around and view the greatness of this
city, its high walls, its masonwork, and here at the
base of its gates, as the foundation of the city walls,
a stone of lapis lazuli on which is carved Gilgamesh's
account of his exploits, the story you are about to
hear.
The account begins: Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and
one-third human, is the greatest king on earth and the
strongest super-human that ever existed; however, he is
young and oppresses his people harshly. The people call
out to the sky-god Anu, the chief god of the city, to
help them. In response, Anu creates a wild man, Enkidu,
out in the harsh and wild forests surrounding
Gilgamesh's lands. This brute, Enkidu, has the strength
of dozens of wild animals; he is to serve as the
subhuman rival to the superhuman Gilgamesh.
A trapper's son, while checking on traps in the
forest, discovers Enkidu running naked with the wild
animals; he rushes to his father with the news. The
father advises him to go into the city and take one of
the temple harlots, Shamhat, with him to the forest;
1 when she sees Enkidu, she is to offer herself
sexually to the wild man. If he submits to her, the
trapper says, he will lose his strength and his
wildness.
Shamhat meets Enkidu at the watering-hole where
all the wild animals gather; she offers herself to him
and he submits, instantly losing his strength and
wildness, but he gains understanding and knowledge. He
laments for his lost state, but the harlot offers to
take him into the city where all the joys of
civilization shine in their resplendence; she offers to
show him Gilgamesh, the only man worthy of Enkidu's
friendship.
Gilgamesh meanwhile has two dreams; in the first a
meteorite falls to earth which is so great that
Gilgamesh can neither lift it nor turn it. The people
gather and celebrate around the meteorite, and Gilgamesh
embraces it as he would a wife, but his mother, the
goddess Rimat-Ninsun, forces him to compete with the
meteorite. In the second, Gilgamesh dreams that an axe
appears at his door, so great that he can neither lift
it nor turn it. The people gather and celebrate around
the axe, and Gilgamesh embraces it as he would a wife,
but his mother, again, forces him to compete with the
axe. Gilgamesh asks his mother what these dreams might
mean; she tells him a man of great force and strength
will come into Uruk. Gilgamesh will embrace this man as
he would a wife, and this man will help Gilgamesh
perform great deeds.
Tablet 2
Enkidu is gradually introduced to civilization by
living for a time with a group of shepherds, who teach
him how to tend flocks, how to eat, how to speak
properly, and how to wear clothes. Enkidu then enters
the city of Uruk during a great celebration. Gilgamesh,
as the king, claims the right to have sexual intercourse
first with every new bride on the day of her wedding; as
Enkidu enters the city, Gilgamesh is about to claim that
right. Infuriated at this abuse, Enkidu stands in front
of the door of the marital chamber and blocks
Gilgamesh's way. They fight furiously until Gilgamesh
wins the upper hand; Enkidu concedes Gilgamesh's
superiority and the two embrace and become devoted
friends.
Both Enkidu and Gilgamesh gradually weaken and
grow lazy living in the city, so Gilgamesh proposes a
great adventure: they are to journey to the great Cedar
Forest in southern Iran and cut down all the cedar
trees. To do this, they will need to kill the Guardian
of the Cedar Forest, the great demon, Humbaba the
Terrible. Enkidu knows about Humbaba from his days
running wild in the forest; he tries in vain to convince
Gilgamesh not to undertake this folly.
Tablet 3
[Most of tablet three doesn't exist]
The elders of the city protest Gilgamesh's
endeavor, but agree reluctantly. They place the life of
the king in the hands of Enkidu, whom they insist shall
take the forward position in the battle with Humbaba.
Gilgamesh's mother laments her son's fate in a prayer to
the sun-god, Shamash, asking that god why he put a
restless heart in the breast of her son. Shamash
promises her that he will watch out for Gilgamesh's
life. Ramat-Ninsun, too, commands Enkidu to guard the
life of the king and to take the forward position in the
battle with Humbaba. In panic, Enkidu again tries to
convince Gilgamesh not to undertake this journey, but
Gilgamesh is confident of success.
Tablet 4
Tablet four tells the story of the journey to the
cedar forest. On each day of the six day journey,
Gilgamesh prays to Shamash; in response to these
prayers, Shamash sends Gilgamesh oracular dreams during
the night. These dreams are all ominous: The first is
not preserved. In the second, Gilgamesh dreams that he
wrestles a great bull that splits the ground with his
breath. Enkidu interprets the dream for Gilgamesh; the
dream means that Shamash, the bull, will protect
Gilgamesh. In the third, Gilgamesh dreams:
The skies roared with thunder and the earth heaved,
Then came darkness and a stillness like death.
