An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic Part 7

The people gathered about him.

As he stood in the streets Of Erech of the plazas, The men gathered, Saying in regard to him: "Like the form of Gish he has suddenly become; shorter in stature.

[In his structure high(?)], powerful, .......... overseeing(?) In the land strong of power has he become.

Milk of cattle He was accustomed to suck."

Steadily(?) in Erech .....

The heroes rejoiced.

He became a leader.

To the hero of fine appearance, To Gish, like a G.o.d, He became a rival to him. [148]

For Ishhara a couch Was stretched, and Gish [lay down, and afterwards(?)]

In the night he fled.

He approaches and [Enkidu stood] in the streets.

He blocked the path of Gish.

At the exhibit of his power,

(About three lines missing.)

Col. VI.

(About four lines missing.)

Strong(?) ...

Gish Against him [Enkidu proceeded], [His hair] luxuriant.

He started [to go]

Towards him.

They met in the plaza of the district.

Enkidu blocked the gate With his foot, Not permitting Gish to enter.

They seized (each other), like oxen, They fought.

The threshold they demolished; The wall they impaired.

Gish and Enkidu Seized (each other).

Like oxen they fought.

The threshold they demolished; The wall they impaired.

Gish bent His foot to the ground, [149]

His wrath was appeased, His breast was quieted.

When his breast was quieted, Enkidu to him Spoke, to Gish: "As a unique one, thy mother bore thee.

The wild cow of the stall, [150]

Ninsun, Has exalted thy head above men.

Kingship over men Enlil has decreed for thee.

Second tablet, enlarged beyond [the original(?)].

240 lines.

COMMENTARY ON THE PENNSYLVANIA TABLET.

Line 1. The verb _tib_ with _pasaru_ expresses the aim of Gish to secure an interpretation for his dream. This disposes of Langdon's note 1 on page 211 of his edition, in which he also erroneously speaks of our text as "late." _Pasaru_ is not a variant of _zakaru_. Both verbs occur just as here in the a.s.syrian version I, 5, 25.

Line 3. _ina sat musitia_, "in this my night," i.e., in the course of this night of mine. A curious way of putting it, but the expression occurs also in the a.s.syrian version, e.g., I, 5, 26 (parallel pa.s.sage to ours) and II, 4a, 14. In the Yale tablet we find, similarly, _mu-si-it-ka_ (l. 262), "thy night," i.e., "at night to thee."

Line 5. Before Langdon put down the strange statement of Gish "wandering about in the midst of omens" (misreading _id-da-tim _ for _it-lu-tim_), he might have asked himself the question, what it could possibly mean. How can one walk among omens?

Line 6. _ka-ka-bu sa-ma-i_ must be taken as a compound term for "starry heaven." The parallel pa.s.sage in the a.s.syrian version (Tablet I, 5, 27) has the ideograph for star, with the plural sign as a variant. Literally, therefore, "The starry heaven (or "the stars in heaven") was there," etc. Langdon's note 2 on page 211 rests on an erroneous reading.

Line 7. _kisru sa Anim_, "ma.s.s of Anu," appears to be the designation of a meteor, which might well be described as a "ma.s.s" coming from Anu, i.e., from the G.o.d of heaven who becomes the personification of the heavens in general. In the a.s.syrian version (I, 5, 28) we have _kima ki-is-ru_, i.e., "something like a ma.s.s of heaven." Note also I, 3, 16, where in a description of Gilgamesh, his strength is said to be "strong like a ma.s.s (i.e., a meteor) of heaven."

Line 9. For _nussasu l ilte_ we have a parallel in the Hebrew phrase NLE'ETIY NS' (Isaiah 1, 14).

Line 10. _Uruk matum_, as the designation for the district of Erech, occurs in the a.s.syrian version, e.g., I, 5, 31, and IV, 2, 38; also to be supplied, I, 6, 23.

For _pahir_ the parallel in the a.s.syrian version has _iz-za-az_ (I, 5, 31), but VI, 197, we find _pah-ru_ and _pah-ra_.

Line 17. _mi-in-di_ does not mean "truly" as Langdon translates, but "some one." It occurs also in the a.s.syrian version X, 1, 13, _mi-in-di-e ma-an-nu-u_, "this is some one who," etc.

Line 18. Cf. a.s.syrian version I, 5, 3, and IV, 4, 7, _ina siri alid_--both pa.s.sages referring to Enkidu.

Line 21. Cf. a.s.syrian version II, 3b, 38, with _malke_, "kings,"

as a synonym of _itlutum_.

Line 23. _ta-tar-ra-as-su_ from _tarasu_, "direct," "guide," etc.

Line 24. I take _us-ti-nim-ma_ as III, 2, from _isenu_ (YOSEN), the verb underlying _sittu_, "sleep," and _suttu_, "dream."

Line 26. Cf. a.s.syrian version I, 6, 21--a complete parallel.

