Sumer, Gilgamesh and the Tale of the Flood

COSMIC NUMBER and SUMER; The Epic of GILGAMESH

(p.56). Abridged version of the poem.

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Contents;

 Introduction to Sumer.

The Tablets I-XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh, with discussion after each Tablet.

The Epic of Gilgamesh; an abridged version (p.56)

1. The Sumer of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, Shamhat, Inanna and Shamash.

In the various texts,religious or poeticepics etc that we are considering -Gilgamesh – the Bible – The book of Enoch – there are many shared motifsor ideaswhich pointin effect to 2 main ideasin various waysor perspectives;

a. that the evolution of the consciousness of mankind,and more specifically concerning thecultures of the Middle East,was of primary importance to the founders of the religions, the creators of the myths/ epics/ sacred texts and so on, and thebuilders of the ancient sacred temples and sites of the region (if not all such sites across the world’s regions)…

b. that the foundations of mankind’s civilizations and societies were designed and constructed to ‘cosmic’ principles, by the Anunnaki,  visitors from beyond the Earth and solar system, who possessed such advanced being and consciousness as to be viewed as ‘gods’ by the humans they interacted with, in the 4^th and 3^rdmillenniaBce.

The first civilization to arise in the Near and Middle East came afterseveral millennia of the growth of agriculture in the region known as the Fertile Crescent, as well as the gradual domestication of the originally wild-growing crops (barley, einkorn wheat, emmer, lentils, chickpeas, dates, onions and so on ) found there as well as of the main animals mankind used in their villages and later towns; cattle, pigs, goats, chickens, and sheep.

Yet the innovations brought by the Sumerian civilization, even the use of irrigation channels and mechanisms, land reclamation from marsh-land etcetera, crop-rotation and more, came during the period when such changes were not the result of long-term growth, but arose at the same time as the establishment of the cities of Sumer in the 4^th millennium Bce; said to be the result of the gods who came from the heavens to Earth – the Anunnaki.

The cities of original Sumer,Akkadiaand Babylon were unequalled in any other civilization at the time of their flourishing.And these first cities and temples in the post-Deluge epoch were situated inalmost linear fashion in Mesopotamia,in what is now modern dayIraq, beginning at the southern tip besides the Persian Gulf and moving north-westwards in time up along the ‘path’ laid out between the two rivers (as mentioned in Genesis in the Garden of Eden; the Tigris and Euphrates).

(Whereas the Sumerian civilization replaced the Ubaid culture, they actually came from unknown origins; so there are theories they were possibly a western Asiatic peoples from the Caucasus region who settled there in around 5000Bce – and in fact some studies have linked them with peoples from the Indus Valley).Throughout antiquity the poems and works of Sumer referred to them as ‘the black-haired people’, something which may constitute a link with the peoples of China, which certain points of their cuneiform script, details of language and culture suggest may have some grounding in the truth; although how this occurred is unclear, and at what time period. Whereas the later successors of the Sumerians in the mid and upper reaches of Mesopotamia -the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian peoples – were actually Semitic peoples).

So from around 3900Bce, civilization as we know it started with that of Sumer, which developed in the southern reaches of the land, besides the Persian Gulf. (although India and China developed their own civilizations at around the same time or a little later, there are good reasons to suspect that their growth was likewise the result of the ‘higher-dimensional’ influence of the Anunnaki with different names – for each had their myths and legends centred upon the same narrative as that of Sumer, one depicting the creation of the universe from cosmic avatars or forces, and the later intervention of (the tribe of) the ‘higher-beings’ viewed as ‘gods’… ) The basis of the society was the advanced agricultural techniques which enabled widespread areas surrounding each city to be cultivated and then watered from the main rivers of Mesopotamia.Fromthis the wider social developments of civilization were able to gradually evolve, creating a stratified and diverse society within each ‘city-state’, ruled over by one of the tribe of the ‘gods’ who oversaw the entire land of Mesopotamia, the Anunnaki.

In Sumerian cosmogony, as delineated again by Samuel Noah Kramer in 1944;

-first to be created was the primeval sea; conceived by the Sumerians most probably as eternal and uncreated. Both Egyptian, and Hebrew belief-systems possessed similar, even identical concepts; in Hebrew faith there is the description in Genesis 1.2; ‘And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved  upon the face of the waters…’

In Sumer the primeval sea (of space) was personified by the goddess Nammu.

-secondly Nammu gave birth to An, the male heaven-god, and Ki, the earth-goddess.

-thirdly the union of An and Ki produced the air-godEnlil, who then separated An from Ki/ heaven from earth.

Mankind was produced after the production of organic life on earth by Enlil and Ki was achieved with the aid of the water-godEnki, the brother of Enlil; and then with the combined efforts of the goddess Nammu, the chief god of ‘wisdom’ and ‘technology’ Enki, and the goddess Ninmah (or Ninhursag) mankind was created, after several ‘failed’ attempts at perfecting human beings. This myth equates with the various hominid groupings of the genus ‘homo’ which didn’t survive into the modern era of antiquity; types of the ‘homo’ genus such as Denisovans, and Neanderthalis (although Wikipedia states that academics such as Richard Green and David Reich in Nature magazine, 2010 estimate that the homo sapiens genus may contain up to 6% of these groups genome).

So the Babylonian Epic of Creation the Enuma Elish describes the efforts of the gods in creating what is effectively homo sapiens;

“(Ninmah); O my son, rise from thy bed. . .work what is wise

Fashion servants of the gods, may they produce their. . .”

“(Enki); O my mother, the creature whose name thou hast uttered, it exists,

Bind upon it the. . .of the gods;

Mix the heart of the clay that is over the abyss,

The good and princely fashioners will thicken the clay,

Thou, do thou bring the limbs into existence;

Ninmah will work above thee,

(goddesses of birth) will stand by thee at thy fashioning;

O my mother, decree thou, that it’s the new-borns’ fate

Ninmah will bind upon it the. . .of the gods. . .as man.”

 .                    .                         .

Sumerian society grew rapidly seeing the spread of ‘city-states’ (of around 10,000 population), which each had their place in the overall civilization, and were ‘home’ to the members of the Anuna,each with their individual cult-centres based in one city in particular,which they occasionally visited. This is known as the Uruk period, named after the city predominant at this time (also called Erech). It is from the first post-Deluge city of Sumer,‘Uruk-haven’ (‘designed to the plans of the Seven Sages’) that the story of Gilgamesh came, and was situated at start. This was the time of the King Lists stretching back in legend all the way to the pre-Deluge settlements, when the Anunnaki themselves ruled as kings, before gradually introducing hybrid lineages of rulers with genetic connections to them; the era of the ‘lugal’ (great men) replacing that of the earlier ‘shepherd-kings’, or ‘ensi’. (Thus to the Anunnaki they were the ‘shepherd-kings’ to mankind, as mankind was to their domesticated sheep! A reflection of their stewardship of mankind and civilization, as well as their creation of mankind, through advanced genetic practices, as described in the creation myths of Enki and Ninkursag’s ‘birthing chamber’).

This enigmatic reference may be found also in the Myth of Grain and Cattle, where the Anuna create the cattle-god Lahar and the Grain-goddess Ashnan (see Samuel Noah Kramer, Sumerian Mythology 1944/61, p.72), as well as the various key crops necessary for expanded human settlements. Key domesticated crops and animals which appeared in the region of the Fertile Crescent around the 8^th millennium Bce at the same time… so the myths of 2800Bce tell us that the cosmic visitors consciously and ‘scientifically’ created or domesticated key crops and livestock in the mountains of the Fertile Crescent; and science, and the Bible, tell the same story; see Jared Diamond’s (Pulitzer prize-winning) book Guns, Germs and Steel (1997) for great detail on the incredible propinquity of the 7 or 8 crops which became staples across Asia and wider arising in one small area, where domesticated strains of animals such as moufflon sheep and goats also first appeared. Including the fact that present in the Fertile Crescent crops were several legumes (chick peas, lentils etc); these enabled a much greater nutritional benefit when eaten in a diet in conjunction with wheat based crops, and were less available in other world-sites where domesticated agriculture established at a similar time. For example in the Americas, in China, and so forth. So Diamond proposes the Fertile Crescent had staples which enabled the civilizations of western Asia and the Near East, followed later by those of Greece, Rome and Europe (all in the northern hemisphere along a broad band, enabling successful crop diffusal), to develop at a much faster rate than the other civilizations in the world, with all the ensuing consequences in history. . . (while India and China, which developed in tandem with the civilizations in question, but were largely concerned with their own internal matters – while nevertheless contributinggreatly to the advancement of mankind in their different ways).

Kramer (p.72) quotes from the Myth of Cattle and Grain;

“After on the mountains of heaven and earth,

Anu had caused the Anunnaki to be born

Because the name Ashnan had not been born, had not been fashioned,

Because Uttu, (the goddess of plants) had not been fashioned…

There was no ewe, no lamb was dropped,

There was no goat, no kid was dropped…

Because the name of Ashnan, the wise, and Lahan (the cattle-god)

The Anunnaki, the great gods did not know,

The . . .grain of thirty days did not exist,

The . . .grain of forty days did not exist,

The small grains, the grain of the mountain, the grain of the pure living creatures did not exist.

Because Uttu had not been born, because the crown (?) had not been raised

Because the lord . . had not been born

Because Sumugan, the god of the plain, had not come forth

Like mankind when first created

They knew not the eating of bread

Knew not the dressing of garments,

Ate plants with their mouth like sheep,

Drank water from the ditch.

In those days, in the creation chamber of the gods,

In their house of the Holy Mound Lahar and Ashnan were fashioned;

The produce of Lahar and Ashnan

The Anunnaki of the Holy Mound eat, but remain unsated;

In their pure sheepfolds milk . . .and good things. . .

For the sake of the good things in their pure sheepfolds,

Man was given breath.”

 .   .    .

