The Epic of Gilgamesh
Translated by Maureen Gallery
Kovacs
Electronic Edition by Wolf Carnahan,
I998
Tablet VI
He washed out his marred hair
and cleaned up his equipment(?),
shaking out his locks down over
his back,
throwing off his dirty clothes
and putting on clean ones.
He wrapped himself in regal
garments and fastened the sash.
When Gilgamesh placed his crown
on his head,
a princess Ishtar raised her
eyes to the beauty of Gilgamesh.
"Come along, Gilgamesh, be you
my husband,
to me grant your lusciousness.'
Be you my husband, and I will be
your wife.
I will have harnessed for you a
chariot of lapis lazuli and
gold,
with wheels of gold and 'horns'
of electrum(?).
It will he harnessed with great
storming mountain mules!
Come into our house, with the
fragrance of cedar.
And when you come into our house
the doorpost(?) and throne
dais(?)'will kiss your feet.
Bowed down beneath you will be
kings, lords, and princes.
The Lullubu people' will bring
you the produce of the mountains
and countryside as tribute.
Your she-goats will bear
triplets, your ewes twins,
your donkey under burden will
overtake the mule,
your steed at the chariot will
be bristling to gallop,
your ax at the yoke will have no
match."
Gilgamesh addressed Princess
Ishtar saying:
"What would I have to give you
if I married you!
Do you need oil or garments for
your body! Do you lack anything
for food or drink!
I would gladly feed you food fit
for a god,
I would gladly give you wine fit
for a king,
... may the street(?) be your
home(?), may you be clothed in a
garment,
and may any lusting man (?)
marry you!
...an oven who... ice,
a half-door that keeps out
neither breeze nor blast,
a palace that crushes down
valiant warriors,
an elephant who devours its own
covering,
pitch that blackens the hands of
its bearer,
a waterskin that soaks its
bearer through,
limestone that buckles out the
stone wall,
a battering ram that attracts
the enemy land,
a shoe that bites its owner's
feet!
Where are your bridegrooms that
you keep forever'
Where is your 'Little Shepherd'
bird that went up over you!
See here now, I will recite the
list of your lovers.
Of the shoulder (?) ... his
hand,
Tammuz, the lover of your
earliest youth,
for him you have ordained
lamentations year upon year!
You loved the colorful 'Little
Shepherd' bird
and then hit him, breaking his
wing, so
now he stands in the forest
crying 'My Wing'!
You loved the supremely mighty
lion,
yet you dug for him seven and
again seven pits.
You loved the stallion, famed in
battle,
yet you ordained for him the
whip, the goad, and the lash,
ordained for him to gallop for
seven and seven hours,
ordained for him drinking from
muddled waters,'
you ordained far his mother
Silili to wail continually.
You loved the Shepherd, the
Master Herder,
who continually presented you
with bread baked in embers,
and who daily slaughtered for
you a kid.
Yet you struck him, and turned
him into a wolf,
so his own shepherds now chase
him
and his own dogs snap at his
shins.
You loved Ishullanu, your
father's date gardener,
who continually brought you
baskets of dates,
and brightened your table daily.
You raised your eyes to him, and
you went to him:
'Oh my Ishullanu, let us taste
of your strength,
stretch out your hand to me, and
touch our vulva.
Ishullanu said to you:
'Me! What is it you want from
me!
Has my mother not baked, and
have I not eaten
that I should now eat food under
contempt and curses
and that alfalfa grass should be
my only cover against
the cold?
As you listened to these his
words
you struck him, turning him into
a dwarf(?),
and made him live in the middle
of his (garden of) labors,
where the mihhu do not go up,
nor the bucket of dates (?)
down.
And now me! It is me you love,
and you will ordain for me as
for them!"
When Ishtar heard this, in a
fury she went up to the heavens,
going to Anu, her father, and
crying,
going to Anrum, her mother, and
weeping:
"Father, Gilgamesh has insulted
me over and over,
Gilgamesh has recounted
despicable deeds about me,
despicable deeds and curses!"
Anu addressed Princess Ishtar,
saying: "What is the matter?
