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Mesopotamia 
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Mesopotamia Reader 
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The Code of Hammurabi 
Mesopotamia Glossary
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Cuneiform 
Gilgamesh was an historical king of Uruk in Babylonia, on the River
Euphrates in modern Iraq; he lived about 2700 B.C. Although historians
(and your textbook) tend to emphasize Hammurabi and his code of law,
the civilizations of the Tigris-Euphrates area, among the first
civilizations, focus rather on Gilgamesh and the legends accruing
around him to explain, as it were, themselves. Many stories and myths
were written about Gilgamesh, some of which were written down about
2000 B.C. in the Sumerian language on clay tablets which still
survive; the Sumerian language, as far as we know, bears no relation
to any other human language we know about. These Sumerian Gilgamesh
stories were integrated into a longer poem, versions of which survive
not only in Akkadian (the Semitic language, related to Hebrew, spoken
by the Babylonians) but also on tablets written in Hurrian and Hittite
(an Indo-European language, a family of languages which includes Greek
and English, spoken in Asia Minor). All the above languages were
written in the script known as cuneiform, which means "wedge-shaped."
The fullest surviving version, from which the summary here is taken,
is derived from twelve stone tablets, in the Akkadian language, found
in the ruins of the library of Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria 669-633
B.C., at Nineveh. The library was destroyed by the Persians in 612
B.C., and all the tablets are damaged. The tablets actually name an
author, which is extremely rare in the ancient world, for this
particular version of the story: Shin-eqi-unninni. You are being
introduced here to the oldest known human author we can name by name!

This summary is derived from several sources: translations,
commentaries, and academic scholarship on the Shin-eqi-unninni
tablets. Verses are derived from several English and French
translations in consultation with the English and German language
commentaries and with the Babylonian text. For the entire text, you
should turn to The Epic of Gilgamesh , trans. by Maureen Gallery
Kovacs (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990), or Gilgamesh ,
translated by John Maier and John Gardner (New York: Vintage, 1981)
As you read this short summary, ask yourself the following
questions:
1. Themes. The first things you want to sort out are the ideas
which seem to animate the work. One of the problems with literature,
art, mythology, etc., is that you can never be quite sure that you've
correctly identified the central ideas or philosophy of the work, but
you should take a stab at it anyway. Keep in mind that there is no
such thing as one and only one idea in a work of literature, and that
in most art and literature, like life, there is no one correct answer
concerning any single issue. To identify an idea, question, or theme
that the work seems to treat, look for specific places where that idea
seems to be a concern; mark these passages and combine and contrast
them when you begin to try to resolve what the work seems to be about.
The questions I provide in these reading notes are meant to organize
the families of questions you can bring to these texts.
2. Structure. Try to define for yourself the overall structure of
the story. This narrative has two distinct parts; what are these parts
and how are they separated? How do events in the second part of the
narrative repeat or develop ideas in the first part of the narrative?
Do these events contrast with or develop themes and values articulated
in the first part of the narrative?
3. The Nature of the Heroic. When you read the myth, notice how
Gilgamesh is presented as superhuman, so powerful that the gods create
a counterpart to moderate his desires and actions. Do you get the
sense that Gilgamesh and Enkidu should have spared the demon of the
cedar forest? Despite all of Gilgamesh's power, he is unable to
prevent Enkidu's death, and the narrative changes direction. How can
one describe Gilgamesh as a hero in the last half of the work? What
has he achieved at the end of the poem? Why is this important?
4. The Gods. The gods in Gilgamesh are a bit problematic. How do
the gods behave? What is their relation to humans? How much freedom do
humans have, or are they merely subject to the will of these gods?

Hebrews Reader 
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Genesis: The Flood 
6. The Flood. The story of the Flood is a familiar one, as we shall
see in Genesis and Popol Vuh (Plato also gives an account of the Flood
and the city of Atlantis in the dialogue, Critias ; the Nez Perce of
the Palouse also have a flood story in which the only humans that
survived did so by climbing the mountain, Yamustus, that is, Steptoe
Butte). The earliest surviving reference to the Flood goes back to
1900 B.C. Why is it brought in here? Why do the gods bring on the
Flood? Is any reason given? (Later compare the reasons for the floods
in Genesis and Popol Vuh.) What does it tell us about the nature of
history and the relation of the gods to humanity?
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Tablet 1

The one who saw all [Sha nagba imuru ]I will declare to the world,
The one who knew all I will tell about
[line missing]
He saw the great Mystery, he knew the Hidden:
He recovered the knowledge of all the times before the Flood.
He journeyed beyond the distant, he journeyed beyond exhaustion,
And then carved his story on stone. [naru : stone tablets ]

This great hero who had all knowledge [nemequ ], Gilgamesh, built
the great city of Uruk; the tablet invites us to look around and view
the greatness of this city, its high walls, its masonwork, and here at
the base of its gates, as the foundation of the city walls, a stone of
lapis lazuli on which is carved Gilgamesh's account of his exploits,
the story you are about to hear.

