The Epic of Gilgamesh Quotes

“He became like a man. He attired himself with clothes even as does a husband.”

“I saw him and was astounded. I loved him as a woman, falling upon him in embrace. I took him and made him my brother.”

“She tore off one garment and clothed him with it. With a second garment she clothed herself.”

“How is he become like Gilgamish suddenly? In form he is shorter. In ........ he is made powerful.”

“I behold thee Enkidu; like a god thou art. Why with the animals wanderest thou on the plain?”

“Milk of the cattle he drank. Food they placed before him. He broke bread gazing and looking. But Enkidu understood not. Bread to eat, beer to drink, he had not been taught.”

“They met in the wide park of the land. Enkidu held fast the door with his foot, and permitted not Gilgamish to enter. They grappled with each other goring like an ox. The threshold they destroyed.”

“My mother, I have seen another [dream. I beheld] my likeness in the street. In Erech of the wide spaces he hurled the axe, and they assembled about him.”

“Thou beholdest him and art distracted.”

“The advice of the woman fell upon his heart.”

“He seized his weapon, which the panther and lion fells in the night time cruelly. He captured the wild mountain goats. The panther he conquered.”

“Even as one did thy mother bear thee, she the wild cow of the cattle stalls, Ninsunna, whose head she exalted more than a husband. Royal power over the people Enlil has decreed for thee.”

“Oh Enkidu, arise, I will conduct thee unto Eanna dwelling place of Anu, where Gilgamish [oppresses] the souls of men.”

“The mother of Gilgamish, she that knows all things.”

“Among the great sheep for sacrifice Enkidu was their guard. A man, a leader, A hero.”

“During my night I, having become lusty, wandered about in the midst of omens.”

“Eat bread, oh Enkidu! It is the conformity of life, of the conditions and the fate of the land.”

“And there came out stars in the heavens, Like a … of heaven he fell upon me. I bore him but he was too heavy for me. He bore a net but I was not able to bear it.”

“He heard her speak and accepted her words with favor.”

“Truly oh Gilgamish he is born in the fields like thee. The mountains have reared him.”