The Babylonian Epic of Creation from a later period details the Anunnaki’s actions in creating humanity. As in the myth above, the poems tell of the Anunnaki creating man in order to have a ‘worker’ who could manage the crops and farm-animals such as the sheep cattle, pigs, donkeys and goats. How much inner meaning is contained within this explanation of the creation of man is a matter of opinion. Some commentators compare this to the god of Hebrew religion who created man and woman in his own image, as cosmic beings. And yet the myth of the Garden of Eden does contain a similar ‘allegorical’ sense in it’s stating that God created mankind to oversee the Garden and the creatures of earth. . .

“And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind,

cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth: andit was so. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:

and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth. . .”

(Genesis 1.24-26)

It is notable that it is at this point in the narrative that the language of the Bible turns to the plural, something which can be confusing. So some writers argue it means the ‘host of heaven’, ie God and the angels. Others, such as Zechariah Sitchin, believe this language affirms the role of the Anunnaki in these early periods, the first, definitive pantheon of gods in the world.

So if this is the correct interpretation, the following conclusion may be drawn. Namely that the ‘gods’ of Sumer may well therefore have been not so much gods as celestial beings who fulfilled the requirements of God in overseeing the establishment of civilization, from the foundations upwards. In similar manner to the seraphim perhaps, who are depicted as ‘fiery, flying serpents’ as well as being a celestial order of angels. of humanity.

And the more ‘conceptually’ sophisticated creation myth in Genesis is the product of a culture with the benefit of around 1500-2000 years of development after the Sumerian original civilization; (also. the Sumerian myths can be seen to be quite capable of holding ‘cosmic consciousness’ within the bounds of their apparently simple tales. So for example in the passage above, line 4 points to higher involvement in the creation and/or refinement of specific plants’, ie their DNA, a narrative which would occur to few people – when was there ever a time when plants did not exist on the earth?). In addition to having c.1500 years of natural development between the Sumerian and Hebrew civilizations, as our Bible section sees, the Hebrew texts and Bible show (subtly) the great influence both the Sumerian, and Egyptian civilizations had on the key founding figures of Judaism; Abraham and his family (Terah, Nahor, Lot) came from Ur (circa 1850 Bce), and shuttled between there and Canaan several times; and Abraham was a guest of the Pharaoh in Egypt – and is shown to be a man of high social standing in Haran by his control of large numbers of men and cattle and camels; Isaac his son returned to Sumer to marry Rebekah, of the same genetic tribe; Jacob the son of Isaac then went to Sumer to marry Rachel (and Leah) likewise, then moved to Egypt when old when there was famine in Canaan; his son Joseph, born in Sumer – in Haran- moved to Canaan when he was six, was sold into slavery and thence to Egypt, and eventually attained a position of power and influence as chief Vizier within the Pharaoh’s court; indeed is honoured by the pharaoh in front of his family when they arrive seeking help during a famine in Israel.Later, (around 1400 Bce) Moses, the Lawgiver of Israel was born in Egypt, during the Hebrews’ slavery there, and was likewise adopted into the royal court; a theme perhaps of the transfer of cosmic wisdom from the inner circles of Egypt to the Hebrews – and a possible reality of history indicated by the words of the Bible, in Hosea 11.1; ”When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt”. Christianity likewise, according to J.G.Bennett, Ouspensky and Gurdjieff can be said to have two ‘parents’ – reaffirming the significance of triads within processes of creativity – namely, the Hebraic and Egyptian civilizations.

The prophet Daniel has his entire narrative set in the court of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, circa 570 Bce; and so on, showing how greatly these two nations influenced the establishment of civilization as it developed in the Near East of antiquity. Many scholarsare reluctant to give any degree of acknowledgement to these predecessor cultures or religions. That the Bible ‘condemns’ both Sumer and Egypt is understandable; and  yet that it is also acknowledges their foundational influences in some form is possible. What is clear is that many of the concepts, and beliefs of the Bible were drawn from earlier Sumerian myths and cultural works; works such as the creation myths of the cosmos and life on earth in the Edin, and the Epic of Gilgamesh with it’s Deluge section.

(left) original Akkadian tablet XI of the epic of Gilgamesh, detailing the story of the Flood.

Before the first ‘complete’ version of Gilgamesh and the Flood, there existed four or five Sumerian myths featuring Gilgamesh , (meaning ‘heroic kinsman’ or similar). This was the result of his already holding mythical status as one of the earliest kings of Uruk and Sumer, from the era when the kings were direct descendants of the Anunnaki gods and human spouses… bridges between the divine and the human in other words.

In fact Gilgamesh is one of the kings listed in the Sumerian King List, again texts connecting the first rulers of Sumerian society with the gods.

So Gilgamesh is believed to have been a king of Urukduring the Early Dynastic Period from 2900-2350Bce; and indeed, he was worshipped as a god at various cities and temples across Sumer during this period. Various kings, such as Utu-hengal of Uruk (2140Bce), several Third Dynasty Kings of Ur (2112-2004Bce), and King Shulgi of Ur (2029-1982Bce) called themselves ‘brothers of Gilgamesh’ and ‘sons of Lugalbanda and Ninsun’, his father and mother.

Different myths and stories featuring Gilgamesh were part of Sumerian life therefore from an early period, as literary compositions became common-place towards the end of the Early Dynastic period of Sumer, between 3000 – 2350Bce (after which came the Sargonic era from 2350-2150Bce, and the Ur-III period of the city’s primacy until c.2000Bce); literary works written in cuneiform having begun as socio-economic/ administrative clay tablets became used for; advice from fathers to sons in ‘The instructions of Surrupag’;hymnals such as a ‘Hymn to Kes’; a recounting of the life of a legendary leader Lugalbanda meaning ‘great kinsman/leader’; incantations; royal inscriptions; the building of Ningirsu’s temple; letters, communications, scribal training, didactic compositions, proverbs, and so on, in other words all the ways in which writing is used today. (info from ECTSL).

So of the myths of the Anuna, one of thefirst was that of ‘Enkidu, Gilgamesh and the Netherworld’. In this the goddess Inanna plants or moves a mythic ‘huluppu’ (willow?) tree in her garden in Uruk, only for the Anzu-bird, (symbol of the abyss and chaos, and precursor of the biblical ‘creatures of the deep’ Rahab or Tiamat), Lilutu, a female demon who eventually became Lilith in Near Eastern mythology, and a ‘serpent’ to invite themselves to live in the Tree.

Gilgamesh, portrayed in this as Inanna’s brother, battles with the serpent and slays it, and defeats the Anzu-bird and Lilutu. For this Inanna rewards him with some objects of religious significance, which he then loses; his ‘servant’ Enkidu thus travels down to the Netherworld to retrieve them, but overlooks certain rules which lead to him being forced to live there forever.

This early mythic work has echoes of some of the later narratives of Gilgamesh and the Flood, as well as later stories of Inanna and her descent to the Underworld; sources themselves very likely for the various Greek myths centred on such subjects. What the original Sumerian myth seems to be saying through allegory appears to be connected to the introduction of ‘evil’ into the celestial ‘garden’ within the world, as symbolized by the (World) Tree of the huluppu… interpretations can be focussed on many different aspects of antiquity and pre-history present within texts such as the Old Testament, concerning for example questions of genetics, bloodlines and incarnation through antiquity; a powerful narrative in other words, and one which has exercised mankind’s imagination for the last four thousand years.

Another poem is ‘Gilgamesh and Huwawa’, describing the events or story as contained within the ‘complete’ Epic of Gilgamesh of he and Enkidu’s journey to the Cedar Forest of Lebanon, where they battle and kill the Guardian of the Forest, Enlil’s appointed servant Huwawa.

So the first full version of the epic as we consider it, consisting of various sections andmyths, was put together sometime around the Old Babylonian Period, dating from 1830-1531Bce; and the first full Epic of Gilgamesh was composed in Akkadian during the Middle Babylonian Period, already after almost a thousand years of myths and stories based around him. In effect it is fair to consider the Epic to be a composite work of several authors, worked into a coherent whole by individuals at certain points in time; of course this is much how mythology such as the Matter of Britain and Wales was written and passed down during the Middle Ages, when the great Arthurian and Grail cycles were compiled in similar fashion, after hundreds of years of oralrecountings.

Several different versions – recensions – were drawn from these existing various sources therefore to make the ‘full’ version we are using in this chapter, fromthe version translated by Maureen Kovacs of Stanford University; this is what she calls the Standard Version, drawn from Akkadian, and Babylonian recensions in particular; to quote from her 1989 introduction;

‘There is so far no up to date edition of all the original tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The tablets from Nineveh and Babylon, now in the British Museum, which provide the bulk of the text, are published as a composite in R.Campbell-Thompson the Epic of Gilgamesh (Oxford Press, 1930), but many other fragments discovered since then are scattered in various Assyriological books and journals…’

To return to our survey of the early Sumerian cities which became well populated settlements in the plains of southern Mesopotamia from the 4^th or 5^thmillennium Bce, early all of the original Sumeriancities built ziggurats – step-pyramids – with often the deity’s personal chambers sited at the top of the edifice. Within the life of the civilization the cities supported themselves, while part of  the ‘nation’, as the Anuna functioned as a harmonious tribe across the land, with the occasional arguments and conflicts.

(left) Babylon streets surviving to today, featuring brick walls with tiled designs; (right) Assyrian stela of the military destruction over the Elamites city of Hamanu, 635Bce(below); votive fountain dedicated to the Sumerian deity of water, the Ap-su, land reclamation and irrigation, Enki.

 Thus the Sumerian civilization spread the myriad practices of city living (in contrast to a basic agrarian culture of small self-sustaining settlements) for over a millennia – eventually, through the growth of  areas further north. The foremost of the cities in the first Sumerian era was Uruk/ Erech, which gained a population of up to 50,000, the largest known population in the world at this time in 3800Bce. (Whereas by 600 Bce the largest city in the world was the Chinese city of Xi’an with a population of around 500,000, something made possible by it’s adherence to Confucian and Taoist philosophies of harmony and orderliness, in wide, well-designed boulevards and neighbourhoods).

This first period covers the era from around 4000Bce to 2900Bce, when the Dynastic period began, characterized by the ‘lugal’ leaders, or ‘great men’, rather than the earlier shepherd-priests (called ‘ensi’). Leaders such as Dumuzid, Lugalbanda, and his son, Gilgamesh. This period also saw the growth of war between cities and states, so that from 2500-2270Bce the dynasty of Lagash attained pre-eminence, ruling almost all of Sumer, including the cities of Kish, Uruk, Ur and Larsa, as well as parts of the (Persian/Iranian) province called Elam.

