This highly intriguing contemporary Arabic-language setting of the world's oldest known epic combines song and recitation to a small Euro-Arab musical ensemble with spoken passages, in a re-creation (imaginative rather than literal, of course) of the way in which the earliest epics may have been performed. The notes provide an English prose translation of each section, but infuriatingly gives no information on the performers or the concept behind this version. ~ John Storm Roberts, Original Music, All Music Guide
EPIC OF GILGAMESH
FOREWORD
Not that long ago, the only vision we usually had of this part of Asia* was confined to the history of the Hebrews and the notion we drew form the Bilbe. The neighboring peoples had not much more consistency than that of shadows going past and vanishing into the stories told in the Bible.
The archeologial excavations, the discoveries, the advanced of knowledge have given to each of these people more just place. The horizons of Palestine have widened up to the confines of Mesopotamia and Anatolia.
The history of the Hebrews has become a mere cog, playing its modest and temporary part, in the politics of the great empires of those days and the Bible has become, historically speaking at least, a creed, a system of thinking among other creeds and other systems of thinking.
The Mediterranean coast never stopped exerting a powerful attraction on all the countries of the Near East and on Egypt itself. The geographical situation of the small Syro-Palestinian states, continuously at stake in the rivalries opposing the great powers, favoured the encounter of peoples, languages, religions, and the various forms of art ; it is towards them that the great civilizations of the time, the Egyptian, the Aegean, the Hittite and the Mesopotamian, the Anatolian as well kept bringing their rival contributions.
Before and during the days of the Bible, the whole of the Asian Near East had produced its own spiritual millennia. Sumer, Akkad, Babylon were the main artisans of such a treasure, But whatever the importance of their influence on other cultural centers, Ugarit or the country of the Hittites have enriched the spiritual fund of these diverse but unified civilisations with original works and a particular thinking.
*Mesopotamia, Canaan, Hittites
GODS AND HEROS The epic of Gilgamesh is rightly considered the most famous work in ancient Mesopotamia. Even if it does not reach the perfection of other shorter works, it certainly is the most representative expression of the Semitic genius because of its strength, the richness of its subject-matter and the influence it exerted on the whole of the then civilised world. It was not the product of a particular social stratum, of a particular time or people. Born of the Sumerian mythology, its importance spread out for more than a millenium over Assyria, reached Babylon and became widely Known beyond these borders since it was copied or even translated from Palestine up to Anatolia, and at the court of Hittite kings.
This long epic recounts the story of an ancient King of Uruk, Gilgamesh, who remained famous for the glorious deeds he did and also for the trials he had to endure too. The man, in fact, is only half-legendary. Beyond doubt, the Sumerian King list places him fifth in line form the founding of the first dynasty after the flood and grants him a reign of 127 years. It may well have been that Gilgamesh played a very important part in Uruk around the XXVIII century B. C. and that after his death, a legend was born around him in the same way as later a legend was created around Sargon, the Akkadian, or Alexander the great. The akkadian epic of Gilgamesh is first of all the story of a friendship which, born in rivalry, develops in the midst of trials, broadens itself in glorious deeds accomplished in common and comes to a tragic end with the arrival of death.
One also finds the great theme of Hybris, that is, inordinate pride, of the hero come from victory to victory does not know when to stop and offends the gods. This theme of sacreligious pride is paralleled in the theme of punishment, chastisement and death. In the survivor's heart, the fear of death is to become the intolerable anguish of man who suddenly becomes aware of the precariousness of life. In vain will he look desperately for the secret of everlasting life: each of his attempts will throw him into deeper despair until the day when, back from his wanderings, he will eventually find peace in resignation.
The epic of Gilgamesh not only recounts the tragedy of man, it also retraces the history of man. Its eleventh song relates the universal Flood in which the human race was almost entirely destroyed. Enkidu’s youths brings back to memory the first ages of mankind when man was close to nature, lived in sympathy with the animals. His initiation to civilised life show the step which conducted the tribes from a nomadic type of existence to life in urban communities. It is not uninteresting to note the role , for which the Epic reserves for woman, an initiator to the culture, and for the hunter, a transitional stage between the savage predator and the sedentary man. More generally still, there is a description of the various environments in which man finds himself : the forest, the wilderness, the steppe and the civilised world. As to the description of Uruk in the times of Gilgamesh, it can be considered as an image of the primeval city with its council of wise men, its cast of warriors, with the despotism of its tyrant, both man and god, who in certain fields exerts an unlimited power over the men and women of his realm.
With its rich subject-matter, the epic of Gilgamesh can also be considered, from a literary point of view, as the first of the great classical epics. The epic of Gilgamesh shares with the latter the long journeys to far away countries, the gods’ interference in human adventures, the giants with a reputation of invincibility, the monsters, the supernatural creatures that the hero finally kills or tames; it also shares with them the trials, the successful fights, in the unfolding of their twelve songs. The work, episode after episode, asserts its unity after a prologue in which already appear phrases which are to become traditional~Rene LABAT
“Religions du Proche-orient”
FAYARD-DENOEL `
PROLOGEU (the primeval city) I want my country to know of the one who has seen all thing.
He who was wise and knew of everything,
He who saw secret things and disclosed what was hidden,
He who passed on to us a knowledge of days before the Flood,
Went on a long journey, came back weary but serene.
He then, engraved on a stone the story of this labours .
He built the wall of Uruk – the Enclosure,
The abode of Anu1 and Ishtar2 – the sacred Eanna3 – he built too,
The like of which no king, no human being,
Ever to come on the face of the earth can equal.
"Climb on the wall of Uruk,
Inspect its foundation terrace
And examine well the brickwork
See if it is not of burnt bricks?"
The gods themselves perfected Gilgamesh
GILGAMESH ( god and man) Shamash⁴, moreover, endowed him with fairness,
Adad⁵, with courage.
In him was two thirds of a god and one third of a man.
The men in Uruk constandly stood in awe of him
For none can bear the brunt of his arms.
Gilgamesh leaves no son with his father,
Day or night his violence rages,
He who is the shepherd of Uruk.
He who is our shepherd leaves no virgin to her lover,
Be it the daughter of a hero or the promised maid of a simple warrior!
Their repeated lament reached to the ears of the gods of heaven.
They appealed to Aruru⁶, the goodness :
"You made him, O Aruru, now create his equal,
Let him be as stormy as he is, let them contend together
And leave Uruk in quiet"
Aruru conceived the image of Anu in her mind, she dipped her hands into water, took some clay, let it fall in the wilderness and thus was created Enkidu, the hero creature of nightly silence, Ninurta's⁷ descent.
1 Anu : the god of heaven
2 Ishtar : goddess of love, ware and fertility
3 Eanna : temple dedicated to Ishtar and Anu and situated in Uruk
4 Shamash : the sun-God
5 Adad :the god of Thunder
6 Aruru : goddess of creation
7 Ninurta : the god of violence and war
ENKIDU (the first ages) He was hairy, the whole of his body was covered with hair.
His hair waved like a women's
His hair and ears of grain look alike,
He knew nothing of countries or people.
He was clad like Sumukan⁸.
He ate grass with the gazelle,
With the wild beasts, he drank at the water holes.
One day, a hunter of a malevolent nature
Met him face to face.
The trapper's face froze in awe.
The same happened on three days
…and the news came out :
"An animal, human being drinks with the wild beasts at the water-holes".
THE HUNTER (the intermediary) The hunter complains that Enkidu fills up the pits he dug up, tears up the traps he set for the game and helps the wild game to escape. The hunter comes to his father, then the both of them go to Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh and his father advise him to bring a harlot to tame Enkidu. The hunter return, taking the harlot with him. After three day's journey , they reach the drinking-hole and stay there sitting for three days. The herd come down to the water-hole and starts drinking, then arrive the wild beasts, glad of the water. And Enkidu Who was born in the wilderness is with them. There, he is, women! Unveil your breast, open your thighs, let him have pleasure in you. Teach this savage man, give him initiation to the women.
