Gilgamesh

Mount Nimush: Peak upon which the ark of Utanapishtim comes to rest after the abating of the Flood.

  Mount Sirion: Mountain range in western Syro-Palestine, probably the Anti-Lebanon/Hermon chain.

  Namtar: Personified “Fate”; messenger of death.

  {85} Ningishzida: “Lord of the True Tree”; divine chamberlain of the Underworld.

  Ninshuluhhatumma: “Lady of Purification”; divine cleaning lady of the Underworld.

  Ninsun: “Lady Cow”; divine mother of Gilgamesh.

  Ninurta: God of war and conflict.

  Nippur: City far to the northwest of Uruk; home of Enlil and early religious capital of southern Mesopotamia.

  Nisaba: Goddess of grain.

  Puzur-Enlil: “Secret of Enlil”; human carpenter who builds the ark for Utanapishtim.

  Qassu-tabat: “His Hand Is Good”; divine janitor of the Underworld.

  Scorpion People: Personages of mixed human–animal nature who guard the entrance to the tunnel leading to the ocean at the edge of the world.

  Seven Sages: Semi-divine personages who conveyed the elements of civilization to humankind at the dawn of history; first builders of the city walls of Uruk.

  Shakkan: God of grazing animals.

  Shamash: Sun God; at home in both Larsa and Sippar.

  Shamhat: “Harlot”; prostitute working in Uruk.

  Shiduri: “Maiden” (Hurrian); tavern-keeper on the seashore at the edge of the world.

  Shullat: Divine bull who along with Hanish pulls the chariot of the Storm God.

  Shuruppak: City to the north of Uruk; home of Utanapishtim.

  Silili: Divine mother of horses.

  Sin: Moon God.

  Stone Ones: Character uncertain—personages or things (?) whose presence was essential for the passage of the ferry of Urshanabi across the ocean at the edge of the world.

  Sumuqan: Another name for Shakkan, god of grazing animals.

  Thunderbird: Personified storm; a form of Ninurta.

  Ubar-Tutu: “Friend of (the god) Tutu”; human father of Utanapishtim.

  Ulay River: River to the east of Uruk in southwestern Iran. In Sumerian sources the Cedar Forest was thought to lie in the east, so Gilgamesh and Enkidu had followed its course on the way to confront Humbaba.

  {86} Urshanabi: Ferryman of Utanapishtim.

  Uruk: City in southern Mesopotamia ruled by Gilgamesh.

  Utanapishtim: “He Found Life”; man of Shuruppak, who along with his wife, are the sole survivors of the Deluge and are granted immortality by the gods. In the Old Babylonian tale of the Flood, he bears the name ­Atrahasis. As the only male human to have escaped death, Utanapishtim is the ancestor of all people, including Gilgamesh (Tablet IX 50).

  {87} SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

  Abusch, T. 2015. Male and Female in the Epic of Gilgamesh: Encounters, Literary History, and Interpretation. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. (Collection of essays largely approaching the Epic from a psychological perspective.)

  Ackerman, S. 2012. When Heroes Love: The Ambiguity of Eros in the Stories of Gilgamesh and David. New York: Columbia University Press. (Consideration of the function of homosexuality in the tale of Gilgamesh and Enkidu and the Biblical account of David and Jonathan.)

  Al-Rawi, F.N.H., and A. George. 2014. “Back to the Cedar Forest: The Beginning and End of Tablet V of the Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgameš.” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 66:69–90. (Recent additions to Tablet V.)

  Beckman, G. 2018. The Hittite Gilgamesh. Atlanta: Lockwood Press. (Edition of the Gilgamesh material recovered at the Hittite capital with an introduction discussing the development of the textual tradition.)

  Chen, Y. S. 2014. The Primeval Flood Catastrophe: Origins and Early Development in Mesopotamian Traditions. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (A thorough consideration of ancient Near Eastern narratives concerning the primeval Deluge.)

  Damrosch, D. 2006. The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh. New York: Henry Holt. (Accessible account of the archaeologists and scholars whose efforts contributed to the recovery of the Epic.)

  Finkel, I. 2014. The Ark before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood. New York: Nan A. Talese. (A British Museum Assyriologist’s personal exploration of the development of the Deluge narrative in the Bible and the ancient Near East and the role of his predecessor George Smith in the recovery of the tale.)

  George, A. R. 2003. The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (The standard modern edition of the Akkadian-language epic, probably too technical for most lay readers.)

