Tm; LE T BLET 0 E EP YA A 9 THE GILG AM S H IC . N - S . U IV . YALE ORIE TAL ERIES RESEARCHES , VOL ME , 3 AN O LD BABY LO NIAN VERS IO N O F THE G ILG AMES H EPIC ON THE BASIS OF RECENTLY DISCOVERED TEXTS BY R D PH D LL. MORRIS JASTROW J . , . , F S O F PROFESSOR O SEMITIC LANGUAGES , UNIVER ITY PENNSYLVANIA AND ' L rT . D . D . I LL. PH D . T . ALBERT . OLAY , , , PROFESSOR OF ASSYRIOLOGY AN D BABYLONIAN LI TERATURE YALE UNIVERSITY NEW HAVEN YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON HUMPHREY MILFORD OX FORD UNIVERSITY PRESS MDCC CCXX ”1 6 m G OI B 1920 BY COPYRIG HT, , YALE UNIVERS ITY PRE S S IN M EMORY O F WILLIAM MAX MULLER (1 863-1 91 9) WHOSE LI FE WAS DEVOTED TO EGYPTOLOGICAL RESEARCH WHICH HE GREATLY ENRI CH ED BY MAN Y CO NTRIBUTIO NS PREFATORY NOTE Th h n h e Introduction , t e Commentary to the two tablets , a d t e e x are e o Jas row nd for e e he a me the o e App ndi , by Prof ss r t , a th s ssu s s l x . responsibility . The te t of the Yale tablet is by Professor Clay The transliteration and the translation of the two tablets represent th h a of th e j oint work of the two authors . In t e transliter tion e two ’ “ f - a e . m of or m o a a t bl ts , C E Keiser s Syste Accentuation Su er Akk di n ” — L . x a e signs (Yale Oriental Researches VO IX , Appendi , New H v n , 1 1 h 9 9) as been followed . INTRODUCTION . I . The Gilgamesh Epic is the most notable literary product of Baby a as loni yet discovered in the mounds of Mesopotamia . It recounts the ex o and a e e a a and a m pl its dv ntur s of f vorite hero , in its fin l for e e e ix m re on cov rs tw lv tablets, each table t consisting of s colu ns (th e h t e obverse and three on the reverse) of about 50lines for each column , m e a a a 3 . e or tot l of bout 600 lines Of this total , however , b ar ly or than one-half has been found among the remains of the great collection - of cuneiform tablets gathered by King Ashurbanapal (668 626 BC . ) ' in his a 1 8541 the p lac e at Nineveh , and discovered by Layard in in course of his excavations of the mound Kouyunjik (opposite Mosul) . — The fragments of the epic painfully gathered chiefly by George — Smith from the circa tablets and bits of tablets brought to the British Museum were published in model form by Professor Paul 2 Haupt ; and that eidition still remains the primary source for our h study of t e Epic . S ee for urther etail of t i ro al li rar a tro Civili a tion o Bab lonia and f d s h s y b y , J s w , z f y A s ria . 21 e . s y , p s q 2 ’ Das B a b lonis he Nimrode os Lei i 1 4 u lemente b au t arti le y c p ( pz g , 88 s pp d y H p s c Die Zwo t a d 4 —79 o ntainin the ra l e T el es B ab lonis hen imrode os in BA I . 8 f f y c N p , pp , c g f g ’ — m nt f th l The r m f the E i in Ashurbana al s ibrar ome e s o e twelfth tab et . f ag ents o p c p l y s ixt —re e r f l in-li -unnini— erha rom Ere in e s y pr sent po tions o severa copies . S ki p ps f ch , s c t i name a ear as t a f a amil i blet rom Ere h see la Le al o uments rom h s pp s h t o f y n ta s f c ( C y , g D c f — — ’ 1 Erec h In ex 73 is name in a li f ext 97 1 7 au t e ition No . 5 1 line 8) , d , p . ) d st o t s (K H p s d , h ub i as the e itor of the E i thou robabl he was not the o nl o m iler . Sin e t e d p c , gh p y y c p c p l ’ ation of au t e ition a few ra ment ere a e b him as an a en ix to Al re c H p s d , f g s w dd d y pp d f d eremia I zdubar-Nimrod Lei i 1 91 late II—IV and two more are embo ie in J s ( pz g , 8 ) P s , d d ' 1 1 6 Jens en s transliteration of all the fragments in the Keilins chriftliche Bibliothek VI ; pp . — m nt taine rom u le l 21 . u erm re ra e 265 it e a orate note . 4 53 1 rt o a , w h b s , pp F h f g , Ob d f s pp in in his S u lement mentar ex a ation at Kou un ik has ee n u i he b L . W . y c v s y j , b p bl s d y K g pp to the Cata logue of the Cuneiform Ta blets in the Kouyunj ik Collection of the British Cuneiform 36 . 64 B BA Vol . a m N . and P T blets in the Kouyunj ik Collection of the ritish Mus eu o 56 S , pp r he e a a i n at A ur has een 68 . Recently a fragment of the 6th tablet f om t xc v t o s ss b ' d one u li e E e in Keils hri ttexte aus Assur Reli iosen I nhalts No . 1 1 5 an p b sh d by b l g , c f g , ma ex e u r i y p ct f rt he p ort ons to turn up . “ ” ian The designation Nimrod Epic on the s upposition that the hero of the Babylon “ ” E i is i enti al it Nimro the mi ht unter of ene i 10 has now een enerall p c d c w h d , g y h G s s , b g y ab an one in th en e t at the B ab lonian ero ore a name ike d d , e absence of any evid c h y h b l (9) Iv- 1 0 YALE ORIENTAL SERIES RESEARCHES 3 . For the sake of convenience we may call the form of the Epic in the fragments from the library of Ashurbanapal the Assyrian ver e mo the e a d in the a sion , th ough lik st of lit r ry pro uctions libr ry it o a not only reverts to a Babylonian rigin l , but represents a late copy Th a n of a much older o riginal . e bsence of a y reference to As syria in the fragments rec overed justifies us in assuming that the Assyrian o m a a e a version received its present f r in B byloni , p rh ps in Erech ; o e a ome of the a e ea u e r icu though it is o f course p ssibl th t s l t f t r s , pa t larly the elab oration of the teachin gs of the theologians or schoo lmen a ma a e ee o a in the eleventh and twelfth t blets , y h v b n pr duced t leas t in part under Assyrian influence . A definite indication that the Gil gamesh Epic reverts to a period earlier than Hammurabi (or Ham 3 w h m r wi . 00 . C . as e e a o u a ) i e , beyond 20 B , furnish d by t public ti n o f a text clearly belonging to the first Babylonian dynasty (of which mm w h m T x Zim Ha urabi as t e sixth me b er) in C . VI , 5 ; which te t me 4 e o i s a f he a f - a ne f h m rn r c gn zed a part o t t le o Atra h sis , o o t e na es e to the o of h e e e the e e e a e giv n surviv r t e d lug , recount d on l v nth t bl t th m 5 was fi me he 6 f a of e Gilga esh Epic . This con r d by t discovery o “ Nimro . For all t at the e ri tion of Nimro as the mi t unter and the o ur d h , d sc p d gh y h cc “ ” — rence of a hunter in the Babylonian Epic (Assyrian version Tablet I) though he is — no t the hero points to a confusion in the H ebrew form of the borrowed tradition be tween il ame n N mr The l r t r lati f he E i i horme a d i o .