With time in Sumer the focus of society moved northwards to mid-Iraq, where the Akkadian empire under their Semitic peoples then grew from around 2400-2200 Bce.They adopted most all of the Sumerian civilization due to it’s advanced character, and thus continued its culture, religion and advanced ‘technologies’. And although the Sumerian culture of Uruk resurfaced around this time the two cultures were interactive. The first major king of the Akkadians was the famous Sargon I, from 2334-2279Bce, based also in the city state of Lagash. Like the Sumerian kings Sargon claimed to be (semi) divine in nature, ie. of the lineage of the gods. The Akkadian empire or civilization led for several centuries until defeated by the Gutians c.2193Bce. After which the ruler Gudea of Lagash rose to prominence, and then the mentioned the Third Dynasty of Ur (Ur-III) Sumerian revival came under Ur-Nammu and Shulgi, circa 2112-2004Bce.

There are also theories as to why the original Sumerian civilization gave way to that of the Akkadians and others; Sitchin links this to the myths of a war between the gods which saw the use of advanced weapons which spread a toxic cloud across the land, poisoning the soil and water and making large areas of it uninhabitable for many decades. Another interpretation might be the use of such a detonation by the Anuna in following a higher agenda, rather like the Seraphim and the cities of the plains – Sodom and Gomorrah – in the Old Testament. The Lamentation poems of Ur-III are very descriptive of this period of despair and sickness, describing how most of the Anunnaki fled to other parts of the region or up to the skies to avoid the pestilential cloud; the (Moon) god Sin and his partner refused to abandon their city, but after one night of breathing in the fumes of the cloud were forced to flee as well. (See the ECTSL archive, Oxford University for the ‘Lament for Sumer and Urim’.)

Others such as Clive Ponting (in A History of the World) point to the unavoidable effects on crop-producing areas of high-intensitycultivation and irrigation in an arid climate – namely the inevitable process of salination, leaving the fields coated eventually with a thick rime of salt, causing periods of enforced inactivity and fallowness lasting up to a century or more. Thus making a functioning ‘higher’ society impossible in those areas from around 2100-1700Bce.

 It is a curious coincidence that in Genesis 4.12 YHVH punishes Cain thus for his transgressions;

“And now thou art cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand/ When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth”.

The coincidence arises because as we see in the Bible section, the lines of Cain are closely associated with the Nephilim(Genesis 6.1-4), who are one of the primary reasons given for the Flood (derived from the Epic ofGilgamesh !); and who are themselves associated clearly with the ‘celestial bloodlines’ of – Sumer, for example with the ‘mighty man’ Nimrod. the ‘great hunter before the Lord’, relative of Noah and founding father of Babylon, and builder of the Tower…(Genesis10.8-10). “And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech (Uruk), and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar (Sumer)”. So the connections between ‘Cain’, the Nephilim, the Flood, and the ‘celestial’ lineages of Sumer are both extensive, and complicated in the books of the Old Testament, as we see in the Bible section; and are all a salient part of the themes of the epic of Gilgamesh too…

In contrast to this theorising, some commentators posit that the Laments were written to cover the Sumerians’ confusion and shame at losing militarily to the Elamites(of SW Iran), and thus control of their society.

There is also the possibility raised by the mythic tale of a catastrophic event occurring as the decision of the gods – this narrative finds echoes in both the Hebrew narrative of the destruction by YHVH and the angels of Sodom and Gomorrah, and in the destruction of Mohendro-Daro in India in the Bhagavad-Gita; so as the Lament of Sumer states, the cataclysm (like the Flood in Gilgamesh) occurs at the decision of Enlil and Anu, the ‘father of the gods’… and a close reading of the text shows the possibility, or presence of all three possibilities; a (nuclear) cataclysm; catastrophic salination of the fields; and a crushing military defeat by the Elamites. What this might indicate is that ‘the gods’/ Anuna allowed or arranged for them to happen simultaneously, within a time of natural storms as well as the possible single event cataclysm (much as the Deluge may have involved multiple sources of destruction and stress upon some – but not all – areas of the world, stemming from planetary instabilitiescirca 10,500Bce).

A fairly long quote from this early Sumerian poem – The Lament for  Sumer and Urim –  should give some indication of the severity of the events of that period, as well as showing the high standards of language used, and indeed of the functioning Sumerian society;

“To overturn the appointed times, to obliterate the divine plan, the storms gather to strike like a flood.

An, Enlil, Enki and Ninhursag have decided it’s fate – to overturn the divine powers of Sumer, to lock up the favourable reign in it’s home, to destroy the city, to destroy the house, to destroy the cattle-pen…

after An had frowned upon all the lands, after Enlil had looked favourably on an enemy land, after Nintud had scattered the creatures she had created, after Enki had altered the course of the Tigris and Euphrates, after Shamash had cast his curse on the roads and highways.

that on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates bad weeds should grow, that no one should set out on the road, that the city and it’s surroundings should be razed to ruin-mounds, that it’s numerous black-headed people (Sumerians) should be slaughtered, that the seed should not be planted in the ground, that the melody of the cow-herds songs should not resound in the open country… to finish off all living things, that sickly headed reeds should grow in the reed-beds; that there should be no new growth in the orchards – so as quickly to subdue Urim like a roped ox, to bow it’s neck to the ground; the great charging wild bull, confident in it’s own strength, the primeval city of lordship and kingship, built on sacred ground.

It’s fate cannot be changed. Who can overturn it? It is the command of An and Enlil. Who can oppose it?

An frightened the very dwellings of Sumer, the people were afraid. Enlil blew an evil storm, silence lay upon the city. Nintud bolted the door of the storehouses of the Land. Enki blocked the water in the two rivers. Shamash took away the pronouncement of equity and justice. Inanahanded over victory in strife and battle to a rebellious land. Ninjirsu poured Sumer away like milk to the dogs.

Turmoil descended upon the Land, something that no one had ever known, something unseen, which had no name, something that could not be fathomed. The lands were confused in their fear. The god of the city turned away, it’s shepherd vanished.

The people in their fear breathed only with difficulty. The storm immobilised them, the storm did not let them return. There was no return for them, the time of captivity did not pass. What did Enlil, the shepherd of the black headed people, do? Enlil, to destroy the loyal households, to decimate the loyal men, to put the evil eye on the sons of the loyal men, on the first-born, Enlil then sent down Gutium from the mountains…the great wind of the mountains filled the countryside, it advanced before them. The extensive countryside was destroyed, no one moved about there.

The night-time was roasted by hail-stones and flames. The day-time was wiped out by a shadow. The storm was a harrow, coming from above. On that day Heaven rumbled, the earth trembled, the mountains roared. Shamash (the sun) lay down at the horizon, dust passed over the mountains. The foreigners in the city even chased away it’s dead. Large trees were uprooted, the forest trees were ripped out. The crop drowned while it was still on the stalk, the yield of the grain diminished.

They piled up in heaps… they spread… out like sheaves. There were corpses floating in the Euphrates, brigands roamed the roads. The father turned away from his wife without saying ‘O my wife!’. The mother turned away from her child without saying ‘O my child!’…

Nanna (Sin) traded away his people, numerous as ewes.

It’s king sat immobilised in the palace, all alone. Ibbi-Suen(last king of the Ur-III era) was sitting in the palace , all alone. In E-namtila, his place of delight, he wept bitterly. The devastating flood was levelling everything. Like a great storm it roared over the earth – to destroy the city, to destroy the house, so that traitors would lie on top of normal men and the blood of traitors flow upon normal men…

Lugal-Marda stepped outside his city.Ninzuana took an unfamiliar path away from her beloved dwelling. ‘Alas, the destroyed city, my destroyed house’, she cried bitterly Isin, the shrine that was not a quay, was split by onrushing waters.Nininsina, the mother of the Land

wept bitter tears… Enlil smote Dur-an-ki() with a mace. Enlil made lamentation in his city, the shrine Nibru. Mother Ninlil, the lady of the ki-ur shrine wept bitter tears.

Kec, built all alone on the high open country, was haunted. Adab, the settlement which stretches out along the river, was treated as a rebellious land. The snake of the mountains made his lair there, it became a rebellious land. The Gutians bred there, issued their seed. Inana abandoned Unug and went off to enemy territory.

On that day the word of Enlil was an attacking storm. Who could fathom it? What did Enlil do in order to decide the fate of mankind? Enlil brought down the Elamites, the enemy from the highlands. Large boats were carrying off it’s lapis-lazuli and it’s silver. The province of Lagac was handed over to Elam. And then the queen also reached the end of her time.

Bau, as if she were human, she reached the end of her time. ‘Woe is me, Enlil has handed over the city to the storm. He has handed it over to the storm that destroys houses’. Dumuzid-abzu was full of fear in the house of Kinirca. Kinirca, the city of her noble youth, was ordered to be plundered. The city of Nance, Nijin, was delivered to the foreigners. Sirara her beloved dwelling was handed over to the evil ones.

Mighty strength was set against the banks of the Id-nuna-Nanna canal. The settlements of the E-danna of Nanna, lie substantial cattle-pens, were destroyed. Their refugees, like stampeding goats, were chased by dogs.

193-205; A lament was raised at the dais that stretches out towards heaven. It’s heavenly throne was not set up, was not fit to be crowned(?) It was cut down as if it were a date palm and tied together.

Ninzu deposited his weapon in a corner in the E-gida. An evil storm swept over Ninhusaja… like a pigeon she flew from the window, she stood apart in the open country, crying bitterly.

On that day, the storm forced people to live in darkness. In order to destroy Kuara, it forced people to live in darkness… Lugalbanda took an unfamiliar path away from his beloved dwelling.

Eridug, floating on great waters, was deprived of drinking water. In it’s outer environs , which had turned into haunted plains… The loyal man in a place of treachery.

The dogs of Urim no longer sniff at the base of the city wall. The man who used to drill large wells scratches the ground in the market place. My father who begot me, enclose in your embrace my city which is all alone. Enlil, return your embrace my Urim which is all alone. May you bring forth offspring in Urim, may you multiply it’s people. May you restore the divine powers of Sumer that have been forgotten.

(360-370) Enlil then answered his son Suen; “There is lamentation in the haunted city, reeds of mourning grow there. In it’s midst the people pass their days in sighing. O Nanna, why do you concern yourself with crying? The judgement uttered by the assembly cannot be reversed. The word of An and Enlil knows no overturning. Urim was indeed given kingship, but it was not given an eternal reign. From time immemorial, since the Land was founded, until people multiplied, who has ever seen a reign of kingship that would take precedence for ever? O my Nanna, do not exert yourself in vain, abandon your city”…

(483-492) O bitter storm, retreat O storm , storm return to your home. O storm that destroys cities, retreat o storm, return to your home. Indeed the storm that blew on Sumer, blew also on the foreign lands. It has blown on Tidnum, it has blown on the foreign lands. It has blown on Gutium, on Ancan. . .it levelled Ancan like a blowing evil wind. Famine has overwhelmed the evildoer, those people will have to submit.

And so on, for two more verses,  in what is clearly a literary form that was an influence on the Hebrew texts of the Old Testament etc, detailing the Lamentations of the Israelites as written in the Bible. These dated from when Israel and Judah were invaded and conquered in the 6^th century Bce by the Babylonians, under king Nebuchadnezzar, and Jerusalem was left largely deserted by the enforced removal of the ruling Hebrew elites to Babylon for 60 years or so. (circa 597-539Bce)(where the Hebrew scribes may have been able to read such texts as the one we have just seen…)

With regard  to the comparable catastrophes of Sodom and Gomorrah and Mohendro-Daro as well as of Sumer, all three instances do have aspects of what are apparently nuclear explosions and contamination, a ‘coincidence’ of some interest. This is something we will look at in greater detail later this year.

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The process of growthof the civilizations of Mesopotamia repeated in a similar fashion,with the increase in size and power of thetwo civilizations of Assyria (in northern Iraq), and Babylon, which gradually became the most powerful cultures of Mesopotamia, circa 1900 Bce, holding power over the Near East for up to 1000 years or so as they replaced the gradually diminished Sumerian civilization. In fact the Sumerians are considered to possibly be of different types to successor Mesopotamian civilizations, being non-Semitic in origins, unlike the East-Semitic Akkadians and Babylonians.

The Assyrians, based predominantly in the cities of Nineveh, and Nimrud (in what is northern Iraq today),were considered to be a highly violent and oppressive culture which executed prisoners and razed towns in sieges and war. So much so that the end of the Assyrian hegemony was greeted with widespread relief throughout the Near and Middle East. Stelae at this time started to depict less the ‘gods’ and more the successes of the rulers in campaigns of war; lists of towns defeated and captured, prisoners taken, and riches sequestered were a common artistic theme. As we see in the Bible section, stelae of the Assyrian king and soldiers killing and torturing tied captive prisoners date from this time.

Another point of note is that the higher-dimensional contact reduced gradually between the initial period of c.4000Bce and the successor cultures, so that by 600 Bce or so many of the original artistic forms and symbols used to express cosmic principles were not clearly understood, or reproduced, by the later cultures.

And yet the cultural religious and artistic inheritances these successor civilizations received from the ‘founding’ cities  of  Sumer and the Anunnaki  were faithfully reproduced for millennia also, up to the time of the advent of the Greek and Roman civilizations, around 400Bce. Indeed these (cosmic-sourced)  beginnings laid the most advanced cultural foundations of the Near East on a solid footing for the duration of civilization’s  history.

The Sumerian civilization was the oldest – hence earliest – society to introduce many developments around urban living,a centralized state and religion,system of agriculture involving land drainage and reclamation,canals and irrigation channels,granaries/storage,and more…

As summarized in ‘The Stairway to Heaven’ by Zechariah Sitchin, the Sumerian culture around 4000 Bcewaswhere;

-all the essential elements of a high civilization suddenly blossomed out,as if from nowhere.Many aspects of all civilizations since were introduced then; …cities, architecture, high-rise buildings, streets, market-places, granaries, wharves, schools, temples; metallurgy, medicine, surgery, textile making; gourmet foods,agriculture, irrigation, the use of bricks, the invention of the kiln; the potter’s wheel; the first ever wheel,carts,ships and sail-boats,as well as navigation; international trade, weights and measures; kingship, laws,courts, juries; writing and record-keeping, the first (cuneiform) written language, as far as is known; music, musical instruments; dance and acrobatics; templehierodules/priestesses; artisanship; cooking, baking, beer-brewing; domestic animals and zoos; and above all, astronomy, the knowledge and the study of the heavens; mathematics of some level; and temple-based religion.

The Sumerian culture saw the introduction of  mathematics and geometry across society, for organising crops and their use/storage,

and the field systems where they were grown, for the construction of ziggurats (step pyramids) as well as for questions of a higher nature. The practice of making records of knowledge, such as mathematical questions, continued through all the S/ABA cultures, creating the first ‘libraries’ of  ‘stone’ tablets of  durable baked clay – so there are thousands of these tablets spread across the major institutions of the world, some still waiting to be translated. Famous examples include the Plimpton 322 tablet from Babylon circa 1800 Bce which contains some of the numbers called Pythagorean Triples; a sure sign that ‘higher’ mathematics were part of life in these early civilization societies. The first Map of the World known belongs to Babylon, from around the 8^th century Bce, an impressive achievement even though it does not detail the world’s continents.

This early period of the first (post-deluge) civilization saw the introduction of the sexagesimal system of reckoningtimeand space – a system never bettered to this day effectively, by its division of a circle into 360 degrees making even space mappable.

This is a breath-taking list of innovations for a single society to introduce tothe life and activities of mankind,and as there are no findings of any preparatory periods ofdevelopment across a broad timescale,such as a millennium, it is fair to weighthe claim of the Sumerian society – that these ‘gifts of civilization’were given tomankind by the ‘gods’ – visitors ‘from the heavens’ – as being a possibility, so comprehensive are the innovationswhich appeared within Sumerian society.

The epic poem ‘Gilgamesh’ is probably the oldest existing literary artwork in existence.Modern archeology has uncovered or preserved since the 19th C. many stelae, as well as clay tablets of writing, mathematics, artistic/historical/religious images, and several different versions of the poem itself; the artwork contained within these stelae is, like the poem, of the highest level, especially from the Assyrian and Babylonian eras of pre-eminence towards the first millennium Bce.

(all) details from stelae made during the reign of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, 669-631Bce; musicians of the court; lions depicted in the wild; archers during a lion-hunt.

It is possible to call Gilgamesh not only the oldest work of literary art in the world, but also the first true ‘Grail’quest, coming over 3000 years(!) before those of the 11th Century Europe. Even if only the earliest recensions are considered, the journey of Gilgamesh and Enkidu leaving their everyday lives behind, to journey through hardship to reach the place of the Gods, and then battle the guardian of the Cedar Forest, Huwawa is clearly structured as a quest in search of higher meaning and morality; it is fair to ask, could such a sophisticated inner structure (rather than just a dangerous adventure of a hero for example) have arisen at such an early stage, circa 1800-1500 Bce, without some form of higher consciousness playing a part?

As a form of quest narrative,  it is concerned with the possibilities for men – and women – to perfect their understanding towards cosmic levels of consciousness. . . to the heights held by the Anunnaki in fact, as well as on the human level, those individuals considered worthyor deserving of being ‘blessed’; the bestowal of cosmic consciousness/ being. In Gilgamesh these characters include; Siduri (the Innkeeper/ Replenisher), Urshanabithe ferryman, Utnapishtim and his wife, who receive help from Enki, and after surviving the Flood receive the blessing of ‘eternal life’ from Enlil… additionally the Ark has a navigator, or ‘cybernaut’, called Puzur-Amurru, also possessing higher consciousness/ links with the gods. The ‘temple-prostitute’ Shamhat has some degree of higher being, possibly as a representative of female wisdom linked to the subconscious centres.

.

This work was first written down in contributory texts by the Sumerian civilization,although the earliest ‘composite’ versions date from the Akkadian culture; and thereafter influenced the Babylonian, Hittite, and Hebrew civilizations. (From which the biblical tale/narrative of Noah and the Ark/ the Deluge was derived).But versions of Gilgamesh have written down on clay tablets, and been read, ie spoken or sung to groups of people since the 3^rdmillenniumBce(and as such seen name changes and additions/alterations to place and character names; so the various cultures which retold the epic across the years 2800-500Bce had different names for the ‘Noah’ figure; Utnapishtim, Ziusudra, Atra-Hasis, to name the primary Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian versions).

Oral versions have also been passed along through the centuries, in areas such as Asia Minor and central Asia, surviving to the beginning of the 20^th century in many cases almost verbatim to the tablets dug up from the sites of Babylon, Assyria and so on,according to George Gurdjieff’s account, in his biographical work ‘Meetings with Remarkable Men’.

(If it seems impossible that such a transmission of ‘sacred works’ could pass this poem along through two or three thousand years with minimal distortions, it is noteworthy that Gurdjieff himself claimed to many people he worked with that not only had he had access to some of the highest ‘mystery’ brotherhoods, or associations existing throughout central Asia in particular, but that some of them had lineages stretching back through the last 4000 years without significant break. An example given by J.G.Bennett is that according to Muslim tradition, one of the prophet Mohammed’s closest companions, Selman the Persian, who was said to be the first convert to Islam from the Magian tradition of Persia, “belonged to the school of wisdom that flourished for nearly 2000 years at Balkh. This was the school of the Masters” (See Bennett’s discussion of this subject in his book Gurdjieff; Making a New World, p23, etc). And it would not be impossible to conjecture that the Epic of Gilgamesh was created by schools of consciousness working under the guidance of  ‘cosmic sources’ at the time of writing, which then saw to it that the essential form and (inner) meanings of the epic were passed on with some consistency. The subjects of Gilgamesh are certainly relevant to the ‘wisdom schools’ in the Grail quest aspect of self-perfection through extraordinary efforts and ‘mentorship’/ guidance, as well as the intricate strands of metaphor and symbolism woven in to the events of Gilgamesh to pass on ‘secrets’ of some key points of human history. . . much as the Bible does, in it’s treatment of Noah and the Ark, the Nephilim, and the Tower of Babel (and so much more)in the first book of the Old Testament, the Book of Genesis.

