The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Epic of GilgameshIntroductionTransliterationTranslationIndex to Parts 2 and 3Autograph PlatesCopyright
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Stephen Langdon
Introduction
In the year 1914 the University Museum secured by purchase a
large six column tablet nearly complete, carrying originally,
according to the scribal note, 240 lines of text. The contents
supply the South Babylonian version of the second book of the epic
ša nagba imuru, “He who has seen all things,” commonly referred to
as the Epic of Gilgamish. The tablet is said to have been found at
Senkere, ancient Larsa near Warka, modern Arabic name for and
vulgar descendant of the ancient name Uruk, the Biblical Erech
mentioned in Genesis X. 10. This fact makes the new text the more
interesting since the legend of Gilgamish is said to have
originated at Erech and the hero in fact figures as one of the
prehistoric Sumerian rulers of that ancient city. The dynastic list
preserved on a Nippur tablet1mentions
him as the fifth king of a legendary line of rulers at Erech, who
succeeded the dynasty of Kish, a city in North Babylonia near the
more famous but more recent city Babylon. The list at Erech
contains the names of two well known Sumerian deities,
Lugalbanda2and Tammuz. The reign of the
former is given at 1,200 years and that of Tammuz at 100 years.
Gilgamish ruled 126 years. We have to do here with a confusion of
myth and history in which the real facts are disengaged only by
conjecture.The prehistoric Sumerian dynasties were all transformed into
the realm of myth and legend. Nevertheless these rulers, although
appearing in the pretentious nomenclature as gods, appear to have
been real historic personages.3The name
Gilgamish was originally writtendGi-bil-aga-miš, and means “The fire
god (Gibil) is a commander,” abbreviated todGi-bil-ga-miš, anddGi(š)-bil-ga-miš, a form which by
full labialization of b to u̯ was finally contracted todGi-il-ga-miš.4Throughout the new text the name is written with the
abbreviationdGi(š),5whereas the standard Assyrian text has
consistently the writingdGIŠ-ṬU6-BAR. The latter method of writing the name is apparently
cryptographic fordGiš-bar-aga-(miš); the fire god
Gibil has also the title Giš-bar.A fragment of the South Babylonian version of the tenth book
was published in 1902, a text from the period of Hammurapi, which
showed that the Babylonian epic differed very much from the
Assyrian in diction, but not in content. The new tablet, which
belongs to the same period, also differs radically from the diction
of the Ninevite text in the few lines where they duplicate each
other. The first line of the new tablet corresponds to Tablet I,
Col. V 25 of the Assyrian text,7where
Gilgamish begins to relate his dreams to his mother Ninsun.8The last line of Col. I corresponds to the Assyrian version
Book I, Col. VI 29. From this point onward the new tablet takes up
a hitherto unknown portion of the epic, henceforth to be assigned
to the second book.9At the end of Book I in the Assyrian text and at the end of
Col. I of Book II in the new text, the situation in the legend is
as follows. The harlot halts outside the city of Erech with the
enamoured Enkidu, while she relates to him the two dreams of the
king, Gilgamish. In these dreams which he has told to his mother he
receives premonition concerning the advent of the satyr Enkidu,
destined to join with him in the conquest of Elam.Now the harlot urges Enkidu to enter the beautiful city, to
clothe himself like other men and to learn the ways of
civilization. When he enters he sees someone, whose name is broken
away, eating bread and drinking milk, but the beautiful barbarian
understands not. The harlot commands him to eat and drink
also:
“ It is the conformity of life,Of the conditions and fate of the Land.”
