The Sultantepe Tablets (continued) VI. A Letter of Gilgamesh

Abstract

The text here chosen for translation can hardly be compared as literature with that presented in the preceding volume of this journal; it is, however, in some ways even more remarkable. It is a fictitious letter, purporting to be addressed by none other than Gilgamesh, the famous hero of the epic and legendary king of Uruk (Erech), to the king of another city, the name of which is only partly legible and appears to be hitherto unknown. Gilgamesh, who introduces himself as king of Ur, requests his correspondent to go to a certain mountain (or country) and send him various animals, precious stones, metals and other commodities, in quantities which are completely fantastic and absurd. They are apparently to be floated down the river to Babylon. The text concludes with threats of dire retribution if he should fail to comply with this request.No less than three copies of this strange document have been found at Sultantepe: no trace of it has been discovered at any other site. It contains a number of specifically Assyrian grammatical forms; and its inappropriate use of the phrase “from the horizon to the zenith” to indicate the extent of a king's dominions (l. 4) is paralleled only in the annals of the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III (745–727 B.C.).