Table Of ContentAlhena Gadotti
‘Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld’ and the Sumerian Gilgamesh Cycle
Untersuchungen zur Assyriologie und
Vorderasiatischen Archäologie
Ergänzungsbände zur Zeitschrift
für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie
Edited by Walther Sallaberger, Antoine Cavigneaux, Grant Frame,
Theo van den Hout, and Adelheid Otto
Band 10
Alhena Gadotti
‘Gilgamesh, Enkidu,
and the Netherworld’
and the Sumerian
Gilgamesh Cycle
ISBN 978-1-61451-708-5
e-ISBN 978-1-61451-545-6
ISSN 0502-7012
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To A. R. and A. R.
Acknowledgements
This book is a revised version of the Doctoral Dissertation I submitted to the Department of Near
Eastern Studies, The Johns Hopkins University, in September 2005. As it is often the case in projects
such as this, many people contributed to make it possible.
First and foremost, I wish to thank my teacher and advisor, Prof. Jerrold S. Cooper. His support
and friendship over the years have been invaluable. He not only suggested the topic of my disserta-
tion. He also guided me and helped me navigating through the complexities of the subject matter
and nudged me in the right direction quite often.
Profs. Marcel Detienne, Glenn M. Schwartz, Walter Stephens and Raymond Westbrook served
on my dissertation committee and their useful suggestions have been incorporated into the book.
I am also extremely grateful to the faculty and the staff of the Department of Near Eastern Studies,
the Johns Hopkins University, who helped me tremendously throughout my graduate career.
Prof. David I. Owen also contributed to the completion of this book, by allowing me time to
work on it alongside my other duties while I was the Post-Doctoral Akkadian Fellow at Cornell
University. His support and friendship have been incredible.
Many thanks also go to the several people who facilitated access to the tablets I needed to
collate. My trips at the University of Philadelphia Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Phila-
delphia, were made possible by Prof. Steven Tinney and Dr. Philip Jones, always generous with the
workspace and the accommodations. They also allowed me to take the photos of the manuscripts
housed in the collection, which are published in this book.
Dr. Jonathan Taylor was instrumental in providing the photos for the all the manuscripts of
“Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld” housed at the British Museum, which are included here.
Prof. Andrew George generously offered his own photos of the Schøyen manuscripts, and helped
me obtaining permission to publish them in this book. A warm thank goes also to Martin Schøyen,
who granted permission to reproduce the material.
Prof. Manfred Krebernik was gracious enough to allow me to obtain many useful photos of the
two manuscripts housed in the Hilprecht Sammlung collection at the University of Jena, and pro-
vided the ones included in this publication.
Prof. Walter Farber arranged for photos of the Nippur manuscripts at the Oriental Institute,
University of Chicago, to be taken by Andrew Dix. Copies of these two manuscripts were kindly
made by Dr. Massimo Maiocchi.
Illustrations and images of this book would not have been possible without the cooperation
and help of several colleagues. Many thanks go to: Prof. Antoine Cavigneaux, for granting me per-
mission to reproduce his copies of the Meturan manuscripts; Prof. Mark Geller, who allowed me
to reproduce his copy of the “Sippar” manuscript; Dr. Marie-Christine Ludwig, who gave me per-
mission to reproduce the copies of the Ur manuscripts published in UET 6/3; Dr. Jeremiah Peter-
son, for providing photos of N50-55 and permission to reproduce his copies of these manuscripts;
Dr. Margarete van Ess, who helped me to obtain the photo of the Uruk fragment and allowed me to
re produce its copy; Prof. Nathan Wasserman, who acted as intermediary between myself and Prof.
Aaron Shaffer’s family, so that I could reproduce his copies of the GEN manuscripts he published
during his career; Prof. Aage Westenholz, who kindly provided me with his unpublished copy of
UET 6/1 60 and gave me permission to reproduce it here; Prof. Dr. Claus Wilcke, who was gracious
enough to let me publish his copy of the Isin manuscript.
