An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic
activities. In order to connect this tale with the Gilgamesh story,
the two heroes are brought together; the woman taking on herself,
in addition to the rôle of civilizer, that of the medium through
which Enkidu is brought to Gilgamesh. The woman leads Enkidu from
the outskirts of Erech into the city itself, where the people on
seeing him remark upon his likeness to Gilgamesh. He is the very
counterpart of the latter, though somewhat smaller in stature. There
follows the encounter between the two heroes in the streets of Erech,
where they engage in a fierce combat. Gilgamesh is overcome by Enkidu
and is enraged at being thrown to the ground. The tablet closes with
the endeavor of Enkidu to pacify Gilgamesh. Enkidu declares that the
mother of Gilgamesh has exalted her son above the ordinary mortal,
and that Enlil himself has singled him out for royal prerogatives.
After this, we may assume, the two heroes become friends and together
proceed to carry out certain exploits, the first of which is an attack
upon the mighty guardian of the cedar forest. This is the main episode
in the Yale tablet, which, therefore, forms the third tablet of the
old Babylonian version.
In the first column of the obverse of the Yale tablet, which is badly
preserved, it would appear that the elders of Erech (or perhaps the
people) are endeavoring to dissuade Gilgamesh from making the attempt
to penetrate to the abode of Huwawa. If this is correct, then the
close of the first column may represent a conversation between these
elders and the woman who accompanies Enkidu. It would be the elders
who are represented as "reporting the speech to the woman," which is
presumably the determination of Gilgamesh to fight Huwawa. The elders
apparently desire Enkidu to accompany Gilgamesh in this perilous
adventure, and with this in view appeal to the woman. In the second
column after an obscure reference to the mother of Gilgamesh--perhaps
appealing to the sun-god--we find Gilgamesh and Enkidu again face to
face. From the reference to Enkidu's eyes "filled with tears," we may
conclude that he is moved to pity at the thought of what will happen to
Gilgamesh if he insists upon carrying out his purpose. Enkidu, also,
tries to dissuade Gilgamesh. This appears to be the main purport of
the dialogue between the two, which begins about the middle of the
second column and extends to the end of the third column. Enkidu
pleads that even his strength is insufficient,
"My arms are lame,
My strength has become weak." (lines 88-89)
Gilgamesh apparently asks for a description of the terrible tyrant
who thus arouses the fear of Enkidu, and in reply Enkidu tells
him how at one time, when he was roaming about with the cattle, he
penetrated into the forest and heard the roar of Huwawa which was
like that of a deluge. The mouth of the tyrant emitted fire, and his
breath was death. It is clear, as Professor Haupt has suggested, [32]
that Enkidu furnishes the description of a volcano in eruption, with
its mighty roar, spitting forth fire and belching out a suffocating
smoke. Gilgamesh is, however, undaunted and urges Enkidu to accompany
him in the adventure.
"I will go down to the forest," says Gilgamesh, if the conjectural
restoration of the line in question (l. 126) is correct. Enkidu replies
by again drawing a lurid picture of what will happen "When we go
(together) to the forest......." This speech of Enkidu is continued on
the reverse. In reply Gilgamesh emphasizes his reliance upon the good
will of Shamash and reproaches Enkidu with cowardice. He declares
himself superior to Enkidu's warning, and in bold terms says that
he prefers to perish in the attempt to overcome Huwawa rather than
abandon it.
"Wherever terror is to be faced,
Thou, forsooth, art in fear of death.
Thy prowess lacks strength.
I will go before thee,
Though thy mouth shouts to me: 'thou art afraid to approach,'
If I fall, I will establish my name." (lines 143-148)
There follows an interesting description of the forging of the
weapons for the two heroes in preparation for the encounter. [33]
The elders of Erech when they see these preparations are stricken
with fear. They learn of Huwawa's threat to annihilate Gilgamesh if
he dares to enter the cedar forest, and once more try to dissuade
Gilgamesh from the undertaking.
"Thou art young, O Gish, and thy heart carries thee away,
Thou dost not know what thou proposest to do." (lines 190-191)
They try to frighten Gilgamesh by repeating the description of
the terrible Huwawa. Gilgamesh is still undaunted and prays to his
patron deity Shamash, who apparently accords him a favorable "oracle"
(_têrtu_). The two heroes arm themselves for the fray, and the elders
of Erech, now reconciled to the perilous undertaking, counsel Gilgamesh
to take provision along for the undertaking. They urge Gilgamesh to
allow Enkidu to take the lead, for
"He is acquainted with the way, he has trodden the road
[to] the entrance of the forest." (lines 252-253)
The elders dismiss Gilgamesh with fervent wishes that Enkidu may track
out the "closed path" for Gilgamesh, and commit him to the care of
Lugalbanda--here perhaps an epithet of Shamash. They advise Gilgamesh
to perform certain rites, to wash his feet in the stream of Huwawa and
to pour out a libation of water to Shamash. Enkidu follows in a speech
likewise intended to encourage the hero; and with the actual beginning
of the expedition against Huwawa the tablet ends. The encounter itself,
with the triumph of the two heroes, must have been described in the
fourth tablet.
V.
Now before taking up the significance of the additions to our
knowledge of the Epic gained through these two tablets, it will be
well to discuss the forms in which the names of the two heroes and
of the ruler of the cedar forest occur in our tablets.
