Gilgamesh

  To Enlil’s temple, his sanctuary in Nippur,

  And all of the people will rejoice in this door.”

  The two heroes lashed together a raft

  And loaded onto it all the cedar they had cut.

  [180] Enkidu poled the raft, and Gilgamesh

  Carried Humbaba’s severed head.

  {39} Tablet VI

  The Bull of Heaven

  When they were back in Uruk, Gilgamesh

  Washed his matted hair and wiped down his gear.

  He shook his hair out over his shoulders,

  Then, putting on fresh, clean clothes,

  He cinched his robes with a sash and put on his crown.

  He was beautiful to see, and the goddess Ishtar

  Looked at him with desire. She said to him:

  “Come, my Gilgamesh, and marry me.

  Grant me your fruits, O please, grant them.

  [10] Be my husband, and I’ll be your wife.

  I will rig you a chariot of lapis lazuli and gold,

  With golden wheels and yoke-horns of amber.

  You will drive a team of lions flanked by great mules

  As you enter our cedar-scented house,

  And as you enter, the doorway and exotic foot-stool

  Will kiss your feet! Kings and courtiers

  Will kneel before you, bringing as tribute

  All that the mountains and plains produce,

  Your goats will bear triplets, your ewes twins,

  [20] Your laden donkey will outrun any mule,

  {40} Your team of horses will gallop in glory,

  No ox will be a match for yours at the yoke.”

  Gilgamesh answered the Lady Ishtar this way:

  “If I do marry you, how will you take care of me?

  How will you clothe me, what food will I have?

  Will you bring me bread that is fit for a god,

  Pour me ale fit for king? Who would marry you?

  You are frost and ice, a drafty door,

  A palace that slaughters its warriors,

  [30] A rogue elephant, pitch that stains the hands,

  A waterskin that wearies its bearer,

  Limestone that weakens an ashlar wall.

  You are a wall-shattering battering ram,

  A shoe that cramps the foot it is on.

  Let me tell the tale of your lovers. First,

  Dumuzi, whom you loved when you were young.

  You doomed him to unending lamenting.

  Next you loved the dappled Allallu Bird,

  And then attacked him and broke his wing.

  [40] Now he cries ‘My wing!’ on the forest floor.

  You loved the lion, that paragon of strength,

  But then dug seven times seven pits to entrap him.

  You loved the noble horse, renowned in battle,

  But then destined him to the whip and spur,

  Destined him to twenty-mile gallops,

  Destined him to drink from muddy pools,

  Dooming his mother Silili to constant weeping.

  You loved the herdsman, who grazes his flocks.

  He brought you loaves of ember-baked bread,

  [50] He butchered kids for you every single day.

  With one blow you turned him into a wolf,

  And now his own herders chase him away,

  His own dogs snap at their master’s buttocks.

  You loved your father’s gardener, loved Ishullanu,

  {41} Who used to bring you baskets of dates

  So that your table glistened with fruit every day.

  You had your eye on him and sidled up, saying,

  ‘Ishullanu, let’s have a taste of your zest.

  Put your hand down here and rub my clit.’

  [60] But Ishullanu answered you,

  ‘Me? Why are you bothering with me?

  Didn’t my mother bake bread? Am I so hungry

  That I have to eat abuse and lies?

  Should I sleep under only rushes in winter?’

  When you heard what Ishullanu said

  You hit him and turned him into a dwarf

  And sat him down in the garden to work

  Where he can never get up or ever lie down.

  Must you love me too, and treat me like this?”

  [70] Ishtar listened to what Gilgamesh said

  And then flew up to heaven, raging mad.

  In tears she went to her father Anu

  And to Antu her mother, and poured out her heart:

  “Father Anu, Gilgamesh keeps scorning me

  And slandering me with obscene stories.

  I am insulted!”

  Anu said to his daughter:

  “But didn’t you provoke King Gilgamesh

  Into telling these slanderous stories about you

  And insulting you?”

  Ishtar answered him:

  [80] “Father, give me the Bull of Heaven, please,

  So I can kill Gilgamesh at home in Uruk.

  And if you do not give me the Bull of Heaven

  {42} I will smash open the gates of the Underworld

  And free all the dead from their dwelling below.

  I will make the dead rise and devour the living,

  And then the dead will outnumber the living.”

  Anu then said to his daughter Ishtar:

  “If you want me to give you the Bull of Heaven,

  Uruk’s widows must gather chaff seven years,

  [90] And Uruk’s farmers grow seven years of hay.”

  And Ishtar said to her father Anu:

  “I have already accomplished all this.

  Uruk’s widows have gathered chaff seven years,

  And Uruk’s farmers have grown seven years of hay.

  I shall have my vengeance with the Bull’s raging fury.”

  When Anu heard Ishtar say this, he handed to her

  The tether to the nose-ring of the Bull of Heaven.

