EPIC OF GILGAMESH TABLET XI
The Flood, Trial of Sleepessness, Foiled by the Serpent, Triumphant Return
Columns I - VI
- Column I
- To the most distant and removed of semi-gods, to Utnapishtim,
- Gilgamesh said: "When I regard you now, my god-like man,
- it's like seeing my own face on calm water
- where I dare to study myself.
- Like me, you are first of all a fighter who prefers to war-no-more.
- How could one like you, so human, all-too-human,
- ascend to be at one with other gods?"
- 10. Utnapishtim said to him in swift reply:
- "Only one as bold as you would dare expect
- such knowledge. But I shall tell you what
- no person has ever been told.
- High up the constant Euphrates
- there rests a place you call Shuruppak
- where gods and goddesses recline.
- Then came the flood, sent by gods' intent.
- Mama, Anu, and Enlil were at Shuruppak.
- So too was their coachman, Ninurta,
- 20. and Ennugi, the beastiarilis,
- and one who watches over precious infants,
- the ever vigilant Ea.
- And Ea refrained their chant to the higli-grown reeds
- upon the shore, giving this advice to me:
- 'Arise! Arise! Oh wall-like reeds.
- Arise and hear my words:
- Citizen of Shurtippak, child of Ubaratutu,
- abandon your home and build a boat.
- Reject the corpse-like stench of wealth.
- Choose to live and choose to love;
- 30. choose to rise above and give back
- what you yourself were given.
- Be moderate as you flee for survival
- in a boat that has no place for riches.
- Take the seed of all you need aboard
- with you and carefully weigh anchor
- after securing a roof that will let in no water.'
- "Then I said back in reverent prayer:
- 'I understand, great Ea.
- I shall do just as you say to honor god,
- 40. but for myself
- I'll have to find a reason to give the people.'
- "Then Ea voiced a fair reply:
- 'Tell those who'll need to know
- that Enlil hates you.
- Say: "I must flee the city now
- and go by sea to where Enlil waits to take my life.
- I will descend to the brink of Hell
- to be with Ea, god,
- who will send riches to you like the rain:
- 50. all manner of birds;
- birds ... bonds ... burds...
- and the rarest of rare fish.
- The land will fill with crops full grown at break of day.
- Ea will begin to shower
- gifts of life upon you all"."'
- Column II
- Then Utnapishtim continued, saying words like these:
- "By week's end I engineered designs
- for an acre's worth of floor upon the ark we built
- so that its walls rose straight toward heaven;
- 60. with decks all round did I design its space;
- 120 cubits measured its deck.
- With division of six and of seven
- I patterned its squares and stairs;
- left space for portals too,
- secured its beams and stockpiled
- all that ever could be used.
- Pitch for the hull I poured into the kiln
- and ordered three full volumes of oil
- to start with and two times three more yet.
- For what is security?
- 70. Each day I sacrificed the holy bulls
- and chosen sheep for the people
- and pushed the laborers to great fatigue
- and thirst, allayed alone by wine
- which they drank as if it were water running
- from barrels set up for holding cheer
- in preparation for a New Year's party they expected.
- I set up an ointment box
- and cleaned my fingers with its cream.
- "After one week, the ark was done,
- 80. though launching was more work than fun
- since hull boards caught and snapped
- until the water burst most of its great ton.
- I supplied the craft with all I owned
- of silver, gold, and seed.
- My clan brought on the food they'd eat
- and all the things we thought we'd need.
- At last, it was my turn just then
- to shepherd beasts and birds and
- babies wet and loud.
- 90. It was Shamash who ordained the time, saying:
- 'Prepare the way for your whole boat
- and set to sail when the storm
- begins to threaten you.'
- "The Anunnaki too then cried for them.
- The gods themselves, finally suffering, sat up
- and let their first tears flow down
- cheeks and over lips pressed closed.
- Column III
- "For the whole next week
- the sky screamed and storms wrecked the earth
- 100. and finally broke the war
- which groaned as one in labor's throes.
