The epic of gilgamesh1/4/2024 ‘Spread your clothing so he may lie on you, ‘This is he, Shamhat! Uncradle your bosom,īare your sex, let him take in your charms! The savage man from the midst of the wild. Then Shamhat saw him, the child of nature, His heart delighting with the beasts in the water: © 1993 Ludmila Zeman, published by Tundra Books of Northern New York. The game arrived, their hearts delighted in water,Įnkidu spying on Shamhat playing the lyre under a tree, from the book Gilgamesh the King, by Ludmila Zeman. Then the herd came down to drink the water. One day and a second they waited by the water-hole. Hunter and harlot sat down there to wait. On the third day they came to their destination, They set out on the road, they started the journey. Off went the hunter, taking Shamhat the harlot, His herd will spurn him, though he grew up amongst it.’ She should strip off her raiment to reveal her charms. ‘When the herd comes down to the water-hole, ‘Go, hunter, take with you Shamhat the harlot! He sets free from my grasp all the beasts of the field, is as mighty as a rock from the sky.Īlways with the herd Īlways his tracks by the water. He took the road, set toward Uruk,īefore Gilgamesh the king When the hunter saw him, his expression froze,īut he with his herds - he went back to his lair. His heart delighting with the beasts in the water. Joining the throng with the game at the water-hole, He knows not a people, nor even a country. The hair of his head grows thickly as barley, He bears long tresses like those of a woman: Offspring of silence, knit strong by Ninurta. In the wild she created Enkidu, the hero, Took a pinch of clay, threw it down in the wild. What Anu had thought of she fashioned within her. Let them vie with each other, so Uruk may be rested’ ‘Let him be a match for the storm of his heart, The stanza which gives Anu’s reaction has been dropped in the late edition of the epic, but by good fortune it is preserved as a short extract from an older version of the text, which was written by a student on an exercise tablet found in the city of Nippur: The warrior’s daughter, the young man’s bride: Gilgamesh lets no girl go free to her bride’ ‘Yet he is the shepherd of Uruk-the-Sheepfold, Gilgamesh lets no son go free to his father,īy day and by harsher. ‘His companions are kept on their feet by his contests, He has no equal when his weapons are brandished. ‘A savage wild bull you have bred in Uruk-the-Sheepfold, The gods of haven, the lords of initiative, To their complaint the goddess paid heed. The warrior’s daughter, the young man’s bride, It is he who is shepherd of Uruk-the-Sheepfold, Gilgamesh lets no son go free to his father.īy day and by night his tyranny grows harsher, The young men of Uruk he harries without warrant, His companions are kept on their feet by his contests. He has no equal when his weapons are brandished, Like a wild bull lording it, head held aloft. When he grew tall his beauty was consummate,īy earthly standards he was most handsome. ![]() While his build was perfected by divine Nudimmud.Ī triple cubit was his foot, half a rod his leg. It was the Lady of the Gods drew the form of his figure, Two-thirds of him god and one third human. Gilgamesh was his name from the day he was born, ![]() Who is there can rival his kingly standing,Īnd say like Gilgamesh, ‘It is I am the king’? Who restored the cult-centers destroyed by the Deluge,Īnd set in place for the people the rites of the cosmos. Who scoured the world ever searching for life,Īnd reached through sheer force Uta-napishti the Distant Who dug wells on the slopes of the uplands,Īnd crossed the ocean, the wide sea to the sunrise Gilgamesh the tall, magnificent and terrible, Suckling of the august Wild Cow, the goddess Ninsun! Wild bull of Lugalbanda, Gilgamesh, the perfect in strength, Going at the rear, one his comrades could trust!Ī violent flood-wave, smashing a stone wall! Surpassing all other kings, heroic in stature,īrave scion of Uruk, wild bull on the rampage! The travels of Gilgamesh, all that he went through. up the tablet of lapis lazuli and read out city, [a square mile [date-grove, a square mile isĬlay-pit, half a quarter mile the temple of Ishtar: Survey its foundations, examine the brickwork!ĭid the Seven Sages not lay its foundation? He built the rampart of Uruk-the-Sheepfold,ĭraw near to Eanna, seat of Ishtar the goddess,Ĭlimb Uruk’s wall and walk back and forth! He came a far road, was weary, found peace,Īnd set all his labors on a tablet of stone. © 1992 Ludmila Zeman, published by Tundra Books of Northern New York. Gilgamesh riding in chariot, from the book Gilgamesh the King, by Ludmila Zeman.
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