Gilg. OB VA+BM

col. i

1'       [...] wild bulls, the aurochs of [...,]

2'       [he] clothed himself in their skins, eating their flesh,

3'       Gilgameš [dug] wells that never existed before,

4'       [he] drank the water as he chased the winds.

5'       Šamaš became worried, so he bent down to him,

6'       he spoke to Gilgameš:

7'       “O Gilgameš, where are you wandering?

8'      You cannot find the life that you seek.”

9'       Gilgameš spoke to him, to the hero Šamaš:

10'     “After roaming, wandering through the wild,

11'     within the Netherworld there will be enough rest.

12'     I shall lie asleep down all the years,

13'     but now let my eyes look on the sun so I am sated with light.

14'     Is the darkness far, how much light is there?

15'     When may a dead man see the rays of the sun?

Lacuna. When the text resumes Gilgameš is speaking to the ale-wife:

col. ii

0'       [My friend, whom I love deeply,]

1'      who with me went through every danger,

2'       Enkidu, whom I love deeply,

3'       who with me went through every danger:

4'       he went to the destiny of mankind.

5''       I wept over him day and night.

6'       I did not give him up for burial –

7′       Would that my friend rise up at my cry –

8'       for seven days and seven nights,

9'      until a maggot dropped from his nostril.

10'     After he was gone I did not find life.

11′     I wandered about like a bandit through the midst of the wild.

12'     Now, ale-wife, I have seen your face,

13'    but I would not see death, that I ever fear.”

14'     The ale-wife spoke to him, to Gilgameš:

col. iii

1       “O Gilgameš, where are you wandering?

2       You cannot find the life that you seek:

3       when the gods created mankind,

4       for mankind they established death,

5       life they kept for themselves.

6       You, Gilgameš, let your belly be full,

7       keep enjoying yourself, day and night.

8       Every day make merry,

9       dance and play day and night.

10     Let your clothes be clean!

11     Let your hand be washed, may you be bathed in water.

12     Gaze on the little one who holds your hand!

13     Let a wife keep enjoying herself in your lap. Let a wife ever rejoice in your lap?

14     Such is the destiny [of mortal men],

15     that one who lives [...]”

16     Gilgameš [spoke] to her, [to the ale-wife:]

17     “Why, O ale-wife, do you talk [...?]

18     My heart is sick for my friend [...]

19     Why, O ale-wife, do you talk [...?]

20     My heart is sick for my Enkidu [...]

21     You dwell, O ale-wife, on the shore [of the ocean,]

22     you are familiar with all [...]

23     Show me the way [to ...!]

24     If it can be done [I will cross] the ocean!”

25     The ale-wife spoke to him, [to Gilgameš:]

26     “There was not, Gilgameš, one like you [...]

27     One who travels [...] who [...?]

28     Nobody [...]”

Lacuna. When the text resumes Gilgameš has fallen on the Stone Ones:

col. iv

1       He smashed them in his fury.

2       He came back to stand over him,

3       as Sursunabu looked him in the eye.

4       Sursunabu spoke to him, to Gilgameš:

5       “What is your name? Tell me!

6       I am Sursunabu, of Ūta-naʾištim, the Distant.”

7       G. spoke to him, to Sursunabu:

8       “Gilgameš is my name,

9       who came from Uruk-Eanna,

10     who came around the mountains,

11     a road so distant where the sun rises.

12     Now, Sursunabu, I have seen your face,

13     show me Ūta-naʾištim, the Far-Away!”

14     Sursunabu spoke to him, to Gilgameš:

15     “[...]

16     [to reach Ūta-naʾištim the] Far-Away,

17     [... you] must travel by boat,

18     [...] ..., I will take you near to (him).”

19     [They sat] down, talking it over between the two of them

20     and (Sursunabu) saying a word to him.

21     Sursunabu spoke to him, to Gilgameš:

22     The Stone Ones, Gilgameš, were what enabled me to cross,

23     because I must not touch the Waters of Death.

24     In your fury you have smashed them.

25     The Stone Ones were with me to take me across.

26     [Take] up, Gilgameš, the axe in your hand,

27     cut me three hundred [punting]-poles, each sixty cubits.

28     [...] ..., and equip them with bosses,

29     [...] in ... [...]”

Remainder lost.

i 10′: “like” in this text is kīma, not kī (cf. Streck 1999, 120 no. 164). Therefore, George’s rejection of the reading attalku kī is correct.

i 11′: See Streck 2007, 409 for the reading mādū instead of maṭû.

i 14′: See Streck 2007, 409 for the derivation from rêqu instead of reqû.

ii 7′: Wasserman in press suggests the translation “had only my friend risen at my cry”. But cf. Streck in press for an interpretation of the situation as potential and posterior in the past, following von Soden 1988, 81 “ob mein Freund nicht doch aufstünde von meinem Geschrei”, Tournay/Shaffer 203 “pour voir si mon ami se léverait à mes cris“, Hecker 1994, 665 “mein Freund hätte ja aufstehen können auf mein Geschrei” and Krebernik/Streck 2001, 62–63 (no. 45) and 65. Gilgameš refers to the time of his wailing over Enkidu when he still hoped that Enkidu would rise again. 

ii 11′: For ḫābilu “bandit” instead of “trapper” see Streck 2007, 409.

ii 14΄–iii 5: George 2003 assumes a different poetic structure. But note that the introduction of direct speech (l. ii 14΄) always forms a single poetic line and that the parallelism mūtam/balāṭam (l. iii 4–5) favors a tristich (l. iii 3–5).

iv 11: Cf. Streck 2007, 410 for the derivation from rêqu instead of reqû. The plene writing perhaps indicates emphasis.

iv 15–21: George 2003 assumes a different poetic structure. The structure assumed here (l. 14 and 20 each a single poetic line, l. 19–20 bound by the same tense) follows Hecker 1994, 667.