An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic
clearly Síb (= _rê'u_, "shepherd") with the plural sign. The "shepherds
of the night," who could now rest since Enkidu had killed the lions,
are of course the shepherds who were accustomed to watch the flocks
during the night.
Line 111. _ut-tap-pi-is_ is II, 2, _napâsu_, "to make a hole," hence
"to plunge" in connection with a weapon. _Sib-ba-ri_ is, of course,
not "mountain goats," as Langdon renders, but a by-form to _sibbiru_,
"stick," and designates some special weapon. Since on seal cylinders
depicting Enkidu killing lions and other animals the hero is armed
with a dagger, this is presumably the weapon _sibbaru_.
Line 113. Langdon's translation is again out of the question and
purely fanciful. The traces favor the restoration _na-ki-[di-e]_,
"shepherds," and since the line appears to be a parallel to line 110,
I venture to suggest at the beginning _[it-ti]-lu_ from _na'âlu_, "lie
down"--a synonym, therefore, to _sakâpu_ in line 110. The shepherds can
sleep quietly after Enkidu has become the "guardian" of the flocks. In
the Assyrian version (tablet II, 3a, 4) Enkidu is called a _na-kid_,
"shepherd," and in the preceding line we likewise have lùNa-Kid with
the plural sign, i.e., "shepherds." This would point to _nakidu_
being a Sumerian loan-word, unless it is _vice versa_, a word that has
gone over into the Sumerian from Akkadian. Is perhaps the fragment
in question (K 8574) in the Assyrian version (Haupt's ed. No. 25)
the _parallel_ to our passage? If in line 4 of this fragment we could
read _sú_ for _sa_, i.e., _na-kid-sú-nu_, "their shepherd, we would
have a parallel to line 114 of the Pennsylvania tablet, with _na-kid_
as a synonym to _massaru_, "protector." The preceding line would then
be completed as follows:
_[it-ti-lu]-nim-ma na-kidmes_ [ra-bu-tum]
(or perhaps only _it-ti-lu-ma_, since the _nim_ is not certain) and
would correspond to line 113 of the Pennsylvania tablet. Inasmuch
as the writing on the tiny fragment is very much blurred, it is
quite possible that in line 2 we must read _sib-ba-ri_ (instead
of _bar-ba-ri_), which would furnish a parallel to line 111 of the
Pennsylvania tablet. The difference between Bar and Sib is slight,
and the one sign might easily be mistaken for the other in the case
of close writing. The continuation of line 2 of the fragment would
then correspond to line 112 of the Pennsylvania tablet, while line 1
of the fragment might be completed _[re-e]-u-ti(?) sá [mu-si-a-tim]_,
though this is by no means certain.
The break at the close of column 3 (about 5 lines) and the top
of column 4 (about 8 lines) is a most serious interruption in the
narrative, and makes it difficult to pick up the thread where the
tablet again becomes readable. We cannot be certain whether the "strong
man, the unique hero" who addresses some one (lines 115-117) is Enkidu
or Gish or some other personage, but presumably Gish is meant. In the
Assyrian version, Tablet I, 3, 2 and 29, we find Gilgamesh described
as the "unique hero" and in l. 234 of the Pennsylvania tablet Gish
is called "unique," while again, in the Assyrian version, Tablet I,
2, 15 and 26, he is designated as _gasru_ as in our text. Assuming
this, whom does he address? Perhaps the shepherds? In either case
he receives an answer that rejoices him. If the fragment of the
Assyrian version (K 8574) above discussed is the equivalent to the
close of column 3 of the Pennsylvania tablet, we may go one step
further, and with some measure of assurance assume that Gish is told
of Enkidu's exploits and that the latter is approaching Erech. This
pleases Gish, but Enkidu when he sees Gish(?) is stirred to anger and
wants to annihilate him. At this point, the "man" (who is probably
Gish, though the possibility of a third personage must be admitted)
intervenes and in a long speech sets forth the destiny and higher aims
of mankind. The contrast between Enkidu and Gish (or the third party)
is that between the primitive savage and the civilized being. The
contrast is put in the form of an opposition between the two. The
primitive man is the stronger and wishes to destroy the one whom he
regards as a natural foe and rival. On the other hand, the one who
stands on a higher plane wants to lift his fellow up. The whole of
column 4, therefore, forms part of the lesson attached to the story
of Enkidu, who, identified with man in a primitive stage, is made the
medium of illustrating how the higher plane is reached through the
guiding influences of the woman's hold on man, an influence exercised,
to be sure, with the help of her bodily charms.