In much Sumerian art,the myths, poems, stelae and so on,is the assertion that the entire culture was the creation of the race of ‘gods’ – the Anunnakiat this time. MoreoverSitchin maintains that mankind itself was genetically engineered (during the previous 100,000 years or so)over the course of many years by the Anunnaki. The planet they came from/ existed upon was called Niburu, and was on an elliptical circuit of the Sun that brought it to the Solar System we live within,on a time frame of every 3,600 years or thereabouts, for a duration of 50-70 years within the bounds ofthe solar system. (Possibly the source for the division of 50 year long periods into ‘Jubilees’, in Judaism.)

The most ‘recent’ orbits into sight were in the years around the time of Jesus’ life; before that 3600Bce; 7200Bce; 10800Bce and so on. Each visit was said to bring a period of planetary instability/stress upon the magnetic and gravitational fields of the planet etc, as well as in more subtle ways – and therefore was marked on Earth by significant societal changes and revolutions and upheavals, as well as innovations brought by the celestial visitors concerned with creating civilization. So the Deluge itself, posited to have occurred somewhere around 10800 Bce, may be viewed as this multi-levelled energetic event whereby extreme weather events (such as; the slipping of melting ice-caps into the oceans of the world causing massive rises in sea-level; earthquakes; storms, hurricanes, chaotic weather patterns and so on) were only part of the pressures the earth – and mankind – was placed under for several intense years.

Likewise 3600Bce is around the time of the beginning of the Sumerian civilization, and similar early societal developments beyond small tribal/family based units in Egypt,India, and China. 7200Bce saw the introduction of agrarian societies, the sowing of crops, domesticated cereals/plantsand livestock, especially around the Fertile Crescent; and 10,800Bce saw the Deluge, the world-wide set of circumstances resulting in severe weather events,in addition to other changes…

As the Anunnaki were Cosmic beings of highly advanced consciousness and thus sciences, they were responsible for the creation of mankind/ homo sapiens; and the concomitant growth and guidance of the ensuing societies and civilizations – achieved without necessarily impinging on ‘mankind’s free will’…

(For those who would argue the genetic creation of ‘homo sapiens’ –  modern humanity – mixing the celestial advanced genetics of the Anunnaki with those of ‘pre-homo sapiens’ hominids is an impingement on free-will, it would be argued that it was only when the first full human was created that the ability to possess free-will was attained, at the point at which humanity became cosmic beings themselves in principle; a reality marked by widely similar legends of a Golden Age, when humanity lived in perfect unity and a state of higher consciousness. It may be this period which is referred to in the biblical tale of Babylon, the Tower, and the ‘confusion of tongues’ whereby the ‘gods’ (plural in Genesis 10) discerned the progress of mankind to be toofast, and caused humans to be no longer joined in a state of communion and understanding, as diverse tales of the golden age state was the case.

In return it may be argued that in the first societies humansacted as (‘willing’) ‘servants ofthe gods’, performing the work necessary to fulfil the higher vision – such as mining minerals like gold, and tin (enabling town building,metallurgyand all the concomitant developments); and doing much of the work that established the foundations of civilization… such as building agricultural/ agrarian systems using irrigation and land-reclamation, which led onto the increased stability of established settlements, and the growth of towns and cities.With time these centres were able to build up granaries and reserves of protected stored crops and domesticated animals; which enabled the further growth of the ‘division of labour’. (A capability which was most significant in the development by mankind of art, architecture, religious activities, science, culture, political systems,armies, technologies and crafts, trade, commerce and exploration, and so on. A practical reality which has maintained the ordering of humanity’s affairs until this day, effectively…releasing mankind from the restrictive ties of having to spend most of the time and energy cultivating crops to survive the fluctuations of the yearly cycle).

The primary elder male ‘god’of the Anunnaki tribewas Anu (meaning ‘father of the Heavens). His wife was Ki, also given the names Ninhursagand Nin-ti meaning ‘the Lady who gives Life’. So ultimately she was considered the Mother of mankind.The word Anunnaki thus means’those of heaven who to Earth came’… (also in other words in the genetic creation of mankind from their genes the ‘marriage’ of heaven and earth.)

The two sons of Anu and Ninhursag were Ea/Enki,the ‘water-god’, who was Chief scientist/engineer (creating agricultural systems of canals,irrigation,marsh drainage/reclamation and so on.He was alsoresponsible for mining, and educating humanity in related technologies, such as metal refinement/working etc; and most importantly as chief scientist,he oversaw the technologies/practices in genetics which enabled, from the DNA of these (reptilian) visitors to Earth,the creation of mankind,fusing their ‘cosmic’ genetic inheritance with the ‘earthly’ DNA of the most sophisticated human/anthropoid genus’s of the time.

Thus bringing the embryos to growth in the womb,or in the bloodof the mother goddess Nin-Ti.

This being the basic process, as the Sumerian creation myths stated. (And very likely, this may have been instituted at several points in the history of the creation of mankind,possibly involving interventions circa.75,000 Bceand then at c.35,000 Bce also. To provide some perspective,archeologistshave discovered tools made of stone, flint, or bone in sites across the world dating back to suchearly eras between 370- 500,000 years ago! Such hominids have been divided into many groups, such as ‘homo neanderthalensis’ or ‘homo heidelbergensis’, or ‘homo erectus’.ie standing on twolegs.

That modern homo sapiens humans are uniquely created in having both lowerearth-based forms,and higher-dimensional, heavenly possibilities, is a clear truth. The term ‘being’ itself is a reflection of this – not meaning those who are able to ‘be’, as would be guessed, but as those who are of dual natures,ie containing the Latin/Sanskrit/ Proto-Indian-European adjective for being ‘bi’ natured creatures.

We will look into this centrality of mankind in the Universe for this reason later; of being at the mid-point between the earth and the heavens essentially; at the cross-over point between matter and spirit.

*On a sidenote,the word Bible itself stems from the same root source,via the Greek and the Egyptian ‘byblos’, meaning ‘a book as a division of a larger work’.

The younger brother of Enki was called Enlil,meaning the Lord of Command. Although the younger of the two brothers, he was assigned the more powerful position of overall leadership of the Anunnaki over the expedition to Earth – hence his title, and others,such as Lord of Heaven and Earth,Lord of all the Lands, of the North, and so on.

The reasons for his elevation over his (elder) brother was a complex one – the mother of Enlil was a half-sister to the father,Anu – whereas the mother of Enki was a junior tribe member…thus giving Enlil ‘primacy’. Of the conflicts which arose from this basic division,from one ruler/divinity (Anu) into two (his sons) were,basic sibling disagreements,which led to rivalry,enmityand war.

(This scenario may be familiar to those who have read the Book of Genesis at all closely – for this same situation was the causeof the falling out between the sons of Abraham; Jacob and Esau – as well as Cain and Abel – and many sets of brothers.. . and the division of the regions of Earth between Enki,Enlil(and Anu) is mirrored in the Division of the Nations by the sons of Noah; Ham, Cush, and Japheth).

To return to the genetic scientific works of Enki,the Chief scientist,and Nin-ti/Ninhursag,the’great mother’,the Sumerian annals recounted the narrative that mankind was created by mixing the genes of the earthly’neanderthal’beings with those of the ‘gods’,the Anunnaki. This was done outside of the bodyby using ‘invitro’fertilization techniques in a ‘laboratory’ setting,and the resulting embryo was placed then either inside the body of the ‘goddess’ mother,or in later generations,in the body of the human mother. . . thus mixing the genes of the ‘gods’and humansin varying proportions.

There is some argument in modern studies of this narrative, that the Anunnaki were strongly ‘reptilian’ beings,who introducedthis type of ‘intelligence’ into un-developed types of early human forbears,the Cro-Magnonor neanderthal stages of being creating over thousands of years the groupings who became homo sapiens….

This is,to some,the inner sense of the Garden of Eden story, where mankind ‘fell’from a state of innocence and unityto oneof ‘knowingness’and self, and greater complexity. The nature of the ‘fall’ being the reptilian genetic influxwas shown in allegory by the Serpent.. . indeed some versions (such as the Book of Jubilees) of the events in the Gardenof Eden indicate that Eve partnered with the (upright) serpent, Samael; while this sub-text is obscuredbut not dispensed with, in the Biblical version of the myth. . .

In Gilgamesh, his human father Lugalbanda mates with the goddess Ninsun, thus creating a hybrid ‘celestial’/human being, Gilgamesh, who is said by the gods in the Epic to be ‘two-thirds’ divine.Why this figure is not half divine is a subject of quite extensive debate, with no real definitive answers.

There is also the theory that Genesis 6.1-4 is referring to the Anunnaki when it describes the Watchers, or Nephilim, whileother observers, such as Sitchin, maintain that the Anunnaki werethe original ‘gods’ who created man, while the beings who physically  ‘went in unto the daughters of men’ were a sub-group of the tribe, mostly young and immature and acting without conscious plan or programme in the era just before the Deluge.A much later period than 100,000-50,000 years ago.

Genesis6;

¹And it came to pass,when men began to multiply on the face of theearth,and daughters were born unto them, ²That thesons of God saw the daughtersof men that they were fair;³And they took them wives of all which they chose.⁴There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that,When the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they barechildrento them, the same became mighty men which were of old,men of renown.

