with an additional line in elaboration
"Thou didst bring him into contact with me”[1]
which anticipates the speech of the mother
(Line 41 = Assyrian version I, 6, 33).
Line 10 of the Pennsylvania tablet has pa-ḫi-ir as against iz-za-az I, 5, 31.
Line 8 has ik-ta-bi-it as against da-an in the Assyrian version I, 5, 29.
More significant is the variant to line 9
"I became weak and its weight I could not bear”
as against I, 5, 30.
"Its strength was overpowering,[2]
The important lines 31–36 are not found in the Assyrian version, with the exception of I, 6, 27, which corresponds to lines 33–34, but this lack of correspondence is probably due to the fact that the Assyrian version represents the anticipation of the dreams which, as already suggested, might well omit some details. As against this we have in the Assyrian version I, 6, 23–25, an elaboration of line 30 in the Pennsylvania tablet and taken over from the recital of the first dream. Through the Assyrian version I, 6, 31–32, we can restore the closing lines of column I of the Pennsylvania tablet, while with line 33 = line 45 of the Pennsylvania tablet, the parallel between the two versions comes to an end. Lines 34–43 of the Assyrian version (bringing tablet I to a close)[3] represent an elaboration of the speech of Ninsun, followed by a further address of Gilgamesh to his mother, and by the determination of Gilgamesh to seek out Enkidu.[4] Nothing of this sort appears to have been included in the old Babylonian version.
- ↑ Repeated I, 6, 28.
- ↑ ul-tap-rid ki-is-su-šú-ma. The verb is from parâdu, “violent.” For kissu, “strong,” see CT XVI, 25, 48–49. Langdon (Gilgamesh Epic, p. 211, note 5) renders the phrase: “he shook his murderous weapon!!”—another illustration of his haphazard way of translating texts. and I could not endure its weight.”
- ↑ Shown by the colophon (Jeremias, Izdubar-Nimrod, Plate IV.)
- ↑ Lines 42–43 must be taken as part of the narrative of the compiler, who tells us that after the woman had informed Enkidu that Gilgamesh already knew of Enkidu’s coming through dreams interpreted by Ninsun, Gilgamesh actually set out and encountered Enkidu.
