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© Copyright 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 The ETCSL project, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford |
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| ETCSLtranslation |
| The death of Gilgameš: c.1.8.1.3 …… Gilgameš ……. (3 lines fragmentary) …… lord of Kulaba, …… hero of the pristine mountain, …… handiwork of the gods, (1 line fragmentary) …… of Ninsumun, …… Lugalbanda, …… Lord Nudimmud, (approx. 7 lines missing) |
| Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa (Version B): c.1.8.1.5.1 "In Unug people are dying, and souls are full of distress. People are lost -- that fills me with dismay. I lean out over the city wall: bodies in the water make the river almost overflow. That is what I see: that people die thus, which fills me with despair; that the end of life is unavoidable; that the grave, the all-powerful underworld, will spare no one; that no one is tall enough to block off the underworld; that no one is broad enough to cover over the underworld -- the boundary that a man cannot cross at the final end of life. By the life of my own mother Ninsumun, and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! My personal god Enki, Lord Nudimmud, (3 lines fragmentary)I will complete …… there. I will bring …… there." |
| Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa (Version B): c.1.8.1.5.1 Gilgameš awoke from his dream, shuddering from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes; there was eery silence everywhere." By the life of my own mother Ninsumun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! My personal god Enki, Lord Nudimmud ……! (2 lines missing)" |
| Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa (Version B): c.1.8.1.5.1 "By the life of my own mother Ninsumun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! My personal god Enki, Lord Nudimmud ……! Warrior, one would like to know where in the mountains you live. Here, they have made some tiny shoes for your tiny feet. Here, they have made some big shoes for your big feet. (4 lines missing)If you bring ……." |
| Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa (Version B): c.1.8.1.5.1 "By the life of my mother Ninsumun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! My personal god Enki, Lord Nudimmud ……! Warrior, one would like to know where in the mountains you live. Here, they have made some tiny shoes for your tiny feet. Here, they have made some big shoes for your big feet. (2 lines fragmentary)" |
| Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa (Version B): c.1.8.1.5.1 "Warrior, you lied! You have manhandled me; yet you had sworn an oath, by the life of your own mother Ninsumun and of your father, holy Lugalbanda. Your personal god Enki, Lord Nudimmud ……! And now you have thrown a halter over me as if over a captured wild bull, and have tied me up by the elbows like a captured warrior!" |
| Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa (Version A): c.1.8.1.5 "By the life of my own mother Ninsumun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! Am I to become again as if I were slumbering still on the lap of my own mother Ninsumun?" |
| Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa (Version A): c.1.8.1.5 A second time he spoke to him: "By the life of my own mother Ninsumun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! Until I discover whether that person was a human or a god, I shall not direct back to the city my steps which I have directed to the mountains." |
| Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa (Version A): c.1.8.1.5 Gilgameš rested his hand on the ground, and addressed Ḫuwawa: "By the life of my own mother Ninsumun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! No one really knows where in the mountains you live; they would like to know where in the mountains you live. Here, I have brought you En-me-barage-si, my big sister, to be your wife in the mountains." |
| Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa (Version A): c.1.8.1.5 And again he addressed him: "By the life of my mother Ninsumun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! No one really knows where in the mountains you live; they would like to know where in the mountains you live. Here, I have brought you Ma-tur, my little sister, to be your concubine in the mountains. Just hand over your terrors to me! I want to become your kinsman!" |
| Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa (Version A): c.1.8.1.5 { (Several mss. preserve a more elaborate, but repetitive, narrative built on the pattern of lines 145-148. Some preserve the repetitions in an extremely abbreviated form. No ms. known to be from Nibru preserves the additional lines. One ms. of unknown origin adds at least 53 lines (and another fragmentary ms. of unknown origin gives an abbreviated version of these, always replacing 'terror' by 'aura'):) And again he addressed him: "By the life of my mother Ninsumun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! No one really knows where in the mountains you live; they would like to know where in the mountains you live. Here, I have brought to the mountains for you ……. Couldn't I get close to you and your family? Just hand over your terrors to me! I want to become your kinsman!" Then Ḫuwawa handed over to him his second terror. Gilgameš's fellow-citizens who had come with him began to lop off the branches and bundle them together, so as to lay them down at the foot of the hills. } |
| Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa (Version A): c.1.8.1.5 { And a third time he addressed him: "By the life of my mother Ninsumun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! No one really knows where in the mountains you live; they would like to know where in the mountains you live. Here, I have brought to the mountains for you some eša flour -- the food of the gods! -- and a waterskin of cool water. Couldn't I get close to you and your family? Just hand over your terrors to me! I want to become your kinsman!" Then Ḫuwawa handed over to him his third terror. Gilgameš's fellow-citizens who had come with him began to lop off the branches and bundle them together, so as to lay them down at the foot of the hills. } |
| Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa (Version A): c.1.8.1.5 { And a fourth time he addressed him: "By the life of my mother Ninsumun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! No one really knows where in the mountains you live; they would like to know where in the mountains you live. Here, I have brought to for you some big shoes for big feet. Couldn't I get close to you and your family? Just hand over your terrors to me! I want to become your kinsman!" Then Ḫuwawa handed over to him his fourth terror. Gilgameš's fellow-citizens who had come with him began to lop off the branches and bundle them together, so as to lay them down at the foot of the hills. } |
| Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa (Version A): c.1.8.1.5 { And a fifth time he addressed him: "By the life of my mother Ninsumun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! No one really knows where in the mountains you live; they would like to know where in the mountains you live. Here, I have brought to the mountains for you some tiny shoes for your tiny feet. Couldn't I get close to you and your family? Just hand over your terrors to me! I want to become your kinsman!" Then Ḫuwawa handed over to him his fifth terror. Gilgameš's fellow-citizens who had come with him began to lop off the branches and bundle them together, so as to lay them down at the foot of the hills. } |
| Gilgameš and Ḫuwawa (Version A): c.1.8.1.5 { And a sixth time he addressed him: "By the life of my mother Ninsumun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! No one really knows where in the mountains you live; they would like to know where in the mountains you live. Here, I have brought you rock-crystal, nir stone and lapis lazuli -- from the mountains. Couldn't I get close to you and your family? Just hand over your terrors to me! I want to become your kinsman!" Then Ḫuwawa handed over to him his sixth terror. Gilgameš's fellow-citizens who had come with him began to lop off the branches and bundle them together, so as to lay them down at the foot of the hills. } |
| Lugalbanda in the mountain cave: c.1.8.2.1 Lugalbanda, the eighth of them, …… was washed in water. In awed silence he went forward, …… he marched with the troops. When they had covered half the way, covered half the way, a sickness befell him there, 'head sickness' befell him. He jerked like a snake dragged by its head with a reed; his mouth bit the dust, like a gazelle caught in a snare. No longer could his hands return the hand grip, no longer could he lift his feet high. Neither king nor contingents could help him. In the great mountains, crowded together like a dustcloud over the ground, they said: "Let them bring him to Unug." But they did not know how they could bring him." Let them bring him to Kulaba." But they did not know how they could bring him. As his teeth chattered (?) in the cold places of the mountains, they brought him to a warm place there. |
| Lugalbanda in the mountain cave: c.1.8.2.1 …… a storehouse, they made him an arbour like a bird's nest. …… dates, figs and various sorts of cheese; they put sweetmeats suitable for the sick to eat, in baskets of dates, and they made him a home. They set out for him the various fats of the cowpen, the sheepfold's fresh cheese, butter ……, as if laying a table for the holy place, the valued place (i.e. as if for a funerary offering). Directly in front of the table they arranged for him beer for drinking, mixed with date syrup and rolls …… with butter. Provisions poured into leather buckets, provisions all put into leather bags -- his brothers and friends, like a boat unloading from the harvest-place, placed stores by his head in the mountain cave. They …… water in their leather waterskins. Dark beer, alcoholic drink, light emmer beer, wine for drinking which is pleasant to the taste, they distributed by his head in the mountain cave as on a stand for waterskins. They prepared for him incense resin, …… resin, aromatic resin, ligidba resin and first-class resin on pot-stands in the deep hole; they suspended them by his head in the mountain cave. They pushed into place at his head his axe whose metal was tin, imported from the Zubi mountains. They wrapped up by his chest his dagger of iron imported from the Gig (Black) mountains. His eyes -- irrigation ditches, because they are flooding with water -- holy Lugalbanda kept open, directed towards this. The outer door of his lips -- overflowing like holy Utu -- he did not open to his brothers. When they lifted his neck, there was no breath there any longer. His brothers, his friends took counsel with one another: |
| Lugalbanda in the mountain cave: c.1.8.2.1 Like the dispersed holy cows of Nanna, as with a breeding bull when, in his old age, they have left him behind in the cattle pen, his brothers and friends abandoned holy Lugalbanda in the mountain cave; and with repeated tears and moaning, with tears, with lamentation, with grief and weeping, Lugalbanda's older brothers set off into the mountains. |
| Lugalbanda in the mountain cave: c.1.8.2.1 Then two days passed during which Lugalbanda was ill; to these two days, half a day was added. As Utu turned his glance towards his home, as the animals lifted their heads toward their lairs, at the day's end in the evening cool, his body was as if anointed with oil. But he was not yet free of his sickness. |
| Lugalbanda in the mountain cave: c.1.8.2.1 The bull that eats up the black soup, the astral holy bull-calf (i.e. the moon), came to watch over him. He shines (?) in the heavens like the morning star, he spreads bright light in the night -- Suen is greeted as the new moon; Father Nanna gives the direction for the rising Utu. The glorious lord whom the crown befits, Suen, the beloved son of Enlil, { the god } { (1 ms. has instead:) the lord } reached the zenith splendidly. His brilliance like { holy Šara } { (1 ms. has instead:) holy Utu } { (1 ms. has instead:) lapis lazuli }, his starry radiance illuminated for him the mountain cave. When Lugalbanda raised his eyes to heaven to Suen, he wept to him as if to his own father. In the mountain cave he raised to him his fair hands: |
| Lugalbanda in the mountain cave: c.1.8.2.1 A second time (i.e. at the following sunrise), as the bright bull rising up from the horizon, the bull resting among the cypresses, a shield standing on the ground, watched by the assembly, a shield coming out from the treasury, watched by the young men -- the youth Utu extended his holy splendour down from heaven { (1 ms. from Urim adds:) …… holy, his brilliance illuminated for him the mountain cave }, he bestowed them on holy Lugalbanda in the mountain cave. His good protective god hovered ahead of him, his good protective goddess walked behind him. The god which had smitten him { stepped aside } { (1 ms. has instead:) went out from him } { (1 ms. has instead:) went up and away from him }. When he raised his eyes heavenward to Utu, he wept to him as to his own father. In the mountain cave he raised to him his fair hands: |
| Lugalbanda in the mountain cave: c.1.8.2.1 Holy Lugalbanda came out from the mountain cave. Then the righteous one who takes counsel with Enlil (i.e. Utu ?) caused life-saving plants to be born. The rolling rivers, mothers of the hills, brought life-saving water. He bit on the life-saving plants, he sipped from the life-saving water. After biting on the life-saving plants, after sipping from the life-saving water, here he on his own set a trap (?) in the ground, and from that spot he sped away like a horse of the mountains. Like a lone wild ass of Šakkan he darted over the mountains. Like a large powerful donkey he raced; a slim donkey, eager to run, he bounded along. |
| Lugalbanda in the mountain cave: c.1.8.2.1 That night, in the evening, he set off, hurrying through the mountains, a waste land in the moonlight. He was alone and, even to his sharp eyes, there was not a single person to be seen. With the provisions stocked in leather pails, provisions put in leather bags, his brothers and his friends had been able to bake bread on the ground, with some cold water. Holy Lugalbanda had carried the things from the mountain cave. He set them beside the embers. He filled a bucket …… with water. In front of him he split what he had placed. He took hold of the …… stones. Repeatedly he struck them together. He laid the glowing (?) coals on the open ground. The fine flintstone caused a spark. Its fire shone out for him over the waste land like the sun. Not knowing how to bake cakes, not knowing an oven, with just seven coals he baked giziešta dough. While the bread was baking by itself, he pulled up šulḫi reeds of the mountains, roots and all, and stripped their branches. He packed up all the cakes as a day's ration. Not knowing how to bake cakes, not knowing an oven, with just seven coals he had baked giziešta dough. He garnished it with sweet date syrup. |
| Lugalbanda in the mountain cave: c.1.8.2.1 A brown wild bull, a fine-looking wild bull, a wild bull tossing its horns, a wild bull in hunger (?), resting, seeking with its voice the brown wild bulls of the hills, the pure place -- in this way it was chewing aromatic šimgig as if it were barley, it was grinding up the wood of the cypress as if it were esparto grass, it was sniffing with its nose at the foliage of the šenu shrub as if it were grass. It was drinking the water of the rolling rivers, it was belching from ilinnuš, the pure plant of the mountains. While the brown wild bulls, the wild bulls of the mountains, were browsing about among the plants, Lugalbanda captured this one in his ambush (?). He uprooted a juniper tree of the mountains and stripped its branches. With a knife holy Lugalbanda trimmed its roots, which were like the long rushes of the field. He tethered the brown wild bull, the wild bull of the mountains, to it with a halter. |
| Lugalbanda in the mountain cave: c.1.8.2.1 A brown goat and a buck-goat -- flea-bitten goats, lousy goats, fatty (?) goats -- in this way they were chewing aromatic šimgig as if it were barley, they were grinding up the wood of the cypress as if it were esparto grass, they were sniffing with their noses at the foliage of the šenu shrub as if it were grass. They were drinking the water of the rolling rivers, they were belching from ilinnuš, the pure plant of the mountains. While the brown goats and the buck-goats were browsing about among the plants, Lugalbanda captured these two in his ambush (?). He uprooted a juniper tree of the mountains and stripped its branches. With a knife holy Lugalbanda cut off its roots, which were like the long rushes of the field. With chains he fettered the brown goat and the buck-goat, both the goats. { (1 ms. adds:) ……, he piled up ……. } |
| Lugalbanda in the mountain cave: c.1.8.2.1 He was alone and, even to his sharp eyes, there was not a single person to be seen. Sleep overcame the king (i.e. Lugalbanda) -- sleep, the country of oppression; it is like a towering flood, like a hand demolishing a brick wall, a hand raised high, a foot raised high; covering like syrup that which is in front of it, overflowing like syrup onto that which is in front of it; it knows no overseer, knows no captain, yet it is overpowering for the hero. And by means of Ninkasi's wooden cask (i.e. with the help of beer), sleep finally overcame Lugalbanda. He laid down ilinnuš, pure herb of the mountains, as a couch, he spread out a zulumḫi garment, he unfolded there a white linen sheet. There being no …… room for bathing, he made do with that place. The king lay down not to sleep, he lay down to dream -- not turning back at the door of the dream, not turning back at the door-pivot. To the liar it talks in lies, to the truthful it speaks truth. It can make one man happy, it can make another man sing, but it is the closed tablet-basket of the gods. It is the beautiful bedchamber of Ninlil, it is the counsellor of Inana. The multiplier of mankind, the voice of one not alive -- Zangara, the god of dreams, himself like a bull, bellowed at Lugalbanda. Like the calf of a cow he lowed: |
| Lugalbanda in the mountain cave: c.1.8.2.1 Lugalbanda awoke -- it was a dream. He shivered -- it was sleep. He rubbed his eyes, he was overawed. He took his axe whose metal was tin, he wielded his dagger which was of iron. Like an athlete he brought away the brown wild bull, the wild bull of the mountains, like a wrestler he made it submit. Its strength left it. He offered it before the rising sun. He heaped up like barleycorns the heads of the brown goat and the buck-goat, both of the goats. He poured out their blood in the pit so that their smell wafted out in the desert. The alert snakes of the mountains sniffed it. |
| Lugalbanda in the mountain cave: c.1.8.2.1 As the sun was rising ……, Lugalbanda, invoking the name of Enlil, made An, Enlil, Enki and Ninḫursaĝa sit down to a banquet at the pit, at the place in the mountains which he had prepared. The banquet was set, the libations were poured -- dark beer, alcoholic drink, light emmer beer, wine for drinking which is pleasant to the taste. Over the plain he poured cool water as a libation. He put the knife to the flesh of the brown goats, and he roasted the dark livers there. He let their smoke rise there, like incense put on the fire. As if Dumuzid had brought in the good savours of the cattle pen, so An, Enlil, Enki and Ninḫursaĝa consumed the best part of the food prepared by Lugalbanda. Like the shining place of pure strength, the holy altar of Suen, ……. On top of the altar of Utu and the altar of Suen ……, he decorated the two altars with the lapis lazuli …… of Inana. Suen ……. He bathed the a-an-kar. When he had bathed the ……, he set out all the cakes properly. |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 Lugalbanda lies idle in the mountains, in the faraway places; he has ventured into the Zabu mountains. No mother is with him to offer advice, no father is with him to talk to him. No one is with him whom he knows, whom he values, no confidant is there to talk to him. In his heart he speaks to himself: "I shall treat the bird as befits him, I shall treat Anzud as befits him. I shall greet his wife affectionately. I shall seat Anzud's wife and Anzud's child at a banquet. An will fetch Ninguena for me from her mountain home -- the expert woman who redounds to her mother's credit, Ninkasi the expert who redounds to her mother's credit. Her fermenting-vat is of green lapis lazuli, her beer cask is of refined silver and of gold. If she stands by the beer, there is joy, if she sits by the beer, there is gladness; as cupbearer she mixes the beer, never wearying as she walks back and forth, Ninkasi, the keg at her side, on her hips; may she make my beer-serving perfect. When the bird has drunk the beer and is happy, when Anzud has drunk the beer and is happy, he can help me find the place to which the troops of Unug are going, Anzud can put me on the track of my brothers." |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 Lugalbanda is wise and he achieves mighty exploits. In preparation of the sweet celestial cakes he added carefulness to carefulness. He kneaded the dough with honey, he added more honey to it. He set them before the young nestling, before the Anzud chick, gave the baby fatty meat to eat. He fed it sheep's fat. He popped the cakes into its beak. He settled the Anzud chick in its nest, painted its eyes with kohl, dabbed white cedar scent onto its head, put up a twisted roll of salt meat. He withdrew from the Anzud's nest, awaited him in the mountains where no cypresses grow. At that time the bird was herding together wild bulls of the mountains, Anzud was herding together wild bulls of the mountains. He held a live bull in his talons, he carried a dead bull across his shoulders. He poured forth his bile like 10 gur of water. The bird halted (?) once, Anzud halted (?) once. When the bird called back to the nest, when Anzud called back to the nest, his fledgling did not answer him from the nest. When the bird called a second time to the nest, his fledgling did not answer from the nest. Whenever the bird had called back to the nest before, his fledgling had answered from the nest; but now when the bird called back to the nest, his fledgling did not answer him from the nest. The bird uttered a cry of grief that reached up to heaven, his wife cried out "Woe!" Her cry reached the abzu. The bird with this cry of "Woe!" and his wife with this cry of grief made the Anuna, gods of the mountains, actually crawl into crevices like ants. The bird says to his wife, Anzud says to his wife," Foreboding weighs upon my nest, as over the great cattle-pen of Nanna. Terror lies upon it, as when wild lions start butting each other. Who has taken my child from its nest? Who has taken the Anzud from its nest?" |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 Lugalbanda, partly from fright, partly from delight, partly from fright, partly from deep delight, flatters the bird, flatters Anzud: "Bird with sparkling eyes, born in this district, Anzud with sparkling eyes, born in this district, you frolic as you bathe in a pool. Your grandfather, the prince of all patrimonies, placed heaven in your hand, set earth at your feet. Your wingspan extended is like a birdnet stretched out across the sky! …… on the ground your talons are like a trap laid for the wild bulls and wild cows of the mountains! Your spine is as straight as a scribe's! Your breast as you fly is like Niraḫ parting the waters! As for your back, you are a verdant palm garden, breathtaking to look upon. Yesterday I escaped safely to you, since then I have entrusted myself to your protection. Your wife shall be my mother" (he said)," You shall be my father" (he said)," I shall treat your little ones as my brothers. Since yesterday I have been waiting for you in the mountains where no cypresses grow. Let your wife stand beside you to greet me. I offer my greeting and leave you to decide my destiny." |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 The bird presents himself before him, rejoices over him, Anzud presents himself before him, rejoices over him. Anzud says to holy Lugalbanda," Come now, my Lugalbanda. Go like a boat full of precious metals, like a grain barge, like a boat going to deliver apples, like a boat piled up high with a cargo of cucumbers, casting a shade, like a boat loaded lavishly at the place of harvest, go back to brick-built Kulaba with head held high!" -- Lugalbanda who loves the seed will not accept this. |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 "Like Šara, Inana's beloved son, shoot forth with your barbed arrows like a sunbeam, shoot forth with reed-arrows like moonlight! May the barbed arrows be a horned viper to those they hit! Like a fish killed with the cleaver, may they be magic-cut! May you bundle them up like logs hewn with the axe!" -- Lugalbanda who loves the seed will not accept this. |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 "May Ninurta, Enlil's son, set the helmet Lion of Battle on your head, may the breastplate (?) that in the great mountains does not permit retreat be laid on your breast! May you …… the battle-net against the enemy! When you go to the city, ……!" -- Lugalbanda who loves the seed will not accept this. |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 "The plenty of Dumuzi's holy butter churn, whose butter is the butter of all the world, shall be granted (?) to you. Its milk is the milk of all the world. It shall be granted (?) to you." -- Lugalbanda who loves the seed will not accept this. As a kib bird, a freshwater kib, as it flies along a lagoon, he answered him in words. |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 The bird listened to him. Anzud said to holy Lugalbanda," Now look, my Lugalbanda, just think again. It's like this: a wilful plough-ox should be put back in the track, a balking ass should be made to take the straight path. Still, I shall grant you what you put to me. I shall assign you an allotted destiny according to your wishes." |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 Holy Lugalbanda answers him: "Let the power of running be in my thighs, let me never grow tired! Let there be strength in my arms, let me stretch my arms wide, let my arms never become weak! Moving like the sunlight, like Inana, like the seven storms, those of Iškur, let me leap like a flame, blaze like lightning! Let me go wherever I look to, set foot wherever I cast my glance, reach wherever my heart desires and let me loosen my shoes in whatever place my heart has named to me! When Utu lets me reach Kulaba my city, let him who curses me have no joy thereof; let him who wishes to strive with me never say "Just let him come!" I shall have the woodcarvers fashion statues of you, and you will be breathtaking to look upon. Your name will be made famous thereby in Sumer and will redound to the credit of the temples of the great gods." |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 So Anzud says to holy Lugalbanda: "The power of running be in your thighs! Never grow tired! Strength be in your arms! Stretch your arms wide, may your arms never become weak! Moving like the sun, like Inana, like the seven storms of Iškur, leap like a flame, blaze like lightning! Go wherever you look to, set foot wherever you cast your glance, reach wherever your heart desires, loosen your shoes in whatever place your heart has named to you! When Utu lets you reach Kulaba your city, he who curses you shall have no joy thereof; he who wishes to strive with you shall never say "Just let him come!" When you have had the woodcarvers fashion statues of me, I shall be breathtaking to look upon. My name will be made famous thereby in Sumer and will redound to the credit of the temples of the great gods. May …… shake for you …… like a sandal. …… the Euphrates …… your feet ……." |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 He took in his hand such of his provisions as he had not eaten, and his weapons one by one. Anzud flew on high, Lugalbanda walked on the ground. The bird, looking from above, spies the troops. Lugalbanda, looking from below, spies the dust that the troops have stirred up. The bird says to Lugalbanda," Come now, my Lugalbanda. I shall give you some advice: may my advice be heeded. I shall say words to you: bear them in mind. What I have told you, the fate I have fixed for you, do not tell it to your comrades, do not explain it to your brothers. Fair fortune may conceal foul: it is indeed so. Leave me to my nest: you keep to your troops." The bird hurried to his nest. Lugalbanda set out for the place where his brothers were. |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 Like a pelican emerging from the sacred reedbed, like laḫama deities going up from the abzu, like one who is stepping from heaven to earth, Lugalbanda stepped into the midst of his brothers' picked troops. His brothers chattered away, the troops chattered away. His brothers, his friends weary him with questions: "Come now, my Lugalbanda, here you are again! The troops had abandoned you as one killed in battle. Certainly, you were not eating the good fat of the herd! Certainly, you were not eating the sheepfold's fresh cheese. How is it that you have come back from the great mountains, where no one goes alone, whence no one returns to mankind?" Again his brothers, his friends weary him with questions: "The banks of the mountain rivers, mothers of plenty, are widely separated. How did you cross their waters? -- as if you were drinking them?" |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 Holy Lugalbanda