The Epic of Gilgamesh - The Flood, tablet XI

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