THE WOMEN (the initiator) She stripped off her clothes, let her veil fall off her breast,
She initiated this primitive man.
In his amorous passion he covered her body with strokes.
He mad love to her for six days and seven nights.
At the sight of Enkidu the gazelles fled away,
The wild beasts ran away too.
Enkidu leapt up.. his body was strengthless,
His knees refused to move though his herd was going away
Strengthless he was , his swiftness had gone.
8 Sumukan : the god of herds and wild beasts
WORDS OF THE WOMEN Enkidu forgot where he was born. He forgot who he was and who he had been! For six days and seven nights, he made love to her and his heart and body opened out; he now had a wider understanding of things. He came back to sit down at the feet of the courtesan, and so she spoke : "I behold you, Enkidu, you are like a god. Why do you wander in the wilderness with the wild beasts. Come, I will take you to Uruk-the enclosure , to the holy temple abode of Anu and Ishtar. Where Gilgamesh, the powerful, the bull-like lives, where the one who thinks himself the strongest of men lives. "Anu. Enlil⁹ and Ea¹⁰ bestowed upon him intelligence. Even before you were born, Gilgamesh had dreams about you. Gilgamesh told his mother, Ninsun¹¹- the wise, the discreet, the omniscient – of his dreams."
ANSWER OF ENKIDU "lead me away women, take me to the holy temple,
Abode of Anu and Ishtar,
There, where Gilgamesh, the strengthful, the bull-like lives.
There where Gilgamesh, who thinks himself the strongest lives.
I want to cry out in the midst of Uruk "I am the strongest.
I want to go there to change the old order :
Who was born in the wilderness is strong and full of vigour"
THE SHEPHERDS (the conversion) The courtesan tore her dress in two; with the one half she clothed him and with the other herself, Taking his hand into hers, as a child's, she led him to the shepherds' tents.
Bread was placed in front of him. He looked at it, puzzled,
Enkidu did not know what bread was,
He did not know either what wine was,
He could only suck the wild beasts' milk.
The courtesan, opening her mouth, said to Enkidu
"Eat some bread Enkidu, it is a staff of life,
Drink wine, it is the custom of the land"
Enkidu ate bread to the full, wine he drank seven times out of the jar,
He then became merry, his heart exulted and his face shone.
When rubbed with oil, he looked like a human being.
He dressed and then appeared like a mature man.
He took arms and fought against the wild beasts.
The old shepherds could rest at nights, Enkidu was their watchman.
9 Enlil : the god of the air
10 Ea : the god of wisdom
11 Ninsun : the mother of Gilgamesh
URUK (the enclosure) Enkidu was making love when raising his eyes he saw the man. He asked the courtesan : where is the man hastening? The man answered : "I am going to Uruk where people are gathering to celebrate the marriage ceremony." king Gilgamesh is presiding over the ceremony on the town square. He is the one who chooses the bride and before he gives her the bridegroom, he possesses her first. Enkidu was walking first, the courtesan behind him. When he entered Uruk, the "Great Square". The crowed thronged round him. Enkidu was walking first, the courtesan behind him, "He looks like Gilgamesh, he is shorter, but bigger of bone, the god-like Gilgamesh has now a rival?" When Gilgamesh walked forward in the street, Enkidu blocked the away.
THE STRUGGLE Enkidu thrust himself at Gilgamesh and they fought in the square.
He came up to Gilgamesh and they met.
Enkidu put out his foot to block the door to prevent him from entering.
They grappled each other, holding each other like bulls.
They broke the door posts and the walls.
They sported like bulls locked together.
They shattered the door posts
and the walls shook.
Gilgamesh bent his knee with his foot planted on the ground,
And with a turn, Enkidu was thrown.
Then immediately his fury died.