The account begins: Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and one-third human,
is the greatest king on earth and the strongest super-human that ever
existed; however, he is young and oppresses his people harshly. The
people call out to the sky-god Anu, the chief god of the city, to help
them. In response, Anu creates a wild man, Enkidu, out in the harsh
and wild forests surrounding Gilgamesh's lands. This brute, Enkidu,
has the strength of dozens of wild animals; he is to serve as the
subhuman rival to the superhuman Gilgamesh.

A trapper's son, while checking on traps in the forest, discovers
Enkidu running naked with the wild animals; he rushes to his father
with the news. The father advises him to go into the city and take one
of the temple harlots, Shamhat, with him to the forest; 1
when she sees Enkidu, she is to offer herself sexually to the wild
man. If he submits to her, the trapper says, he will lose his strength
and his wildness.

Shamhat meets Enkidu at the watering-hole where all the wild
animals gather; she offers herself to him and he submits, instantly
losing his strength and wildness, but he gains understanding and
knowledge. He laments for his lost state, but the harlot offers to
take him into the city where all the joys of civilization shine in
their resplendence; she offers to show him Gilgamesh, the only man
worthy of Enkidu's friendship.

Gilgamesh meanwhile has two dreams; in the first a meteorite falls
to earth which is so great that Gilgamesh can neither lift it nor turn
it. The people gather and celebrate around the meteorite, and
Gilgamesh embraces it as he would a wife, but his mother, the goddess
Rimat-Ninsun, forces him to compete with the meteorite. In the second,
Gilgamesh dreams that an axe appears at his door, so great that he can
neither lift it nor turn it. The people gather and celebrate around
the axe, and Gilgamesh embraces it as he would a wife, but his mother,
again, forces him to compete with the axe. Gilgamesh asks his mother
what these dreams might mean; she tells him a man of great force and
strength will come into Uruk. Gilgamesh will embrace this man as he
would a wife, and this man will help Gilgamesh perform great deeds.

Tablet 2

Enkidu is gradually introduced to civilization by living for a time
with a group of shepherds, who teach him how to tend flocks, how to
eat, how to speak properly, and how to wear clothes. Enkidu then
enters the city of Uruk during a great celebration. Gilgamesh, as the
king, claims the right to have sexual intercourse first with every new
bride on the day of her wedding; as Enkidu enters the city, Gilgamesh
is about to claim that right. Infuriated at this abuse, Enkidu stands
in front of the door of the marital chamber and blocks Gilgamesh's
way. They fight furiously until Gilgamesh wins the upper hand; Enkidu
concedes Gilgamesh's superiority and the two embrace and become
devoted friends.

Both Enkidu and Gilgamesh gradually weaken and grow lazy living in
the city, so Gilgamesh proposes a great adventure: they are to journey
to the great Cedar Forest in southern Iran and cut down all the cedar
trees. To do this, they will need to kill the Guardian of the Cedar
Forest, the great demon, Humbaba the Terrible. Enkidu knows about
Humbaba from his days running wild in the forest; he tries in vain to
convince Gilgamesh not to undertake this folly.

Tablet 3

[Most of tablet three doesn't exist]

The elders of the city protest Gilgamesh's endeavor, but agree
reluctantly. They place the life of the king in the hands of Enkidu,
whom they insist shall take the forward position in the battle with
Humbaba. Gilgamesh's mother laments her son's fate in a prayer to the
sun-god, Shamash, asking that god why he put a restless heart in the
breast of her son. Shamash promises her that he will watch out for
Gilgamesh's life. Ramat-Ninsun, too, commands Enkidu to guard the life
of the king and to take the forward position in the battle with
Humbaba. In panic, Enkidu again tries to convince Gilgamesh not to
undertake this journey, but Gilgamesh is confident of success.

Tablet 4

Tablet four tells the story of the journey to the cedar forest. On
each day of the six day journey, Gilgamesh prays to Shamash; in
response to these prayers, Shamash sends Gilgamesh oracular dreams
during the night. These dreams are all ominous: The first is not
preserved. In the second, Gilgamesh dreams that he wrestles a great
bull that splits the ground with his breath. Enkidu interprets the
dream for Gilgamesh; the dream means that Shamash, the bull, will
protect Gilgamesh. In the third, Gilgamesh dreams:

The skies roared with thunder and the earth heaved,
Then came darkness and a stillness like death.
Lightening smashed the ground and fires blazed out;
Death flooded from the skies.
When the heat died and the fires went out,
The plains had turned to ash.

