Tablet VI — Ishtar and the Bull of Heaven

After the victory, Gilgamesh cleansed his weapons and polished his arms. He stripped off the armour he had worn, cast aside his soiled garments, and put on clean raiment. He clothed himself with his ornaments and placed upon his head the crown, setting his diadem in place.

Then Ishtar, the lofty goddess, lifted her eyes to him. Longing for his favour and his love, she spoke:

“Come, Gilgamesh, be my husband. Give me your manly strength. Be my husband and I will be your wife, and I will set you in a chariot studded with precious stones and gold, its wheels of gold, and its shafts of sapphire. You shall harness great kudanu-lions to it. Under the sweet‑smelling cedars you shall enter our house. And when you enter, you shall sit upon a high throne, and the people shall kiss your feet; kings, lords, and rulers shall bow down before you. Whatever mountain and country produce, they shall bring to you as tribute. … your sheep shall bear twin ewes. … mules they shall bring as tribute. Your majesty shall ride in a splendid chariot, drawn by a span without equal.”

Gilgamesh opened his mouth and answered her; he spoke to the lofty goddess Ishtar. The opening lines of his speech are nearly all lost, and only a few fragments remain. He refused the love she offered, reminding her that all her former lovers had come to grief through her, and he declared he was not willing to share their fate.

“Where is Tammuz, your husband, who was to remain forever? And what has become of the allallu-bird? … Well, I will tell you plainly the bitter fruit of your coquetries.

To Tammuz, the husband of your youth, you brought weeping and grief upon him every year.

The allallu-bird, so bright of colour, you loved, but you broke its wing and crushed it, so that now it sits in the woods crying, ‘O my wing!’

You also loved a lion, powerful in his strength; seven and seven times you dug a snaring pit for him.

You also loved a horse, pre‑eminent in battle, but with bridle, spur and whip you forced it onward, forced it to run seven double‑leagues at a stretch. And when it was exhausted and wanted to drink, you still drove it on, bringing weeping and grief to its mother, Si-li-li.

You also loved a shepherd of the flock, … who continually poured out incense before you, and for your pleasure slaughtered lambs day by day. You struck him and turned him into a tiger, so that his own sheep‑boys drove him away, and his own dogs tore him to pieces.

You also loved a farmer, a gardener of your father, who continually brought you delicacies, and daily adorned your table for you. You cast your eye upon him and turned his mind, saying: ‘Oh, my farmer boy, let us enjoy your manly strength. Let your hand come forth and take away my virginity.’ But the farmer spoke to you and said: ‘Me!—what is this you ask of me? Mother, you have not baked, and I will not eat. The food that I would eat is bad and bitter, and it is covered with cold and numbness.’ And when you heard such words, you struck him and changed him into a cripple, compelling him to lie upon a couch, so that he could no more rise from his bed.

And now you would love me; but my fate would be the same as theirs.”

When Ishtar heard these words, she grew enraged. She went up into heaven and came before Anu, her father, and to Antum, her mother, she went, saying:

“My father, Gilgamesh has insulted me. Gilgamesh has upbraided me with my evil deeds, my deeds of evil and of violence.”

Anu opened his mouth and answered her, the mighty goddess Ishtar: “Do not remain so disconsolate, even though Gilgamesh has upbraided you with your evil deeds, your deeds of evil and violence.”

But Ishtar opened her mouth and spoke to Anu, her father: “My father, create for me a Heaven‑Bull.”

[The following seventy lines are so broken that only guesses can be made. As Dr. Jeremias has observed, they recall the threats Gilgamesh uttered before the ocean palace, and especially the “Descent of Ishtar into the Netherworld,” where the goddess in her fury forces entrance. Here, too, in heaven, she would smash everything if her wish were not granted. Anu, her father, hesitates but is forced to yield; he creates the Heaven‑Bull, and now Ishtar breaks out: “I will have revenge.” The full account of the fight between the two heroes and the Heaven‑Bull is almost completely lost. The few surviving lines say: They hunted him, and Enkidu attacked the Heaven‑Bull … and grasped him by his heavy tail. On an old Babylonian cylinder we see the bull rearing on its hind legs, Enkidu holding it by head and tail while Gilgamesh plunges the dagger into its heart. The broken lines also tell us that three hundred heroes took part in the struggle.]

After the heroes had killed the bull and their hearts were satisfied, they brought a thank‑offering to Shamash, the sun god. The narrative then continues:

Ishtar climbed the wall of Uruk, the strong‑walled, and let out a piercing cry, breaking into a curse: “Woe to Gilgamesh, who has grieved me and killed the Heaven‑Bull!”

When Enkidu heard these words of Ishtar, he tore out the right side of the Heaven‑Bull and flung it in her face, saying: “And so I will defeat you; I will do to you exactly as I have done to him. I will hang its heart upon your side!”

Then Ishtar gathered her followers who ruin men—the hierodules and the sacred prostitutes—and over the right side of the Heaven‑Bull she wept and lamented.

Gilgamesh assembled the people and all his workmen, and they marvelled at the size of the bull’s horns: thirty minas of precious stones was their worth, and half an inch their thickness; they could hold six measures of oil. For the anointing of his god Lugal‑tur‑da, he dedicated them. He took up the horns and hung them in the shrine of his lordship.

Then the heroes washed their hands in the river Euphrates, took to the road, and rode through the streets of Uruk. The people of Uruk assembled and stared with wonder at the heroes. Gilgamesh spoke to the servants of his palace and cried to them: “Who is glorious among the heroes? Who shines among the men?” And they answered: “Gilgamesh is glorious among the heroes, Gilgamesh shines among the men!” [Lines 204 to 206 are lost.]

Gilgamesh held a joyful feast in his palace. Then the heroes slept, stretched out on their couches. And Enkidu slept, and saw a vision in his sleep. When he rose in the morning he interpreted the dream and said to Gilgamesh: “My friend, why have the great gods taken counsel like this?”

That last line is the beginning of the next tablet. The sixth tablet ends with its colophon: The sixth tablet of the series “He who has seen the history of Gilgamesh.”

[TABLETS VII and VIII Only a few fragments remain, yielding very little. Tablet VII must have begun with Enkidu’s account of his dream on the morning after the victory‑feast, and closed with his death, brought about by the goddess Ishtar. Pages 53 and 54 of Haupt’s edition are assigned by Dr. Jeremias to Tablet VIII, since the obverse of that tablet speaks of Enkidu’s sickness and death. In one column Enkidu calls on his friend to perform a heroic deed; they halt before a forest gate, which Enkidu addresses: “There is no other tree like you; six gar is your height, two gar your thickness,” and he adds, “I know you.” In another column he mourns: “In good health I went forth, my friend … But the dream I dreamed has come true.” And Enkidu lay sick for twelve days: on the first and second day … on the third and the fourth … on the fifth, the sixth, the seventh, the eighth … on the eleventh, the twelfth day … then he called to Gilgamesh. The few traces show that the hero received his wound in a fight he had dreaded. The lament for the dead in Tablet XII shows it was a severe and unusual combat. Of his end, probably told in Tablet IX, it is said repeatedly: “Earth has snatched him away.”]