An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic
the Assyrian 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."
Lines 38-40, completing the column, may be supplied from the Assyrian
version I, 6, 30-32, in conjunction with lines 33-34 of our text. The
beginning of line 32 in Jensen's version is therefore to be filled
out _[ta-ra-am-sú ki]-i_.
Line 43. The restoration at the beginning of this line
_En-ki-[du wa]-si-ib ma-har ha-ri-im-tim_
enables us to restore also the beginning of the second tablet of
the Assyrian version (cf. the colophon of the fragment 81, 7-27, 93,
in Jeremias, _Izdubar-Nimrod_, plate IV = Jensen, p. 134),
_[d_En-ki-du wa-si-ib] ma-har-sá.
Line 44. The restoration of this line is largely conjectural, based
on the supposition that its contents correspond in a general way to I,
4, 16, of the Assyrian version. The reading _di-da_ is quite certain,
as is also _ip-ti-[e]_; and since both words occur in the line of the
Assyrian version in question, it is tempting to supply at the beginning
_ur-[sá]_ = "her loins" (cf. Holma, _Namen der Körperteile_, etc.,
p. 101), which is likewise found in the same line of the Assyrian
version. At all events the line describes the fascination exercised
upon Enkidu by the woman's bodily charms, which make him forget
everything else.
Lines 46-47 form a parallel to I, 4, 21, of the Assyrian version. The
form _samkatu_, "courtesan," is constant in the old Babylonian version
(ll. 135 and 172), as against _samhatu_ in the Assyrian version (I,
3, 19, 40, 45; 4, 16), which also uses the plural _sam-ha-a-ti_ (II,
3b, 40). The interchange between _h_ and _k_ is not without precedent
(cf. Meissner, _Altbabylonisches Privatrecht_, page 107, note 2,
and more particularly Chiera, _List of Personal Names_, page 37).
In view of the evidence, set forth in the Introduction, for the
assumption that the Enkidu story has been combined with a tale of the
evolution of primitive man to civilized life, it is reasonable to
suggest that in the original Enkidu story the female companion was
called _samkatu_, "courtesan," whereas in the tale of the primitive
man, which was transferred to Enkidu, the associate was _harimtu_, a
"woman," just as in the Genesis tale, the companion of Adam is simply
called _ishshâ_, "woman." Note that in the Assyrian parallel (Tablet I,
4, 26) we have two readings, _ir-hi_ (imperf.) and a variant _i-ri-hi_
(present). The former is the better reading, as our tablet shows.
Lines 49-59 run parallel to the Assyrian version I, 4, 33-38,
with slight variations which have been discussed above, p. 58, and
from which we may conclude that the Assyrian version represents an
independent redaction. Since in our tablet we have presumably the
repetition of what may have been in part at least set forth in the
first tablet of the old Babylonian version, we must not press the
parallelism with the first tablet of the Assyrian version too far;
but it is noticeable nevertheless (1) that our tablet contains lines
57-58 which are not represented in the Assyrian version, and (2) that
the second speech of the "woman" beginning, line 62, with _al-ka_,
"come" (just as the first speech, line 54), is likewise not found
in the first tablet of the Assyrian version; which on the other
hand contains a line (39) not in the Babylonian version, besides
the detailed answer of Enkidu (I 4, 42-5, 5). Line 6, which reads
"Enkidu and the woman went (_il-li-ku_) to walled Erech," is also
not found in the second tablet of the old Babylonian version.
Line 63. For _magrû_, "accursed," see the frequent use in Astrological
texts (Jastrow, _Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens_ II, page 450, note
2). Langdon, by his strange error in separating _ma-a-ag-ri-im_ into
two words _ma-a-ak_ and _ri-i-im_, with a still stranger rendering:
"unto the place yonder of the shepherds!!", naturally misses the
point of this important speech.
Line 64 corresponds to I, 4, 40, of the Assyrian version, which has
an additional line, leading to the answer of Enkidu. From here on,
our tablet furnishes material not represented in the Assyrian version,
but which was no doubt included in the second tablet of that version
of which we have only a few fragments.