Was it not you who provoked King
Gilgamesh?
So Gilgamesh recounted
despicable deeds about you,
despicable deeds and curses!"
Ishtar spoke to her father, Anu,
saying:
"Father, give me the Bull of
Heaven,
so he can kill Gilgamesh in his
dwelling.
If you do not give me the Bull
of Heaven,
I will knock down the Gates of
the Netherworld,
I will smash the door posts, and
leave the doors flat down,
and will let the dead go up to
eat the living!
And the dead will outnumber the
living!"
Anu addressed princess Ishtar,
saying:
"If you demand the Bull of
Heaven from me,
there will be seven years of
empty husks for the land of
Uruk.
Have you collected grain for the
people!
Have you made grasses grow for
the animals?"
Ishtar addressed Anu, her
father, saying:
"I have heaped grain in the
granaries for the people,
I made grasses grow for the
animals,
in order that they might eat in
the seven years of empty husks.
I have collected grain for the
people,
I have made grasses grow for the
animals."
When Anu heard her words, he
placed the noserope of the Bull
of Heaven in her hand.
Ishtar led the Bull of Heaven
down to the earth.
When it reached Uruk It climbed
down to the Euphrates...
At the snort of the Bull of
Heaven a huge pit opened up,
and 100 Young Men of Uruk fell
in.
At his second snort a huge pit
opened up,
and 200 Young Men of Uruk fell
in.
At his third snort a huge pit
opened up,
and Enkidu fell in up to his
waist.
Then Enkidu jumped out and
seized the Bull of Heaven by its
horns.
the Bull spewed his spittle in
front of him,
with his thick tail he flung his
dung behind him (?).
Enkidu addressed Gilgamesh,
saying:
"My friend, we can be bold(?)
...
How shall we respond...
My friend, I saw...
And my strength...
I will rip out...
I and you, we must share (?)
I shall grasp the Bull
I will fill my hands (?) ..
In front...
...
between the nape, the horns,
and... thrust your sword."
Enkidu stalked and hunted down
the Bull of Heaven.
He grasped it by the thick of
its tail
and held onto it with both his
hands (?),
while Gilgamesh, like an expert
butcher,
boldly and surely approached the
Bull of Heaven.
Between the nape, the horns,
and... he thrust his sword.
After they had killed the Bull
of Heaven,
they ripped out its heart and
presented it to Shamash.
They withdrew bowing down humbly
to Shamash.
Then the brothers sat down
together.
Ishtar went up onto the top of
the Wall of Uruk-Haven,
cast herself into the pose of
mourning, and hurled her woeful
curse:
"Woe unto Gilgamesh who
slandered me and killed the Bull
of
Heaven!"
When Enkidu heard this
pronouncement of Ishtar,
he wrenched off the Bull's
hindquarter and flung it in her
face:
"If I could only get at you I
would do the same to you!
I would drape his innards over
your arms!"
Ishtar assembled the (cultic
women) of lovely-locks,
joy-girls, and harlots,
and set them to mourning over
the hindquarter of the Bull.
Gilgamesh summoned all the
artisans and craftsmen.
(All) the artisans admired the
thickness of its horns,
each fashioned from 30 minas of
lapis lazuli!
Two fingers thick is their
casing(?).
Six vats of oil the contents of
the two
he gave as ointment to his
(personal) god Lugalbanda.
He brought the horns in and hung
them in the bedroom of the
family
head (Lugalbanda?).
They washed their hands in the
Euphrates,
and proceeded hand in hand,
striding through the streets of
Uruk.
The men of Uruk gathered
together, staring at them.
Gilgamesh said to the palace
retainers:
"Who is the bravest of the men)
Who is the boldest of the males!
Gilgamesh is the bravest of the
men,
the boldest of the males!
She at whom we flung the
hindquarter of the Bull of
Heaven in
anger,
Ishtar has no one that pleases
her... in the street (?)
Gilgamesh held a celebration in
his palace.
The Young Men dozed off,
sleeping on the couches of the
night.
Enkidu was sleeping, and had a
dream.
He woke up and revealed his
dream to his friend.