Gilgamesh (24 page)
p. 132,
a mouse that gnaws through its thin reed shelter:
Following Tournay and Shaffer.
p. 132,
limestone that crumbles and undermines / a solid stone wall:
“The image is of a friable element built into a wall made of heavier stones” (Bottéro, p. 125).
p. 132,
a battering ram / that knocks down the rampart of an allied city:
I have followed Bottéro's interpretation here.
p. 133,
Which could satisfy your endless desires?:
Literally (following Speiser), “Which of your lovers pleased you for all time?”
p. 133,
Let me remind you of how they suffered, / how each one came to a bitter end:
Literally, “Come, let me count your lovers.”
p. 133,
sent him to the underworld:
In the Sumerian poem “The Descent of Inanna,” after Inanna's (=Ishtar's) ascent from hell, demons demand a substitute for her; she gives them Dumuzi (=Tammuz), and they carry him down to hell in her place.
p. 133,
the bright-speckled roller bird:
“We know nothing about the love affair of Ishtar with the âroller bird,' or of her love affairs with the two animals that follow” (Bottéro, p. 125).
p. 133, Ow-ee! Ow-ee!: “In Akkadian, the cry of the bird is â¦
kappî
(âMy wings!'), which evokes a sort of plaintive whining. The story is etiologi-cal” (Bottéro, p. 126).
p. 133,
you dug seven pits for him, / and when he fell, you left him to die:
Literally, “You dug seven and seven pits for him.”
p. 133,
endlessly:
Literally, “7 double leagues” = about 45 miles; in other words, a great distance.
p. 133,
to muddy his own water:
“Horses put their front feet in the water when drinking, churning up mud” (Kovacs, p. 52).
p. 134,
the goddess Silili:
The myth is unknown, as are the myths of the shepherd and of Ishullanu.
p. 134,
âSweet Ishullanu, let me suck your rod, / touch my vagina, caress my jewel':
Literally, “O my Ishullanu, let me eat your vigor, reach out your hand [
or
penis] and touch my vulva.”
pp. 134-35,
But you kept up your sweet-talk and at last he gave in, / then you changed, you turned him into:
Literally, “When he had finished speaking, you struck him, you turned him into ⦔ I have changed the story here for the sake of consistency, since all the other examples are of men who became Ishtar's lovers and suffered as a result.
p. 135,
toad:
I have followed Bottéro here. Other scholars have translated this hapax legomenon as “dwarf,” “mole,” “spider,” or “scarecrow.”
p. 135,
her father, Anu:
In other Mesopotamian traditions, Ishtar is the daughter of Sîn and granddaughter of Anu, and/or she is Anu's consort.
p. 136,
ghouls will ascend to devour the living, / and the living will be outnumbered by the dead:
“These two verses are found also in the Akkadian myth of âThe Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld' and in âNergal and Ereshkigal,' and there is no way of knowing which of the three is the model or source” (Bottéro, p. 129).
p. 136,
Uruk will have famine for seven long years. / Have you provided the people with grain / for seven years, and the cattle with fodder?:
Literally, “for seven years let the widow of Uruk gather chaff, [and the farmer of Uruk] grow hay.”
p. 137,
ten feet:
Literally, “7 cubits.”
p. 137,
Gilgamesh rushed in and shouted, “Dear friend, / keep fighting, together we are sure to win.”:
I have added these lines and omitted the following passage: “Enkidu opened his mouth [to speak] and said to Gilgamesh, âMy friend, we boasted [ ⦠] city, how should we answer the crowds of people? My friend, I have observed the strength of the Bull of Heaven, so knowing its strength [I know] that our strength is sufficient. I will [circle] behind it, I will seize [it by its tail], I will set [my foot on its haunch], in [ ⦠]. Then [you,] like a [brave,] skilled [butcher,] thrust your dagger between its shoulders and the base of its horns.'”
p. 139,
her priestesses, / those who offer themselves to all men / in her honor:
Literally, “her
kezertu-, £arïmtu-,
and Ãam£ätu-women”: three classes of cultic prostitute-priestesses.
p. 139,
thirty pounds:
30
mina
= 15 kg.= 33 lbs.
p. 139,
four hundred gallons:
6
kor
= 1,500 l. = 396 gal.