Lightening smashed the ground and fires blazed out;
Death flooded from the skies.
When the heat died and the fires went out,
The plains had turned to ash.
Enkidu's interpretation is missing here, but like the
other dreams, it is assumed he puts a positive spin on
the dream. The fourth dream is missing, but Enkidu again
tells Gilgamesh that the dream portends success in the
upcoming battle. The fifth dream is also missing.
At the entrance to the Cedar Forest, Gilgamesh
begins to quake with fear; he prays to Shamash,
reminding him that he had promised Ninsun that he would
be safe. Shamash calls down from heaven, ordering him to
enter the forest because Humbaba is not wearing all his
armor. The demon Humbaba wears seven coats of armor, but
now he is only wearing one so he is particularly
vulnerable. Enkidu loses his courage and turns back;
Gilgamesh falls on him and they have a great fight.
Hearing the crash of their fighting, Humbaba comes
stalking out of the Cedar Forest to challenge the
intruders. A large part of the tablet is missing here.
On the one part of the tablet still remaining, Gilgamesh
convinces Enkidu that they should stand to gether
against the demon.
Tablet 5
Gilgamesh and Enkidu enter the gloriously beautiful
Cedar Forest and begin to cut down the trees. Hearing
the sound, Humbaba comes roaring up to them and warns
them off. Enkidu shouts at Humbaba that the two of them
are much stronger than the demon, but Humbaba, who knows
Gilgamesh is a king, taunts the king for taking orders
from a nobody like Enkidu. Turning his face into a
hideous mask, Humbaba begins to threaten the pair, and
Gilgamesh runs and hides. Enkidu shouts at Gilgamesh,
inspiring him with courage, and Gilgamesh appears from
hiding and the two begin their epic battle with Humbaba.
Shamash intrudes on the battle, helping the pair, and
Humbaba is defeated. On his knees, with Gilgamesh's
sword at his throat, Humbaba begs for his life and
offers Gilgamesh all the trees in the forest and his
eternal servitude. While Gilgamesh is thinking this
over, Enkidu intervenes, telling Gilgamesh to kill
Humbaba before any of the gods arrive and stop him from
doing so. Should he kill Humbaba, he will achieve
widespread fame for all the times to come. Gilgamesh,
with a great sweep of his sword, removes Humbaba's head.
But before he dies, Humbaba screams out a curse on
Enkidu: "Of you two, may Enkidu not live the longer, may
Enkidu not find any peace in this world!"
Gilgamesh and Enkidu cut down the cedar forest and
in particular the tallest of the cedar trees to make a
great cedar gate for the city of Uruk. They build a raft
out of the cedar and float down the Euphrates river to
their city.
Tablet 6
After these events, Gilgamesh, his fame widespread
and his frame resplendent in his wealthy clothes,
attracts the sexual attention of the goddess Ishtar, who
comes to Gilgamesh and offers to become his lover.
Gilgamesh refuses with insults, listing all the mortal
lovers that Ishtar has had and recounting the dire fates
they all met with at her hands. Deeply insulted, Ishtar
returns to heaven and begs her father, the sky-god Anu,
to let her have the Bull of Heaven to wreak vengeance on
Gilgamesh and his city:
Father, let me have the Bull of Heaven
To kill Gilgamesh and his city.
For if you do not grant me the Bull of Heaven,
I will pull down the Gates of Hell itself,
Crush the doorposts and flatten the door,
And I will let the dead leave
And let the dead roam the earth
And they shall eat the living.
The dead will overwhelm all the living!
Anu reluctantly gives in, and the Bull of Heaven is
sent down into Uruk. Each time the bull breathes, its
breath is so powerful that enormous abysses are opened
up in the earth and hundreds of people fall through to
their deaths. Working together again, Gilgamesh and
Enkidu slay the mighty bull. Ishtar is enraged, but
Enkidu begins to insult her, saying that she is next,
that he and Gilgamesh will kill her next, and he rips
one of the thighs off the bull and hurls it into her
face.
