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Atrahasis III: Enki instructs Atrahasis to build an ark. He loads animals on it. The gods weep because they are famished. Mami especially is upset, as she created man. Atrahasis makes a sacrifice to the gods and they feast. Ellil confronts Enki about the survivors. Enki admits that he saved them. The gods hold council and decide that men should be mortal and create stillborn children and chaste priestesses as well

Atrahasis II: Ellil orders Adad to stop the rain and bring a famine upon mankind. Atrahasis tells the people to make offerings to Adad to bring back the rain and he does so. Ellil is enraged and reminds Ea that he created man and his job was to control the population by controlling the waters from Apsu. Ellil gets other gods to use their powers to create a flood to wipe out mankind

Atrahasis I: the Igigi build canals but are tired of their work. They protest outside Ellil’s home. He, Anu, and Enki petition the Anunnaki to let Mami create man. The Anunnaki sacrifice a god and his blood is mixed with clay to create man. Ellil complains of man’s noise. He sends disease to wipe them out. Enki tells Atrahasis to make offerings to Namtara, god in the netherworld, to end the plague

Noah may have come from an abbreviation of Uta-na’ishtim. Ulysses and Odysseus may also have come from this name. Man is created from clay in the Atrahasis, just like in Genesis. Deucalion is a Greek figure who survived the flood. He may have come from the Babylonian tale or from Jewish immigrants bringing their flood story. The story may have come from marine fossils found by ancients

Death of Bilgames: Bilgames has a dream where the gods decide that he cannot be immortal, however he should become one of the Anunna and judge the shades in the netherworld. Gilgamesh diverts the Euphrates, builds a tomb on its bed, lies in it to die and then covers the tomb with water again. This tale ties together a lot of the other ideas and themes found throughout the other parts of the epic

“In those days”: One of the most readable and enjoyable of the Bilgames tales and also the funniest, albeit unintentionally. Funny things of note are Bilgames making a mallet and ball from Inanna’s tree and playing with them with men of Uruk, including piggybacking for some reason and the women of Uruk get pissed. Enkidu throws a stick at some shades in the netherworld which pisses them off

Bilgames and the Bull of Heaven: this differs from the version in the epic in a few ways. Inanna cries out, and her cry is so loud that An relents. Bilgames is unbothered by the bull and finishes his meal. He gives the bull’s remains to the poor of the village. I like the added detail in this version

Bilgames and Huwawa: Version A is fantastic and the best work in this entire collection (at least for now). This text is almost entirely complete. The verse is very readable and while it is repetitious I feel that unlike other Gilgamesh tablets, it serves the poem well, giving it a rhythmic feel. The narrative is also interesting: Bilgames makes a case for sparing Huwawa before Enkidu unexpectedly kills him

The connection between Osiris, Horus, and Ra is interesting. I like the myth that the sun descends into the netherworld when it sets to join its father Osiris

“The Envoys of Akka”: The elders of Uruk tell Bilgames that they should submit to his nephew Akka, king of Kish. Bilgames convinces the young men of Uruk that they should fight. His royal bodyguard Birhurturra is sent to Akka to “confound his good sense”. Akka beats him. Uruk attacks Kish’s army and wins. Bilgames defers to Akka, saying he gave him refuge and he lets Akka return home

The dynastic period began with the consolidation of power by pastoralists in the eastern desert and oases in the western desert near Upper Egypt. They consolidated power mostly by peaceful means such as treaties and marriages in hopes of avoiding conflict with their neighbors. Eventually Upper Egypt absorbed Lower Egypt (for trade reasons?) and began the united dynasty

Tablet XI: Uta-napishtim tells Gilgamesh the story of the flood. Uta-napishtim, with the help of his village, crafted an ark and in doing so saved them from the flood and granted him immortality. He tells Gilgamesh that he should try to go a week without sleep. Gilgamesh falls asleep right away, proving that he can’t beat sleep or death. He travels back to Uruk with Ur-shanabi

Tablet X: Gilgamesh asks the goddess tavern keeper Shiduri how to get to Uta-napishti. She tells him to find Ur-shanabi, the ferryman of Uta-napisti. Gilgamesh sneaks up on Ur-shanabi and the Stone Ones, who man the boat, killing the Stone Ones. He crosses the ocean and the waters of death. Uta-napishti tells Gilgamesh that he lives a lavish life and that by struggling to seek immortality, he is killing himself