Lugalbanda
in the mountain cave
SEGMENT A: lines 1-499
-- now at that time the king
set his mace towards the city, Enmerkar the son of Utu
prepared an ...... expedition against
Aratta, the mountain of the holy divine powers. He was going to set off to
destroy the rebel land; the lord began a mobilization of his city.
The herald made the
horn signal sound in all
the lands. Now levied Unug took the field with the wise king, indeed
levied
Kulaba followed
Enmerkar. Unug's levy was a flood,
Kulaba's levy was a clouded sky. As they covered the ground like heavy fogs, the
dense dust whirled up by them reached up to heaven. As if to rooks on
the best seed, rising up, he called to the people. Each one gave his
fellow the sign. Their king went at their head, to go at the ...... of the army.
Enmerkar went at their head, to go at the ...... of the army.
........................... ...... gu-nida emmer-grain to grow abundantly. When the righteous
one who takes counsel with Enlil
(i.e.
Enmerkar) took away the whole of Kulaba, like sheep they
bent over at the slope
of the mountains,
...... at the edge of the hills
they ran forward like wild bulls. He sought ...... at the side -- they
recognised the way. He
sought .......
Five days passed. On they sixth
day they bathed. ...... on the seventh day they entered the
mountains. When they had crossed over on the paths -- an enormous
flood billowing upstream into a lagoon ......
Their ruler (i.e.
Enmerkar),
riding on a
storm, Utu's
son, the good
bright
metal, stepped down
from heaven to the great earth. His head shines
with brilliance, the barbed arrows flash past him like lightning; the ...... of the
bronze pointed
axe of his emblem
shines for him, it protrudes from the pointed axe for him prominently, like a dog eating a
corpse. At that time there were
seven, there were seven -- the young ones,
born in Kulaba,
were seven. The goddess Urac
had borne these seven, the Wild Cow had nourished them with milk. They were heroes,
living in Sumer, they were princely in their prime. They had been
brought up eating at the god An's table. These seven were the overseers for those that are
subordinate to overseers, were the captains for those that are
subordinate to captains were the generals for those that are
subordinate to generals. They were overseers of 300 men, 300 men
each; they were captains of 600 men, 600 men each; they were generals
of 7 car (25,200) of soldiers, 25,200 soldiers
each. They stood at the service of the lord as his elite
troops. Lugalbanda, the eighth of them, ...... was
washed in
water. In awed silence
he went forward, ...... he marched with the troops. When they had
covered half the way, covered half the way, a sickness befell him
there, 'head sickness' befell him. He jerked like a snake dragged by its head with a reed; his mouth bit the
dust, like a gazelle caught in a snare. No longer could his hands
return the hand grip, no longer could he lift his feet high. Neither
king nor contingents could help him. In the great mountains, crowded
together like a dustcloud over the ground, they said: "Let them bring
him to Unug". But they did not know how they could bring him. "Let
them bring him to Kulaba." But they did not know how they could bring
him. As his teeth chattered (?) in the cold places of the mountains,
they brought him to a warm place there. ...... a storehouse, they made
him an arbour like a bird's nest. ...... dates, figs and various
sorts of cheese; they put sweetmeats suitable for the sick to eat, in
baskets of dates, and they made him a home. They set out for him the
various fats of the cowpen,
the sheepfold's fresh cheese, oil with cold eggs, cold hard-boiled
eggs, as if laying a table for the holy place, the valued place
(i.e. as if for a
funerary offering).
Directly in front of the table they arranged for him beer for drinking, mixed with date syrup and rolls ...... with butter.
Provisions poured into leather
buckets, provisions all put into leather bags -- his brothers and
friends, like a boat unloading from the harvest-place, placed stores
by his head in the mountain cave. They ...... water
in their leather
waterskins. Dark
beer, alcoholic drink, light emmer beer, wine
for drinking which is pleasant to the taste, they distributed by his head in
the mountain
cave as on a
stand for
waterskins.
They prepared for him
incense
resin, ...... resin,
aromatic resin, ligidba
resin and first-class resin on pot-stands in the deep hole; they
suspended them by his head in the mountain cave. They pushed into place at his
head his axe
whose metal was tin,
imported from the Zubi
mountains. They wrapped up by his chest his dagger of iron
imported from the Gig (Black) mountains. His eyes -- irrigation
ditches, because they are flooding with water -- holy Lugalbanda kept
open, directed towards this. The outer door of his lips --
overflowing like holy Utu -- he did not open to his brothers. When
they lifted his neck, there was no breath there any longer. His
brothers, his friends took counsel with one another: "If our brother rises like Utu
from bed, then the god who has smitten him will step aside and, when
he eats this food, when he drinks (?) this, will make his feet
stable. May he bring him over the high places of the mountains to
brick-built Kulaba. "But if Utu calls our brother
to the holy place, the valued place (i.e. the hereafter), the health of his limbs will leave (?) him. Then
it will be up to us, when we come back from Aratta, to bring our
brother's body to brick-built Kulaba." Like the dispersed holy cows of
Nanna, as with a breeding bull when, in his
old age, they have left him behind in the cattle pen, his brothers
and friends abandoned holy Lugalbanda in the mountain cave; and with
repeated tears and moaning, with tears, with lamentation, with grief
and weeping, Lugalbanda's older brothers set off into the
mountains. Then two days passed during
which Lugalbanda was ill; to these two days, half a day was added. As
Utu turned his glance towards his home, as the animals lifted their
heads toward their lairs, at the day's end in the evening cool, his
body was as if anointed with oil. But he was not yet free of his
sickness. When he lifted his eyes to
heaven to Utu, he wept to him as if to his own father. In the
mountain cave he raised to him his fair hands: "Utu, I greet you! Let me be
ill no longer! Hero, Ningal's son, I greet you! Let me be ill no longer! Utu, you
have let me come up into the mountains in the company of my brothers.
In the mountain cave, the most dreadful spot on earth, let me be ill
no longer! Here where there is no mother, there is no father, there
is no acquaintance, no one whom I value, my mother is not here to say
"Alas, my child!" My brother is not here to say "Alas, my brother!"
My mother's neighbour who enters our house is not here to weep over
me. If the male and female protective deities were standing by, the
deity of neighbourliness would say, "A man should not perish". A lost
dog is bad; a lost man is terrible. On the unknown way at the edge of
the mountains, Utu, is a lost man, a man in an even more terrible
situation. Don't make me flow away like water in a violent death!
Don't make me eat saltpetre as if it were barley! Don't make me fall
like a throwstick somewhere in the desert unknown to me! Afflicted
with a name which excites my brothers' scorn, let me be ill no
longer! Afflicted with the derision of my comrades, let me be ill no
longer! Let me not come to an end in the mountains like a
weakling!" Utu accepted his tears. He sent
down his divine encouragement to him in the mountain cave.
She who makes ...... for the
poor, whose game (i.e.
battle) is sweet, the
prostitute who goes out to the inn, who makes the bedchamber
delightful, who is food to the poor man -- Inana (i.e.
the evening star), the
daughter of Suen,
arose before him like a bull in the Land. Her brilliance, like that
of holy Cara, her stellar brightness illuminated for him the mountain cave. When he
lifted his eyes upwards to Inana,
he wept as if before his own father. In the mountain cave he raised
to her his fair hands: "Inana, if only this were my
home, if only this were my city! If only this were Kulaba, the city
in which my mother bore me ......! Even if it were to me as the waste
land to a snake! If it were to me as a crack in the ground to a
scorpion! My mighty people ......! My great ladies ......! ...... to
E-ana!" 2 lines unclear
"The little stones of it, the
shining stones in their glory, sajkal
stones above, ...... below, from its crying out in the mountain land
Zabu, from its voice ...... open -- may my limbs not perish in the
mountains of the cypresses!" Inana accepted his tears. With
power of life she let him go to sleep just like the sleeping Utu.
Inana enveloped him with heart's joy as if with a woollen garment.
Then, just as if ......, she went to brick-built Kulaba. The bull that eats up the black soup, the astral holy bull-calf
(i.e. the
moon), came to watch over him. He shines (?) in the heavens like the morning star, he spreads bright light in the night.
