Anonymous (Akkadian) · a new plain-English translation from the Akkadian
He washed clean his hair, he polished his weapons; he shook loose the locks that hung down over his back; he threw off his soiled things and put on his clean ones; he wrapped himself in a cloak and tied on a sash. Gilgamesh put on his crown. Then the princess Ishtar lifted her eyes to the beauty of Gilgamesh: "Come, Gilgamesh, be my husband. Grant me your fruit as a gift. You shall be my husband, and I will be your wife. I will harness for you a chariot of lapis lazuli and gold, whose wheels are gold and whose horns are electrum, and you shall have great storm-mules to draw it."
"Enter our house in the fragrance of cedar. When you enter our house, let threshold and dais kiss your feet. Let kings and nobles and princes kneel before you. Let the yield of mountain and country be brought to you as tribute. Let your goats bear triplets, your ewes bear twins. May your foal, though under its load, overtake the mule. Let your horse at the chariot run in splendor. Let your ox under the yoke have no rival." Gilgamesh opened his mouth to speak, saying to the princess Ishtar: "And if I take you as wife, what then would I owe you?"
[...] ... my body and my garments; [...] bread and provisions for my hunger; [...] bread fit for godhead; [...] you would drink wine(?) fit for kingship; [...] I would devour; [...] I would pour out; [...] clothed in a mantle; [...] I would take you as wife: [a wife] who keeps off no frost, a door-leaf(?) that keeps out no wind or draft, a palace that crushes its own warriors, an elephant [...] that [devours(?)] its own covering.
A pitch that besmirches the hand of whoever carries it, a waterskin that soaks through on whoever carries it, a limestone block [...] a wall of stone, a battering-ram that breaches the wall of an enemy land, a sandal that bites the foot of its own wearer — which of your lovers lasted forever? Which of your allallu-birds rose up to heaven? Come, let me count out for you the tally of your lovers.
For Dumuzi, the lover of your youth, you decreed wailing, year after year without end. You loved the speckled allallu-bird, but you struck him and broke his wing, and now he stands in the woods crying, "My wing!" You loved the lion, perfect in strength, but you dug for him seven pits and seven more. You loved the stallion, magnificent in battle, but you decreed for him the whip and the spur and the lash, decreed that he run seven leagues, decreed for him muddied water to drink, and for his mother Silili you decreed unending wailing.
You loved the shepherd, the herdsman, the keeper of the flock, who continually heaped up ash-cakes for you and daily slaughtered kids for you; yet you struck him and turned him into a wolf, so that his own shepherd-boys now drive him off and his own dogs tear at his thighs. You loved Ishullanu, your father's gardener, who continually brought you baskets of dates and daily brightened your table; you lifted your eyes to him and went to him: "My Ishullanu, let us enjoy your strength — put out your hand and touch our vulva." But Ishullanu said to you: "Me — what is it you want from me? Has my mother not baked? Have I not eaten,
that I should now eat the bread of insult and curses, that reeds should be my covering against the cold?" You heard this said, and you struck him and turned him into a mole(?); you set him down in the midst of his own labors, where he can climb neither up nor down [...]. And as for me — you would love me, and then treat me just as you treated them.
Ishtar, on hearing this, [...] my insults and my curses. Ishtar, furious, went up into the heavens. Ishtar went and wept before Anu her father; before Antu her mother her tears flowed: "My father, Gilgamesh has heaped insults on me — Gilgamesh recounted my disgraceful deeds, my disgraceful deeds and my curses." Anu opened his mouth to speak, saying to the princess Ishtar: "Was it not you who provoked King Gilgamesh, so that Gilgamesh recounted your disgraceful deeds, your disgraceful deeds and your curses?"
"Ishtar opened her mouth to speak, saying to Anu her father: 'My father, give me the Bull of Heaven, that I may kill Gilgamesh in his dwelling! If you do not give me the Bull of Heaven, I will strike [the gate of] the Netherworld down to its foundation, I will set [...] below, I will raise up the dead to devour the living, and the dead shall outnumber the living.' Anu opened his mouth to speak, saying to the princess Ishtar: "If I give you the Bull of Heaven as you ask, then the widow of Uruk must gather seven years' worth of chaff, and let the farmer(?) of Uruk grow grass(?) for seven years." Ishtar opened her mouth to speak, saying to Anu her father: "[...] I have stored it up."
[...] ... it brought into being. For seven years the widows of Uruk had gathered husks. [...] the plowman [had grown tall on?] the barley meant for it. At the fury of the Bull [...] against him, Anu heard this word that Ishtar spoke, and put the halter of the Bull of Heaven into her hands. Ishtar led it down toward [the land of] Uruk. When it reached the land, it dried up the woodland and the marsh, and the reeds. It went down to the river, and the river dropped seven cubits. When it snorted, a pit opened up, and a hundred men of Uruk fell into it.
At its second snort a pit opened, and two hundred men of Uruk fell into it. At its third snort a pit opened, and Enkidu fell in up to his waist. Enkidu sprang out and seized the Bull of Heaven by its horns. The Bull of Heaven spat its slaver into his face, and with the thick tuft of its tail it flung its dung at him. Enkidu opened his mouth to speak, saying to Gilgamesh: "My friend, we boasted proudly among our city — how shall we answer the people now that they are cowed? My friend, I have seen the strength of the Bull of Heaven,
and I shall learn its full might, [its] ways [...]. Let me circle around, let me see the strength of the Bull. Toward the rear of the Bull [...] let me seize it, [and by the thick tuft of its tail] let me set my feet [behind its hindquarters]. In [...] and you, like a skilled [(...) valiant and] capable butcher, between the nape, the horns, and the killing-spot, plant your blade." Enkidu circled around behind the Bull of Heaven, seized it by the thick tuft of its tail, and set his feet behind its hindquarters.
And Gilgamesh, like a skilled [(...)] valiant and capable butcher, planted his blade between the nape, the horns, and the killing-spot. When they had slain the Bull of Heaven, they tore out its heart and set it before Shamash. They stepped back and bowed low before Shamash; then the two of them sat down together. Ishtar climbed up onto the wall of ramparted Uruk, sprang into a crouch, and uttered a curse: "Woe to Gilgamesh, who insulted me — he has slain the Bull of Heaven!" When Enkidu heard this word that Ishtar spoke, he tore out the Bull's right thigh and threw it in her face.
"If only I could catch you as well — I would do to you as I have done to it! I would drape its guts over your arms!" Ishtar gathered the cult-women, the consecrated women, and the harlots, and over the right thigh of the Bull of Heaven she raised a lament. But Gilgamesh summoned the craftsmen, all the artisans; the young men of the workshops marveled at the thickness of its horns. Thirty minas of lapis lazuli was their casing; two fingers thick was their coating. Six vats of oil, the capacity of both together, he gave as an anointing offering to his god Lugalbanda.
He brought them in and hung them up in the bedchamber of his lordship. They washed their hands in the Euphrates, then took each other's arms and set off, riding through the streets of Uruk. The people of Uruk gathered and gazed upon them. Gilgamesh said this word to the serving-women of his palace: "Who is the most splendid among young men? Who is the most glorious among males? Gilgamesh is the most splendid among young men! Gilgamesh is the most glorious among males! [...] we cast down in our fury! [...] in his street has no one to scorn him." [...] the path of [...] Gilgamesh held a celebration in his palace. Then the young men lay down, sleeping in the beds of the night;
and Enkidu, lying down, saw a dream. Enkidu rose and set about interpreting the dream, saying to his friend: