Epic of Gilgamesh Exerpt

From the Epic of Gilgamesh

O Gilgamesh, Lord of Kullab,8 great is thy praise. This was 1

the man to whom all things were known; this was the king

who knew the countries of the world. He was wise, he saw

mysteries and knew secret things, he brought us a tale of the

days before the flood. He went on a long journey, was weary,

worn-out with labor, and returning engraved on a stone the

whole story.

When the Gods created Gilgamesh they gave him a perfect

body. Shamash the glorious sun endowed him with beauty,

Adad the god of the storm endowed him with courage, the 10

great gods made his beauty perfect, surpassing all others. Two

thirds they made him god and one third man.

In Uruk9 he built walls, a great rampart, and the temple of

blessed Eanna for the god of the firmament Anu, and for Ishtar

the goddess of love.

[Gilgamesh and his bosom companion, Enkidu, destroy Humbaba,

the guardian of the cedar forest, and perform other heroic deeds.

But Gilgamesh spurns the affections of Ishtar, and in revenge, she

takes Enkidu's life.]

Bitterly Gilgamesh wept for his friend Enkidu; he wandered

over the wilderness as a hunter, he roamed over the plains; in

his bitterness he cried, “How can I rest, how can I be at

peace? Despair is in my heart. What my brother is now, that

shall I be when I am dead. Because I am afraid of death I will 20

go as best I can to find Utnapishtim whom they call the

Faraway, for he has entered the assembly of the gods.” So

Gilgamesh traveled over the wilderness, he wandered over the

grasslands, a long journey, in search of Utnapishtim, whom the

gods took after the deluge; and they set him to live in the land

of Dilmun,10 in the garden of the sun; and to him alone of men

they gave everlasting life.

At night when he came to the mountain passes Gilgamesh

prayed: “In these mountain passes long ago I saw lions, I was

afraid and I lifted my eyes to the moon; I prayed and my 30

prayers went up to the gods, so now, O moon god Sin, protect

me.” When he had prayed he lay down to sleep, until he was

woken from out of a dream. He saw the lions round him

glorying in life; then he took his axe in his hand, he drew his

sword from his belt, and struck and destroyed and scattered

them.

So at length Gilgamesh came to that great mountain whose

name is Mashu, the mountain which guards the rising and the

setting sun. Its twin peaks are as high as the wall of heaven

and its paps reach down to the underworld. At its gate the 40

Scorpions stand guard, half man and half dragon; their glory is

terrifying, their stare strikes death into men, their shimmering

halo sweeps the mountains that guard the rising sun. When

Gilgamesh saw them he shielded his eyes for the length of a

moment only; then he took courage and approached. When

they saw him so undismayed the Man-Scorpion called to his

mate, “This one who comes to us now is flesh of the gods.”

The mate of the Man-Scorpion answered, “Two thirds is god

but one third is man.”

Then he called to the man Gilgamesh, he called to the child 50

of the gods: “Why have you come so great a journey; for what

have you traveled so far, crossing the dangerous waters; tell

me the reason for your coming?” Gilgamesh answered, “For

Enkidu; I loved him dearly, together we endured all kinds of

hardships; on his account I have come, for the common lot of

man has taken him. I have wept for him day and night, I would

not give up his body for burial, I thought my friend would come

back because of my weeping. Since he went, my life is

nothing; that is why I have traveled here in search of

Utnapishtim my father; for men say he has entered the 60

assembly of the gods, and has found everlasting life.

I have a desire to question him concerning the living and the dead.”

The Man-Scorpion opened his mouth and said, speaking to

Gilgamesh, “No man born of woman has done what you have

asked, no mortal man has gone into the mountain; the length

of it is twelve leagues11 of darkness; in it there is no light, but

the heart is oppressed with darkness. From the rising of the

sun to the setting of the sun there is no light.” Gilgamesh said,

“Although I should go in sorrow and in pain, with sighing and

with weeping, still I must go. Open the gate of the mountain.” 70

And the Man-Scorpion said, “Go, Gilgamesh, I permit you to

pass through the mountain of Mashu and through the high

ranges; may your feet carry you safely home. The gate of the

mountain is open.”

When Gilgamesh heard this he did as the Man-Scorpion had

said, he followed the sun's road to his rising, through the

mountain. When he had gone one league the darkness

became thick around him, for there was no light, he could see

nothing ahead and nothing behind him. After two leagues the

darkness was thick and there was no light, he could see 80

nothing ahead and nothing behind him. After three leagues the

darkness was thick, and there was no light, he could see

nothing ahead and nothing behind him. After four leagues the

darkness was thick and there was no light, he could see

nothing ahead and nothing behind him. At the end of five

leagues the darkness was thick and there was no light, he

could see nothing ahead and nothing behind him. At the end

of six leagues the darkness was thick and there was no light,

he could see nothing ahead and nothing behind him. When he

had gone seven leagues the darkness was thick and there was 90

no light, he could see nothing ahead and nothing behind him.

When he had gone eight leagues Gilgamesh gave a great cry,

for the darkness was thick and he could see nothing ahead

and nothing behind him. After nine leagues he felt the north

wind on his face, but the darkness was thick and there was no

light, he could see nothing ahead and nothing behind him.

After ten leagues the end was near. After eleven leagues the

dawn light appeared. At the end of twelve leagues the sun

streamed out.