Suen, who is greeted as the new moon, father Nanna, gives the
direction for the rising Utu. The glorious lord whom the crown
befits, Suen, the beloved son of Enlil, the god (1 ms. has instead: the lord) reached the zenith
splendidly. His brilliance like holy Cara
(1 ms. has
instead: Utu)
(1 ms. has
instead: like lapis
lazuli), his starry
radiance illuminated for him the mountain cave. When Lugalbanda raised his eyes to
heaven to Suen, he wept to him as if to his own father. In the
mountain cave he raised to him his fair hands: "King whom one cannot reach in
the distant sky! Suen, whom one cannot reach in the distant sky! King
who loves justice, who hates evil! Suen,
who loves justice, who hates evil! Justice brings joy justly to your
heart. A poplar, a great staff, forms a sceptre for you, you who
loosen the bonds of justice, who do not loosen the bonds of evil. If
you encounter evil before you, it is dragged away behind
....... When your heart
becomes angry, you spit
your venom at evil like
a snake which drools poison." Suen accepted his tears and
gave him life. He conferred on his feet the power to stand.
A second time (i.e. at the following
sunrise), as the
bright bull rising up from the horizon, the bull resting among the
cypresses, a shield standing on the ground, watched by the assembly,
a shield coming out from the treasury, watched by the young men --
the youth Utu extended his holy, shining rays down from heaven
(1 ms. from Ur
adds: ...... holy, his
brilliance illuminated for him the mountain cave), he bestowed them
on holy Lugalbanda in
the mountain cave. His
good protective god hovered ahead of him, his good protective goddess
walked behind him. The god which had smitten him stepped aside
(1 ms. has
instead: went out from
him) (1 ms. has
instead: went up and
away from him). When he raised his eyes heavenward to Utu, he wept to
him as to his own father. In the mountain cave he raised to him his
fair hands: "Utu, shepherd of the land,
father of the black-headed, when you go to sleep, the people go to
sleep with you; youth Utu, when you rise, the people rise with you.
Utu, without you no net is stretched out for a bird, no slave is
taken away captive. To him who walks alone, you are his brotherly
companion; Utu, you are the third of them who travel in pairs. You
are the blinkers for him who wears the neck-ring. Like a holy
zulumhi garment, your sunshine clothes the poor
man and the scoundrel as well as him who has no clothes; as a garment
of white wool it covers the bodies even of debt slaves. Like rich old
men, the old women praise your sunsine sweetly, until their oldest
days (alludes to a
proverb) Your sunshine
is as mighty as oil. Great wild bulls run forward, Holy Lugalbanda came out from the mountain
cave. Then the
righteous one who takes counsel with Enlil (i.e. Utu?) caused life-saving plants
to be born. The rolling rivers, mothers of the hills, brought
life-saving water. He bit on the life-saving plants, he sipped from
the life-saving water. After biting on the
life-saving
plants, after sipping
from the life-saving water, here he on his own set a trap (?) in the
ground, and from that spot he sped away like a horse of the
mountains. Like a lone wild ass of Cakkan he darted over the
mountains. Like a large powerful donkey he raced; a slim donkey,
eager to run, he bounded along. That night, in the evening, he
set off, hurrying through the mountains, a waste land in the
moonlight. He was alone and, even to his sharp eyes, there was not a
single person to be seen. With the provisions stocked in leather
pails, provisions put in leather bags, his brothers and his friends
had been able to bake bread on the ground, with some cold water. Holy
Lugalbanda had carried the things from the mountain cave. He set them
beside the embers. He filled a bucket ...... with water. In front of
him he split what he had placed. He took hold of the ...... stones.
Repeatedly he struck them together. He laid the glowing (?) coals on
the open ground. The fine flintstone caused a spark. Its fire shone
out for him over the waste land like the sun. Not knowing how to bake
bread or a cake, not knowing an oven, with just seven coals he baked
giziecta dough. While the bread was baking by
itself, he pulled up culhi
reeds of the mountains, roots and all, and stripped their branches.
He packed up all the cakes as a day's ration. Not knowing how to bake
bread or a cake, not knowing an oven, with just seven coals he had
baked giziecta dough. He garnished it with sweet date syrup.
A brown wild bull, a fine-looking wild bull, a wild bull tossing its
horns, a wild bull in hunger (?), resting, seeking with its voice the
brown wild bulls of the hills, the pure place -- in this way it was
chewing aromatic cimgig
as if it were barley, it was grinding up the wood of the cypress as
if it were esparto grass, it was sniffing with its nose at the
foliage of the cenu
shrub as if it were grass. It was drinking the water of the rolling
rivers, it was belching from ilinnuc, the pure plant of the mountains. While the
brown wild
bulls, the wild bulls
of the mountains, were browsing about among the plants, Lugalbanda
captured this one in his ambush (?). He uprooted a juniper tree of
the mountains and stripped its branches. With a knife holy Lugalbanda
trimmed its roots, which were like the long rushes of the field. He
tethered the brown wild bull, the wild bull of the mountains, to it with a halter. A brown goat and a nanny-goat
-- flea-bitten goats, lousy goats, goats covered in sores -- in this
way they were chewing aromatic cimgig
as if it were barley, they were grinding up the wood of the cypress
as if it were esparto grass, they were sniffing with their noses at
the foliage of the cenu
shrub as if it were grass. They were drinking the water of the
rolling rivers, they were belching from ilinnuc, the pure plant of the mountains. While the brown
goats and the nanny-goats were browsing about among the plants,
Lugalbanda captured these two in his ambush (?). He uprooted a
juniper tree of the mountains and stripped its branches. With a knife
holy Lugalbanda cut off its roots, which were like the long rushes of
the field. With chains he fettered the brown goat and the nanny goat,
both the goats. (1 ms.
adds: ......, he piled
up .......) He was alone and, even to his
sharp eyes, there was not a single person to be seen. Sleep overcame
the king (i.e.
Lugalbanda) -- sleep,
the country of oppression; it is like a towering flood, like a hand
demolishing a brick wall, a hand raised high, a foot raised high;
covering like syrup that which is in front of it, overflowing like
syrup onto that which is in front of it; it knows no overseer, knows
no captain, yet it is overpowering for the hero. And by means of
Ninkasi's wooden cask (i.e. with the help of beer), sleep finally overcame Lugalbanda. He
laid down ilinnuc, pure herb of the mountains, as a couch, he spread
out a zulumhi
garment, he unfolded there a white linen sheet. There being no ......
room for bathing, he made do with that place. The king lay down not
to sleep, he lay down to dream -- not turning back at the door of the
dream, not turning back at the door-pivot. To the liar it talks in
lies, to the truthful it speaks truth. It can make one man happy, it
can make another man sing, but it is the closed tablet-basket of the
gods. It is the beautiful bedchamber of Ninlil,
it is the counsellor of Inana. The multiplier of mankind, the voice
of one not alive -- Zangara, the god of dreams, himself like a bull,
bellowed at Lugalbanda. Like the calf of a cow he lowed: "Who will slaughter (?) a brown
wild bull for me? Who will make its fat melt for me? He shall take my
axe whose metal is tin, he shall wield my dagger which is of iron.
Like an athlete I shall let him bring away the brown wild bull, the
wild bull of the mountains, I shall let him like a wrestler make it
submit. Its strength will leave it. When he offers it before the
rising sun, let him heap up like barleycorns the heads of the brown
goat and the nanny goat, both the goats; when he has poured out their
blood in the pit -- let their smell waft out in the desert so that
the alert snakes of the mountains will sniff it." Lugalbanda awoke -- it was a
dream. He shivered -- it was sleep. He rubbed his eyes, he was
overawed. He took his axe whose metal was tin, he wielded his dagger
which was of iron. Like an athlete he brought away the brown wild
bull, the wild bull of the mountains, like a wrestler he made it
submit. Its strength left it. He offered it before the rising sun. He
heaped up like barleycorns the heads of the brown goat and the nanny
goat, both of the goats. He poured out their blood in the pit so that
their smell wafted out in the desert. The alert snakes of the
mountains sniffed it. As the sun was rising ......,
Lugalbanda, invoking the name of Enlil, made An, Enlil, Enki and
Ninhursaja sit down to a banquet at the pit, at the place in the
mountains which he had prepared. The banquet was set, the libations
were poured -- dark beer, alcoholic drink, light emmer beer, wine for
drinking which is pleasant to the taste. Over the plain he poured
cool water as a libation. He put the knife to the flesh of the brown
goats, and he roasted the dark livers there. He let their smoke rise
there, like incense put on the fire. As if Dumuzid had brought in the
good savours of the cattle pen, so An, Enlil, Enki and Ninhursaja
consumed the best part of the food prepared by Lugalbanda. Like the
shining place of pure strength, the holy altar of Suen, ....... On
top of the altar of Utu and the altar of Suen ......, he decorated
the two altars with the lapis lazuli ...... of Inana. Suen ....... He
bathed the a-an-kar. When he had bathed the ......, he set out all the
cakes properly. Description of the
demons
They make ......
