The Epic of Gilgamesh

The clay Tablets IX and X of the Epic of Gilgamesh, called "the quest for eternal life" show a distraught Gilgamesh wandering in foreign lands before and after the Ocean, terrified and saddened by the death of his beloved friend Enkidu, who he considered his brother.

Gilgamesh, after the death of his friend, fearing the imminent arrival of his own death, decides to leave the homeland where he reigns, Uruk (in Babylonian Sumeria), and go to see Utnapishtim, who together with his wife were the sole survivors of the cataclysm and the only one who knows the secrets of eternal life.

Gilgamesh, after weeping bitterly for his friend Enkidu, wandered the wilderness like a hunter, roaming all the plains. Mourning the death of his beloved friend, he cried:

How can I stop? How is it possible to be quiet? Despair chokes my heart.
Where is my brother now? And what will become of me when I die?
I am affraid of death, so I roam the open country. I shall take the road and go quickly
To see Ut-napishtim who is called "Distant" because he managed to enter the council of the Gods.

And so Gilgamesh roamed the deserts, walked green lands, and went on a long journey in search of Utnapishtim, whom the gods had taken after the deluge and settled in the land of Dilmun, in the gardens of the sun. And here they gave him eternal life.

His journey overland was perilous: lions lurked, while the passes of the towering Masu mountains were guarded by scorpion-men whose:

"Whose aura is frightful, and whose glance is death.
Their terrifying mantles of radiance drape the mountains. They quard the sun at dawn and dusk"

At first Gilgamesh's reception is hostile, but as can be seen from a very damaged piece of the tablet, he manages to convince the scorpion-man and his wife that he must pass through their gate, even though the scorpion-man prevents him telling him:

Gilgamesh, a mere mortal was not found to accomplish this
No one crossed the mountain path, twelve leagues of darkness from end to end.
Deep is the darkness, without any light.
The heart is suffocated by darkness

But Gilgamesh advances through the darkness of Mount Masu:

One [two/three/four.... ten] leagues as he traveled,
Deep was the darkness without any light.
He can neither see forward nor back. When he had achieved ten leagues came close.
When he had achieved eleven leagues came out in front of the sun.
When he had achieved twelve leagues brightness was everywhere.
And in the distance, there was the "garden of the gods".
All kinds of thorny (spiky) bushes were visible, blossoming with gemstones
Carnelian bore fruit, hanging in clusrers, lovely to look at,
Lapis lazuli bore foliage. Bore fruit, and was delightful to view.
When he saw it he walked straight towards it. For there hung carnelian vessels full of wine.
The thorns and needles of the bushes had hematite and precious stones,
agate and pearls that came out of the sea.
..... Many different kinds of trees and semi-precious stones are mentioned in the poem

After traversing the dark passages of Mount Masu, broken, hungry and despoiled, clad in animal skins, Gilgamesh reaches the sea and meets the seer Siduri, the woman who made wine and who sat in the garden by the sea with the gold cups and golden jars that the "gods" gave them. Gilgamesh said to her:

Young maiden, you who make the wine, why have you bolted your door?
What did you see that made you lock your door? I will break and smash your door.
I am Gilgamesh who caught and killed the bull of heaven.....
tell me now, alewife, which is the way to find Utnapishtim, the son of Umbara - Tutu?
Give me directions! whatever they are; If it is possible, I shall cross the ocean;
If it is impossible I shall roam open country (into the wildeness) again.

And Siduri, who makes the wine, said to him:

Gilgamesh, There has never been a ferry of any kind 
and nobody from time immemorial has crossed the sea.
Shamash(note: he is the Sun God) the warrior  is the only one
who has crossed the sea: apart from Shamash, nobody has crossed the sea.
The crossing is difficult, the way of it very difficult, And in between are
deep lethal waters (note: waters of death) which bar the way ahead.

Wherever, then, could you cross the sea, Gilgamesh? And once you reached the
lethal waters, what would you do?
Yet, there is a boatman of Ut-napishtim, Ur-shanabi. 
He - the "things of stone" identify him - will be trimming a young pine in the forest.

He holds the holy things, the "stone things". He has a reptilian bow on his ship.
Research him well. And if possible you will sail the waters with him. But if it is
not possible, you must turn back.

When Gilgamesh heard this he became angry. He took up an axe to his side, Drew the sword from his belt, and ran like an arrow across the sea. In his anger he broke the stones, entered the forest and sat down Stole up and drove them off, like an arrow he fell among them. Immediately Gilgamesh set out and found Urshanabi.

– Ur-shanabi spoke to him, to Gilgamesh:

"...Gilgamesh your own hands prevent you from crossing the ocean. When you
were breaking the stones objects, you were breaching the ship's security."