Thus it is saying after homo sapiens had been created by the Anunnaki, but before civilization really began to form, the additional change of the ‘Nephilim’ occurred; for the degradations practised by the ‘Nephilim’,as these progeny were called, were the resultof a strong genetic imbalance.. Thus the race of ‘giants’ which resulted from this was the cause of the Anunnakigods led by Enlil using the Flood to bring about the end of this class of beings.(although this is the biblical narrative in essence, unlike that of Gilgamesh, which does not explore the reasons of the gods in any detail. Yet the motivations may be deduced from other aspects of the work, such as the sexual imbalances of the heroic ‘celestial’ hybrid Gilgamesh himself. So this sub-theme, as it may be called, will be kept in mind during this section’s look at the epic, as a central area of interest which the higher dimensional foundational forces encoded into the major texts of the society for some reason; in much the same way asin the Hebrew texts (alongside countless other questions or inclusions of cosmic wisdom, which writers and researchers are continually uncovering in the modern age).

In reaction, Jehovah ordained the Flood,as mentioned in Genesis. In Gilgamesh thegods in their council do not cause the Flood; this is a ‘natural’ phenomenon, probably a more realistic version. As suchthey simply decide, upon Enlil’s decision, to give no warnings to mankind of the forthcoming cataclysm. . . (all except for one deity, the brother of Enlil, and the deity who created mankind by overseeing the genetic works involved in the long-term process; Enki.He also as the deity concerned with wisdom, and crafts and technology created the first irrigation systems, reclaimed land from the marshes around the Persian Gulf, and taught mankind the skills of civilization, ‘the secrets of the heavens’ such as metallurgy, writing, building and so on). In distinction to the Nephilim, after so many generations of the created ‘homo sapiens’, the Anunnaki hadboth a large society of genetically distinct ‘humans’ – and to provide a smooth transition from the rule of the Anunnaki to that of the humans,created a group with ‘higher’ proportion of Anunnaki genes,to form the first bridges between the two groupings; this was the era of the first kingsand queens to

rule humanity. . . in Sumer,they were called the ‘shepherd-kings’,overseeing the transition to self-rule and protection of humanity. . .two of the most well-known are people featured on the first King List of Erech;Etana, who in one myth cycle was taken up to heaven, and offered immortality but chose otherwise on the advice of Enki; and Lugalbanda, by the Sumerian King Lists he was named as the second king of Uruk (c.3400-3100Bce), with the epithet of ‘Shepherd’ – and along with his partner the goddess Ninsum the parent of Gilgamesh (while Gilgamesh is believed to have been king of Uruk c.2900Bce in the Early Dynastic Period of Sumer). Various myths such as Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave, and Lugabanda and the Anzu-bird attested to his popularity, so that he was partially deified by the Ur-III period of 2200-2100Bce.Though in early Gilgamesh stories he also referred to his father as his personal god‘Holy Lugalbanda’, and likewise in later Akkadian versions of these stories and the epic. Lugalbanda was succeeded in the King Lists by Dumuzid, the Fisherman, who was succeeded by Gilgamesh himself.

Dumuzid, along with Ningiszida the fertility god fulfil the role of both celestial gate-keepers of the Palace of Anu in the heavens, and in related manner, as deities of the ‘netherworld’, or underworld, in the Middle Babylonian Myth of Adapa. Ningishzida was often depicted with serpents coming out of his shoulders, or with two Mushussu beside him in the Seal of Gudea, and so on. Many of these traits are found in the character of Simon Peter in the Bible, who likewise is given responsibility for matters on both ‘heaven and earth’, or as a heaven or underworld gate-keeper. The association of St Peter with these roles, thus linking him closely to the extensive mythology of these two deities is something that can be argued to be clearly intentional on the part of the authors of the Bible, (as we see in the Bible section on him).

Ningiszida, second from right presents Gudea and Lamassu to Ningirsu/ Ninurta seated right in a sacred ‘fertility’ ceremony. The overflowing cups and bowls of water symbolize the fertility of the land and the abundance of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and by association it’s ruler Gudea. Serpents of some sort rise from Ningiszida’s shoulders, and a (crowned) Mushussu stands to the left.

So, it was to this early significant strata of mankind – part human/part ‘god’ – and at this early crux in mankind’s development  – that Gilgamesh belonged.

(left) depiction of a celestial being, believed to be possibly an apkallu, or one of the Seven Sages, at the NW Palace, Nimrud, N.Iraq, from the Assyrian era c.883Bce. While many such stelae related to the Tree of Life tableau show this being with Anunnaki ‘horned’ head-dress, this image does not, perhaps in this way indicating his hybrid human/ celestial nature., perhaps as a king.

Enkidu is a ‘wild-man’ who ‘eats grasses with the gazelles’, who feeds at the watering hole alongside the wild animals. This is the barely humanbeing the goddess creates to be a companion to Gilgamesh. But before he can meet his friend-to-be he must be civilized, by the ‘hierodule’ Shamhat.

It should be noted that Enkidu in his ‘primal’ state of being may be a representation of mankind before they were made fully

‘homo sapiens’ by the genetic interventions of the gods, (this as much as just being a symbol of pre-agrarian society of hunter-

gatherer communities). So Enkidu is mankind before civilization, as shown by his eating wild growing grasses, and surviving on

water.

He may also represent the strong energies of the purely instinctive centres of the human beingrather than the higher intellectual capacities of ‘homo sapiens’.But regardless, Shamhat is sent to civilize Enkidu; and the method used is to meet him at the place where the animals drink water, and expose her nakedness; Enkidu is drawn in (like the Nephilim?) and they spend time in a shepherd’s hut, where she gradually teaches him how to eat and drink food, dress properly, and so on.

One point of interest is that while sexual urges are the reason for the need for all this, in the excessive actions of Gilgamesh,

they are used also by the (conscious) woman Shamhat to civilize the wild-man Enkidu.

Firstly,the similarity in Gilgamesh,Enochand the Bibleof the hero attaining topursue a Quest,to perfect the selfand thus

become ‘as the gods’ as such. This quest being in direct contradistinction to the existence and routines of daily life. . .

(no matter how pleasant and productive in themselves though they are).

Gilgamesh,stated to be two-thirds ‘god’is powerful and attractive,full of potentialfor good and bad,and ‘without equal’ in

his society – a ‘prince’ of sorts – and yet he is only too clearly a selfishly centred, even ‘licentious’ personality,incomplete as

a human being. Wiser heads combine to direct his experiences…

Secondtherefore,the presence and help to the individual,of ‘beings of cosmic consciousness’; angels, or emissaries of cosmic origin,or ‘deities’-Shamashand Enki – in Gilgamesh,the help of the (cosmic) boatman,Urshanabi,Siduri the hostess of refreshment at the confluence of ‘the waters’,(ie. cosmic location).The perfected humanUtnapishtimand his wife also, wholive in the ‘faraway’across the ‘waters’…

Utnapishtim is the original model for the figure of Noah in the Christian bible -central to the Old Testament,in terms of YHVH’s Covenant with mankind after the purging of The Flood,indeed the purging of mankind. Noah was the grandson of Enoch,and recipient of his divinely gifted wisdom.

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Among the intertwined themes that are to found sewn seamlessly throughout many poems, stories, myths, holy books,and artistic representations,one important thread which runs throughout these andother works – and also in carved/decorated stelae,across virtually all antique cultures,the Egyptian records, Greek myths, Chinese artworks etc – is the motif of the hero overpowering an attacking lion…(figs 1,2,3,4.)

Now,there being greater ubiquity of lions,and various big cats,in the Near East in antique times,it is the easiest step to explain these images as either – as records of actual ‘contests’ of strength,or- as artistic representations of the power of the kings depicted- or as symbolism of the passing of the Age of Leoas being the implied focus of the artists’ intent.

It is worth considering the theory that the widespread frequency of therepresentations , plus the relationship many of these sophisticated cultures had with Cosmic myth and number,points to a different interpretation, one shared by most if not all antique cultures. As such the message to be gleaned may be turned around somewhat, so that the hidden meaning of this ‘symbolic figure’ wasthe metaphor that a king- or heroic figure such as Gilgamesh or Enkidu–  was anyone who had triumphed over his innate lower aspects, their ‘animal’ self. This subtlety is absolutely in keeping with the higher consciousness present within Sumerian and later civilizations, one much advanced on existing levels of human consciousness at those times.

As an indication of the metaphorical (and universal rather than individual) nature of this motif, which man ever prevailed in an unarmed struggle against a lion..? Let alone against two..? The image of a ‘king’ or ‘hero’ standing holding  a lion is often combined with the lion-hunts performed by the royal courts throughout these lands in the times of antiquity (see above I – iii; and yet in iv. we see the deeper meaning of controlling the forces within represented by the lion (and the serpent) – with the inner meaningin effect camouflaged from the unquestioning mind by the ‘lion-hunt’ narrative.

As a way of understanding the ‘hidden’ metaphor,if the stelae are studied closely,it might be said that the demeanour of the conquering kings/heroes is not that of a warrior,but rather that of relaxed and quiet determination;calmness defeats the ‘lion’.

Equally significant,is the inner process of the consciousness becoming expanded… it might be fair to say that as much as the conscious mind being heightened,it is the subconscious mind which is being changed,becoming less chaotic and inconsistent,and more directed,and unified; and as suchmore properly aligned with the other functioning parts of the psyche. . .

This process of harmonising of areas of the self,is reflected in the images of the hero holding the lion;for now the lion directs its attention not towards the person it was fighting,but outwards toward the world,in accord and unity with the will of it’s owner.

And it is then thatthose heroes who successfully work towards raising their self-awareness,and constantly seek and work to refine their level of beingcan begin to ‘ascend towards the higher energies of the ‘heavens’ – with the help and guidance of experienced and worthy beings – and unlock the energies of theSun (or of light) within themselves. Thus becoming capable of visiting,or even of living,in ‘cosmic’ locations outside of the earth’s (everyday life’s)bounds, as Utnapishtim and his wife are…

So to repeat, in the curious circles of meaning higher consciousness can create,in modern terms this dynamic can be referenced as- those beings/cultures which are refined enough,and worthy enough (ie,are motivated by, and for, creative rather than destructive purposes) will be able to incorporate the energies of the  Sun within their own being,and thereafter use this intelligence to harness the energies of the Sun – the near limitless energies of the atom – to ascend and travel towards the heavens,and the stars.So from the ancient time period  of writing of these epics,we have come full circle, almost,to a point where the message applies,with greater relevance than ever, tothe development of mankind’s potentials…

Of the issues raised in terms of immortality,it would seem fair to consider the meaning as either a. tending to indicate that eternal life is to be found in the refined self,or spirit. Or alternatively in celestial genetics; indeed Gilgamesh himself was said to be two-thirds divine,having a goddess for a mother,and a human for a father. (As crucial mitochondrial DNA is passed down from generation to generation purely by females,this does support his genealogy of having inherited more divinity in his mothers side of his heredity,than human,from his fathers’side. .!)