p. 139,
in the chapel / dedicated to Lugalbanda:
Literally, “in the room of the head of the family.” “Rather than a bedroom in the palace of Uruk, this was probably a chapel in the temple, consecrated to Lugalbanda. The votive horns, filled with ointments with a base of fragrant oil, were supposed to serve in some ceremonial rite of dressing and anointing the image of GilgameÃ's deified father” (Bottéro, p. 133).
p. 140,
The two friends washed themselves in the river:
“In ancient times the Euphrates flowed through Uruk. It is possible that the washing had a religious sense and that the two heroes intended to purify themselves of
the defilement contracted by the killing of the supernatural Bull” (Bot-téro,p. 133).
p. 140,
singing girls:
Following Speiser.
p. 140,
Enkiduâhe isâ¦:
Following Bottéro.
Book VII
pp. 141-42,
“Beloved brother,” Enkidu said
through
and never will I see my dear brother again.”:
From the Hittite version, Tablet III, § 1, ll. 2 ff. The Standard Version begins with Enkidu's long, rather silly speech to the door, which I have omitted.
p. 141,
Then Enlil said to him, âEnkidu, / not Gilgamesh, is the one who must die.':
I have omitted the following lines from the Hittite version: “Then the sun god of heaven said to heroic Enlil, âWasn't it at my command that they killed the Bull of Heaven and also Humbaba? Enkidu is innocentâshould he then die?' Enlil grew angry at the sun god of heaven and said, âYou are speaking like that because you accompanied them every day like a friend.'” “The Standard Version seems to originate from a different tradition, in which Å amaÅ¡ as well is squarely opposed to the killing of Humbaba” (Bottéro, p. 287). See p. 126, “before the great gods can get enraged, / Enlil in Nippur, Shamash in Larsa.”
p. 142,
Enkidu said, “Beloved brother, / last night I had a second bad dream:
This passage occurs later in Tablet VII; I have inserted it here and divided Gilgamesh's response to the first dream into two speeches.
p. 144,
Etana ⦠Sumuqan ⦠Ereshkigal ⦠Belet-seri:
See glossary.
p. 144,
so it is a healthy man who has dreamed this:
“In order to reassure his friend, GilgameÅ¡ sees (or pretends to see) the dream as an excellent omen, interpreting it by the principle of âinversion' ⦠Further on in this passage, it is obvious that in fact GilgameÅ¡ had no doubt about the fatal character of the dream” (Bottéro, p. 138).
p. 145,
and to Ea the wise:
Literally (according to George's restoration),
“may [my entreatyâ¦â¦â¦to Ea] .”
“It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that these three lines report GilgameÅ 's intentions to solicit the aid not of Enlil alone but of the great divine triad, Anu, Enlil and Ea” (George,
BGE,
II, p. 846).
p. 145,
a gold statue made in your image:
“The image of a person ⦠placed in the sanctuary was â¦, by its very presence, supposed to perpetually âpray' on behalf of that person to the god it was dedicated to” (Bottéro, p. 138).
p. 145,
Don't worry, dear friend, you will soon get better, / this votive image will restore you to health:
I have added these lines following Bottéro's interpretation.
p. 145,
“I turn to you, Lord, / since suddenly fate has turned against me:
Literally, “I appeal to you, Shamash, on account of my precious life.”
pp. 145-146,
As for that wretched trapper who found me / when I was free in the wildernessâ/ because he destroyed my life, destroy / his livelihood, may he go home empty, / may no animals ever enter his traps, / or if they do, may they vanish like mist, / and may he starve for bringing me here:
Literally (in Foster's translation), “As for that
hunter, the entrapping-man, / Who did not let me get as much life as my friend, / May that hunter not get enough to make him a living. / Make his profit loss, cut down his take, / May his income, his portion evaporate before you, / Any wildlife that enters [his traps], make it go out the win-dow!”
p. 146,
may your man prefer younger, prettier girls:
Following Foster's conjecture.
p. 146,
may he beat you as a housewife beats a rug:
Literally, “[ ⦠] of the potter.” I have gone in the same direction (though with a different image) as Foster's conjecture “[may he pinch you] like potter's clay.”
pp. 146-47,
may your roof keep leaking and no carpenter fix it
through
and the rabble mock you as you walk the streets:
I have changed the order of the images here.
p. 146,
may wild dogs camp in your bedroom:
From the Middle Babylonian Ur tablet, MB Ur, l. 32.