 

– Gilgamesh answered him:

 "Why are you so angry with me, Urshanabi, since you traverse
the ocean night and day and all the seasons of the year?"

 

– And Urshanabi spoke to him, to Gilgamesh:

"These real stones were the ones that carried me safely over the ocean."
(note: was it crystals or burning stones that provided energy for the movement?)

But now Gilgamesh, go into the forest with your axe and cut poles. Cut a hundred and twenty poles.
And cut them sixty cubits long (note: 30m). Trim them and put knobs on them.
Paint them with tar, tie them with a wreath and bring them here.

When Gilgamesh heard this, he went to the forest and cut poles, one hundred and twenty in number. And he cut them sixty cubits long. He painted them with tar, put a wreath on them and took them to Urshanabi in the ship. Gilgamesh and Urshanabi together invested the ship with them.
And so they opened to the ocean. For three days they continued their journey and had traveled, in total, a period of one month and fifteen days. And then Urshanabi steered his ship into the "waters of death". And Urshanabi spoke to Gilgamesh:

"Hurry up and stay clear, Gilgamesh. Take one pole at a time and push it over there.
Don't let the lethal water wet your hand. Don' touch the water! Hold the knob!
Take a second, a third, then a fourth pole. Gilgamesh. Take a fifth, a sixth, then a seventh pole.
Take an eighth, a ninth, then a tenth pole, Gilgamesh. Take an eleventh, a twelfth pole, Gilgamesh.
Within seven hundred and twenty metres, Gilgamesh had used up the poles.
Then he undid his belt, Gilgamesh stripped himself.
He lifted his arm into a mast and made his clothes into sails.
Ut-napisthtim was looking on from a distance, Pondered and spoke to himself, ....

And so Ur-shanabi, the ferryman, carried Gilgamesh to Ut-napishtim, who was also called "Far Away", who lived in Dilmun, in the land where the sun passes east of the mountain. Only to him, of all people, did the gods grant eternal life.

Tablet XI (the so-called flood tablet) begins with Gilgamesh wondering how it is that he and Utnapishtim look exactly alike when one is mortal and the other immortal. Ut-napishtim reveals to him the "secret of the gods" and tells him the story of the flood and how he was saved, and for anyone who knows the story of Noah's ark the similarities are too many. The account of the deluge in the eleventh tablet begins with a council of the gods.

The gods decide to send a great flood on the people:

Ut-napishtim spoke to him, to Gilgamesh:

Let me reveal to you a closely quarded matter, Gilgamesh. The secret of the gods.
Shuruppak is city that you yourself  know, situated on the bank of the Euphrates.
That city is very old and even older are its gods.

There was Anu, the ruler of the firmament, the father of the Gods.
There was also the warlike Enlil - their counsellor, Ninurta was their chamberlain,
and Ennugi the overseer of the canals (canals controller). Ea was with them.
Far-sighted Ea swore the oath (of secrecy) with them.

By this time the world was very crowded, people were giving birth.
The crowd roared like a wild bull.
The great gods were disturbed by their cries.

Enlil hearing their voices said to the Council of the Gods:
The roars of the people are unbearable. And one cannot sleep in this mess.

And then the gods willingly decided to unleash the flood.

Only Ea violates the agreement and warns Utnapishtim of the impending doom, sending a message through a thatched hut and a brick wall. Utnapishtim continues his narration to Gilgamesh:

But my lord Ea warned me in a dream. He whispered these words to my reed hut:

 

"Reed hut, reed hut, brick wall! Oh brick wall! Listen carefully reed hut that looks like a brick wall.

Man of Shuruppak, son of Ubara - Tutu, tear down your house and build a ship.
Give up your wealth and take care of your life. Despise the goods of the world
and save only your life. I say to you: tear down your house and build a ship.

Put aboard the seed of all living creatures, into the ship.

And these should be the measurements of the ship you will build:
the sides of the ship to be equal. His deck to be covered like the canopy that covers the abyss."

The construction of the Ark of Ut-napishtim

Then, Ut-napisthim builds the big boat (Ark), according to exact instructions and throws it into the water. He tells Gilgamesh how:

When dawn came, my whole family gathered around me.
The children carried the bitumen and the men did what they could.

On the fifth day I had the keel and ribs ready. And then
I quickly made the planking. Its area was an acre (note: 4,047 m² ).
Ten poles each the height of her walls. Each side of the ark accounted
for one hundred and twenty cubits (note: about 60 m) and was square in shape.

