The epic of gilgamesh1/3/2024 ![]() Even the gods were terrified at the flood, they fled to the highest heaven, the firmament of Ann they crouched against the walls, cowering like curs. it went, it poured over the people like the tides of battle a imam could not see his brother nor the people be seen from heaven. One whole day the tempest raged, gathering fury as. A stupor of despair went up to heaven when the god of the storm turned daylight to darkness, when he smashed the land like a cup. Then the gods of the abyss rose up Nergal pulled out the dams of the nether waters, Ninurta the war-lord threw down the dykes, and the seven judges of hell, the Annunaki, raised their torches, lighting the land with their livid flame. In front over hill and plain Shullat and Hanish, heralds of the storm, led on. ‘With the first light of dawn a black cloud came from the horizon it thundered within where Adad, lord of the storm was riding. All was now complete, the battening and the caulking so I handed the tiller to Puzur-Amurri the steersman, with the navigation and the care of the whole boat. I looked out at the weather and it was terrible, so I too boarded the boat and battened her down. I sent them on board, for the time that Shamash had ordained was already fulfilled when he said, “in the evening, when the rider of the storm sends down the destroying rain, enter the boat and batten her down.” The time was fulfilled, the evening came, the rider of the storm sent down the rain. I loaded into her all that 1 had of gold and of living things, my family, my kin, the beast of the field both wild and tame, and all the craftsmen. ’Then was the launching full of difficulty there was shifting of ballast above and below till two thirds was submerged. On the seventh day the boat was complete. There was feasting then as -there is at the time of the New Year’s festival I myself anointed my head. I gave the shipwrights wine to drink as though it were river water, raw wine and red wine and oil and white wine. I slaughtered bullocks for the people and every day I killed sheep. The carriers brought oil in baskets, I poured pitch into the furnace and asphalt and oil more oil was consumed in caulking, and more again the master of the boat took into his stores. I drove in wedges where needed, I saw to the punt poles, and laid in supplies. I built six decks below, seven in all, I divided them into nine sections with bulkheads between. The ground-space was one acre, each side of the deck measured one hundred and twenty cubits, making a square. On the fifth day I laid the keel and the ribs, then I made fast the planking. ‘In the first light of dawn all my household gathered round me, the children brought pitch and the men whatever was necessary. In the evening the rider of the storm will bring you wheat in torrents.” But on you he will rain down abundance, rare fish and shy wild-fowl, a rich harvest-tide. ‘When I had understood I said to my lord, “Behold, what you have commanded I will honour and perform, but how shall I answer the people, the city, the elders?” Then Ea opened his mouth and said to me, his servant, “Tell them this: I have learnt that Enlil is wrathful against me, I dare no longer walk in his land nor live in his city I will go down to the Gulf to dwell with Ea my lord. These are the measurements of the barque as you shall build her: let hex beam equal her length, let her deck be roofed like the vault that covers the abyss then take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures.” Tear down your house, I say, and build a boat. He whispered their words to my house of reeds, “Reed-house, reed-house! Wall, O wall, hearken reed-house, wall reflect O man of Shurrupak, son of Ubara-Tutu tear down your house and build a boat, abandon possessions and look for life, despise worldly goods and save your soul alive. Enlil did this, but Ea because of his oath warned me in a dream. Enlil heard the clamour and he said to the gods in council, “The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel.” So the gods agreed to exterminate mankind. In those days the world teemed, the people multiplied, the world bellowed like a wild bull, and the great god was aroused by the clamour. ![]() There was Anu,-lord of the firmament, their father, and warrior Enlil their counsellor, Ninurta the helper, and Ennugi watcher over canals and with them also was Ea. ‘You know the city Shurrupak, it stands on the banks of Euphrates? That city grew old and the gods that were in it were old.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |