Epic of Gilgamish

iconChapter - 8

1When all was made ready the God Shamash appeared before me.
2He signified to me that at even-tide a great flood would be loosed upon the earth.
3"A rain-flood came at even-tide.
4I watched the darkness coming and the storm.
5Terror possessed me as I watched.
6I went within where my family were and the beasts and birds were in pairs, and I bolted down the doors; yea, I bolted down the nine parts which I had made inside the ship.
7I committed the ship and all that was on board of it to the mercy of the Gods.
8"Then a black cloud came up, and out of the black cloud and the whirlwind the Gods thundered.
9The Star Gods of the Southern Sky brandished their torches.
10Every gleam of light was turned to darkness.
11Floods descended out of the heavens.
12The waters attacked mankind as in a battle.
13They but mocked me.
14Fathers no longer saw their children; brother no longer saw brother.
15The rains descended until the waters mounted to the tops of the hills.
16As they mounted up, the Gods themselves were filled with fright; they went out of their own places; they went into the high heaven of Anu.
17Ishtar, the Lady of the Gods, cried out like a woman in travail.
18Yea, Ishtar lamented, crying against herself for speaking of this flood in the presence of the Gods.
19The Gods of the Southern Sky wailed with her, and for six days and six nights rain fell and the wind beat down all that was upon the land.
20"But after the seventh day the raging flood ceased; the whirlwind and the rain-storm ceased, and the waters no longer rose.
21I looked over the waters; I saw that calm had come.
22Calm had come, but the land had been laid out flat, and mankind had been turned to mud.
23I bowed myself down; I fell upon my face and tears flowed down my cheeks.
24I looked to the four quarters of the world and all that I saw was the open sea.
25Then for twelve days the ship went on. The ship rested on the mountain of Nisir and it moved no more.
26"And when, after seven days, the ship still rested, I opened an air-hole and light fell upon my face.
27I let a dove fly forth. The dove came back to the ship for there was no place for her to light.
28I let a swallow fly forth. The swallow also returned.
29I let a raven fly forth. The raven did not return; she saw the land come up through the sinking waters; she ate; she pecked on the ground; she croaked, and did not come back to me.
30"Then I brought out all that was on board the ship; I brought all to where the four winds blew.
31I offered up a sacrifice.
32I poured out a libation where I stood upon the peak of the mountain.
33There Ishtar, the Lady of the Gods, appeared before me; she cursed Bel for having brought about the flood.
34"The God Bel was wroth seeing that a portion of mankind had been saved from the flood.
35He raged. He cried out, 'None shall be left alive; no man shall be left living in this destruction!
36But the God En-urta pleaded with Bel for mankind, and Bel relented.
37Then the God Ea went to the ship, and took me by the hand, and brought me forth and brought my wife forth; he turned our faces towards one another and made us kneel together.
38He blessed us, saying, 'Formerly Uta-Napishtim and his wife were mortals; now let Uta-Napishtim and his wife be like the Gods themselves, having immortal life.'"
39The tables having been read to the end, Gilgamish said, "How may I go to where Uta-Napishtim is, and what is the way to his dwelling?
40I would go to him whom the Gods have made undying and find out from him how a man may save himself from going down into that abyss that is Irkalla's."
41His mother said, "All that we know is that the dwelling-place of Uta-Napishtim is beyond Mount Mashu, where the sun rises and sets."
42Thereupon Gilgamish set out for Mount Mashu.