Enkidu's interpretation is missing here, but like the other dreams,
it is assumed he puts a positive spin on the dream. The fourth dream
is missing, but Enkidu again tells Gilgamesh that the dream portends
success in the upcoming battle. The fifth dream is also missing.

At the entrance to the Cedar Forest, Gilgamesh begins to quake with
fear; he prays to Shamash, reminding him that he had promised Ninsun
that he would be safe. Shamash calls down from heaven, ordering him to
enter the forest because Humbaba is not wearing all his armor. The
demon Humbaba wears seven coats of armor, but now he is only wearing
one so he is particularly vulnerable. Enkidu loses his courage and
turns back; Gilgamesh falls on him and they have a great fight.
Hearing the crash of their fighting, Humbaba comes stalking out of the
Cedar Forest to challenge the intruders. A large part of the tablet is
missing here. On the one part of the tablet still remaining, Gilgamesh
convinces Enkidu that they should stand together against the demon.

Tablet 5

Gilgamesh and Enkidu enter the gloriously beautiful Cedar Forest
and begin to cut down the trees. Hearing the sound, Humbaba comes
roaring up to them and warns them off. Enkidu shouts at Humbaba that
the two of them are much stronger than the demon, but Humbaba, who
knows Gilgamesh is a king, taunts the king for taking orders from a
nobody like Enkidu. Turning his face into a hideous mask, Humbaba
begins to threaten the pair, and Gilgamesh runs and hides. Enkidu
shouts at Gilgamesh, inspiring him with courage, and Gilgamesh appears
from hiding and the two begin their epic battle with Humbaba. Shamash
intrudes on the battle, helping the pair, and Humbaba is defeated. On
his knees, with Gilgamesh's sword at his throat, Humbaba begs for his
life and offers Gilgamesh all the tress in the forest and his eternal
servitude. While Gilgamesh is thinking this over, Enkidu intervenes,
telling Gilgamesh to kill Humbaba before any of the gods arrive and
stop him from doing so. Should he kill Humbaba, he will achieve
widespread fame for all the times to come. Gilgamesh, with a great
sweep of his sword, removes Humbaba's head. But before he dies,
Humbaba screams out a curse on Enkidu: "Of you two, may Enkidu not
live the longer, may Enkidu not find any peace in this world!"

Gilgamesh and Enkidu cut down the cedar forest and in particular
the tallest of the cedar trees to make a great cedar gate for the city
of Uruk. They build a raft out of the cedar and float down the
Euphrates river to their city.

Tablet 6

After these events, Gilgamesh, his fame widespread and his frame
resplendent in his wealthy clothes, attracts the sexual attention of
the goddess Ishtar, who comes to Gilgamesh and offers to become his
lover. Gilgamesh refuses with insults, listing all the mortal lovers
that Ishtar has had and recounting the dire fates they all met with at
her hands. Deeply insulted, Ishtar returns to heaven and begs her
father, the sky-god Anu, to let her have the Bull of Heaven to wreak
vengeance on Gilgamesh and his city:

Father, let me have the Bull of Heaven
To kill Gilgamesh and his city.
For if you do not grant me the Bull of Heaven,
I will pull down the Gates of Hell itself,
Crush the doorposts and flatten the door,
And I will let the dead leave
And let the dead roam the earth
And they shall eat the living.
The dead will overwhelm all the living!

Anu reluctantly gives in, and the Bull of Heaven is sent down into
Uruk. Each time the bull breathes, its breath is so powerful that
enormous abysses are opened up in the earth and hundreds of people
fall through to their deaths. Working together again, Gilgamesh and
Enkidu slay the mighty bull. Ishtar is enraged, but Enkidu begins to
insult her, saying that she is next, that he and Gilgamesh will kill
her next, and he rips one of the thighs off the bull and hurls it into
her face.