  {88} Harris, R. 2000. Gender and Aging in Mesopotamia: The Gilgamesh Epic and Other Ancient Literature. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. (Useful collection of essays by an Assyriologist on Mesopotamian literature.)

  Heidel, A. 1963. The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (A comparison of the Epic with the Book of Genesis from a Christian confessional point of view; originally published in 1949.)

  Kirk, G. S. 1970. Myth: Its Meaning and Function in Ancient and Other Cultures. Pp. 132–52. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. (Analysis of the Epic in the context of a general study of mythical texts known from ancient and ethnographic sources.)

  Lambert, W. G., and A. R. Millard. 1969. Atra-Hasīs: The Babylonian Story of the Flood. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Edition of the Old Babylonian text whose account of the Deluge was adapted for Tablet XI of the Epic.)

  Maier, J., ed. 1997. Gilgamesh: A Reader. Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. (Collection of earlier essays on the Epic, many from difficult-to-access publications.)

  Moran, W. L. 1995. “The Gilgamesh Epic: A Masterpiece from Ancient Mesopotamia.” Pp. 2327–36 in Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, ed. J. M. Sasson et al. New York: Scribners. (Incisive consideration of the Epic by a master Assyriologist and sensitive reader.)

  Steymans, H. U., ed. 2010. Gilgamesh: Epic and Iconography. Fribourg, Switzerland: Academic Press. (Collection of essays, most in English, on depictions of Gilgamesh in the art of the ancient Near East.)

  Tigay, J. H. 1982. The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. (Study of the development of the Epic through the centuries in search of useful comparisons to the composition of the Hebrew Bible.)

  West, M. L. 1997. The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Comprehensive discussion of the influence of Near Eastern traditions upon the literature of Classical Greece.)

  Ziolkowski, T. 2011. Gilgamesh among Us: Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (Survey of the influence of the Epic on modern creative writers.)

  {89} APPENDIX

  Page number citations refer to the print edition.

  Correspondences between Pages of This Edition and Lines of the Original Text

  Page numbers of this edition (on the left) with corresponding line number ranges of the original text (on the right). Abbreviations here are as in Andrew George’s 2003 edition. Tablet V includes material from Al-Rawi’s and George’s 2014 edition (itself abbreviated here as SB V 2014).

  Tablet I

  31–22

  423–62

  563–110

  6111–49

  7150–92

  8193–231

  9232–68

  10269–300

  Tablet II

  11P 46–71, II 36–39

  1240–46, P 90–111, II 59–64, P 135–54

  13P 155–201, II 103–17, P 229–34

  14P 235–40, Y 18, II 162–91, Y 90

  15Y 97–19, II 216–33

  16234–41, Y 162–85

  17258–95

  18296–302

  Tablet III

  191–18

  2019–56

  2157–104

  22105–219

  23220–30, Y 272–87<
br />
  Tablet IV

  241–17

  2518–48

  {90} 2649–54, Bo2 12–24, IV 78–87

  2788–109, OB Ni 1–8, IV 20–21

  28122–41, OB Ni 9–19

  29OB Ni 20–26, IV 155–78

  30179–83, Ha1 3–7, IV 195–203

  31204–10, 239–60

  Tablet V

  32SB V 2014 1–24

  33SB V 2014 25–72

  34SB V 2014 73–103

  3585–140

  36141–87

  37188–267

  38268–96, IM 27–29, V 300–303

  Tablet VI

  391–19

  4020–64

  4165–96

  4297–31

  43132–62

  44163–81

  Tablet VII

  451–30 (Hittite paraphrase)

  4631–33 (Hittite paraphrase), VII 37–68

  4729–103

  48104–45

  49146–76

  50177–208, 251–57

  51258–67

  Tablet VIII

  521–16

  5317–45

  5446–94

  5595–61

  56162–218

  {91} Tablet IX

  571–18, Sii 2–4

  58Sii 5–15, IX 38–59

  5975–90, 125–41

  60142–68

  61169–96

  Tablet X

  621–22

  6323–55

  6456–85

  6585–106, Si iv 2–11, X 112

  66113–44

  67145–73

  68174–219

  69220–49

  70250–85

  71286–322

  Tablet XI

  721–20

  7321–58

  7459–93

  7594–126

  76127–59

  77160–91

  78192–219

  79220–46

  80248–78

  81279–310

  82311–29