There was the garden of the gods; all round him stood 100

bushes bearing gems. Seeing it he went down at once, for

there was fruit of carnelian with the vine hanging from it,

beautiful to look at; lapis lazuli leaves hung thick with fruit,

sweet to see. For thorns and thistles there were hematite and

rare stones, agate, and pearls from out of the sea. While

Gilgamesh walked in the garden by the edge of the sea

Shamash12 saw him, and he saw that he was dressed in the

skins of animals and ate their flesh. He was distressed, and he

spoke and said, “No mortal man has gone this way before, nor

will, as long as the winds drive over the sea.” And to 110

Gilgamesh he said, “You will never find the life for which you

are searching.” Gilgamesh said to glorious Shamash, “Now

that I have toiled and strayed so far over the wilderness, am I

to sleep, and let the earth cover my head forever? Let my eyes

see the sun until they are dazzled with looking. Although I am

no better than a dead man, still let me see the light of the sun.”

[Gilgamesh meets Siduri, the maker of wine, who advises him

to give up his search and value more highly the good things of

the earth. Gilgamesh prepares to cross the Ocean and, with

the help of the ferryman Urshanabi, finally reaches Dilmun, the

home of Utnapishtim.]

“Oh, father Utnapishtim, you who have entered the

assembly of the gods, I wish to question you concerning the

living and the dead, how shall I find the life for which I am 120

searching?”

Page B1.23

Utnapishtim said, “There is no permanence. Do we build a

house to stand for ever, do we seal a contract to hold for all

time? Do brothers divide an inheritance to keep for ever, does

the flood-time of rivers endure? It is only the nymph of the

dragon-fly who sheds her larva and sees the sun in his glory.

From the days of old there is no permanence. The sleeping and

the dead, how alike they are, they are like a painted death.

What is there between the master and the servant when both

have fulfilled their doom? When the Annunaki, the judges, 130

come together, and Mammetun the mother of destinies,

together they decree the fates of men. Life and death they

allot but the day of death they do not disclose.”

Then Gilgamesh said to Utnapishtim the Faraway, “I look at

you now, Utnapishtim, and your appearance is no different

from mine; there is nothing strange in your features. I thought

I should find you like a hero prepared for battle, but you lie

here taking your ease on your back. Tell me truly, how was it

that you came to enter the company of the gods and to

possess everlasting life?” Utnapishtim said to Gilgamesh, “I 140

will reveal to you a mystery, I will tell you a secret of the

gods.”

[Utnapishtim relates the story of the flood.]

In those days the world teemed, the people multiplied, the

world bellowed like a wild bull, and the great god was

aroused by the clamor. Enlil heard the clamor and he said to

the gods in council, “The uproar of mankind is intolerable and

sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel.” So the

gods in their hearts were moved to let loose the deluge; but

my lord Ea warned me in a dream. He whispered their words

to my house of reeds…. “Tear down your house, I say, and 150

build a boat. These are the measurements of the barque as

you shall build her: let her beam equal her length, let her deck

be roofed like the vault that covers the abyss; then take up

into the boat the seed of all living creatures….”

For six days and six nights the winds blew, torrent and

tempest and flood overwhelmed the world, tempest and flood

raged together like warring hosts. When the seventh day

dawned the storm from the south subsided, the sea grew

calm, the flood was stilled; I looked at the face of the world

and there was silence, all mankind was turned to clay. The 160

surface of the sea stretched as flat as a roof-top; I opened a

hatch and the light fell on my face. Then I bowed low, I sat

down and I wept, the tears streamed down my face, for on

every side was the waste of water.

[Utnapishtim leads Gilgamesh to Urshanabi the Ferryman.]

Then Gilgamesh and Urshanabi launched the boat on to the

water and boarded it, and they made ready to sail away; but the

wife of Utnapishtim the Faraway said to him, “Gilgamesh came

here wearied out, he is worn out; what will you give him

to carry him back to his own country?” So Utnapishtim spoke,

and Gilgamesh took a pole and brought the boat in to the bank. 170

“Gilgamesh, you came here a man wearied out, you have worn

yourself out; what shall I give you to carry you back to your own

country? Gilgamesh, I shall reveal a secret thing, it is a mystery

of the gods that I am telling you. There is a plant that grows under

the water, it has a prickle like a thorn, like a rose; it will wound

your hands, but if you succeed in taking it, then your hands will

hold that which restores his lost youth to a man.”

When Gilgamesh heard this he opened the sluices so that a

sweet-water current might carry him out to the deepest

channel; he tied heavy stones to his feet and they dragged him 180

down to the water-bed. There he saw the plant growing;

although it pricked him he took it in his hands; then he cut the

heavy stones from his feet, and the sea carried him and threw

him on the shore. Gilgamesh said to Urshanabi the ferryman,

“Come here, and see this marvelous plant. By its virtue a man

may win back all his former strength. I will take it to Uruk of

the strong walls; there I will give it to the old to eat. Its name

shall be ‘the Old Men are Young Again’; and at last I shall eat

it myself and have back all my lost youth.” So Gilgamesh

returned by the gate through which he had come, Gilgamesh 190

and Urshanabi went together. They traveled their twenty

leagues and then they broke their fast; after thirty leagues

they stopped for the night.

Gilgamesh saw a well of cool water and he went down and

bathed; but deep in the pool there was lying a serpent,13 and

the serpent sensed the sweetness of the flower. It rose out of

the water and snatched it away, and immediately it sloughed

its skin and returned to the well. Then Gilgamesh sat down

and wept, the tears ran down his face, and he took the hand

of Urshanabi; “O Urshanabi, was it for this that I toiled with 200

my hands, is it for this I have wrung out my heart's blood? For

myself I have gained nothing; not I, but the beast of the earth

has joy of it now. Already the stream has carried it twenty

leagues back to the channels where I found it. I found a sign and

now I have lost it. Let us leave the boat on the bank and go.”