When Enkidu was thrown, he said to Gilgamesh:
"Yes, there is not another like you in the world,
Ninsun who is as strong as a wild ox in the byre,
Was the mother who bore you.
And now you are raised above all men,
And Enlil has given you the kingship,
For your strength surpasses the strength of men!"
THE FRIENDSHIP They embraced each other and their friendship was sealed. The eyes of Enkidu were full of tears. He felt sad at heart, weary, and he tortured himself. His sorrow paralyzed the muscles of his throat, his arms hung down still and his strength and turned into weakness!
THE ADVENTURE
Gilgamesh asks Enkidu to come with him to fight against Humbaba, the giant, guard of the cedar wood, and to fell the cedar trees. Enkidu states that this is an impossible task for Humbaba is invincible! "How shall we get to the cedar wood! Humbaba stands as it’s defender. He is almighty and never sleeps. Enlil appointed him the guard of the forest, entrusted him with the integrity of the forest!"
HEROISM Gilgamesh, opening his mouth, said to Enkidu:
“My friend, who can escape death?
For all human beings the days are numbered,
Our activities are a breath of wind.
How is this, already you are afraid of death!
What is the use of calling yourself a hero?!
Do you want me to go first?
If I fall, I leave behind me a name that endures.
Men will say of me:
Gilgamesh has fallen in fighting, trying of fell the cedars”.
PREPARING FOR CAMPAIGN Gilgamesh gives orders to the armourers to cast the weapons necessary for the fight. The counselors of the town try to persuade him not to fight as this fight is so unequal. Gilgamesh and Enkidu decide to go and see Ninsun to ask for the protection of Shamash. On the border of the cedar wood, they fall asleep. Gilgamesh has a dream, he tells Enkidu of it. Enkidu interprets the dream as a sign of their being protected by the gods, and a sign of victory.
THE CEDAR WOOD (death of Humbaba) Together they went down into the forest
And they came to the green mountain.
There, they stood still and gazed at the forest.
They saw the height of the cedars,
They saw the way into the forest
And the track where Humbaba usually walks.
They gazed at the mountain of cedars,
The dwelling-placed of the gods and the throne of Ishtar.
The hugeness of the cedars rose in front of the mountain,
Their shade was beautiful, full of fragrances.
Gilgamesh seized an axe in his hand and felled a cedars. When Humbaba heard the noise far off he was enraged, He cried out “Who is this that has violated my woods and cut down the cedars?”. Shamash sent down a tempest which blinded Humbaba. The two friends took their arms, Surrounded Humbaba who cursed them in the name of Enlil. They do not listen to him, and under their attack, Humbaba, guard of the cedar- wood, falls.
ISHTAR (love) Gilgamesh washed out his long locks and cleaned his weapons. He flung back his hair from his shoulders; he threw off his stained clothes and changed them for new. He put on his royal robes and made them fast. When Gilgamesh had put on the crown, glorious Ishtar lifted her eyes, seeing the beauty of Gilgamesh. She said:
“Come to me Gilgamesh and be my bridegroom,
Grant me seed of your body,
Let me your bride and you shall be my husband.
I will harness for you a chariot of lapis lazuli
With wheels of gold and horns of copper
And you shall have mighty demons of the storm for draft mules.
When you enter our house in the fragrance of cedars wood;
Threshold and throne will kiss your feet.
Kings, rulers and princes shall bring you tribute
from the mountains and the plain .
Your ewes shall drop twins and your goats triplets”.
REFUSAL OF GILGAMESH Gilgamesh opened his mouth and answered sovereign Ishtar:
“if I take you in marriage, what gifts can I give in return?
What ointments and clothing for your body?
I would gladly give you bread and all sorts of goods fit for a god.
But as for making you my wife – that I will not.
Your lovers have found you like a brazier which smoulders in the cold,
A backdoor which keeps out neither squall of mind nor storm,
Pitch that blackens the bearer
a water-skin that chafes the carrier.
Which of your lovers did you ever forever?
Listen to me while I tell the tale of your lovers.
There was Tammuz¹², the lover of your youth,
For him was decreed wailing, year after year.
You loved the many-coloured roller,
But still you struck and broke his wing
Now in the grove he sits and cries ”my wing , my wing”.
You have loved the lion tremendous in strength,
Seven pits¹³ you dug for him, and seven.
You have loved the stallion magnificent in battle
And for him you decreed whip and spur and a thong,
You have loved the shepherd of the flock,
For you, day after day, he killed kids for your sake.
You struck and turned him into a wolf,
Now his own hounds worry his flanks.”
WRATH OF ISHTAR
When Ishtar heard this, she fell into a bitter rage, she went up to heaven to see her father Anu. Ishtar besought her father :
“My father, give me the bull of heaven to destroy Gilgamesh
And set his house afire.
If you refuse to give me the bull of Heaven,
I will break in the doors of hell and smash the bolts.
I shall bring up the dead to devour the living,
The hosts of dead will outnumber the living.”
12 Tammuz : as Ishtar was to become known as Aphrodite in Greek mythology, Tammuz was to become known as Adonis. Ishtar will go down to the underworld to fetch Dummuzi in “Ishtar’s descent to the underworld”
13 The symbol of universality: innumerable pits.
THE BULL OF HEAVEN Anu, opened his mouth and said to great Ishtar: “if I do what you desire. There will be seven years of drought throughout Uruk”. Ishtar opened her mouth and said to Anu: “Father, I have saved grain for the people, grass for the cattle. In case there are seven years of seedless husks. There is grain and there is grass enough.”Anu, the god, sent the Bull of Heaven down on to the earth; with his first snort, cracks opened in the earth and a hundred young men fell down to death. Enkidu doubled over but instantly recovered, he dodged aside and leapt on the bull and seized it by the horns. Gilgamesh followed the bull, seized the thick of its tail, thrust the sword between the nape and the horns and slew the bull, when they had killed the bull of heaven, they gave it to Shamash as an offering.
LAMENT OF ISHTAR
Then Ishtar called together the hierodules,
the prostitutes of the temple, the sacred courtesans.
Over the thigh of the bull of Heaven,
they began their lamentation.
RETURN OF THE TWO HEROES Then they washed their hands in the Euphrates, they embraced each other and went away. They drove through the streets of Uruk where the inhabitants were gathered to see them. And Gilgamesh called to the singing girls:
“who is the most handsome of men?
Who is most magnificent among heroes”.
“Gilgamesh is the most handsome of men,
Gilgamesh is most magnificent among heroes”.
DREAMS OF ENKIDU In his dream, Enkidu saw the gods taking counsel together to decide which of the two was to die. Fate fell on Enkidu. Enkidu lay stretched out before Gilgamesh, his tears ran down in streams. He set to cursing the hunter and the courtesan who took him away from innocence, the easy life he was living in the wilderness among the wild beasts, Gilgamesh opened his mouth and said to Enkidu: “My brother, my beloved bother, why did they choose you and not me?” Enkidu said to his friend everything he had in his heart: “Listen, my friend, to the dream I had last night: The heavens roared and earth rumbled back an answer. Between them stood I in front of an awful being. The somber-faced-man-bird. His foot was a lion’s foot, His hand was an eagle’s talon. He fell on me and his claws were in my hair, He held me fast and I smothered, then he transformed me so that my arms became wings covered with feathers. He turned his stare towards me and led me away to the house of darkness, to the dwelling of lrkalla¹⁴.
14 Irkalla :one of the names for the underworld
DEATH OF ENKIDU “To the house from which none who inters ever returns,
down the road from which there is no coming back.
Dust is the food and clay the meet of the people of this house,
They are clothed like birds with wings for covering,
They see no light, they sit in darkness.
I entered the house of dust and I saw the kings of the earth, all those
who once wore kingly crowns and ruled the world in the days of old’’.