 

I built six decks, one below the other, a total of seven.
I divided them into nine sections with a divider between them. Where needed, I did splits.
I inspected his carts and put in supplies. The porters carried the special ladles with the oil.
I poured tar on the hearth and bitumen and oil on the caulking and still more was stored on board.

I slaughtered oxen for the people on the ship and every day I sacrificed sheep.
I gave the workmen ale and beer to drink, oil and plenty of wine, as if they were river water,
They made a feast, we celebrated like the New Year's Day festival.
I myself anointed my head with perfumed oil.
And on the seventh day the ship was fully ready.

We had difficulty launching it. We were raising and lowering launching rollers,
until the ship was two-thirds submerged.

I loaded up all the silver and gold that I had and all the living things, my family,
my relatives, the beasts of the field, the wild and the tame and all the craftsmen.

I was bringing them on deck, for the time fixed by Shamash had been arrived:

"On the night when the tempest-rider was scattering his destructive rain,
enter your ship and let down your scaffolding."

 

That hour had been arrived. The night has come. The horseman of the storm sent the rain.
I saw the shape of the storm, the storm was terrifying to see.
I went aboard the boat and closed the door, and lowered the scaffolding.
Now everything was completed: both the scaffolding and the caulking. And so I gave the helm
to Puzur-Amurru, the helmsman, along with the responsibility of navigation and the care of the ship.

The terrible flood is coming:

When the first light of dawn appeared, a black cloud  came up from the horizon.
As this passed, the storm-lord and rider, Adad, thundered within it,
Ahead, over the hill and plain of Sullat and Hanis, marched the heralds of the storm.
And then the god of the abyss appeared.
Nergal broke the dams of the waters, of the underworld as well.
Ninurta, the warlord, broke the barriers and the seven judges of hell and the Anunnaki raised their torches to illuminate the earth with their pale light.
A narcotic despair rose to the heavens where the Storm God had turned day into darkness and smashed the earth like a cup.
For a whole day the storm raged, gaining new momentum as it advanced and poured upon the people, like a storm of battle.
Man could not see his brother, nor were men seen from heaven.
Even the Gods were frightened by the deluge and took refuge in the highest parts of the sky,
in the firmament of Anu and shriveled on the walls of the sky, like old dogs.
And then Ishtar the sweet-voiced queen of heaven cried aloud like a slave-girl:

"Alas, the old days have turned to dust, because I directed evil.

But why should I suggest this evil to the council of the Gods?
I instigated wars to destroy peoples, but those peoples were not mine.
I was pushing them. And now people float like fish eggs in the ocean."

 

And the great Gods of Heaven and Hell wept and covered their mouths.
For six days and six nights strong winds blew, torrents, storms and floods clashed like two warrior ghosts.
When the seventh day dawned, the storm in the south ceased,
the sea calmed and the deluge subsided.
All mankind had become mud.
The surface of the sea had become flat and the deluge was abating.
I opened a crack and the light fell on my face.
And then I bent down and sat down and cried. Tears rolled down my cheeks, because everywhere there was nothing but water.
In vain I looked for land with my eyes. But far away, at a distance of fourteen leagues, a mountain appeared, and there my ship ran aground.
At Mount Nishir, my ship stopped and was no longer moving. It stopped one day and the next day it wouldn't budge. And the third day and the fourth day passed and the ship did not move.
And on the fifth day and on the sixth day the ship was immobilized on the mountain.

Ut-napishtim sends out first a dove and then a swallow. Both go back. Finally he sends a raven that does not turn back, a sign that the waters have receded (in the Bible Noah first sends a raven and then two doves), then he makes a great sacrifice to the gods. The gods gathered around the sacrifice. Enlil saw my ship, became angry, raged and quarreled with the gods who dwell in the sky because mortals escaped the destruction. No one should!!!

And Ea opened his mouth and said to warlike Enlil:

Ut-napishtim sends out first a dove and then a swallow. Both go back. Finally he sends a raven that does not turn back, a sign that the waters have receded (in the Bible Noah first sends a raven and then two doves), then he makes a great sacrifice to the gods. The gods gathered around the sacrifice. Enlil saw my ship, became angry, raged and quarreled with the gods who dwell in the sky because mortals escaped the destruction. No one should!!!

And Ea opened his mouth and said to warlike Enlil:

Enlil is finally convinced and makes Utnapishtim and his wife immortal and sends them to live far away in the land of Dilmun, in the gardens of the sun, where Gilgamesh met him, saying:

“Ut-napistim, you were once a mortal man. From here and there
you and your wife will live far away, where the mouths of the rivers are."

And so the Gods took me and placed me here, to live far away at the mouths of rivers. 

 Θεόδωρος Πάσχος