Line 70 must be interpreted as indicating that the woman kept one
garment for herself. _Ittalbas_ would accordingly mean, "she kept
on." The female dress appears to have consisted of an upper and a
lower garment.
Line 72. The restoration "like a god" is favored by line 51, where
Enkidu is likened to a god, and is further confirmed by l. 190.
Line 73. _gupru_ is identical with _gu-up-ri_ (Thompson, _Reports of
the Magicians and Astrologers_, etc., 223 rev. 2 and 223a rev. 8), and
must be correlated to _gipâru_ (Muss-Arnolt, _Assyrian Dictionary_,
p. 229a), "planted field," "meadow," and the like. Thompson's
translation "men" (as though a synonym of _gabru_) is to be corrected
accordingly.
Line 74. There is nothing missing between _a-sar_ and _tar-ba-si-im_.
Line 75. _ri-ia-ú_, which Langdon renders "shepherd," is the
equivalent of the Arabic _ri'y_ and Hebrew RE`IY "pasturage,"
"fodder." We have usually the feminine form _ri-i-tu_ (Muss-Arnolt,
_Assyrian Dictionary_, p. 990b). The break at the end of the second
column is not serious. Evidently Enkidu, still accustomed to live
like an animal, is first led to the sheepfolds, and this suggests
a repetition of the description of his former life. Of the four or
five lines missing, we may conjecturally restore four, on the basis
of the Assyrian version, Tablet I, 4, 2-5, or I, 2, 39-41. This would
then join on well to the beginning of column 3.
Line 81. Both here and in l. 52 our text has _na-ma-ás-te-e_, as
against _nam-mas-si-i_ in the Assyrian version, e.g., Tablet I,
2, 41; 4, 5, etc.,--the feminine form, therefore, as against the
masculine. Langdon's note 3 on page 213 is misleading. In astrological
texts we also find _nam-mas-te_; e.g., Thompson, _Reports of the
Magicians and Astrologers_, etc., No. 200, Obv. 2.
Line 93. _zi-ma-at_ (for _simat_) _ba-la-ti-im_ is not "conformity of
life" as Langdon renders, but that which "belongs to life" like _si-mat
pag-ri-sá_, "belonging to her body," in the Assyrian version III, 2a,
3 (Jensen, page 146). "Food," says the woman, "is the staff of life."
Line 94. Langdon's strange rendering "of the conditions and fate
of the land" rests upon an erroneous reading (see the corrections,
Appendix I), which is the more inexcusable because in line 97 the same
ideogram, Kàs = _sikaru_, "wine," occurs, and is correctly rendered
by him. _Simti mâti_ is not the "fate of the land," but the "fixed
custom of the land."
Line 98. _as-sa-mi-im_ (plural of _assamu_), which Langdon takes as
an adverb in the sense of "times," is a well-known word for a large
"goblet," which occurs in Incantation texts, e.g., _CT_ XVI, 24,
obv. 1, 19, _mê a-sa-am-mi-e sú-puk_, "pour out goblets of water." Line
18 of the passage shoves that _asammu_ is a Sumerian loan word.
Line 99. _it-tap-sar_, I, 2, from _pasâru_, "loosen." In combination
with _kabtatum_ (from _kabitatum_, yielding two forms: _kabtatum_, by
elision of _i_, and _kabittu_, by elision of _a_), "liver," _pasâru_
has the force of becoming cheerful. Cf. _ka-bit-ta-ki lip-pa-sir_
(_ZA_ V., p. 67, line 14).
Line 100, note the customary combination of "liver" (_kabtatum_)
and "heart" (_libbu_) for "disposition" and "mind," just as in the
standing phrase in penitential prayers: "May thy liver be appeased,
thy heart be quieted."
Line 102. The restoration [lùSÚ]-I = _gallabu_ "barber" (Delitzsch,
_Sumer. Glossar_, p. 267) was suggested to me by Dr. H. F. Lutz. The
ideographic writing "raising the hand" is interesting as recalling the
gesture of shaving or cutting. Cf. a reference to a barber in Lutz,
_Early Babylonian Letters from Larsa_, No. 109, 6.