WEEPING OF GILGAMESH “Hear me, great once of Uruk,
I weep for Enkidu my friends,
Bitterly moaning like a woman in mourning.
O Enkidu my brother,
You were the axe at my side,
My hand’s strength, the sword in my belt,
The shield before me.
A glorious robe, my fairest ornament.
An evil Fate has robbed me.
O Enkidu, my friend,
We have climbed up the mountain together.
Together we have endured trials,
Taken hold of and slain the bull of heaven,
Have caused Humbaba, the powerful guard of the cedar wood, to fall.
What is this sleep which holds you now?’’
Gilgamesh laid a veil, as one veils the bride, over his friend. He began to rage like a lion, like a lioness robbed of her whelps. This way and that, he paced round the bed, he tore out his hair and strewed it around. Gilgamesh, weeping bitterly, travelled along journey in search of Uta-napishtim, the only survivor of the Flood. He went in search of him, hoping that Uta-napishtim would give him the secret of everlasting life.
“THE SECRET OF DEATH AND LIFE”
THE SCORPION MAN (guardian of the sun gate) He set out hastily, reached the foothills of the mountain, That mountain which, every day, guards the coming and going of the sun. Its crest rises to high heaven. Its breast reaches down to the underworld. At its gate, the Scorpions stand guard. Terrifying is the awe they inspire, and to look at them is to die. Their terrible splendor spread over the mountains. The Man-Scorpion cries out 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” The Man-Scorpion addressed himself to the gods’ son: “why have you come on so great a journey?” Gilgamesh answered: “if I have travelled such a long journey, it is to find Uta-Napishtim, my ancestor, who attended a gathering of gods and there found life, I want to question him on death and life!” The Man-Scorpion, Opened his mouth, and said to Gilgamesh: ”Nobody has ever trodden over this path but Shamash the hero”.
SHAMASH (The sun god) Gilgamesh went on his way to the sun through the mountains. Deep was the darkness, he could see neither in front of him, nor behind him. When he had walked twelve leagues the dawn appeared, and at the end on twelve leagues the sun streamed out! He then made his way towards the marvelous garden where from trees hung precious stones instead of fruits. Shamash the god appeared in front of Gilgamesh and asked him: “Where are you going, wandering so in wilderness?” You will never find the life for which you are searching”. Gilgamesh, opening his mouth said to the glorious Shamash:
“when life goes out of my body,
Defeat, in fact will have overcome me.
Here I am, for fear of death, wandering in the wilderness.
Am I not to lie down for not getting up ever?
Let my eyes stare at the sun
Until they are dazzled with light.
That the one who is dead
May see the light of the sun”.
SIDURI (Barmaid of the gods) Beside the sea, lonely she lives, the woman of the wine, in a house. Gilgamesh, after wandering a long time, arrives near her house. Astonished by his look, she asks him who he is, why he has come to this place, forbidden to the human race. Gilgamesh opens his mouth and says to the woman of the wine:
“My friend, my younger brother
Who had endured dangers beside me,
Enkidu, my friend whom I loved,
The end of mortality has overtaken him.
Day and night I wept over him.
I would not let him be buried
To see if he would come to life again on hearing the sound of my sorrow.
I would not let him be buried
For seven days and seven nights,
till worms fastened on him.
With him dead, I could see life no more.
I walked here and there in the wilderness.
May I not see death which I cannot stop fearing.
THE HUMAN CONDITION She answers Gilgamesh: “where are you hurrying to? You will never find that life for which you are looking.”
“When the gods created man,
They alloted to him death,
But life they retained in their own keeping.
As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things.
Day and night, night and day, dance and merry,
Feast and rejoice.
Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water.
Cherish the little child that holds your hand,
And make your wife happy in your embrace:
For this too is the lot of man
URSHANABI (The boat of the gods) Gilgamesh asked Siduri¹⁵ to reveal him the means to know one’s way to Uta-napishtim, the Far-away. Siduri told him to go and see Urshanabi – the ferryman-, The boat being ready, Gilgamesh and Urshanabi launched it out on the waves of the ocean. For three days they ran on as if it were a journey of a mouth and fifteen days, and at last Urshanabi brought to the waters of death.