Line 135. _uk-ki-si_ (imperative form) does not mean "take away," as
Langdon (who entirely misses the point of the whole passage) renders,
but on the contrary, "lure him on," "entrap him," and the like. The
verb occurs also in the Yale tablet, ll. 183 and 186.
Line 137. Langdon's note to _lu-us-sú_ had better be passed over in
silence. The form is II. 1, from _esû_, "destroy."
Line 139. Since the man whom the woman calls approaches Enkidu, the
subject of both verbs is the man, and the object is Enkidu; i.e.,
therefore, "The man approaches Enkidu and beholds him."
Line 140. Langdon's interpretation of this line again is purely
fanciful. _E-di-il_ cannot, of course, be a "phonetic variant"
of _edir_; and certainly the line does not describe the state of
mind of the woman. Lines 140-141 are to be taken as an expression
of amazement at Enkidu's appearance. The first word appears to be
an imperative in the sense of "Be off," "Away," from _dâlu_, "move,
roam." The second word _e-es_, "why," occurs with the same verb _dâlu_
in the Meissner fragment: _e-es ta-da-al_ (column 3, 1), "why dost thou
roam about?" The verb at the end of the line may perhaps be completed
to _ta-hi-il-la-am_. The last sign appears to be _am_, but may be _ma_,
in which case we should have to complete simply _ta-hi-il-ma_. _Tahîl_
would be the second person present of _hîlu_. Cf. _i-hi-il_, frequently
in astrological texts, e.g., Virolleaud, _Adad_ No. 3, lines 21 and 33.
Line 141. The reading _lim-nu_ at the beginning, instead of Langdon's
_mi-nu_, is quite certain, as is also _ma-na-ah-ti-ka_ instead of
what Langdon proposes, which gives no sense whatever. _Manahtu_ in
the sense of the "toil" and "activity of life" (like `OMOL throughout
the Book of Ecclesiastes) occurs in the introductory lines to the
Assyrian version of the Epic I, 1, 8, _ka-lu ma-na-ah-ti-[su]_,
"all of his toil," i.e., all of his career.
Line 142. The subject of the verb cannot be the woman, as Langdon
supposes, for the text in that case, e.g., line 49, would have said
_pi-sá_ ("her mouth") not _pi-sú_ ("his mouth"). The long speech,
detailing the function and destiny of civilized man, is placed in
the mouth of the man who meets Enkidu.
In the Introduction it has been pointed out that lines 149 and 151
of the speech appear to be due to later modifications of the speech
designed to connect the episode with Gish. Assuming this to be the
case, the speech sets forth the following five distinct aims of
human life: (1) establishing a home (line 144), (2) work (line 147),
(3) storing up resources (line 148), (4) marriage (line 150), (5)
monogamy (line 154); all of which is put down as established for all
time by divine decree (lines 155-157), and as man's fate from his birth
(lines 158-159).
Line 144. _bi-ti-is e-mu-ti_ is for _bîti sá e-mu-ti_, just as
_kab-lu-us Ti-a-ma-ti_ (Assyrian Creation Myth, IV, 65) stands for
_kablu sá Tiamti_. Cf. _bît e-mu-ti_ (Assyrian version, IV, 2, 46
and 48). The end of the line is lost beyond recovery, but the general
sense is clear.
