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 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

LATUM SHIL GILGAMESH
EPIC OF GILGAMESH

Tablet 2:201
Tablet 2:254

201 Filled a lapis lazuli bowl with butter,
202 He decorated and displayed it to Shamash.
203 Gilgamesh mourned bitterly for Enkidu his friend,
204 And roamed open country.
205 Shall I die too? Am I not like Enkidu?
206 Grief has entered my innermost being,
207 I am afraid of death, and so I roam open country.
208 I shall take the road and go quickly,
209 To see Utnafishtim, son of Ubara-Tutu.
210 When I reached, the mountain passes at shadow hour,
211 I saw lions and was afraid.
212 I raised my head, I prayed to Sin.
213 My prayers went to Sin, the light of the Anunnagi.
214 "Oh Anunnagi, keep me safe!"
215 He went to sleep, awoke at a dream,
216 He was glad to be alive.
217 He took up an axe to his side.
218 Drew the sword from his belt.
219 Like an arrow he fell among them, struck and, shattered.
220 Then on midday he threw down and gave in the name of the first the name of the second the name of the mountain is Mashu.
221 When he reached the mountain Mashu,
222 Which daily guards the coming out of Shamash.
223 Their upper parts touched the sky's foundation,
224 Below, their breasts reach Arallu.
225 They guard its gate, scorpion-men,
226 Whose aura is frightful, and whose glance is death.
227 Their terrifying mantles of radiance drape the mountains.
228 They guard the sun at dawn and dusk.
229 Gilgamesh looked at them, and fear and terror clouded his face.
230 He took the initiative and gestured to them in greeting.
231 A scorpion-man shouted to his woman,
232 Someone hast come to us. His body is the flesh gods.
233 The scorpion-man's woman answered him.
234 Two-thirds of him is divine, and one-third of him mortal.
235 The scorpion-man, the male, shouted, addressed his words to Gilgamesh,
236 The flesh of the Anunnagi.
237 Who are you, that comes to us on a distant journey?
238 Who are you that comes to my presence, whose crossing difficult?
239 Let me learn your personality. Utnafishtim, my father who stood in the Anunnagi's assembly and sought out eternal life.
240 Death and life, the scorpion-man made his voice heard and spoke,
241 He said to Gilgamesh,
242 It is impossible, Gilgamesh,
243 Nobody has passed through the mountain's inaccessible tract.
244 For even after twelve leagues,
245 The darkness is too dense, there is no light.
246 To the dawn, to the dusk, they sent out in grief.
247 By cold and heat my face is weathered in exhaustion.
248 The scorpion-man made his voice heard and spoke,
249 He said to Gilgamesh,
250 Go, Gilgamesh, to the Mashu mountains safely,
251 To the main gate of the land.
252 Gilgamesh listened to the scorpion-man,
253 To the words of the guardian of the gate.
254 The path of Shamash when he had achieved one league.