UTA-NAPISHTIM(the immortal ancestor) Once they had crossed the ocean, Gilgamesh asked Uta-napishtim questions on the secret of Death and Life
“For this I have wandered over the world,
I have crossed many difficult ranges,
I have crossed the seas,
I have wearied myself with travelling,
My joints are aching
and I have lost acquaintance with sleep,
which is sweet.”
What happened to Enkidu, my friend, lays heavy upon me. How can I keep silent, how can I rest, when my friend, whom I loved, has turned to clay. Am I not myself to be laid in the earth forever?
THE HUMAN LESSON Uta-Napishtim told him: “Why is there so much anguish inside you, you who are made of the flesh of gods?
There is no permanence.
Do we build a house to stand for ever,
Do we seal a contract to hold for all times?
Do brother divide an inheritance to keep forever,
Does the flood-time of rivers endure?
Is there anyone who can ceaselessly stars at the sun?
From the days of old there is no permanence.
The sleeping and the dead, how alike they are,
They are like a painted death.
So does life end,
The lord and the serf are equal in the tomb.”
15 Siduri (Sâbît: its pronunciation sounds like the pronunciation of young girl in Arabic) Some texts identify her with Ishtar, some others with the Sibyl, and even with Calypso, the nymph.
The flood (plant of immortality) Gilgamesh said to Uta-napishtim, the far-away: "I look at you now, Uta-napishtim, and your appearance is no different from mine; there is nothing strange in your features. Tell me truly. how was it that you came to posses everlasting life? Uta-napishtim said to Gilgamesh "I will reveal a mastery to you, I will tell you a secret of the gods. you Know the city Shurrupak, it stand on the banks of Euphrates. One day the gods agreed to exterminate mankind because there was too much of an uproar. Ea, who attended the council, warned me in a dream, whispered their words to my house: O man of Shurrupak, tear down your house and build a boat, abandon possession and look for life, despise worldly gods and save your soul. Then take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures.
When the tempest raged, gathering fury as it went, it poured over the people like the tides if battle; a man could not see his brother nor could the people be seen from heaven. Even the gods were terrified at the flood, they fled to the highest heaven, the firmament of Anu. For six days and six nights the wind blew, torrent and tempest and flood overwhelmed the world when the seven days dawned, I opened a hatch, I looked at the face of the world and there was silence; the whole of mankind was turned to clay.
The gods gathered in a council and gave me everlasting life.
Uta-napishtim said: "As for you Gilgamesh, who will assemble the gods for your sake, so that you may find that life you are searching for?"
Gilgamesh and Urshanabi Launched the boat on to the water and boarded it. Uta-napishtim – the FAR-away – said to Gilgamesh: "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 prickles 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 went to seize the plant and took it back to Uruk. One his way back, he saw a well of cool water, and he went down to bathe. A snake sensed the sweetness of the plant. It rose out of the water, snatched it away, and immediately it sloughed its skin and returned to the well, Then Gilgamesh sat down and wept, and down his cheeks ran the tears: "Was it for this that I toiled with my hands, It is 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 now.
EPILOGUE (Uruk – Gilgamesh) when at last they arrived at Uruk – the Enclosure – Gilgamesh said to Urshanabi, the ferryman: "Urshanabi, climb on to the wall of Uruk, inspect its foundation terrace and examine well the brickwork. See if it is not of burnt bricks. One third of the whole is city, One third is garden, and one third is field, with the precinct of the goddess Ishtar. This parts and the precinct are all Uruk."
I want my country to know of the one who has seen all things.
He who was wise and knew of everything,
He who saw secret things and disclosed what was hidden,
He who passed on to us a knowledge of days before the Flood,
Went on a long journey, came back weary but serene.
He, then, engraved on a stone the story of his labours.
Credits to "Calaf"
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