  Ishtar led him down, led him all the way

  To the land of Uruk. The Bull dried up the woods

  [100] And surrounding marshes, left the wetlands dry

  And then went to the river, lowering its level

  By no less than twelve feet. Then the Bull snorted

  And a pit opened up, swallowing a hundred men.

  The Bull snorted again and a second pit opened,

  Into which two hundred of Uruk’s men fell.

  The third time the Bull of Heaven snorted

  Another pit opened, and Enkidu fell in

  Up to his waist. But then Enkidu leaped up

  Out of the pit and took the Bull by his horns.

  [110] The Bull snorted sputum into his face,

  And Enkidu cried out to Gilgamesh, saying:

  “We flaunted our deeds in the city, my friend.

  How are we going to look to the people now?

  {43} My friend, I’ve tested this Bull’s strength,

  And have some idea of its might and temper.

  Let me test it again, from behind this time.

  I’m going to grab it by the tail and set my foot

  In the back of his leg. You’ll have to be like

  A brave, skillful butcher and drive your knife

  [120] Into the sweet spot between his two horns.”

  Enkidu got back quickly behind the Bull

  Grabbed it by the tail and planted his foot

  In the back of his leg. And Gilgamesh,

  Like a brave, skillful butcher, drove his knife

  Into the sweet spot between the Bull’s horns.

  After they had killed the Bull of Heaven

  Gilgamesh and Enkidu bore its heart

  Up to Shamash and set it down before him.

  They stepped back and prostrated themselves

  [130] In the presence of the Sun God, and then sat down.

  Ishtar had gone up onto Uruk’s wall

  And was stamping her feet. She wailed aloud:

  “Oh, Gilgamesh mocked me and now he has k
illed

  The Bull of Heaven!”

  Enkidu heard this,

  And tearing a haunch off the Bull

  He hurled it at the goddess, saying:

  “If I had caught you I’d have treated you the same

  And plastered his guts all over your body!”

  Ishtar convened the courtesans and prostitutes

  [140] To mourn over the haunch of the Bull of Heaven,

  While Gilgamesh summoned the smiths and artisans.

  They were stunned at the size of the horns,

  A mass of lapis lazuli worth thirty minas,

  {44} Each rim worth another two minas,

  And together they held six barrels of oil.

  He dedicated the horns to his god, Lugalbanda,

  To hold oil for anointing,

  Took them inside to hang in the god’s chamber.

  They washed their hands in the Euphrates

  [150] And walked back hand in hand.

  When they drove their chariot through Uruk’s streets

  The whole city came out to look at them.

  Back in his palace Gilgamesh asked the serving girls:

  “Who is most glorious, the most glorious of men?”

  And the response came back:

  “Gilgamesh is most glorious, the most glorious of men!”

  And so Gilgamesh celebrated in his palace.

  That night all the men were asleep in their beds,

  And Enkidu had a dream while he slept.

  {45} Tablet VII

  The Death of Enkidu

  Dawn.

  Enkidu rose to tell Gilgamesh his dream.

  “My friend, why were the great gods in council?

  O, my friend, what a dream I had last night!

  The gods were in an assembly, Anu, Enlil,

  Ea, and Shamash the Sun. Anu said to Enlil:

  ‘These two slaughtered the Bull of Heaven,

  And they killed Humbaba who guarded the cedar.

  So one of them,’ said Anu, ‘has to die.’

  [10] Then Enlil said, ‘Enkidu must die,

  Not Gilgamesh.’ Then Shamash replied to Enlil:

  ‘Didn’t I tell them to kill the Bull of Heaven

  And Humbaba too? Didn’t they kill them at my behest?

  And now innocent Enkidu must die?’

  Then Enlil grew angry with Shamash the Sun:

  ‘And you were their companion every single day!’”

  Then Enkidu lay down before Gilgamesh,

  Weeping and lamenting.

  “O my brother,

  {46} My dear, dear brother. They will never again

  [20] Raise me up for my brother. No, I will sit

  Among the dead, I will cross the threshold

  Of the dead, never see my dear brother again.”

  When dawn broke, Enkidu lifted his eyes

  To the doorway, and he said to the door:

  “You cannot hear me, Door from the woods.

  I can hear and understand, but you cannot.

  I searched twenty leagues to find timber for you

  Until I found in the forest a fine, tall cedar,

  The finest tree in the whole Cedar Forest.

  [30] You are six rods high, two rods in width,

  And a cubit thick. Your axle and pivots

  Are all one piece, from top to bottom.

  I built you, I lifted you, I hung you in Nippur.

  If I had known, Door, you would reward me like this,

  I would have swung my axe and cut you down,

  Floated you downstream to Ebabbara,

  Shamash’s temple in Sippar, set you up there

  As a cedar door in the glorious temple

  And set up a thunderbird in the gateway,

  [40] Because Shamash heard my prayer

  And gave me a weapon in a time of peril.

  I was the one who built you, who lifted you up.