As in the Meissner fragment, the chief hero is invariably designated
as dGish in both the Pennsylvania and Yale tablets; and we may
therefore conclude that this was the common form in the Hammurabi
period, as against the writing dGish-gì(n)-mash [34] in the Assyrian
version. Similarly, as in the Meissner fragment, the second hero's
name is always written En-ki-du [35] (abbreviated from dúg) as
against En-ki-dú in the Assyrian version. Finally, we encounter in
the Yale tablet for the first time the writing Hu-wa-wa as the name
of the guardian of the cedar forest, as against Hum-ba-ba in the
Assyrian version, though in the latter case, as we may now conclude
from the Yale tablet, the name should rather be read Hu-ba-ba. [36]
The variation in the writing of the latter name is interesting
as pointing to the aspirate pronunciation of the labial in both
instances. The name would thus present a complete parallel to the
Hebrew name Howawa (or Hobab) who appears as the brother-in-law
of Moses in the P document, Numbers 10, 29. [37] Since the name
also occurs, written precisely as in the Yale tablet, among the
"Amoritic" names in the important lists published by Dr. Chiera,
[38] there can be no doubt that Huwawa or Hubaba is a West Semitic
name. This important fact adds to the probability that the "cedar
forest" in which Huwawa dwells is none other than the Lebanon district,
famed since early antiquity for its cedars. This explanation of the
name Huwawa disposes of suppositions hitherto brought forward for an
Elamitic origin. Gressmann [39] still favors such an origin, though
realizing that the description of the cedar forest points to the Amanus
or Lebanon range. In further confirmation of the West Semitic origin of
the name, we have in Lucian, _De Dea Syria_, § 19, the name Kombabos
[40] (the guardian of Stratonika), which forms a perfect parallel to
Hu(m)baba. Of the important bearings of this western character of the
name Huwawa on the interpretation and origin of the Gilgamesh Epic,
suggesting that the episode of the encounter between the tyrant and
the two heroes rests upon a tradition of an expedition against the
West or Amurru land, we shall have more to say further on.
The variation in the writing of the name Enkidu is likewise
interesting. It is evident that the form in the old Babylonian
version with the sign du (i.e., dúg) is the original, for it furnishes
us with a suitable etymology "Enki is good." The writing with dúg,
pronounced du, also shows that the sign dú as the third element in the
form which the name has in the Assyrian version is to be read dú, and
that former readings like Ea-bani must be definitely abandoned. [41]
The form with dú is clearly a _phonetic_ writing of the Sumerian name,
the sign dú being chosen to indicate the _pronunciation_ (not the
ideograph) of the third element dúg. This is confirmed by the writing
En-gi-dú in the syllabary _CT_ XVIII, 30, 10. The phonetic writing
is, therefore, a warning against any endeavor to read the name by
an Akkadian transliteration of the signs. This would not of itself
prove that Enkidu is of Sumerian _origin_, for it might well be that
the writing En-ki-dú is an endeavor to give a Sumerian _aspect_ to
a name that _may_ have been foreign. The element dúg corresponds to
the Semitic _tâbu_, "good," and En-ki being originally a designation
of a deity as the "lord of the land," which would be the Sumerian
manner of indicating a Semitic Baal, it is not at all impossible
that En-ki-dúg may be the "Sumerianized" form of a Semitic BA`L TZOB
"Baal is good." It will be recalled that in the third column of the
Yale tablet, Enkidu speaks of himself in his earlier period while
still living with cattle, as wandering into the cedar forest of
Huwawa, while in another passage (ll. 252-253) he is described as
"acquainted with the way ... to the entrance of the forest." This
would clearly point to the West as the original home of Enkidu. We
are thus led once more to Amurru--taken as a general designation of
the West--as playing an important role in the Gilgamesh Epic. [42] If
Gilgamesh's expedition against Huwawa of the Lebanon district recalls
a Babylonian campaign against Amurru, Enkidu's coming from his home,
where, as we read repeatedly in the Assyrian version,
"He ate herbs with the gazelles,
Drank out of a trough with cattle," [43]
may rest on a tradition of an Amorite invasion of Babylonia. The
fight between Gilgamesh and Enkidu would fit in with this tradition,
while the subsequent reconciliation would be the form in which the
tradition would represent the enforced union between the invaders
and the older settlers.
Leaving this aside for the present, let us proceed to a consideration
of the relationship of the form dGish, for the chief personage
in the Epic in the old Babylonian version, to dGish-gi(n)-mash in
the Assyrian version. Of the meaning of Gish there is fortunately
no doubt. It is clearly the equivalent to the Akkadian _zikaru_,
"man" (Brünnow No. 5707), or possibly _rabû_, "great" (Brünnow
No. 5704). Among various equivalents, the preference is to be given
to _itlu_, "hero." The determinative for deity stamps the person so
designated as deified, or as in part divine, and this is in accord
with the express statement in the Assyrian version of the Gilgamesh
Epic which describes the hero as
"Two-thirds god and one-third human." [44]
Gish is, therefore, the hero-god _par excellence_; and this shows
that we are not dealing with a genuine proper name, but rather with a
descriptive attribute. Proper names are not formed in this way, either
in Sumerian or Akkadian. Now what relation does this form Gish bear to
[FIGURE]
as the name of the hero is invariably written in the Assyrian version,
the form which was at first read dIz-tu-bar or dGish-du-bar by
scholars, until Pinches found in a neo-Babylonian syllabary [45]