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Shelf entry · Mesopotamian

Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet XI

Standing
traditionMesopotamian
cited by 2 connections
public domain yes
passages digitized: 2
From the source register

Ea warns Utnapishtim of Shuruppak through a reed wall; boat caulked with bitumen and pitch lodges on Mt. Nimush/Nisir; dove, swallow, raven released in sequence; sacrifice on the peak · gods smell the sweet savor and gather 'like flies'; Beletili/Ishtar lifts her lapis necklace vowing never to forget; Ea rebukes Enlil: 'charge the offense to the offender' but do not cut mankind off.

Digitized passages

The lines the citing connections rest on, digitized from the public-domain edition named under each passage. Wording is the edition's own.

flood-1
  1. When the seventh day approached,
  2. I sent forth a dove and let her go.
  3. The dove flew away and came back,
  4. For there was no resting place and she returned.
  5. I sent forth a swallow and let her go,
  6. The swallow flew away and came back,
  7. For there was no resting place, and she returned.
  8. I sent forth a raven and let her go,
  9. The raven flew away, she saw the abatement of the waters,
  10. She drew near, she waded, she croaked (?) and came not back.
Gilgamesh XI, the bird sequence (~145–154) · tr. R. W. Rogers, 1912 The rendering is Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (1912). The uncertainty mark is the translator’s own.
flood-2
  1. Then I sent everything forth to the four quarters of heaven,
  2. I offered sacrifice,
  3. I made a libation upon the mountain’s peak.
  4. By sevens I set out the sacrificial vessels,
  5. Beneath them I heaped up reed and cedar wood and myrtle.
  6. The gods smelt the savor,
  7. The gods smelt the sweet savor,
  8. The gods gathered like flies over the sacrificer.
  9. When at last the Lady of the gods drew near,
  10. She raised the great jewel, which Anu according to her wish had made.
  11. “Oh ye gods here—even as I shall not forget the jewels of my neck,
  12. Upon these days shall I think, I shall never forget them.”
Gilgamesh XI, the sacrifice (~155–165) · tr. R. W. Rogers, 1912 The rendering is Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (1912).
Citations

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Connections resting on this work
flood · flood-1

The same three-stage avian reconnaissance protocol from a grounded vessel, with overlapping species (dove, raven) and the identical inferential logic: the bird that does not come back is the good news. The raven's valence is inverted between the two · first success in one, first failure in the other · exactly the kind of transposition a copied record would show.

Grounded on Mt. Nimush, Utnapishtim runs a serial bird-test: 'I sent forth a dove and released it' · it returns; a swallow · it returns; then a raven, which 'saw the waters slither back' and does not come back. Non-return is the proof that land has emerged (XI ~145–154).

set against Genesis 8:6–12

flood · flood-2

An identical four-beat sequence: landing → burnt offering → the deity smells the smoke and is moved → vow of never-again sealed by a physical token of remembrance (a string of sky-blue lapis at the goddess's throat; a bow of color in the cloud). The smelling detail is near-verbatim across languages · the deity is reached through the nose.

First act after landing is a mountaintop sacrifice with incense (reeds, cedar, myrtle): 'The gods smelled the savor, the gods smelled the sweet savor, and collected like flies over a (sheep) sacrifice.' Immediately after, Beletili raises her jewels: 'as surely as I shall not forget this lapis lazuli around my neck, may I be mindful of these days, and never forget them!'

set against Genesis 8:20–21; 9:13–16

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