Line 103. Langdon has correctly rendered _suhuru_ as "hair," and
has seen that we have here a loan-word from the Sumerian Suhur =
_kimmatu_, "hair," according to the Syllabary Sb 357 (cf. Delitzsch,
_Sumer. Glossar._, p. 253). For _kimmatu_, "hair," more specifically
hair of the head and face, see Holma, _Namen der Körperteile_,
page 3. The same sign Suhur or Suh (Brünnow No. 8615), with Lal,
i.e., "hanging hair," designates the "beard" (_ziknu_, cf. Brünnow,
No. 8620, and Holma, l. c., p. 36), and it is interesting to note
that we have _suhuru_ (introduced as a loan-word) for the barbershop,
according to II R, 21, 27c (= _CT_ XII, 41).
Ê suhur(ra) (i.e., house of the hair) = _sú-hu-ru_.
In view of all this, we may regard as assured Holma's conjecture to
read _sú-[hur-ma-sú]_ in the list 93074 obv. (_MVAG_ 1904, p. 203; and
Holma, _Beiträge z. Assyr. Lexikon_, p. 36), as the Akkadian equivalent
to Suhur-Mas-Ha and the name of a fish, so called because it appeared
to have a double "beard" (cf. Holma, _Namen der Körperteile_). One is
tempted, furthermore, to see in the difficult word SKYRH (Isaiah 7,
20) a loan-word from our _suhuru_, and to take the words 'ETHORO'S
VESA`AR HORAGELAYIM "the head and hair of the feet" (euphemistic
for the hair around the privates), as an explanatory gloss to the rare
word Skyrh for "hair" of the body in general--just as in the passage
in the Pennsylvania tablet. The verse in Isaiah would then read,
"The Lord on that day will shave with the razor the hair (HSKYRH),
and even the beard will be removed." The rest of the verse would
represent a series of explanatory glosses: (a) "Beyond the river"
(i.e., Assyria), a gloss to YEGALAH (b) "with the king of Assyria,"
a gloss to BETA`AR "with a razor;" and (c) "the hair of the head and
hair of the feet," a gloss to HSKYRH. For "hair of the feet" we have an
interesting equivalent in Babylonian _su-hur_ (and _sú-hu-ur_) _sêpi_
(_CT_ XII, 41, 23-24 c-d). Cf. also Boissier, _Documents Assyriens
relatifs aux Présages_, p. 258, 4-5. The Babylonian phrase is like the
Hebrew one to be interpreted as a euphemism for the hair around the
male or female organ. To be sure, the change from H to K in HSKYRH
constitutes an objection, but not a serious one in the case of a
loan-word, which would aim to give the _pronunciation_ of the original
word, rather than the correct etymological equivalent. The writing with
aspirated K fulfills this condition. (Cf. _samkatum_ and _samhatum_,
above p. 73). The passage in Isaiah being a reference to Assyria,
the prophet might be tempted to use a foreign word to make his point
more emphatic. To take HSKYRH as "hired," as has hitherto been done,
and to translate "with a hired razor," is not only to suppose a very
wooden metaphor, but is grammatically difficult, since HSKYRH would
be a feminine adjective attached to a masculine substantive.
Coming back to our passage in the Pennsylvania tablet, it is to be
noted that Enkidu is described as covered "all over his body with hair"
(Assyrian version, Tablet I, 2, 36) like an animal. To convert him
into a civilized man, the hair is removed.
Line 107. _mutu_ does not mean "husband" here, as Langdon supposes,
but must be taken as in l. 238 in the more general sense of "man,"
for which there is good evidence.
Line 109. _la-bi_ (plural form) are "lions"--not "panthers" as Langdon
has it. The verb _ú-gi-ir-ri_ is from _gâru_, "to attack." Langdon by
separating _ú_ from _gi-ir-ri_ gets a totally wrong and indeed absurd
meaning. See the corrections in the Appendix. He takes the sign _ú_
for the copula (!!) which of course is impossible.
Line 110. Read _us-sa-ak-pu_, III, 1, of _sakâpu_, which is frequently
used for "lying down" and is in fact a synonym of _salâlu_. See
Muss-Arnolt, _Assyrian Dictionary_, page 758a. The original has very