Enki, father of the gods; they are ......,
they ......; like a string of figs dripping with lusciousness, they
hang their arms. They are gazelles of Suen running in flight, they
are the fine smooth cloths of Ninlil, they are the helpers of Ickur;
they pile up flax, they pile up barley; they are wild animals on the
rampage, they descend like a storm on a rebel land hated by Suen,
indeed they descend like a storm. They lie up during all the long
day, and during the short night they enter ...... houses (?); during
the long day, during the short night they lie in beds ......, they
give ....... At dead of night they sing
out ......, in the breeze ...... swallows of Utu; they enter into
house after house, they peer into street after street, they are
talkers, they are repliers to talkers, seeking words with a mother,
replying to a great lady; they nestle at the bedside, they smite
......, when the black ...... are stolen, they leave ...... the doors
and tables of humans, they change ......, they tie the door-pivots
together. The hero who ......, Utu who ......, the heroic youth Utu
of the good word The wise elders of the city
...... they pursue ...... Inana
......, who are favoured by Inana's heart, who stand in the battle,
they are the fourteen torches of battle ......, at midnight they
......, at dead of night they pursue like wildfire, in a band they
flash together like lightning, in the urgent storm of battle, which
roars loudly like a great flood rising up; they who are favoured in
Inana's heart, who stand in the battle, they are the seven torches of
battle ......; they stand joyfully as she wears the crown under a
clear sky, with their foreheads and eyes they are a clear evening.
Their ears ...... a boat, with their mouths they are wild boars
resting in a reed thicket; they stand in the thick of battle, with
their life-force they ......, As Utu comes forth from his
chamber, the holy battle-mace of An ......, the just god who lies
alongside a man; they are wicked gods with evil hearts, they are
...... gods. It is they, like Nanna, like Utu, like Inana of the
fifty divine powers, ...... in heaven and earth ......; they are the
interpreters of spoken evil, the spies of righteousness, SEGMENT B (It is possible that this fragment does not belong to
the same composition.) 7 lines
unclear Gracious permission from:
"Copyright J.A. Black, G. Cunningham, E. Robson, and G. Zlyomi 1998,
1999, 2000. The authors have asserted their moral rights."
Scholarly Versions at their Home Page
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian
Literature, Oxford University, Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven Counter added 8.27.05 12:55 2635
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"Hero, son of Ningal, ...... to you.
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"Brother ...... his brother. He causes his plough to stand in the ....... Praise to you is so very
sweet, it reaches up to heaven. Hero, son of Ningal, they laud you as
you deserve."
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unclear
the incantation ...... of the youth Utu, which the Anuna, the great
gods, do not know, from that time ......,
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unclear
the incantation ...... of the youth Utu, which the Anuna, the great
gods, do not know,
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they are able to enter the presence of Utu, of Enlil, god of the
......, the bearded son of Ningal ......; they give to Suen ......,
they confirm with their power the fate of the foreign lands. At dead
of night they know the black wild boar, at midday to Utu ...... he
can ...... his incantation,
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unclear
They enter before An, Enlil, ......, Inana, the gods; they know
......, they watch ......, they ...... at the window; the door
......, the pot-stand ......;
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unclear
they stand ......,
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who are favoured in Inana's heart, who stand in the battle, by Nintud
of heaven they are numerous, by the life of heaven they hold ......;
the holy shining battle-mace reaches to the edge of heaven and earth,
...... reaches.
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...... a clear sky and numerous stars,
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...... fresh cedars in the mountains of the cypress, ...... a
battle-net from the horizon to the zenith,
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