ANONYMOUS - GILGAMESH

Gilgamesh

He who saw the deep, the foundation of the country,

who knew the ways, was wise in all things.

Gilgamesh, who saw the deep, the foundation of the country,

who knew the ways, was wise in all things.

…..

Gilgamesh the tall, magnificent and terrible,

who opened passes in the mountains,

who dug wells on the slopes of the uplands,

and crossed the ocean, the wide sea to the sunrise;

who scoured the world ever searching for life,

and reached through sheer force Uta-napishti the Distant;

who restored the cult-centres destroyed by the Deluge,

and set in place for the people the rites of the cosmos.

Who is there can rival his kingly standing,

and say like Gilgamesh, 'It is I am the king'?

Gilgamesh was his name from the day he was born,

two-thirds of him god and one third human.

…..

While the two of them together were making love,

he forgot the wild where he was born.

For seven days and seven nights

Enkidu was erect and coupled with ':·Shamhat.

The harlot opened her mouth,

saying to Enkidu:

'As I look at you, Enkidu, you are like a god,

why with the beasts do you wander the wild?

'Come, I will lead you to Uruk-the-Town-Square,

to the sacred temple, the home of Anu!

Enkidu, arise, let me take you

to the temple Eanna, the home of Anu,

…..

'That is a journey [which must not be made,]

[that is a man who must not be looked on.]

He who guards the [Forest of Cedar, his reach is wide,]

Humbaba, his voice is the Deluge.

'His speech is fire, his breath is death,

he hears the forest murmur at sixty leagues' distance.

Who is there would venture into his forest?

Adad ranks first, and Humbaba second.

'Who is there would oppose him among the Igigi?

So to keep safe the cedars,

Enlil made it his lot to terrify men;

if you penetrate his forest you are seized by the tremors.'

Gilgatnesh opened his mouth to speak,

saying [to Enkidu:)

'Why, my friend, do you speak like a weakling?

With your spineless words you [make me) despondent

…..

After they had slain the Bull of Heaven,

they bore its heart aloft and set it before Shamash.

Stepping back they fell prostrate in the presence of the Sun God,

then both of them together sat down.

Ishtar went up on the wall of Uruk-the-Sheepfold,

hopping and stamping, she wailed in woe:

'Alas! Gilgamesh, who mocked me, has killed the Bull of Heaven.'

Enkidu heard these words of Ishtar,

and tearing a haunch off the Bull he hurled it towards her. VI ISS

'Had 1 caught you too, I'd have treated you likewise,

I'd have draped your arms in its guts!'

Ishtar assembled the courtesans, prostitutes and harlots,

over the Bull of Heaven's haunch she began rites of mourmng.

Gilgamesh summoned all the smiths and the craftsmen,

the size of the horns the craftsmen admired.

Thirty minas of lapis lazuli in a solid block,

two minas each their rims,

six kor of oil, the capacity of both.

He gave them to his god Lugalbanda, to hold oil for

anointment,

he took them in to hang in his chamber.

They washed their hands in the river Euphrates,

took each other by the hand and in they came.

As they drove along the streets of Uruk,

the people were gathered to gaze [on them.]

Gilgam~sh spoke a word to the serving girls of [his palace:]

'Who is the finest among men?

Who the most glorious of fellows?'

'Gilgamesh is the finest among men!

Gilgamesh the most glorious of fellows!'

Gilgamesh made erry in his palace