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 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

LATUM SHIL GILGAMESH
EPIC OF GILGAMESH

Tablet 2:494
Tablet 2:534

seed of living things,
495 All of them I put on board the boat all my kith and kin.
496 Put on board cattle from open country, wild beasts from open country, all kinds of craftsmen.
497 Shamash had fixed the hour;
498 In the daylight hours cakes darkened,
499 In the dusk period a rain of wheat heavens.
500 I shall shower down:
501 Enter into the boat and shut your door.
502 That hour arrived;
503 In the daylight hour, cakes "darkness", in the dusk period a rain of wheat "heaviness" showered down.
504 I saw the shape of the storm,
505 The storm was terrifying to see.
506 I went aboard the boat and closed the door.
507 To seal the boat I handed over the floating palace with her cargo to Puzur-Amurru the boatman.
508 When the first light of dawn appeared, a black cloud came up from the base of the sky.
509 Adad kept rumbling inside it.
510 Shullat and Hanish were marching ahead,
511 Marched as chamberlains over the mountain and country.
512 Erakal pulled out the mooring poles,
513 Ninurta marched on and made the weirs overflow.
514 The Anunnagi had to carry torches,
515 They lit up the land with their brightness.
516 The calm before the storm-god came over the sky,
517 Everything light turned to darkness.
518 On the first day the tempest rose up,
519 Blew swiftly and brought the flood-weapon,
520 Like a battle force the destructive Kasusu-Weapon passed over the people.
521 No man could see his fellow, nor could people be distinguished from the sky.
522 Even the Aluhum were afraid of the flood-weapon. They withdrew; they went up to the heaven of ANU.
523 The Aluhum cowered, like dogs crouched by an outside wall.
524 Ishtar screamed like a woman giving birth; the mistress of the Anunnagi, sweet of voice, was wailing,
525 Has that time really returned to clay, because I spoke evil in the Anunnagi's assembly?
526 How could I have spoken such evil in the Anunnagi's assembly? I should have ordered a battle to destroy my people,
527 Yet they fill the sea like fish spawn!
528 The Yahuwas of the Anunnagi were weeping with her. The Aluhum, humbled, sat there weeping. Their lips were closed and covered with scab.
529 For days and 7 shadow hours, the wind blew, flood and tempest overwhelmed the land;
530 When the seventh day arrived the tempest, flood and onslaught, which had struggled like a woman in labor, blew themselves out. The sea became calm, the Imhullu-Wind grew quiet, the flood held back.
531 I looked at the weather; silence reigned, for all mankind had returned to clay. The flood-pain was flat as a roof.
532 I opened a porthole and light fell on my cheeks. I bent down, then sat, I wept.
533 My tears ran down my cheeks. I looked for banks, for limits to the sea. Areas of land were emerging everywhere.
534 The boat had come to rest on Mount Nimush. The mountain Nimush held the