Tablet 7
Enkidu falls ill after having a set of ominous
dreams; he finds out from the priests that he has been
singled out for vengeance by the gods. The Chief Gods
have met and have decided that someone should be
punished for the killing of Humbaba and the killing of
the Bull of Heaven, so of the two heroes, they decide
Enkidu should pay the penalty. Enraged at the injustice
of the decision, Enkidu curses the great Cedar Gate
built from the wood of the Cedar Forest, and he curses
the temple harlot, Shamhat, and the trapper, for
introducing him to civilization. Shamhash reminds him
that, even though his life has been short, he has
enjoyed the fruits of civilization and known great
happiness. Enkidu then blesses the harlot and the
trapper. In a dream, a great demon comes to take Enkidu
and drags him to Hell, a House of Dust where all the
dead end up; as he is dying, he describes Hell:
The house where the dead dwell in total darkness,
Where they drink dirt and eat stone,
Where they wear feathers like birds,
Where no light ever invades their everlasting
darkness,
Where the door and the lock of Hell is coated with
thick dust.
When I entered the House of Dust,
On every side the crowns of kings were heaped,
On every side the voices of the kings who wore those
crowns,
Who now only served food to the gods Anu and Enlil,
Candy, meat, and water poured from skins.
I saw sitting in this House of Dust a priest and a
servant,
I also saw a priest of purification and a priest of
ecstasy,
I saw all the priests of the great gods.
There sat Etana and Sumukan,
There sat Ereshkigal, the queen of Hell,
Beletseri, the scribe of Hell, sitting before her.
Beletseri held a tablet and read it to Ereshkigal.
She slowly raised her head when she noticed me
She pointed at me:
"Who has sent this man?"
Enkidu commends himself to Gilgamesh, and after
suffering terribly for twelve days, he finally dies.
Tablet 8
Gilgamesh is torn apart by the death of his friend,
and utters a long lament, ordering all of creation to
never fall silent in mourning his dead friend. Most of
this tablet is missing, but the second half seems to be
a description of the monument he builds for Enkidu.
Tablet 9
Gilgamesh allows his life to fall apart; he does not
bathe, does not shave, does not take care of himself,
not so much out of grief for his friend, but because he
now realizes that he too must die and the thought sends
him into a panic. He decides that he can't live unless
granted eternal life; he decides to undertake the most
perilous journey of all: the journey to Utnapishtim and
his wife, the only mortals on whom the gods had granted
eternal life. Utnapishtim is the Far-Away, living at the
mouth of all rivers, at the ends of the world.
Utnapishtim was the great king of the world before the
Flood and, with his wife, was the only mortal preserved
by the gods during the Flood. After an ominous dream,
Gilgamesh sets out. He arrives at Mount Mashu, which
guards the rising and the setting of the sun, and
encounters two large scorpions who guard the way past
Mount Mashu. They try to convince him that his journey
is futile and fraught with danger, but still they allow
him to pass. Past Mount Mashu is the land of Night,
where no light ever appears. Gilgamesh journeys eleven
leagues before the light begins to glimmer, after twelve
leagues he has emerged into day. He enters into a
brilliant garden of gems, where every tree bears
precious stones.
Tablet 10
Gilgamesh comes to a tavern by the ocean shore; the
tavern is kept by Siduri. Frightened by Gilgamesh's
ragged appearance, Siduri locks the tavern door and
refuses to let Gilgamesh in. Gilgamesh proves his
identity and asks Siduri how to find Utnapishtim. Like
the giant scorpions, she tells him that his journey is
futile and fraught with dangers. However, she directs
him to Urshanabi, the ferryman, who works for
Utnapishtim. Gilgamesh approaches Urshanabi with great
arrogance and violence and in the process destroys the
"stone things" that are somehow critical for the journey
to Utnapishtim. When Gilgamesh demands to be taken to
Utnapishtim, the ferryman tells him that it is now
impossible, since the "stone things" have been
destroyed. Nevertheless, he advises Gilgamesh to cut
several trees down to serve as punting poles; the waters
they are to cross are the Waters of Death, should any
mortal touch the waters, that man will instantly die.
With the punting poles, Gilgamesh can push the boat and
never touch the dangerous waters.
After a long and dangerous journey, Gilgamesh
arrives at a shore and encounters another man. He tells
this man that he is looking for Utnapishtim and the
secret of eternal life; the old man advises Gilgamesh
that death is a necessary fact because of the will of
the gods; all human effort is only temporary, not
permanent.