p. 147,
a bed of honor:
“The âbed' is the catafalque where the corpse is laid out before the funeral. The next lines recall the place of honor that the king of Uruk had given him during his lifetime. We don't know why the seat of repose is âon his left'” (Bottéro, p. 142).
p. 149,
Then Enkidu said to Gilgamesh:
I have added this line. There are several gaps and fragments that precede Enkidu's speech, and it is followed by another fragmentary line: “Gilgamesh said, âMy friend saw a dream that [will] not â¦'”
p. 149,
For twelve long days / he was deathly sick, he lay in his bed / in agony, unable to rest, / and every day he grew worse:
Literally, “One day, a second day, Enkidu was sick, he lay in his bed. A third and a fourth day Enkidu [ ⦠]. A fifth, a sixth and a seventh, an eighth, a ninth [and tenth day] Enkidu was sick [ ⦠], an eleventh and a twelfth day [ ⦠] Enkidu [ ⦠] in his bed.”
p. 149,
“Have you abandoned me now, dear friend? / You told me that you would come to help me / when I was afraid. But I cannot see you, / you have not come to fight off this danger. / Yet weren't we to remain forever / inseparable, you and I?”:
In this speech I have followed the interpretation of Bottéro. Literally (in George's translation):
“[My god]
has spurned me, my friend, [ â¦,] / like one who in the midst of battle [ ⦠] / I was afraid of combat [ â¦,] / my friend, he who in combat [ ⦠] / I, in
[combat,⦠] .”
p. 150,
When he heard the death rattle, Gilgamesh moaned / like a dove. His face grew dark. “Beloved, / wait, don't leave me. Dearest of men, / don't die, don't let them take you from me”:
From the Middle Babylonian Megiddo tablet, MB Megiddo, reverse, ll. 14' ff. Literally (in Kovacs's translation): “At his noises Gilgamesh was roused [ ⦠] / Like a dove he moaned [ ⦠] / âMay he not be held, in death [ ⦠] / O preeminent among men [ ⦠] / To his friend [ ⦠] / âI will mourn him (?) / I at his side [ ⦠]'”
B
OOK
VIII
p. 152,
Ulaya:
Literally, “May the holy River Ulaya mourn you, along whose banks we once proudly walked.” This line seems to refer to an episode that has not survived in the extant tablets.
pp. 152-53,
my beloved friend is dead, he is dead, / my beloved brother is dead, I will mourn / as long as I breathe, I will sob for him / like a woman who has lost her only child:
Literally, “I will mourn Enkidu, my friend, I will sob for him like a hired mourning woman.” (Professional mourners were valued for their loud and passionate laments.)
p. 153,
swift stallion, wild deer:
Literally, “swift mule, quick wild ass of the mountains.”
pp. 154-55,
Let obsidian and all other beautiful stonesâ/ a thousand jewels of every colorâ/ be piled along with the silver and gold / and sent on a barge, down the Euphrates / to great-walled Uruk, for Enkidu's statue:
Added from the apocryphal “Letter of Gilgamesh” (seventh century
BCE?
), which helps to flesh out the description of the statue. I have also made the next lines in the Standard Version (“I will lay him down ⦠in a lion skin”) part of the proclamation, changing the second-person to third-person pronouns.
p. 155,
surveyed his riches:
I have omitted a fragmentary passage here.
p. 156,
He closed his eyes, in his mind he formed
through
he spread out each one in front of Shamash:
I have moved this passage forward from the end of Tablet VIII.
p. 156,
precious yew wood:
“The precious wood called
elammaku,
not identified, came from the northwest (Syria) and was used primarily for furniture” (Bottéro, p. 154).
p. 156,
a carnelian bowl ⦠a lapis lazuli bowl:
“Red was the color of mourning ⦠Red and blue are found together more than once in the ancient
Mesopotamian texts, particularly in the context of the hereafter and of mourning” (Bottéro, p. 154).
p. 156,
a polished javelin of pure cedar:
Literally,
“[a throw]stick
of â¦, the pure wood.”
p. 156,
“Let Ishtar accept this:
This respectful passage, along with VII 160 (“May Ishtar, [the ablest] of the gods, introduce you to a man”), is another indication that Book VI was added to the main body of the poem, perhaps by Sîn-lëqi-unninni.
p. 157,
a golden necklace ⦠a mirror:
Schrott's conjectures.