Line 146. _tu-a-ar_ is a possible reading. It may be the construct
of _tu-a-ru_, of frequent occurrence in legal texts and having some
such meaning as "right," "claim" or "prerogative." See the passages
given by Muss-Arnolt, _Assyrian Dictionary_, p. 1139b.
Line 148. The reading _uk-la-at_, "food," and then in the wider
sense "food supply," "provisions," is quite certain. The fourth sign
looks like the one for "city." _E-mi-sa_ may stand for _e-mid-sa_,
"place it." The general sense of the line, at all events, is clear, as
giving the advice to gather resources. It fits in with the Babylonian
outlook on life to regard work and wealth as the fruits of work and
as a proper purpose in life.
Line 150 (repeated lines 152-153) is a puzzling line. To render _piti
pûk epsi_ (or _episi_), as Langdon proposes, "open, addressing thy
speech," is philologically and in every other respect inadmissible. The
word _pu-uk_ (which Langdon takes for "thy mouth"!!) can, of course,
be nothing but the construct form of _pukku_, which occurs in the
Assyrian version in the sense of "net" (_pu-uk-ku_ I, 2, 9 and
21, and also in the colophon to the eleventh tablet furnishing the
beginning of the twelfth tablet (Haupt's edition No. 56), as well as
in column 2, 29, and column 3, 6, of this twelfth tablet). In the two
last named passages _pukku_ is a synonym of _mekû_, which from the
general meaning of "enclosure" comes to be a euphemistic expression
for the female organ. So, for example, in the Assyrian Creation Myth,
Tablet IV, 66 (synonym of _kablu_, "waist," etc.). See Holma, _Namen
der Körperteile_, page 158. Our word _pukku_ must be taken in this same
sense as a designation of the female organ--perhaps more specifically
the "hymen" as the "net," though the womb in general might also be
designated as a "net" or "enclosure." _Kak-(si)_ is no doubt to be
read _epsi_, as Langdon correctly saw; or perhaps better, _episi_. An
expression like _ip-si-sú lul-la-a_ (Assyrian version, I, 4, 13;
also line 19, _i-pu-us-su-ma lul-la-a_), with the explanation _sipir
zinnisti_, "the work of woman" (i.e., after the fashion of woman),
shows that _epêsu_ is used in connection with the sexual act. The
phrase _pitî pûk episi a-na ha-a-a-ri_, literally "open the net,
perform the act for marriage," therefore designates the fulfillment
of the marriage act, and the line is intended to point to marriage
with the accompanying sexual intercourse as one of the duties of
man. While the general meaning is thus clear, the introduction of
Gish is puzzling, except on the supposition that lines 149 and 151
represent later additions to connect the speech, detailing the advance
to civilized life, with the hero. See above, p. 45 _seq._
Line 154. _assat simâtim_ is the "legitimate wife," and the line
inculcates monogamy as against promiscuous sexual intercourse. We know
that monogamy was the rule in Babylonia, though a man could in addition
to the wife recognized as the legalized spouse take a concubine, or
his wife could give her husband a slave as a concubine. Even in that
case, according to the Hammurabi Code, §§145-146, the wife retained
her status. The Code throughout assumes that a man has only _one_
wife--the _assat simâtim_ of our text. The phrase "so" (or "that")
before "as afterwards" is to be taken as an idiomatic expression--"so
it was and so it should be for all times"--somewhat like the phrase
_mahriam ù arkiam_, "for all times," in legal documents (_CT_ VIII,
38c, 22-23). For the use of _mûk_ see Behrens, _Assyrisch-Babylonische
Briefe_, p. 3.
Line 158. _i-na bi-ti-ik a-bu-un-na-ti-sú_. Another puzzling line,
for which Langdon proposes "in the work of his presence," which is
as obscure as the original. In a note he says that _apunnâti_ means
"nostrils," which is certainly wrong. There has been considerable
discussion about this term (see Holma, _Namen der Körperteile_,
pages 150 and 157), the meaning of which has been advanced by
Christian's discussion in _OLZ_ 1914, p. 397. From this it appears
that it must designate a part of the body which could acquire a wider