replies to them," The banks of the mountain rivers, mothers of plenty, are widely separated. With my legs I stepped over them, I drank them like water from a waterskin; and then I snarled like a wolf, I grazed the water-meadows, I pecked at the ground like a wild pigeon, I ate the mountain acorns." Lugalbanda's brothers and friends consider the words that he has said to them. Exactly as if they were small birds flocking together all day long they embrace him and kiss him. As if he were a gamgam chick sitting in its nest, they feed him and give him drink. They drive away sickness from holy Lugalbanda. |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 Lugalbanda alone arose from the people and said to him," My king, I will go to the city, but no one shall go with me. I will go alone to Kulaba. No one shall go with me." -- "If you go to the city, no one shall go with you. You shall go alone to Kulaba, no one shall go with you." He swore by heaven and by earth: "Swear that you will not let go from your hands the great emblems of Kulaba." |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 Thereupon holy Lugalbanda came forth from the palace. Although his brothers and his comrades barked at him as at a foreign dog trying to join a pack of dogs, he stepped proudly forward like a foreign wild ass trying to join a herd of wild asses." Send someone else to Unug for the lord." -- "For Enmerkar son of Utu I shall go alone to Kulaba. No one shall go with me" -- how he spoke to them!" Why will you go alone and keep company with no one on the journey? If our beneficent spirit does not stand by you there, if our good protective deity does not go with you there, you will never again stand with us where we stand, you will never again dwell with us where we dwell, you will never again set your feet on the ground where our feet are. You will not come back from the great mountains, where no one goes alone, whence no one returns to mankind!" -- "Time is passing, I know. None of you is going with me over the great earth." While the hearts of his brothers beat loudly, while the hearts of his comrades sank, Lugalbanda took in his hand such of his provisions as he had not eaten, and each of his weapons one by one. From the foot of the mountains, through the high mountains, into the flat land, from the edge of Anšan to the top of Anšan, he crossed five, six, seven mountains. |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 By midnight, but before they had brought the offering-table to holy Inana, he set foot joyfully in brick-built Kulaba. His lady, holy Inana, sat there on her cushion. He bowed and prostrated himself on the ground. With { (1 ms. adds:) joyful } eyes Inana looked at holy Lugalbanda as she would look at the shepherd Ama-ušumgal-ana. In a { (1 ms. adds:) joyful } voice, Inana spoke to holy Lugalbanda as she would speak to her son Lord Šara: "Come now, my Lugalbanda, why do you bring news from the city? How have you come here alone from Aratta?" |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 Holy Lugalbanda answered her: "What Enmerkar son of Utu quoth and what he says, what your brother quoth and what he says, is: "Once upon a time my princely sister holy Inana summoned me in her holy heart from the mountains, had me enter brick-built Kulaba. Where there was a marsh then in Unug, it was full of water. Where there was any dry land, Euphrates poplars grew there. Where there were reed thickets, old reeds and young reeds grew there. Divine Enki who is king in Eridu tore up for me the old reeds, drained off the water completely. For fifty years I built, for fifty years I was successful. Then the Martu peoples, who know no agriculture, arose in all Sumer and Akkad. But the wall of Unug extended out across the desert like a bird net. Yet now, here in this place, my attractiveness to her has dwindled. My troops are bound to me as a cow is bound to its calf; but like a son who, hating his mother, leaves his city, my princely sister holy Inana has run away from me back to brick-built Kulaba. If she loves her city and hates me, why does she bind the city to me? If she hates the city and yet loves me, why does she bind me to the city? If the mistress removes herself from me to her holy chamber and abandons me like an Anzud chick, then may she at least bring me home to brick-built Kulaba: on that day my spear shall be laid aside. On that day she may shatter my shield. Speak thus to my princely sister, holy Inana."" |
| Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2 Praise be to holy Lugalbanda. |