Tablet 7

Enkidu falls ill after having a set of ominous dreams; he finds out
from the priests that he has been singled out for vengeance by the
gods. The Chief Gods have met and have decided that someone should be
punished for the killing of Humbaba and the killing of the Bull of
Heaven, so of the two heroes, they decide Enkidu should pay the
penalty. Enraged at the injustice of the decision, Enkidu curses the
great Cedar Gate built from the wood of the Cedar Forest, and he
curses the temple harlot, Shamhat, and the trapper, for introducing
him to civilization. Shamhash reminds him that, even though his life
has been short, he has enjoyed the fruits of civilization and known
great happiness. Enkidu then blesses the harlot and the trapper. In a
dream, a great demon comes to take Enkidu and drags him to Hell, a
House of Dust where all the dead end up; as he is dying, he describes
Hell:

The house where the dead dwell in total darkness,
Where they drink dirt and eat stone,
Where they wear feathers like birds,
Where no light ever invades their everlasting darkness,
Where the door and the lock of Hell is coated with thick dust.
When I entered the House of Dust,
On every side the crowns of kings were heaped,
On every side the voices of the kings who wore those crowns,
Who now only served food to the gods Anu and Enlil,
Candy, meat, and water poured from skins.
I saw sitting in this House of Dust a priest and a servant,
I also saw a priest of purification and a priest of ecstasy,
I saw all the priests of the great gods.
There sat Etana and Sumukan,
There sat Ereshkigal, the queen of Hell,
Beletseri, the scribe of Hell, sitting before her.
Beletseri held a tablet and read it to Ereshkigal.
She slowly raised her head when she noticed me
She pointed at me:
"Who has sent this man?"

Enkidu commends himself to Gilgamesh, and after suffering terribly
for twelve days, he finally dies.

Tablet 8

Gilgamesh is torn apart by the death of his friend, and utters a
long lament, ordering all of creation to never fall silent in mourning
his dead friend. Most of this tablet is missing, but the second half
seems to be a description of the monument he builds for Enkidu.

Tablet 9

Gilgamesh allows his life to fall apart; he does not bathe, does
not shave, does not take care of himself, not so much out of grief for
his friend, but because he now realizes that he too must die and the
thought sends him into a panic. He decides that he can't live unless
granted eternal life; he decides to undertake the most perilous
journey of all: the journey to Utnapishtim and his wife, the only
mortals on whom the gods had granted eternal life. Utnapishtim is the
Far-Away, living at the mouth of all rivers, at the ends of the world.
Utnapishtim was the great king of the world before the Flood and, with
his wife, was the only mortal preserved by the gods during the Flood.
After an ominous dream, Gilgamesh sets out. He arrives at Mount Mashu,
which guards the rising and the setting of the sun, and encounters two
large scorpions who guard the way past Mount Mashu. They try to
convince him that his journey is futile and fraught with danger, but
still they allow him to pass. Past Mount Mashu is the land of Night,
where no light ever appears. Gilgamesh journeys eleven leagues before
the light begins to glimmer, after twelve leagues he has emerged into
day. He enters into a brilliant garden of gems, where every tree bears
precious stones.

Tablet 10

Gilgamesh comes to a tavern by the ocean shore; the tavern is kept
by Siduri. Frightened by Gilgamesh's ragged appearance, Siduri locks
the tavern door and refuses to let Gilgamesh in. Gilgamesh proves his
identity and asks Siduri how to find Utnapishtim. Like the giant
scorpions, she tells him that his journey is futile and fraught with
dangers. However, she directs him to Urshanabi, the ferryman, who
works for Utnapishtim. Gilgamesh approaches Urshanabi with great
arrogance and violence and in the process destroys the "stone things"
that are somehow critical for the journey to Utnapishtim. When
Gilgamesh demands to be taken to Utnapishtim, the ferryman tells him
that it is now impossible, since the "stone things" have been
destroyed. Nevertheless, he advises Gilgamesh to cut several trees
down to serve as punting poles; the waters they are to cross are the
Waters of Death, should any mortal touch the waters, that man will
instantly die. With the punting poles, Gilgamesh can push the boat and
never touch the dangerous waters.

After a long and dangerous journey, Gilgamesh arrives at a shore
and encounters another man. He tells this man that he is looking for
Utnapishtim and the secret of eternal life; the old man advises
Gilgamesh that death is a necessary fact because of the will of the
gods; all human effort is only temporary, not permanent.

Tablet 11

At this point, Gilgamesh realizes that he is talking to
Utnapishtim, the Far-Away; he hadn't expected an immortal human to be
ordinary and aged. He asks Utnapishtim how he received immortality,
and Utnapishtim tells him the great secret hidden from humans:    In
the time before the Flood, there was a city, Shuruppak, on the banks
of the Euphrates. There, the counsel of the gods held a secret
meeting; they all resolved to destroy the world in a great flood. All
the gods were under oath not to reveal this secret to any living
thing, but Ea (one of the gods that created humanity) came to
Utnapishtim's house and told the secret to the walls of Utnapishtim's
house, thus not technically violating his oath to the rest of the
gods. He advised the walls of Utnapishtim's house to build a great
boat, its length as great as its breadth, to cover the boat, and to
bring all living things into the boat. Utnapishtim gets straight to
work and finishes the great boat by the new year. Utnapishtim then
loads the boat with gold, silver, and all the living things of the
earth, and launches the boat. Ea orders him into the boat and commands
him to close the door behind him. The black clouds arrive, with the
thunder god Adad rumbling within them; the earth splits like an
earthenware pot, and all the light turns to darkness. The Flood is so
great that even the gods are frightened:

The gods shook like beaten dogs, hiding in the far corners of
heaven,
Ishtar screamed and wailed:
"The days of old have turned to stone:
We have decided evil things in our Assembly!
Why did we decide those evil things in our Assembly?
Why did we decide to destroy our people?
We have only just now created our beloved humans;
We now destroy them in the sea!"
All the gods wept and wailed along with her,
All the gods sat trembling, and wept.

The Flood lasts for seven days and seven nights, and finally light
returns to the earth. Utnapishtim opens a window and the entire earth
has been turned into a flat ocean; all humans have been turned to
stone. Utnapishtim then falls to his knees and weeps.

Utnapishtim's boat comes to rest on the top of Mount Nimush; the
boat lodges firmly on the mountain peak just below the surface of the
ocean and remains there for seven days. On the seventh day:

I [Utnapishtim] released a dove from the boat,
It flew off, but circled around and returned,
For it could find no perch.
I then released a swallow from the boat,
It flew off, but circled around and returned,
For it could find no perch.
I then released a raven from the boat,
It flew off, and the waters had receded:
It eats, it scratches the ground, but it does not circle around and
return.
I then sent out all the living things in every direction and
sacrificed a sheep on that very spot.

The gods smell the odor of the sacrifice and begin to gather around
Utnapishtim. Enlil, who had originally proposed to destroy all humans,
then arrives, furious that one of the humans had survived, since they
had agreed to wipe out all humans. He accuses Ea of treachery, but Ea
convinces Enlil to be merciful. Enlil then seizes Utnapishtim and his
wife and blesses them:

At one time Utnapishtim was mortal.
At this time let him be a god and immortal;
Let him live in the far away at the source of all the rivers.

At the end of his story, Utnapishtim offers Gilgamesh a chance at
immortality. If Gilgamesh can stay awake for six days and seven
nights, he, too, will become immortal. Gilgamesh accepts these
conditions and sits down on the shore; the instant he sits down he
falls asleep. Utnapishtim tells his wife that all men are liars, that
Gilgamesh will deny having fallen asleep, so he asks his wife to bake
a loaf of bread every day and lay the loaf at Gilgamesh's feet.
Gilgamesh sleeps without ever waking up for six days and seven nights,
at which point Utnapishtim wakes him up. Startled, Gilgamesh says, "I
only just dozed off for half a second here." Utnapishtim points out
the loaves of bread, showing their states of decay from the most
recent, fresh bread, to the oldest, moldy, stale bread that had been
laid at his feet on the very first day. Gilgamesh is distraught:

O woe! What do I do now, where do I go now?
Death has devoured my body,
Death dwells in my body,
Wherever I go, wherever I look, there stands Death!

Utnapishtim's wife convinces the old man to have mercy on him; he
offers Gilgamesh in place of immortality a secret plant that will make
Gilgamesh young again. The plant is at the bottom of the ocean
surrounding the Far-Away; Gilgamesh ties stones to his feet, sinks to
the bottom, and plucks the magic plant. But he doesn't use it because
he doesn't trust it; rather he decides to take it back to Uruk and
test it out on an old man first, to make sure it works.

Urshanabi takes him across the Waters of Death. Several leagues
inland, Gilgamesh and Urshanabi stop to eat and sleep; while they're
sleeping, a snake slithers up and eats the magic plant (which is why
snakes shed their skin) and crawls away. Gilgamesh awakens to find the
plant gone; he falls to his knees and weeps:

For whom have I labored? For whom have I journeyed?
For whom have I suffered?
I have gained absolutely nothing for myself,
I have only profited the snake, the ground lion!

The tale ends with Gilgamesh, at the end of his journey standing
before the gates of Uruk, inviting Urshanabi to look around and view
the greatness of this city, its high walls, its masonwork, and here at
the base of its gates, as the foundation of the city walls, a stone of
lapis lazuli on which is carved Gilgamesh's account of his exploits.

Richard Hooker

World Cultures 
©1996, Richard Hooker
For information contact: Richard Hines
Updated 6-6-1999