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 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

LATUM SHIL GILGAMESH
EPIC OF GILGAMESH

Tablet 2:445
Tablet 2:494

wall,
446 Listen, reed hut, and pay attention, brick wall:
447 Man of Shuruppal, son of Ubara-Tutu, dismantle your house, build a boat. Leave possessions, search out living things.
448 Reject chattels and save lives!
449 Put aboard the seed of all living things, into the boat.
450 The boat that you are to build shall have her dimensions inproportion,
451 Her width and length shall be in harmony,
452 Roof her like the Apsu.
453 I realized and spoke to my master Enqi,
454 “I have paid attention to the words that you spoke in this way,
455 My master, and I shall act upon them.
456 But how can I explain myself to the city, the men and the elders?
457 Enqi made his voice heard and spoke,
458 He said to me, his servant, you shall speak to them thus:
459 I think that Enlil has rejected me, and so I cannot stay in your city,
460 And I cannot set foot on Enlil's land again.
461 I must go down to the Apsu and stay with my master Enqi.
462 Then he will shower abundance upon thou,
463 A wealth of fowl, a treasure of fish, prosperity, a harvest,
464 In the morning cakes "darkness",
465 In the evening a rain of wheat "heavens he will shower upon thou."
466 When the first light of dawn appeared the country gathered about me.
467 The carpenter brought his axe,
468 The reed-worker brought his stone,
469 The young men and the children carried the bitumen,
470 The poor fetched what was needed.
471 On the fifth day, I laid down her form.
472 One acre was her circumference, ten poles each, the height of her walls.
473 Her top edge was likewise ten poles all round.
474 I laid down her structure, drew it out,
475 Gave her six decks,
476 Divided her into 7.
477 Her middle I divided into 9,
478 Drove the water pegs into her middle.
479 I saw to the paddles and put down what was needed:
480 Three sar of bitumen I poured into the kiln,
481 Three sar of pitch I poured into the inside.
482 Three sar of oil they fetched, the workmen who carried the baskets.
483 Not counting the sar of oil which the out soaked up,
484 The boatman stowed away two more sar of oil.
485 I slaughtered oxen,
486 I sacrificed sheep everyday.
487 I gave the workmen ale and beer to drink,
488 Oil and wine as if they were river water,
489 They made a feast, like a New Year's Day festival.
490 When the sun rose I provided hand oil.
491 When the sun went down the boat was complete.
492 The launching was difficult; launching rollers had to be fetched from above to below.
493 Two-thirds of it stood clear of the water line.
494 I loaded her with everything there was, loaded her with all the silver, loaded her with all the gold, loaded her with all the