Indeed the various versions of Gilgamesh have names for the ‘Noah’ figure of the Deluge which highlight his ability to survive; moreover

these names support the connection noted between the ‘instinctive-centre’ of the ‘stomach and the instinctive knowledge this centre provides, similar in nature to that displayed by the Delphic Oracle and others, where the main figure was the female priestess called ‘the Pythoness’. Thus we have Early Sumer, ‘Ziusudra’ (‘life of long days); Akkadian ‘Atrahasis’ (‘exceedingly wise‘); Late Sumerian ‘Utnapishtim’ (‘he found life’/’born of the fish’); Babylonian ‘Xisuthros’ (‘he who lived long’), and so on. And of course Noah means ‘respite’, something the Bible section interprets to potentially mean ‘respite from the negative effects of the celestial bloodlines’. Incidentally Ziusudra may be written as Xin-suddu, either way incorporating the ‘sud’ term from Ap/Ab-su indicating the stomach centre and ‘the depths’ (of the waters/ seas, (or the underground reservoirs which create the rivers), or the ‘under-world’/ the ‘abyss’ / space – connecting all the levels with the word that developed to mean ‘south’, as well as ‘subterranean’, ‘subconscious’ to list but a few, and on the personal level link it to the instinctive centre from which health and longevity arise. This multi- levelled meaning is one of the characteristics found within the name of Enki as ‘Lord of the Ab-zu/ South’, and the fact of his being the deity who created ‘homo sapiens’ from genetic work in the god’s ‘creation chamber’, and also introduced wisdom and learning to mankind. That the instinctive centre is reptilian is reflected in the Epic of Gilgamesh by the serpent (‘lion of the ground’)stealing the Plant of Life from besides the pool while Gilgamesh bathes, then changing it’s skin for ‘eternal youth’.Again a metaphor which serves dual purpose to describe both the subconscious of the individual, and the energy pathways of the Earth; and the fact that the life-giving energies within these levels are those of the Sun, and the wider cosmos.

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TABLET I      -ERECH-HAVEN  GILGAMESH

TABLET II     – THE CREATION OF ENKIDU. HIS CIVILIZATION. MEETS GILGAMESH

TABLET III    – PREPARATIONS FOR THE QUEST TO THE SACRED MOUNTAIN

TABLET IV    – THE JOURNEY TO THE CEDAR FOREST OF THE GODS

TABLET V      – THE FOREST – HUMBABA THE ROBOT – THE BATTLE

TABLET VI    – THE GODDESS ISHTAR PROPOSES TO GILGAMESH – THE BULL OF HEAVEN BATTLE

TABLET VII   – THE GREAT GODS CONFERENCE – THE DEATH OF ENKIDU

TABLET VIII –  GILGAMESH MOURNS ENKIDU

TABLET IX    – GILGAMESH ROAMS THE MOUNTAINS – PONDERS MORTALITY

TABLET X     – THE INNKEEPER SIDURI – THE JOURNEY WITH THE BOATMAN TO THE FARAWAY

TABLET XI    –  UTNAPISHTIM  – THE GREAT FLOOD – GILGAMESH’S TEST – RETURN TO ERECH-HAVEN.

Tablet I. INTRODUCTION TO ERECH-HAVEN, AND THE HERO KING GILGAMESH.

He who has seen everything I will make known to the lands.

…Anu granted him the totality of knowledge of all.

He saw the Secret, discovered the Hidden,

he brought information of (the time) before the Flood.

He went on a distant journey,pushing himself to exhaustion, but then was brought to peace.

He carved on a stone stelae all of his toils; and built the wall of Erech-Haven, the wall of the sacred Eanna Temple, the holy sanctuary.

Go up on the wall of Erech, and walk around,

Examine it’s foundation,inspect it’s brickwork thoroughly,

…did not the Seven Sages themselves lay out it’s plans?

Supreme over other kings,lordly in appearance

he is the hero,born of Erech,the goring wild bull.

…Mighty net, protector of his people

raging flood-wave who destroys even walls of stone!

It was he who opened the mountain passes,

who dug wells on the flank of the mountain.

It was he who crossed the ocean,the vast seas,to the rising sun,

who explored the world regions, seeking life.

It was he who reached by his own sheer strength Utnapishtim,the Far-Away,

who restored the sanctuaries (cities)that the Flood had destroyed!

Two-thirds of him is god, one-third of him is human. . .

The great Goddess (Aruru) designed the model for his body.

She prepared his form. . .

. . .beautiful, most handsome of men,

. . .perfect.

He walks around the enclosure of Erech,

Like a wild bull he makes himself mighty, head raised

There is no rival who can raise his weapon against him.

His fellows stand alert, attentive to him,

And the men of Erech become anxious. . .

Gilgamesh does not leave a son to his father,

Day and night he arrogantly (?)

Is Gilgamesh the shepherd of Erech-haven,

Is he the shepherd. . .

bold, eminent, knowing and wise!

Gilgamesh does not leave a daughter to her mother.

The daughter of the warrior, the bride of the young man

The gods kept hearing their complaints, so

The gods of the heavens implored the Lord of Erech (Anu)

. . .”bold, eminent, knowing and wise,

Gilgamesh does not leave a girl to her mother!

The daughter of the warrior, the bride of the young man”,

Anu listened to their complaints,

And the gods called out to Ninhursag (Anu’s wife);

It was you. . . who created mankind,

now create a zikru to it/ him.

Let him be equal to his (Gilgamesh’s) stormy heart,

let them be a match for each other so that Erech may find peace!”

When Ninhursag heard this she created within herself the zikru of Anu

She washed her hands, she pinched off some clay, and threw it into the wilderness

In the wilderness she created valiant Enkidu,

born of silence, endowed with strength by Ninurta (early Sumer god of agriculture/healing/hunting)

He knew neither people nor settled living,

He ate grasses with gazelles,

And jostled at the watering hole with the animals,

as with animals his thirst was slaked with mere water.

A trapper addressed his father, saying

Father, a certain fellow has come from the mountains.

He is the mightiest in the land,

His strength is as mighty as the meteorite of Anu!

. . .he filled in the pits that I had dug

wrenched out my traps that I had spread,

released from my grasp the wild animals.

The trappers father spoke to him saying;

My son, there lives in Erech a certain Gilgamesh.

There is no one stronger than he,

Go, set off to Erech,

Tell Gilgamesh of this Man of Might

He will give you the harlot Shamhat, take her with you.

The woman will overcome the fellow (?) as if she were strong

When the animals are drinking at the watering place

have her take off her robe and expose her sex

When he sees her he will draw near to her,

and his animals, who grew up in his wilderness, will be alien to him.

This all goes according to plan; after a week with her he no longer associates or identifies with

the wild animals, but thinks and talks like a human – he is civilized. (Initially in his new state, he

goes to get water, but the animals sense the change in him, and run away;

for six days and nights Enkidu stayed aroused,

and had intercourse with the harlot

until he was sated with her charms.

But when he turned his attentions to his animals

the gazelles saw Enkidu and darted off.

Enkidu. . .his utterly depleted body

his knees that wanted to go off with his animals went rigid;

Enkidu was diminished, his running was not as before.

But then he drew himself up, for his understanding had broadened.

Turning around, he sat down at the harlot’s feet,

The harlot said to Enkidu,

‘You are beautiful’, Enkidu, you are become like a god.

Why do you gallop around the wilderness with the wild beasts?

Come, let me bring you into Erech-Haven,

to the Holy Temple, the residence of Anu and Ishtar,

the place of Gilgamesh, who is wise to perfection.

Enkidu, you who do not know how to live,

I will show you Gilgamesh, a man of extreme feelings,

he has strength mightier than you

without sleeping day or night

Enkidu, it is your wrong thoughts you must change!

It is Gilgamesh Shamhat loves,

And Anu, Enlil (etc) have enlarged his mind,

Even before you came from the mountain

Gilgamesh in Erech had dreams about you”.

Gilgamesh meanwhile tells his mother of a dream of a heavenly comet landing by him;(fear of change?); she tells him this is the creation of herself and Anu;

‘As for the stars of the sky that appeared

and the meteorite of Anu, which fell next to you,

you tried to lift but it was too mighty for you,

I made it compete with you,

and you loved and embraced it, as a wife,

It is he who will repeatedly save you.

Your dream is good and propitious!’

Which Gilgamesh accepts; ‘may I have a friend and advisor; a friend and advisor may I have!’

NOTES ON THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH. TABLET I.

From the first stanza of Gilgamesh we see that he is the ruler of the ‘city-state’ of Erech-Haven, or Erech as it is alternatively called. This was one of the first major centres of Sumerian civilization c.3200 Bce onwards, (called the Early Dynastic Period), and the position occupied by Gilgamesh is supported by the King Lists of Sumer, which place him in the line of kings who ruled Erech; Mesh-ki-ang-gasher; Enmerkar; Lugalbanda – Gilgamesh – Ur-Ningal, etcetera, with Gilgamesh reigning at approximately 2800 Bce.

The first stanza introduces us to this early ‘foundational’ era, and also to some of the main themes of the entire work;

He who has seen everything I will make known to the lands.

Anu granted him the totality of knowledge of all.

He saw the Secret, discovered the Hidden,

He brought information of (the time) before the Flood

He went on a journey, pushing himself to exhaustion,

But then was brought to peace.

He carved on a stone stela all of his toils,

And built the wall of Erech-Haven.

The wall of the sacred Eanna Temple, the holy sanctuary

look at it’s wall which gleams like copper. . .

take hold of its threshold stone,

. . .it dates from ancient times!

Go up on the wall of Erech and walk around,

examine it’s foundation, examine it’s brickwork. . .

and did not the seven sages lay out it’s plans?

