Edward Lipinski's "El's Abode: Mythological Traditions Related to ...

I il
50 E. LIPI&SKI
identified with the tunnel at the source of the Tigris. It has been
objected against this view that the direction of Gilgames is designated
as westward 185, karrdn samsi,« along the road of the sun »(eol. IV, 46).
But it seems that he walked in the sense directly opposite to the sun,,
since according to the Old Babylonian fragment VAT 4105 186 he
encountered on his way the Sun-god. It is even possible that this is
explicitly asserted in the text, at least if the verb idaqqussu of line 5
means that Samas « went towards him »187. On the other hand, Gilgames
journeys through the tunnel northward, since he feels after
the ninth double hour or league the north wind, iltdnu, fanning his
face (eol. V, 38-39). This corresponds exactly to the north-south
direction of the tunnel at the source of the Western Tigris, but raises
the problem of the hero's meeting with the Sun-god, coining from
the east. Most likely, we have here to deal with a combination of
elements originating from two different traditions : one locates Paradise
in the north, the other one in the east18S.
Before joining Utnapistim, Gilgames must still cross a sea, which is
traversed by the Waters of Death (tabl. X) and which «only the
valiant Sun-god crosses)) (col. II, 23). If the subterranean passage has
, The Origin of the Week and the Oldest West Asiatic Calendar, in Hebrew Union
College Annual, 17, 1942-1943, p. 1-152 (see p. 13-14). For another interpretation,
cf. M.H. POPE, ffl in the Ugaritic Texts, p. 78.
185 So M.H. POPE, op. tit., p. 78; P. GREI.OT, art. cit., in Revue Biblique, 65, 1958,
p. 56-57. Cf. E.A. SPEISEE, in J.B. PEITCHAED (ed.)5 ANET, p. 89, n. 152.
186 This fragment has been published by B. MEISSNER, Ein altbabylonisches Fragment
des Gilgamosepos, in MVAG, 7/1, 1912, p. 1-15. A translation by E.A. SPEISSB «0can
be found in J.B. PBITCHAED (ed.), ANET, 3rd ed., p. 89-90. h£"
is? Cf. -$r_ vow gODEWj arif cjt^ jjj Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, 53, 1959, p. 220; ID.,
AKkadisches Eandworterbueh, I, p. 162. "*• *
188 The eastern location is implied by Gen. 2,8 and 11,2, by I Enoch 30-32 and 77, Iff
at least in the Tersion of 4Q (ef. J.T. MHJK, art. cit., in Revue Biblique, 65, 1958, p. 75- fr
76), and also by the Sumerian mythology which locates Paradise in Dilmun. Cf. S.N. KBA- J*£
MEE, Dilmun, the Land of the Living, in BASOR, 96, 1944, p. 18-28. The most explicit lgtestimony
is that of the tablet CBS 10673, col. Yi,12, published by A. POEBSL, Historical *p£
and Grammatical Texts (University of Pennsylvania. The University Museum. Publiea*rtions
of the Babylonian Section, V), Philadelphia, 1914, No. 1 : kur-dilmun-na
ki-dutu-e-se, «in the land of Dilmun, the place where the sun rises*. The latest
study of the text is that of M. CIVIL, in W.G. LAMBERT and A.E. MILLAED, Atra-hasHs.
The Babylonian Story of the Flood, Oxford, 1969, p. 138-145 and 167-172. The author
simply translates the quoted sentence : « in the orient, in Dilmun » (p. 145, line 260).
See also A.W. SJOBEEG - E. BEEGMAsra, The Collection of the Sumerian Temple Hymns,
p. 89-90.