Tablet 11
At this point, Gilgamesh realizes that he is talking
to Utnapishtim, the Far-Away; he hadn't expected an
immortal human to be ordinary and aged. He asks
Utnapishtim how he received immortality, and Utnapishtim
tells him the great secret hidden from humans: In the
time before the Flood, there was a city, Shuruppak, on
the banks of the Euphrates. There, the counsel of the
gods held a secret meeting; they all resolved to destroy
the world in a great flood. All the gods were under oath
not to reveal this secret to any living thing, but Ea
(one of the gods that created humanity) came to
Utnapishtim's house and told the secret to the walls of
Utnapishtim's house, thus not technically violating his
oath to the rest of the gods. He advised the walls of
Utnapishtim's house to build a great boat, its length as
great as its breadth, to cover the boat, and to bring
all living things into the boat. Utnapishtim gets
straight to work and finishes the great boat by the new
year. Utnapishtim then loads the boat with gold, silver,
and all the living things of the earth, and launches the
boat. Ea orders him into the boat and commands him to
close the door behind him. The black clouds arrive, with
the thunder god Adad rumbling within them; the earth
splits like an earthenware pot, and all the light turns
to darkness. The Flood is so great that even the gods
are frightened:
The gods shook like beaten dogs, hiding in the far
corners of heaven,
Ishtar screamed and wailed:
"The days of old have turned to stone:
We have decided evil things in our Assembly!
Why did we decide those evil things in our Assembly?
Why did we decide to destroy our people?
We have only just now created our beloved humans;
We now destroy them in the sea!"
All the gods wept and wailed along with her,
All the gods sat trembling, and wept.
The Flood lasts for seven days and seven nights, and
finally light returns to the earth. Utnapishtim opens a
window and the entire earth has been turned into a flat
ocean; all humans have been turned to stone. Utnapishtim
then falls to his knees and weeps.
Utnapishtim's boat comes to rest on the top of
Mount Nimush; the boat lodges firmly on the mountain
peak just below the surface of the ocean and remains
there for seven days. On the seventh day:
I [Utnapishtim] released a dove from the boat,
It flew off, but circled around and returned,
For it could find no perch.
I then released a swallow from the boat,
It flew off, but circled around and returned,
For it could find no perch.
I then released a raven from the boat,
It flew off, and the waters had receded:
It eats, it scratches the ground, but it does not
circle around and return.
I then sent out all the living things in every
direction and sacrificed a sheep on that very spot.
The gods smell the odor of the sacrifice and begin to
gather around Utnapishtim. Enlil, who had originally
proposed to destroy all humans, then arrives, furious
that one of the humans had survived, since they had
agreed to wipe out all humans. He accuses Ea of
treachery, but Ea convinces Enlil to be merciful. Enlil
then seizes Utnapishtim and his wife and blesses them:
At one time Utnapishtim was mortal.
At this time let him be a god and immortal;
Let him live in the far away at the source of all
the rivers.
At the end of his story, Utnapishtim offers Gilgamesh
a chance at immortality. If Gilgamesh can stay awake for
six days and seven nights, he, too, will become
immortal. Gilgamesh accepts these conditions and sits
down on the shore; the instant he sits down he falls
asleep. Utnapishtim tells his wife that all men are
liars, that Gilgamesh will deny having fallen asleep, so
he asks his wife to bake a loaf of bread every day and
lay the loaf at Gilgamesh's feet. Gilgamesh sleeps
without ever waking up for six days and seven nights, at
which point Utnapishtim wakes him up. Startled,
Gilgamesh says, "I only just dozed off for half a second
here." Utnapishtim points out the loaves of bread,
showing their states of decay from the most recent,
fresh bread, to the oldest, moldy, stale bread that had
been laid at his feet on the very first day. Gilgamesh
is distraught:
O woe! What do I do now, where do I go now?
Death has devoured my body,
Death dwells in my body,
Wherever I go, wherever I look, there stands Death!
Utnapishtim's wife convinces the old man to have
mercy on him; he offers Gilgamesh in place of
immortality a secret plant that will make Gilgamesh
young again. The plant is at the bottom of the ocean
surrounding the Far-Away; Gilgamesh ties stones to his
feet, sinks to the bottom, and plucks the magic plant.
But he doesn't use it because he doesn't trust it;
rather he decides to take it back to Uruk and test it
out on an old man first, to make sure it works.
Urshanabi takes him across the Waters of Death.
Several leagues inland, Gilgamesh and Urshanabi stop to
eat and sleep; while they're sleeping, a snake slithers
up and eats the magic plant (which is why snakes shed
their skin) and crawls away. Gilgamesh awakens to find
the plant gone; he falls to his knees and weeps:
For whom have I labored? For whom have I journeyed?
For whom have I suffered?
I have gained absolutely nothing for myself,
I have only profited the snake, the ground lion!
The tale ends with Gilgamesh, at the end of his
journey standing before the gates of Uruk, inviting
Urshanabi to look around and view the greatness of this
city, its high walls, its masonwork, and here at the
base of its gates, as the foundation of the city walls,
a stone of lapis lazuli on which is carved Gilgamesh's
account of his exploits. |