  So why could I not tear you down now?

  May a king who comes after me hate you, Door,

  Or hang you somewhere else, or may he

  Remove my name and put his own name on you.”

  As Enkidu listened to his own words, his tears

  Began to flow, and as Gilgamesh listened

  To the words of his friend Enkidu

  [50] Gilgamesh’s tears began to flow too.

  He opened his mouth and said to his friend:

  {47} “Ah, my noble friend, why do you, whose mind

  Was once so sound, now speak so profanely?

  Your dream was not an ordinary dream.

  Your mind is troubled, buzzing with anxiety.

  This was a strange, most unusual dream.

  When someone has a dream like this

  Only grief is left to the one who survives.

  I will pray to the great gods, beseech them,

  [60] Shamash especially. I will beseech your god.

  And I will pray to Anu, the father of the gods.

  May Enlil hear me as I pray in your presence.

  I will shape a statue of you out of pure gold.”

  “No, my friend, offer no silver, no gold.

  Enlil’s words are not like the other gods’.

  What he commands he does not rub out,

  Does not rub out the decrees he sets down.

  My fate is fixed, my friend.

  People do go to their doom before their time.”

  [70] When dawn’s first light appeared in the sky

  Enkidu lifted his head toward Shamash and cried,

  His tears glistening in the rays of the sun:

  “I beg you, Shamash, to spare my dear life.

  But that hunter, the trapper, the man

  Who stopped me from being as great as my friend,

  May that hunter never be as great as his friend!

  May he lose his property and be left destitute,

  May the god in his house fly out the window!”

  When he had enough of cursing the hunter,

  [80] He began to curse the harlot Shamhat as well:

  “And now, Shamhat, I will fix your fate,

  Your perpetual doom! My mighty curse

  {48} Will afflict you now and forevermore.

  May you never have a home to give you joy,

  Never have a family to live with,

  Never sit among the young women in their quarters.

  May a drunkard puke on your fancy gown,

  May you never have any beautiful things,

  No lovely pottery, no banquet table

  [90] For people to set with a sumptuous feast,

  No bed to enjoy but a miserable board.

  May you squat at the crossroads, sleep

  In the fields, stand in the shadow of a wall,

  The soles of your feet raw from briars and thorns.

  May men drunk and sober slap your face.

  May angry wives file lawsuits against you.

  May no builder ever plaster your ceiling.

  May owls roost in the rafters of your house,

  And no banquet ever grace your table.

  [100] “And this is all because you made me weak

  When I was natural and pure, weakened me

  When I was pure and natural in the wilderness.”

  Shamash heard what Enkidu was saying,

  And a great voice boomed down from the sky:

  “Enkidu, why are you cursing the harlot Shamhat?

  She served you bread that was fit for a god,

  Poured you ale that was fit for a king,

  Clothed you in resplendent garments,

  And matched you with handsome Gilgamesh.

  [110] And now Gilgamesh, your friend and brother,

  Will lay you out on a magnificent bed,

  A bed of honor, and place you on his left.

  The underworld lords will all kiss your feet.

  He will have all Uruk lament and mourn you,

  Fill all the city’s people full of grief for you.

&nb
sp; {49} And when you are gone his hair will be matted,

  Clad in a lion skin he will wander the wild.”

  Enkidu heard the words of great Shamash.

  The anger in his heart subsided,

  [120] His furious heart grew calm, and he said:

  “Come, Shamhat, and I will pronounce your fate.

  The mouth that cursed you can bless you as well.

  Rulers and nobles will be your lovers.

  At one league off, men will slap their thighs,

  And at two leagues they will shake out their hair!

  No warrior will delay to drop his belt for you.

  They will give you obsidian and lapis lazuli,

  Golden earrings and jewels. Ishtar herself,

  The most gifted of gods, will usher you in

  [130] To the wealthiest houses. Rich men will desert

  Even their wives who have borne seven sons.”

  But Enkidu’s mind was still troubled.

  He lay alone on his bed, deep in thought,

  And then told Gilgamesh what was on his mind:

  “My friend, what a dream I had last night!

  The sky thundered, the earth echoed the sound,

  And I was standing there between heaven and earth

  Alongside a man with a terrifying face,

  As grim and frightening as a Thunderbird’s.

  [140] His hands were like the paws of a lion,

  But with claws like the talons of an eagle,

  And he seized me by the hair, overpowering me.

  I hit him, but he struck back with the force

  Of a snapping whip and keeled me over,

  Crushing me underfoot like a great wild bull

  And drenching me with his poisonous slaver.

  I cried out to you, ‘Help me my friend!’

  {50} You were afraid, but still . . .

  . . . and then he turned me into a dove,

  [150] Binding my arms like the wings of a bird.

  He led me down to the House of Darkness,

  Irkalla’s abode, the house no one leaves,

  Led me down the path that has no return.

  Those who stay there are deprived of light,