Epic of Gilgamesh

Historical notes

NOTES [1] Ni. 13981, published by Dr. Poebel in PBS. V, No. 2. [2] The local Bel of Erech and a bye-form of Enlil, the earth god. Here he is the consort of the mother goddess Ninsun. [3] Tammuz is probably a real personage, although _Dumu-zi_, his original name, is certainly later than the title _Ab-u_, probably the oldest epithet of this deity, see _Tammuz and Ishtar_, p. 8. _Dumu-zi_ I take to have been originally the name of a prehistoric ruler of Erech, identified with the primitive deity Abu. [4] See _ibid._, page 40. [5] Also Meissner's early Babylonian duplicate of Book X has invariably the same writing, see Dhorme, _Choix de Textes Religieux_, 298-303. [6] Sign whose gunufied form is read _aga_. [7] The standard text of the Assyrian version is by Professor Paul Haupt, _Das Babylonische Nimrodepos_, Leipzig, 1884. [8] The name of the mother of Gilgamish has been erroneously read _ri-mat ilat_Nin-lil, or _Rimat-Belit_, see Dhorme 202, 37; 204, 30, etc. But Dr. Poebel, who also copied this text, has shown that _Nin-lil_ is an erroneous reading for _Nin-sun_. For _Ninsun_ as mother of Gilgamish see SBP. 153 n. 19 and R.A., IX 113 III 2. _Ri-mat ilat_Nin-sun should be rendered "The wild cow Ninsun." [9] The fragments which have been assigned to Book II in the British Museum collections by Haupt, Jensen, Dhorme and others belong to later tablets, probably III or IV. [10] Rm. 289, latter part of Col. II (part of the Assyrian version) published in HAUPT, _ibid._, 81-4 preserves a defective text of this part of the epic. This tablet has been erroneously assigned to Book IV, but it appears to be Book III. [11] K. 2589 and duplicate (unnumbered) in Haupt, _ibid._, 16-19. [12] See also Ward, No. 199. [13] Here this late text includes both variants _pasaru_ and _zakaru_. The earlier texts have only the one or the other. [14] For _kakabe_; _b_ becomes _u_ and then is reduced to the breathing. [15] The variants have _kima kisri_; _ki-[ma]?-rum_ is a possible reading. The standard Assyrian texts regard Enkidu as the subject. [16] Var. _da-an_ [17] _SAM-KAK_ = _ilu_, net. The variant has _ultaprid ki-is-su-su_, "he shook his murderous weapon." For _kissu_ see ZA. 9,220,4 = CT. 12,14b 36, _gis-kud_ = _ki-is-su_. [18] Var. _nussu_ for _nus-su_ = _nussa-su_. The previous translations of this passage are erroneous. [19] This is to my knowledge the first occurence of the infinitive of this verb, _paheru_, not _paharu_. [20] Text _ma_? [21] _istanamma_ > _istilamma_. [22] Cf. Code of Hammurapi IV 52 and Streck in _Babyloniaca_ II 177. [23] Restored from Tab. I Col. IV 21. [24] Cf. Dhorme _Choix de Textes Religieux_ 198, 33. [25] _namastu_ a late form which has followed the analogy of _restu_ in assuming the feminine _t_ as part of the root. The long _u_ is due to analogy with _namassu_ a Sumerian loan-word with nisbe ending. [26] Room for a small sign only, perhaps _A; maiak_? For _maka_, there, see BEHRENS, LSS. II page 1 and index. [27] Infinitive "to shepherd"; see also Poebel, PBS. V 106 I, _ri-ia-u_, _ri-te-ia-u_. [28] The text has clearly _AD-RI_. [29] Or _azzammim_? The word is probably an adverb; hardly a word for cup, mug (??). [30] _it_ is uncertain and _ta_ more likely than _us_. One expects _ittabriru_. Cf. _muttabrirru_, CT. 17, 15, 2; _littatabrar_, EBELING, KTA. 69, 4. [31] For _sapparu_. Text and interpretation uncertain. _uttappis_ II2 from _tapasu_, Hebrew _tapas_, seize. [32] Text _ta_! [33] On _ekesu_, drive away, see Zimmern, _Shurpu_, p. 56. Cf. _uk-kis _ Myhrman, PBS. I 14, 17; _uk-ki-si_, King, Cr. App. V 55; etc., etc. [34] The Hebrew cognate of _masu_, to forget, is _nasa_, Arabic _nasijia_, and occurs here in Babylonian for the first time. See also Brockelman, _Vergleichende Grammatik_ 160 a. [35] Probably phonetic variant of _edir_. The preterite of _ederu_, to be in misery, has not been found. If this interpretation be correct the preterite _edir_ is established. For the change _r_ > _l_ note also _attalah_ < _attarah_, Harper, _Letters_ 88, 10, _bilku_ < _birku_, RA. 9, 77 II 13; _uttakkalu_ < _uttakkaru_, Ebeling, KTA. 49 IV 10. [36] Also _na_-'-[ -]_ma_ is possible. [37] The text cannot be correct since it has no intelligible sign. My reading is uncertain. [38] Text uncertain, _kal-lu-tim_ is possible. [39] _KAK-si_. [40] _KAK-si_. [41] Literally nostrils. _pitik apunnati-su_, work done in his presence(?). The meaning of the idiom is uncertain. [42] Text _ZU_! [43] Text has erroneous form. [44] Text _PA-it-tam_ clearly! [45] Omitted by the scribe. [46] Sic! The plural of _kakku_, _kakkitu_(?). [47] Cf. _e-pi-sa-an-su-nu libaru_, "May they see their doings," _Maklu_ VII 17. [48] For _sakin-sum_. [49] On the verb _naku_ see the Babylonian Book of Proverbs Sec. 27. [50] The verb _la'atu_, to pierce, devour, forms its preterite _ilut_; see VAB. IV 216, 1. The present tense which occurs here as _ilut_ also. [51] Note _BUL(tu-ku)_ = _ratatu_ (falsely entered in Meissner, SAI. 7993), and _irattutu_ in Zimmern, _Shurpu_, Index. [52] "For _ipsah_." [53] Sic! _hu_ reduced to the breathing _'u_; read _i-ni-'u_. [54] The tablet is reckoned at forty lines in each column, [55] Literally "he attained my front." [56] IV1 of _waladu_. [57] I.e., in the suburb of Erech. [58] _pataku_ has apparently the same sense originally as _bataku_, although the one forms its preterite _iptik_, and the other _ibtuk_. Cf. also _mahasu_ break, hammer and construct. [59] The passage is obscure. Here _suhuru_ is taken as a loan-word from sugur = kimmatu, hair of the head. The infinitive II1 of _saharu_ is philologically possible. [60] I.e., an ordinary man.