Profs. Walther Sallaberger and Antoine Cavigneaux offered invaluable suggestions and pro-
vided a sounding board where I could test my ideas.
My colleagues at the Department of History, Towson University, also helped bringing this
project to a fruitful end: special mention goes to Dr. Kimberly Katz and Dr. Christian Koot, who
guided me through the process of applying for a Faculty Development and Research Grant, which
financed my research in Philadelphia in the Summer 2011.
VIII Acknowledgements
This book would not have happened without the steady support of two of my closest friends
and colleagues, Dr. Lance Allred and Dr. Alexandra Kleinerman. Dr. Allred read several versions of
the manuscript at different stages of its life, and offered invaluable input over the years. Dr. Kleiner-
man collated the Schøyen manuscript in November 2011, took additional photos of it, and read
several sections of the book as well.
A final thank goes to my family: to my mother, Marilena Rigon, who more than anyone else told
me: “Pubblica quel libro”. To my maternal grandparents, who steadfastly supported me even when
they did not quite understand what I was doing. And to my sister, Arianna Rigon. It is to her, and
to my maternal grandfather, Andrea Rigon, that this book is dedicated. Andrea came to the United
States in 1953 and brought back stories of a wondrous land. He graduated from elementary school
by gifting two chickens to his teacher, and pushed me to get the education he never had. Although
he left us two decades ago, he still remains an unsurpassable role model. Arianna arrived in this
world when I was on the brink of adulthood, kept me young at heart, tolerated that I moved across
the world for my career, and, does not let me forget that I owe her a trip to Greece. Sei la figlia del
mio cuore.
Towson, MD, November 2013
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements — VII
Abbreviations — XIII
On Transliteration and Conventions — XV
CHAPTER I
“Gilgameš, Enkidu and the Netherworld”: An Overview — 1
1. Status Quaestionis — 3
2. Summary of the Composition — 4
CHAPTER II
The Prologue of “Gilgameš, Enkidu and the Netherworld” — 7
1. Status Quaestionis — 7
2. The Cosmology of the Prologue: GEN 1-13 — 10
3. The Journey of Enki to the kur: GEN 14-26 — 14
3.1 The Destination of Enki’s Journey — 15
3.2 The Outcome of Enki’s Journey — 17
3.3 The Reasons for Enki’s Journey — 17
3.4 The Waters to the Netherworld — 18
3.5 The Attack against Enki — 19
3.6 The Function of the Story — 21
4. The Function of the Prologue I: GEN — 21
5. The Function of the Prologue II: The Sumerian Gilgameš Cycle — 23
6. Conclusions — 25
CHAPTER III
The Ḫalub-Tree — 27
1. Introduction — 27
2. The Ḫalub-Tree in Lexical Lists — 28
3. The Ḫalub-Tree in the Third Millennium BCE Royal Inscriptions — 29
4. The mes-ḫalub-Tree in the Administrative Texts from Early Dynastic IIIb Girsu — 31
5. The Ḫalub-Tree in the Administrative texts from Ur III Period — 32
6. The Ḫalub-Tree in Ur III Incantations — 35
7. The Ḫalub-Tree in Sumerian Literary Compositions — 36
8. The ḫa-lu-úb ḫar-ra-an — 42
9. The Ḫuluppu-Tree in Akkadian Sources — 44
10. Conclusions: The Epigraphic Evidence — 46
11. Ḫalub = Mahlab Cherry — 47
12. Conclusions — 48
CHAPTER IV
Narrative and Poetic Structure — 51
1. Status Quaestionis — 51
2. Poetic Structure — 53
3. Narrative Structure — 59
4. Analysis of the Narrative Units — 62
4.1 Prologue — 62
4.2 The Ḫalub-tree episode — 64
4.3 The Ballgame — 68
4.4 The Descent to the Netherworld — 70
Description:Providing a new perspective on the Sumerian Gilgamesh stories, Alhena Gadotti argues that a Sumerian Gilgamesh Cycle was developed as early as Ur III, and that Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld was the first, not the last story of this cycle. Prompted by several texts that have come to light si