- Even Ishtar then bemoaned the
- fates of her sad people.
- Ocean silent.
- Winds dead.
- Flood ended.
- Then I see a dawn so still;
- all humans beaten to dirt
- and earth itself like some vast roof.
- 110. I peeked through the portal into a morning sun
- then turned, knelt and cried.
- Tears flooded down my face.
- "Then I searched high and low for the shoreline,
- finally spotting an island near and dear.
- Our boat stuck fast beside Mt. Nimush.
- Mt. Nimush held the hull that could not sway
- for one whole week.
- "I released the watch-bird, to soar in search of land.
- The bird came back within a day
- exhausted, unrelieved from lack of rest.
- 120. I then released a swallow, to soar in search of land,
- The bird came back within a day
- exhausted, unrelieved from lack of rest.
- I then released a raven, to soar in search of land.
- The bird took flight above more shallow seas,
- found food and found release and found no
- need to fly on back to me.
- "These birds I then released to carth's four corners
- and offered sacrifice,
- a small libation to the heights of many mountains,
- 130. from numbered chalices that I arranged.
- Under these I spread the scents that gods favored
- and when the gods smelled the sweet perfume of sacrifice,
- they gathered in flight all above, like apparitions.
- Column IV
- "From distant heights with heavenly sights,
- the female of all female gods descended then;
- Aruru who aroused the wry thought
- that Anu made for intercourse.
- 'Great gods from far and wide
- keep always in my mind
- 140. this thought for intercourse,
- tokened by the sacred blue medallion on my neck,
- Let me recall with smiles
- these days in days to come.
- Gods of my shoreline, gods of my sky,
- come round this food that I prepared for you;
- but do not let Enlil enjoy this too,
- since he's the one who drowned my relatives
- without telling the gods what he set out to do.'
- When Enlil saw the boat, he released
- 150. his calm reason and let in the lgigi, monsters of blood.
- 'What force dares defy my anger!?
- How dare a man be still alive!?'
- Then with these words Ninurta said to Enlil:
- 'Can any of us besides Ea, maker of words,
- create such things as speech?'
- Then with these words Ea himself said to Enlil:
- 'Sly god,
- sky darkener,
- and tough fighter,
- 160. how dare you drown so many little people
- without consulting me?
- Why not just kill the one who offended you,
- drown only the sinner?
- Keep hold of his lifecord; harness his destiny.
- Rather than killing rains, set cats at people's throats.
- Rather than killing rains, set starvation on dry, parched throats.
- Rather than killing rains, set sickness on the minds and hearts
- of people.
- I was not the one who revealed our god-awful secrets.
- Blame Utnapishtim, Mr. Know-it-all,
- 170. who sees everything,
- who knows everything."
- "Reflect on these stories, my Gilgamesh."
- "Then Enlil swooped down around my boat;
- he gently raised me from the slime,
- placed my wife beside my kneeling form
- and blessed us both at once with hands upon our bowed heads.
- So was it ordained.
- So we were ordained."
- Earlier than that time, Utnapishtim was not divine.
- 180. Then with his wife he was deified
- and sent to rule the place where rivers start.
- "Gods sent me everywhere to rule the place where rivers start."
- "As for you, Gilgamesh, which gods will be called on
- to direct your path and future life?
- Arise! Be alert! Stay up with stars for
- seven long and sleepless nights!"
- But even as he tried to stay awake,
- fog-like sleep rolled over his eyes.
- Then Utnapishtim said these words:
- 190. "Dear wife, behold the one who tries to pray
- while fog-like sleep rolls over his eyes."
- She said to him who rarely talks:
- "Arouse him now and let him
- leave unharmed. Permit that one
- to go back home at last."
- Column V
- Then Utnapishtim said these words:
- "An upset soul can upset many gods.
- Be kind with food and generous to him.
- But keep a count of how he
- 200. sleeps and what he eats."
- She was kind with food and gentle with the man
- and she kept count of how he slept.
- "One, two, three, abate,
- he slept with death~the-fairy.
- Four, five, six, abate,
- he looked so cold and wary."
- Then he returned from death to breath!
- 210. So Gilgamesh said to the One-who-rarely-spoke:
- "Just as I slipped toward sleep,
- you sent my dream."
- And to him in reply, Utnapishtim said these words:
- "One, two, three, alarie,
- you slept with death-the-fairy.
- Four, five, six, alarie,
- you looked so cold and wary.
- Then you arose from death to breath."
- So Gilgamesh said to the One-who-rarely-speaks:
- "Help me, Utnapishtim. Where is
- home for one like me whose self
- 220. was robbed of life? My own
- bed is where death sleeps and
- I crack her spine on every line
- where my foot falls."
- Utnapishtim calls out to the sailor-god:
- "Urshanabi, dear, you will never land
- again easily or easily sail the seas
- to shores where you no more will find safe harbor.
- Sandy and disheveled hair does not become
- the one you nearly drowned.
- 230. Shingles now spoil his hidden beauty.
- Better find a place to clean him up.
- Better race to pools of saltless water soon
- so that by noon he'll shine again for all of us to see.
- Tie up his curly hair with ribbon fair.
- Place on his shoulders broad the happy robe
- so that he may return to his native city easily in triumph.
- Allow him to wear the sacred elder's cloak
- and see that it is always kept as clean
- as it can be."
- The sailor-god brought Gilgamesh
- 240. to where they cleaned his wounds.
- By noon he shone again for all to see.
- He tied his curly hair with ribbon fair,
- and placed upon his shoulder broad the happy robe
- so he would return to Uruk easily in triumph
- with a cloak unstained and unstainable.
- Urshanabi and Gilgamesh launched the boat
- over the breakers on the beach and
- started to depart across the seas.
- Column VI
- To her distant husband, Utnapishtim's wife said:
- 250. "This Gilgamesh has labored much to come here.
- Can you reward him for traveling back?"
- At that very moment, Gilgamesh used paddles
- to return his craft along the shore.
- Then Utnapishtim called out to him:
- "Gilgamesh! You labored much to come here.
- How can I reward you for traveling back?
- May I share a special secret, one
- that the gods alone do know?
- There is a plant that hides somewhere among the rocks
- 260. that thirsts and thrusts itself deep
- in the earth, with thistles that sting.
- That plant contains eternal life for you."
- Immediately, Gilgamesh set out in search.
- Weighed down carefully, he dove beneath
- the cold, cold waters and saw the plant.
- Although it stung him when he grabbed its leaf,
- he held it fast as he then slipped off his weights
- and soared back to the surface.
- Then Gilgamesh said this to Urshanabi, the sailor-god:
- 270. "Here is the leaf that begins
- all life worth having.
- I am bound now for Uruk,
- town-so-full-of-shepherds,
- and there I'll dare to give
- this plant to aged men as food
- and they will call it life-giving.
- I too intend to eat it
- and to be made forever young."
- After 10 miles they ate.
- 280. After 15 miles they set up camp
- where Gilgamesh slipped into a pool;
- but in the pool, a cruel snake slithered by
- and stole the plant from Gilgamesh
- who saw the snake grow young again,
- as off it raced with the special, special plant.
- Right there and then Gilgamesh began to weep
- and, between sobs, said to the sailor-god who held his hand:
- "Why do I bother working for nothing?
- Who even notices what I do?
- 290. I don't value what I did
- and now only the snake has won eternal life. in minutes, swift currents will lose forever
- that special sign that god had left for me."
- Then they set out again,
- this time upon the land.
- After 10 miles they stopped to eat.
- After 30 miles they set up camp.
- Next day they came to Uruk, full of shepherds.
- 300. Then Gilgamesh said this to the boatman:
- "Rise up now, Urshanabi, and examine
- Uruk's wall. Study the base, the brick,
- the old design. is it permanent as can be?
- Does it look like wisdom designed it?
- The house of Ishtar in
- Uruk is divided into three parts:
- the town itself, the palm grove, and the prairie."
- Tablet I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII
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