| (After this series of denouncements which Gilgamesh presents to Ishtar regarding her previous lovers, eventually we get to this interesting tidbit where Gilgamesh states several things that happen to her lovers, one by one, then this one…) As you listened to these his words you struck him, turning him into a dwarf(?), and made him live in the middle of his (garden of) labors, where the mihhu do not go up, nor the bucket of dates (?) down. And now me! It is me you love, and you will ordain for me as for them!" When Ishtar heard this, in a fury she went up to the heavens, going to Anu, her father, and crying, going to Anrum, her mother, and weeping: "Father, Gilgamesh has insulted me over and over, Gilgamesh has recounted despicable deeds about me, despicable deeds and curses!" Anu addressed Princess Ishtar, saying: "What is the matter? Was it not you who provoked King Gilgamesh? So Gilgamesh recounted despicable deeds about you, despicable deeds and curses!" Ishtar spoke to her father, Anu, saying: "Father, give me the Bull of Heaven, so he can kill Gilgamesh in his dwelling. If you do not give me the Bull of Heaven, I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld, I will smash the door posts, and leave the doors flat down, and will let the dead go up to eat the living! And the dead will outnumber the living!" Anu addressed princess Ishtar, saying: "If you demand the Bull of Heaven from me, there will be seven years of empty husks for the land of Uruk. When Anu heard her words, he placed the nose rope of the Bull of Heaven in her hand. Ishtar led the Bull of Heaven down to the earth. Then Enkidu jumped out and seized the Bull of Heaven by its horns. the Bull spewed his spittle in front of him, with his thick tail he flung his dung behind him (?). Enkidu stalked and hunted down the Bull of Heaven. He grasped it by the thick of its tail and held onto it with both his hands (?), while Gilgamesh, like an expert butcher, boldly and surely approached the Bull of Heaven. Between the nape, the horns, and... he thrust his sword. After they had killed the Bull of Heaven, they ripped out its heart and presented it to Shamash. Gilgamesh summoned all the artisans and craftsmen. (All) the artisans admired the thickness of its horns, each fashioned from 30 minas of lapis lazuli! Six vats of oil the contents of the two he gave as ointment to his (personal) god Lugalbanda. … |
(There was a council of the gods held and they were determined to make someone pay for the crime.) 'Because they killed the Bull of Heaven and have also slain Humbaba, the one of them who pulled up the Cedar of the Mountain must die!' Enlil said: 'Let Enkidu die, but Gilgamesh must not die!' But the Sun God of Heaven replied to valiant Enlil: 'Was it not at my command that they killed the Bull of Heaven and Humbaba! I would like to bring the reader’s attention to an important point that was glossed over in the myth. I believe this is where the myth of human sacrifice began, in all likelihood, when Gilgamesh rips out the heart of the Bull of Heaven and offers it up to Shamash. We will return to this point several times in upcoming chapters. At the next important juncture, Enkidu receives a vision of the underworld in a dream, and the beginning of this is reminiscent of the Bull of Heaven being sent to strike Adapa, in the South Wind myth. Returning now to the Epic of Gilgamesh: I struck him a blow, but he skipped about like a jump rope, and then he struck me and capsized me like a raft, and trampled on me like a wild bull. He encircled my whole body in a clamp. 'Help me, my friend" (I cried), but you did not rescue me, you were afraid and did not.. ." "Then he... and turned me into a dove, so that my arms were feathered like a bird. Seizing me, he led me down to the House of Darkness, the dwelling of Irkalla, to the house where those who enter do not come out, along the road of no return, to the house where those who dwell, do without light, where dirt is their drink, their food is of clay, where, like a bird, they wear garments of feathers, and light cannot be seen, they dwell in the dark, and upon the door and bolt, there lies dust. On entering the House of Dust, everywhere I looked there were royal crowns gathered in heaps, everywhere I listened, it was the bearers of crowns, who, in the past, had ruled the land, but who now served Anu and Enlil cooked meats, served confections, and poured cool water from waterskins. In the house of Dust that I entered there sat the high priest and acolyte, there sat the purification priest and ecstatic, there sat the anointed priests of the Great Gods. There sat Etana, there sat Sumukan, there sat Ereshkigal, the Queen of the Netherworld. Beletseri, the Scribe of the Netherworld, knelt before her, she was holding the tablet and was reading it out to her Ereshkigal. |