Gilg. OB Išchali

obv.

1′       [...] Ḫuwawa:

2′       “[...] was crying for [...],

3′       [...] I look at [...]

4′       [...] took hold of us,

5′       ... [...] ... before us.”

6′       Enkidu said to him, to Gilgameš:

7′       Smite Ḫuwawa, the [ogre, ...] of your gods!

8′       [...] ... [...] ...,

9′       [Why, my friend, have] you had mercy on him?”

10′     Gilgameš [said] to [him,] to Enkidu:

11′     Now, my friend, we must achieve victory!

12′    The auras are escaping in the wood,

13′    the auras are escaping and

         the radiant sheens are fading into the mist.”

14′     Enkidu said to him, to Gilgameš:

15′     “My friend, catch a bird and where will its chicks go?

edge

16′     Let us look for the auras later!

17′     As the chicks run here and there in the grass (, they [the auras] are running about).

18′     Smite him a second time and slay the one who serves him ...!”

rev.

19′     Gilgameš heard the word of his companion,

20′     he took up (his) axe in the hand,

21′     he drew forth the dirk from his belt.

22′     Gilgameš smote the neck,

23′     Enkidu his friend gave encouragement.

24′     He ... he fell,

25′     the ravines carrying ... his blood.

26′     Ḫuwawa the guardian he smote to the ground,

27′     for two leagues [(...)] afar.

28′     With him he smote ...,

29′     the forests he [...] ...

30′     He slew the ogre, the forest’s guardian,

31′     at whose yell were split asunder Sirion and Lebanon.

32′     ... the mountains...,

33′     all the uplands trembled.

34′     He slew the ogre, the cedar’s guardian,

35′     the broken ... [...].

         As soon as he had slain (all) seven,

36′     the war-net of two talents and dirk of 8 talents,

37′     a burden of 10 talents he took up,

         he went down and trampled through the forest.

38′     He discovered the secret abode of the Anunaki,

39′     Gilgameš felling the trees, Enkidu choosing the best timber.

40′     Enkidu said to him, to Gilgameš:

41′     “[...] Gilgameš, smite the cedar!

42′     [...] at your side,

43′     [...] 30 reeds long.”

Gap of 10 or 12 lines, then left edge (mostly erased):

1′′     [...] ... Euphrates...

2′′     [...] ... cedar.

General: Unless noted, the transliteration and translation follow George 2003.

7′–13′: George 2003 assumes a different poetic structure.

13′: Alternative reading, according to George 2003, irrubū “are entering”.

15′–21′: George 2003 assumes a different poetic structure. Note the tristich l. 19′–21′, bound by partly parallel syntax and rhyme (raʾešu//qātišu//šibbišu).

17′: The interpretation of the line as a temporal clause given in George 2003 seems to make little sense. The present translation thus follows the old interpretation as a comparative clause. See Streck 1999, 138 no. 206. – We prefer the reading di-ši-im over George’s qí-ši-im “wood” which, according to George 2003, 264 “is not impossible”.