Line 28. _Uruk ri-bi-tim_, the standing phrase in both tablets of the old Babylonian version, for which in the a.s.syrian version we have _Uruk su-pu-ri_. The former term suggests the "broad s.p.a.ce"

outside of the city or the "common" in a village community, while _supri_, "enclosed," would refer to the city within the walls. Dr. W. F. Albright (in a private communication) suggests "Erech of the plazas" as a suitable translation for _Uruk ribitim_. A third term, _Uruk matum_ (see above, note to line 10), though designating rather the district of which Erech was the capital, appears to be used as a synonym to _Uruk ribitim_, as may be concluded from the phrase _i-na ri-bi-tum ma-ti_ (l. 214 of the Pennsylvania tablet), which clearly means the "plaza" of the city. One naturally thinks of REHOBOT `IYR in Genesis 10, 11--the equivalent of Babylonian _ri-bi-tu ali_--which can hardly be the name of a city. It appears to be a gloss, as is HIY' HO`IYR HAGEDOLOH at the end of v. 12. The latter gloss is misplaced, since it clearly describes "Nineveh," mentioned in v. 11. Inasmuch as REHOBOT `IYR immediately follows the mention of Nineveh, it seems simplest to take the phrase as designating the "outside" or "suburbs" of the city, a complete parallel, therefore, to _ri-bi-tu mati_ in our text. Nineveh, together with the "suburbs,"

forms the "great city." _Uruk ribitim_ is, therefore, a designation for "greater Erech," proper to a capital city, which by its gradual growth would take in more than its original confines. "Erech of the plazas" must have come to be used as a honorific designation of this important center as early as 2000 B. C., whereas later, perhaps because of its decline, the epithet no longer seemed appropriate and was replaced by the more modest designation of "walled Erech,"

with an allusion to the tradition which ascribed the building of the wall of the city to Gilgamesh. At all events, all three expressions, "Erech of the plazas," "Erech walled" and "Erech land," are to be regarded as synonymous. The position once held by Erech follows also from its ideographic designation (Brunnow No. 4796) by the sign "house"

with a "gunufied" extension, which conveys the idea of Unu = _subtu_, or "dwelling" _par excellence_. The p.r.o.nunciation Unug or Unuk (see the gloss _u-nu-uk_, VR 23, 8a), composed of _unu_, "dwelling," and _ki_, "place," is hardly to be regarded as older than Uruk, which is to be resolved into _uru_, "city," and _ki_, "place," but rather as a play upon the name, both Unu + ki and Uru + ki conveying the same idea of _the_ city or _the_ dwelling place _par excellence_. As the seat of the second oldest dynasty according to Babylonian traditions (see Poebel's list in _Historical and Grammatical Texts_ No. 2), Erech no doubt was regarded as having been at one time "the city,"

i.e., the capital of the entire Euphrates Valley.

Line 31. A difficult line for which Langdon proposes the translation: "Another axe seemed his visage"!!--which may be picturesque, but hardly a description befitting a hero. How can a man's face seem to be an axe? Langdon attaches _sa-ni_ in the sense of "second"

to the preceding word "axe," whereas _sani bunusu_, "change of his countenance" or "his countenance being changed," is to be taken as a phrase to convey the idea of "being disturbed," "displeased" or "angry." The phrase is of the same kind as the well-known _sunnu temu_, "changing of reason," to denote "insanity." See the pa.s.sages in Muss-Arnolt, _a.s.syrian Dictionary_, pp. 355 and 1068. In Hebrew, too, we have the same two phrases, e.g., VAYESANOV 'ETTA`EMOV (I Sam. 21, 14 = Ps. 34, 1), "and he changed his reason," i.e., feigned insanity and MESANEH PONOYV (Job 14, 20), "changing his face," to indicate a radical alteration in the frame of mind. There is a still closer parallel in Biblical Aramaic: Dan. 3, 19, "The form of his visage was changed," meaning "he was enraged." Fortunately, the same phrase occurs also in the Yale tablet (l. 192), _sa-nu-u bu-nu-su_, in a connection which leaves no doubt that the aroused fury of the tyrant Huwawa is described by it:

"Huwawa heard and his face was changed"

precisely, therefore, as we should say--following Biblical usage--"his countenance fell." Cf. also the phrase _pa.n.u.su arpu_, "his countenance was darkened" (a.s.syrian version I, 2, 48), to express "anger." The line, therefore, in the Pennsylvania tablet must describe Enkidu's anger. With the brandishing of the axe the hero's anger was also stirred up. The touch was added to prepare us for the continuation in which Gish describes how, despite this (or perhaps just because of it), Enkidu seemed so attractive that Gish instantly fell in love with him. May perhaps the emphatic form _hasinumma_ (line 31) against _hasinu_ (line 29) have been used to indicate "The axe it was," or "because of the axe?" It would be worth while to examine other texts of the Hammurabi period with a view of determining the scope in the use and meaning of the emphatic _ma_ when added to a substantive.

Line 32. The combination _amur u ahtadu_ occurs also in the El-Amarna Letters, No. 18, 12.

Line 34. In view of the common Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic Hobab "to love," it seems preferable to read here, as in the other pa.s.sages in the a.s.syrian versions (I, 4, 15; 4, 35; 6, 27, etc.), _a-ha-ab-bu-ub_, _ah-bu-ub_, _ih-bu-bu_, etc. (instead of with _p_), and to render "embrace."