|
The clay Tablets IX and X of the Epic of Gilgamesh, called "the quest for eternal life" show a distraught Gilgamesh wandering in foreign lands before and after the Ocean, terrified and saddened by the death of his beloved friend Enkidu, who he considered his brother.
Gilgamesh, after the death of his friend, fearing the imminent arrival of his own death, decides to leave the homeland where he reigns, Uruk (in Babylonian Sumeria), and go to see Utnapishtim, who together with his wife were the sole survivors of the cataclysm and the only one who knows the secrets of eternal life.
Gilgamesh, after weeping bitterly for his friend Enkidu, wandered the wilderness like a hunter, roaming all the plains. Mourning the death of his beloved friend, he cried:
How can I stop? How is it possible to be quiet? Despair chokes my heart.
Where is my brother now? And what will become of me when I die?
I am affraid of death, so I roam the open country. I shall take the road and go quickly
To see Ut-napishtim who is called "Distant" because he managed to enter the council of the Gods.
And so Gilgamesh roamed the deserts, walked green lands, and went on a long journey in search of Utnapishtim, whom the gods had taken after the deluge and settled in the land of Dilmun, in the gardens of the sun. And here they gave him eternal life.
His journey overland was perilous: lions lurked, while the passes of the towering Masu mountains were guarded by scorpion-men whose:
"Whose aura is frightful, and whose glance is death.
Their terrifying mantles of radiance drape the mountains. They quard the sun at dawn and dusk"
At first Gilgamesh's reception is hostile, but as can be seen from a very damaged piece of the tablet, he manages to convince the scorpion-man and his wife that he must pass through their gate, even though the scorpion-man prevents him telling him:
Gilgamesh, a mere mortal was not found to accomplish this
No one crossed the mountain path, twelve leagues of darkness from end to end.
Deep is the darkness, without any light.
The heart is suffocated by darkness
But Gilgamesh advances through the darkness of Mount Masu:
One [two/three/four.... ten] leagues as he traveled,
Deep was the darkness without any light.
He can neither see forward nor back. When he had achieved ten leagues came close.
When he had achieved eleven leagues came out in front of the sun.
When he had achieved twelve leagues brightness was everywhere.
And in the distance, there was the "garden of the gods".
All kinds of thorny (spiky) bushes were visible, blossoming with gemstones
Carnelian bore fruit, hanging in clusrers, lovely to look at,
Lapis lazuli bore foliage. Bore fruit, and was delightful to view.
When he saw it he walked straight towards it. For there hung carnelian vessels full of wine.
The thorns and needles of the bushes had hematite and precious stones,
agate and pearls that came out of the sea.
..... Many different kinds of trees and semi-precious stones are mentioned in the poem
After traversing the dark passages of Mount Masu, broken, hungry and despoiled, clad in animal skins, Gilgamesh reaches the sea and meets the seer Siduri, the woman who made wine and who sat in the garden by the sea with the gold cups and golden jars that the "gods" gave them. Gilgamesh said to her:
Young maiden, you who make the wine, why have you bolted your door?
What did you see that made you lock your door? I will break and smash your door.
I am Gilgamesh who caught and killed the bull of heaven.....
tell me now, alewife, which is the way to find Utnapishtim, the son of Umbara - Tutu?
Give me directions! whatever they are; If it is possible, I shall cross the ocean;
If it is impossible I shall roam open country (into the wildeness) again.
And Siduri, who makes the wine, said to him:
Gilgamesh, There has never been a ferry of any kind
and nobody from time immemorial has crossed the sea.
Shamash(note: he is the Sun God) the warrior is the only one
who has crossed the sea: apart from Shamash, nobody has crossed the sea.
The crossing is difficult, the way of it very difficult, And in between are
deep lethal waters (note: waters of death) which bar the way ahead.
Wherever, then, could you cross the sea, Gilgamesh? And once you reached the
lethal waters, what would you do?
Yet, there is a boatman of Ut-napishtim, Ur-shanabi.
He - the "things of stone" identify him - will be trimming a young pine in the forest.
He holds the holy things, the "stone things". He has a reptilian bow on his ship.
Research him well. And if possible you will sail the waters with him. But if it is
not possible, you must turn back.
When Gilgamesh heard this he became angry. He took up an axe to his side, Drew the sword from his belt, and ran like an arrow across the sea. In his anger he broke the stones, entered the forest and sat down Stole up and drove them off, like an arrow he fell among them. Immediately Gilgamesh set out and found Urshanabi.
– Ur-shanabi spoke to him, to Gilgamesh:
"...Gilgamesh your own hands prevent you from crossing the ocean. When you
were breaking the stones objects, you were breaching the ship's security."
– Gilgamesh answered him:
"Why are you so angry with me, Urshanabi, since you traverse
the ocean night and day and all the seasons of the year?"
– And Urshanabi spoke to him, to Gilgamesh:
"These real stones were the ones that carried me safely over the ocean."
(note: was it crystals or burning stones that provided energy for the movement?)
But now Gilgamesh, go into the forest with your axe and cut poles. Cut a hundred and twenty poles.
And cut them sixty cubits long (note: 30m). Trim them and put knobs on them.
Paint them with tar, tie them with a wreath and bring them here.
When Gilgamesh heard this, he went to the forest and cut poles, one hundred and twenty in number. And he cut them sixty cubits long. He painted them with tar, put a wreath on them and took them to Urshanabi in the ship. Gilgamesh and Urshanabi together invested the ship with them.
And so they opened to the ocean. For three days they continued their journey and had traveled, in total, a period of one month and fifteen days. And then Urshanabi steered his ship into the "waters of death". And Urshanabi spoke to Gilgamesh:
"Hurry up and stay clear, Gilgamesh. Take one pole at a time and push it over there.
Don't let the lethal water wet your hand. Don' touch the water! Hold the knob!
Take a second, a third, then a fourth pole. Gilgamesh. Take a fifth, a sixth, then a seventh pole.
Take an eighth, a ninth, then a tenth pole, Gilgamesh. Take an eleventh, a twelfth pole, Gilgamesh.
Within seven hundred and twenty metres, Gilgamesh had used up the poles.
Then he undid his belt, Gilgamesh stripped himself.
He lifted his arm into a mast and made his clothes into sails.
Ut-napisthtim was looking on from a distance, Pondered and spoke to himself, ....
And so Ur-shanabi, the ferryman, carried Gilgamesh to Ut-napishtim, who was also called "Far Away", who lived in Dilmun, in the land where the sun passes east of the mountain. Only to him, of all people, did the gods grant eternal life.
|