| The Sumerian king list: c.2.1.1 In E-ana, Meš-ki-aĝ-gašer, the son of Utu, became lord and king; he ruled for { 324 } { (ms. P2+L2 has instead:) 325 } years. Meš-ki-aĝ-gašer entered the sea and disappeared. Enmerkar, the son of Meš-ki-aĝ-gašer, the king of Unug, { who built Unug } { (mss. L1+N1, P2+L2 have instead:) under whom Unug was built }, became king; he ruled for { 420 } { (ms. TL has instead:) 900 + X } years. { (ms. P3+BT14 adds:) 745 are the years of the dynasty of Meš-ki-aĝ-gašer. } { (ms TL adds instead:) ……; he ruled for 5 + X years. } Lugalbanda, the shepherd, ruled for 1200 years. Dumuzid, the fisherman whose city was Kuara, ruled for { 100 } { (ms. TL has instead:) 110 } years. { (ms. P3+BT14 adds:) He captured En-me-barage-si single-handed. } Gilgameš, whose father was a phantom (?), the lord of Kulaba, ruled for 126 years. Ur-Nungal, the son of Gilgameš, ruled for 30 years. Udul-kalama, the son of { Ur-Nungal } { (ms. Su1 has instead:) Ur-lugal }, ruled for 15 years. Lā-ba’šum ruled for 9 years. En-nun-taraḫ-ana ruled for 8 years. Meš-ḫe, the smith, ruled for 36 years. { Melem-ana } { (ms. Su2 has instead:) Til-kug (?) …… } ruled for { 6 } { (ms. Su2 has instead:) 900 } years. Lugal-kitun (?) ruled for { 36 } { (ms. Su2 has instead:) 420 } years. 12 kings; they ruled for { 2310 } { (ms. Su2 has instead:) 3588 } years. Then Unug was defeated and the kingship was taken to Urim. |
| The lament for Sumer and Urim: c.2.2.3 On that day, the storm forced people to live in darkness. In order to destroy Kuara, it forced people to live in darkness. Nineḫama in her fear wept bitter tears." Alas the destroyed city, my destroyed house," she cried bitterly. Asarluḫi put his robes on with haste and ……. Lugalbanda took an unfamiliar path away from his beloved dwelling. { (1 ms. adds:) Ninsumun ……. } "Alas the destroyed city, my destroyed house," she cried bitterly. |
| A praise poem of Šulgi (Šulgi A): c.2.4.2.01 Truly I am not boasting! Wherever I look to, there I go; wherever my heart desires, I reach. { (1 ms. adds at least 10 lines:) By the life of my father holy Lugalbanda, and Nanna the king of heaven and earth, I swear that the words written on my tablet are ……. (at least 4 lines missing or unclear) …… since the days of yore, since ………, no king of Sumer as great as I has existed for the people. } An placed a { legitimate and lofty } { (some mss. have:) golden } { (1 ms. has:) good silver } { (1 ms. has:) silver } crown firmly on my head. |
| A praise poem of Šulgi (Šulgi D): c.2.4.2.04 Shepherd Šulgi, when your seed was placed in the holy womb, your mother Ninsumun gave birth to you; your personal god, holy Lugalbanda, fashioned you; Mother Nintur nurtured you; An named you with a good name; Enlil lifted your head; Ninlil loved you. The princely son of the E-kur ……. The king, the holy barge which traverses the sky, Nanna, the lord ……, Suen ……. (2 lines fragmentary) |
| A praise poem of Šulgi (Šulgi P): c.2.4.2.16 (1 line fragmentary) …… shining ……. He (probably Lugalbanda) spoke to her (probably Ninsumun) tenderly ……: "He will accomplish precisely the fate determined for him. Your father holy An will make his branches spread as if he were a sappy cedar planted among hašur trees." |
| A praise poem of Šulgi (Šulgi P): c.2.4.2.16 Then my lady stepped up (?) to the word of An, Ninsumun made a fateful decision with her spouse, holy Lugalbanda; she attended to his supplication. She went straight to holy An in the Ubšu-unkena: |
| A praise poem of Šulgi (Šulgi P): c.2.4.2.16 "Your holy name is worthy of being praised; may it please the flesh of the great gods like fine oil! An has given you a sceptre for rendering judgments; may your head be raised high! Your father who begot you, holy Lugalbanda, has named you as the 'Valiant one whom An made known among the gods'. He has made you acquire (?) a ……. He has adorned you with a royal crown; may he purify (?) your breath of life with an enduring sceptre!" |
| A praise poem of Šulgi (Šulgi W): c.2.4.2.23 …… Šulgi, king of Urim. I am ……. My ……. …… for my father. …… Lugalbanda ……. I will rejoice ……. (6 lines fragmentary) (unknown no. of lines missing) |
| A hymn to Ḫendursaĝa (Ḫendursaĝa A): c.4.06.1 So that everywhere …… and holy places will be established, and so that Gibil the pure (i.e. fire) will be available before the E-kur, Lady Ninmug stands by at your behest. So that the holy orchards (?) will be opened up, { Ama-abzu-E-kura } { (1 ms. has instead:) Dumuzid-abzu } stands by at your behest. So that the bolts of holy houses will be opened, { Ninniĝbunara } { (1 ms. has instead:) Ninĝarĝarĝar (?) } stands by at your behest. So that there will be joy in Umma, Ninbi-šu-kale stands by at your behest. So that Aratta will be overwhelmed (?), Lugalbanda stands by at your behest. So that Niĝin will rise above the waters like a mountain, the minister …… stands by at your behest. So that ……, …… stands by at your behest. (approx. 51 lines missing) |
| A balbale to Inana (Dumuzid-Inana E1): c.4.08.31 (2 lines fragmentary) …… Lugalbanda. …… Ninsumun. Durtur …… kohl on her eyes. (2 lines fragmentary) |
| An adab to Nanna (Nanna H): c.4.13.08 O house of …… in ……, city founded by An! O house of …… in ……, city founded by An! O house of Lugalbanda in ……, city founded by An! O house of …… in ……, city founded by An! O house of Inana in Zabalam, city founded by An! |
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