Sumer PalaeographyEpic of Gilgamesh - Prologue
(Akkadian Cycle)Gilgamesh King in Uruk
I will proclaim to the world the deeds of Gilgamesh. This was the man to whom all things were known; this was the king who knew the countries of the world. He was wise, he saw mysteries and knew secret things, he brought us a tale of the days before the flood. He went on a long journey, was weary, worn-out with labour, returning he rested, he engraved on a stone the whole story.
When the gods created Gilgamesh they gave him a perfect body. Shamash the glorious sun endowed him with beauty, Adad the god of the storm endowed him with courage, the great gods made his beauty perfect, surpassing all others, terrifying like a great wild bull. Two thirds they made him god and one third man. In Uruk he built walls, a great rampart, and the temple of blessed Eanna for the god of the firmament Anu, and for Ishtar the goddess of love. Look at it still today: the outer wall where the cornice runs, it shines with the brilliance of copper; and the inner wall, it has no equal. Touch the threshold, it is ancient. Approach Eanna the dwelling of Ishtar, our lady of love and war, like of which no latter-day king, no man alive can equal. Climb upon the wall of Uruk; walk along it, I say; regard the foundation terrace and examine the masonry: is it not burnt brick and good? The seven sages laid the foundations. (Picture: In ancient times Nippur was teeming with life, in the shades of palm-trees, surrounded by vast irrigated fields, nowadays only sand and silence rules here. The Euphrates changed its flow several times, now is 20 miles away.) Akkadian Cycle: [Prologue] [The Coming of Enkidu] [The Forest Journey] [Ishtar and Gilgamesh, and the Death of Enkidu] [The Search for Everlasting Life] [The Story of the Flood] [The Return] [The Death of Gilgamesh]
Sumerian Cycle: [Gilgamesh and the Land of Living] [Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven] [The Deluge] [Gilgamesh and Agga of Kish] [Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Nether World] [Death of Gilgamesh]