Find the copper tablet box,

Open the.  . . of it’s lock of bronze, undo the fastening

of it’s secret opening,

Take and read out from the lapis lazuli tablet

how Gilgamesh went through every hardship.

So the first verse of Gilgamesh touches upon;

–  the transmission to mankind of cosmic consciousness.

–  the granting of this only to those who have worked towards it, through additional toils to those of daily life ; ‘he went on a journey, pushing himself to exhaustion’. In other words ‘seek and you  shall find’; a ‘grail quest’, in other words. This is supported by the next

line stating that after this he attained ‘rest’, ie fulfilment.

–  knowledge of the Flood – and of the events and societies before the Flood, indicating authorship by those who had  ‘guardianship’ of that knowledge;

–  the necessity of complete commitment to the ‘quest, the voluntary acceptance of physical hardships;

–  the recording of these experiences, and thus – the creation of the ‘arts of civilization’ ; as well as the wisdom encoded in the artwork of ‘sacred’ sites where these stelae and tablets were mostly placed;

–  the harmonious placing, design and  building of the first (sacred) cities and societies; thus indicating the undocumented foundations of civilization from the very earliest eras of pre-history…many of which seem to have been made almost impossible to explain precisely to draw attention to the subject.

– in relation to this, the line  ‘examine it’s brickwork’ calls to mind not only the immense amount of painstaking archeology in these cities from the 19^th century onwards, but equally, the sophisticated features of the stonework of the Great Pyramid at Giza, among many other sites and temples of that era. As noted in Egypt section, the quality  and accuracy levels of the outer blocks of the Pyramid, let alone those of the internal structures, are  absolutely incredible, being built often to degrees of accuracy within fractions of an inch!  See  the Egypt section for more on this.

– the introduction of complex technologies such as ore mining/smelting/refining/alloy creation, ie. metallurgy – plus incredible feats of stone mining, working, transportation, design, and building;

–  in particular the building of sacred temples/architecture;

–  the ‘threshold stone’ is a concept we will look into more deeply in the Bible section; but what it refers to is the building of the main temple’s foundations over the exact ‘navel-point’ (or ‘omphalos’ where the higher dimensional forces of the cosmos flow upwards from the earth. The foundation stone, placed  over the ‘waters of the abyss’  is said  in Hebrew mythology to be placed in the foundations of the   Temple of Jerusalem, (itself a ‘sacred’ city, within the global network of significant node-points – which thus serve to regulate the raw energies which vitalize the earth and society.) – thus highlighting in the similarity of concepts the interesting line of consciousness which flows from the earliest works of Sumer through 2000 years at least  to the mythology of the Hebrew civilization in the 1^st millennium Bce. So at the end of the epic Gilgamesh seeks for the Plant of Life by attaching weights to his feet and sinking down through the Abzu/Apsu – the ‘abyss’, or subterranean reservoir of  waters from which come the energies of life to feed all life on the earth.

–  the ‘seven sages ‘confirmation again of the higher dimensional influences instrumental in all the phases of the  building of these first cities of the Near East’s first civilization(s).  The concept of the ‘seven sages’, or ‘rishis’ has  been a significant part of Eastern religions throughout history  since the earliest times.

–  The words concerning the hidden copper tablet box could be applied even today to the Pyramids and Sphinx at Giza, and many other sites too, which contain legends of hidden repositories of wisdom, called ‘the Hall of Records’ at Giza. Enoch too was said to have prepared copies of the divine wisdom he was given by the angels, in anticipation of the destructive forces of the Flood – one copy was prepared on stone, and one copy on tablets of metal, so that they would be able to withstand either water or fire. . .

The copper box, and the bronze clasp also indirectly bring to mind the Nahash, or ‘nehushtan seraphim’ the brazen (bronze) serpent made by Moses in the wilderness to heal the Israelites of the bites of the fiery serpents, the Seraphim. As we see in the Bible, and Egypt sections, there are many connections between the Nagas of Indian/ Buddhist culture, the Hebrew Nahash, the (flying) celestial beings the seraphim, and the serpent-deity of the Anunnaki, Enki/Ea. (See for example the Nagas represented at, and integral to the design of the Temple at Ankhor Wat in Cambodia, within which cos# values such as 54, 72, and 108 are designed in to the temple’s design, especially on the bridge to the temple complex  (symbolic of the heaven-earth axis). See also the Hindu concept of the divine orders the asuras and devas pulling from each end of the Great Nagas of the Universe to cause the ‘churning of the Ambrosia’, ie the creation of cosmic energy, (through the operations of gravity possibly.) In addition to these potential connections, copper and bronze were highly significant aspects of the ancient world’s uses of metal, for various reasons.

Echoes of the hidden tablets containing cosmic wisdom myths claimed are buried in a subterranean structure somewhere around the site at Giza. Enoch too was held to have  created several stone, or copper/ bronze tablets detailing the all-encompassing cosmic wisdom he was taught during his two journeys when was taken up by angelic beings to the higher spheres or dimensions…wisdom that was given to him just a generation or two before the Flood, so that it might be discovered and re-applied once the waters had receded, leaving he a world without civilization(s)…

(Additionally the common myths of subterranean halls of records may possibly bear relation to the centres of  higher understanding and memory within the subconscious – or indeed, sources of cosmic consciousness within the world).

So quite a concise first verse to the epic of Gilgamesh.

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In this way are we introduced to the world of the Sumerians, and Gilgamesh in the first tablet of the oldest poem known to mankind.

The first chapter also introduces us to Gilgamesh as he lives in his ‘ordinary’ life, before setting off on his quest to find Utnapishtim, survivor of the Flood, and ask him how to gain immortality.

So the Epic of Gilgamesh begins with the ‘hero’ Gilgamesh, the ‘king’ of Erech-haven, created by the ‘gods’ according to their model of perfection, whose mother is the goddess Ninsun, and father the one of the earliest kings of Erech (in the Sumerian King Lists) Lugalbanda, c.2900 Bce (whose epithet was ‘shepherd’ ie. one of the ‘shepherd-kings’ of myth). Gilgamesh is a ‘mighty man’ who ‘none can stand against’… and yet despite this heroic stature, he constantly troubles the townsfolk, by asserting his ‘kingly right’ (as then was maybe the standard) to take any young men or women for his own pleasures, even young wives on their wedding-night. . . This behaviour of Gilgamesh, stemming from his dominant personality and absolute power leads the townspeople to beg the gods to find an answer to limit the king’s excesses, to create a friend and a match for him.

Tablet II.  Enkidu’s  ‘civilization’/ THE FIRST MEETING OF GILGAMESH AND ENKIDU

Shamhat’s ‘taming’ of Enkidu  continues. She again declares her love  for Gilgamesh… Enkidu wishes to meet him.

They repair to a shepherd’s hut where Shamhat clothes him, (and repairs her own clothing)**

** the use of washing the self,and donning clean clothing,as a metaphor, or ‘indicator’ of metaphysical questions is

frequent throughout the narratives of the numerous characters and events of the epic…

Shamhat then introduces him to eating and drinking prepared meals like a human;

‘The harlot spoke to Enkidu,saying;

Eat the food Enkidu, it is the way one lives;

Drink the beer, as is the custom of the land…

. . .and he drank the beer; seven jugs! and became expansive

and sang with joy! / He was elated and his face glowed’.

Following this he washes, and puts on clean clothes;

‘He splashed his shaggy body with water,

And rubbed himself with oil, and turned into a human.

He put on some clothing,and became like a warrior…’

–  then he and Shamhat journey towards the city.

They meet a man who is hurrying to a wedding. He tells them he is hurrying, because;

‘. . .the selection of brides. . .

I have heaped up tasty delights for the wedding on the ceremonial platter.

For the King of Broad-MartedErech (GILGAMESH),

Open is the veil of the people for the choosing of a girl’. . .

In other words,  Gilgamesh will have first intercourse with the bride, the husband second, and more ‘match-making’

opportunities will be present thereafter, perhaps. Of Gilgamesh’s ‘kingly privilege’ the poem says,

‘This is ordered by Anu, from the severing of the umbilical cord it has been destined for him’. Enkidu is angry at this news,

and they hurry to the streets of the city. Enkidu blocks Gils entry to the marital chamber –the two grapple and fight.

After some time Gilgamesh stops, and embraces Enkidu, and they become best friends.

Here the mother of Gilgamesh speaks plaintively to him; She went up to Shamash’s gateway (leader of the IGIGI who circled

above earth according to Sitchin – ‘those who turned’, or ‘those who observe and see’ – and Middle/Eastern god representing

the Sun – and Eagle figure in stela)..!  FIGURE 53.

– plaintively she implored – ‘Enkidu has no father or mother…

he was born in the wilderness, no-one raised him’…

Enkidu hears these words, and begins to weep. Gilgamesh takes his hand, and Enkidu declares to Gilgamesh (presumably an

oath of friendship or fealty).(42 lines missing-) presumably Gilgamesh suggesting they journey to the Cedar Forest, which circles

the holy mountain, the ‘landing place of the gods’, in Lebanon –

Enkidu replies to Gilgamesh;

” To protect the Cedar Forest (around the sacred mountain/ landing place

of the gods) Enlil (Lord of the Earth/ author of the destruction of the flood)

assigned Humbaba  (the robot) as a terror to mankind.”

Gilgamesh replies-

‘ Who my friend canascend  to the heavens? Only the gods

can dwell forever with Shamash

As for human beings, their days are numbered, and

whatever they keep trying to achieve is but wind’…

(See Ecclesiastes for same. Many correlations between these two texts…)

‘Now you are afraid of death- what has become of your bold strength?

I will go in front of you (to cut down the Cedar, and battle Humbaba)

Should I fail, I will have established my fame. ..it is I who will

establish fame for eternity…’

They go to the forge, to fashion an axe and weapons for the battle ahead.

Enkidu asks the townspeople to dissuade Gilgamesh from his plans;

‘Humbaba’s roar is a flood/ his mouth is fire, his breath Death!…

– who among even the Igigi can confront him?

Tablet III.  PREPARATIONS FOR THE QUEST.

Gilgamesh listens to the counsel of the town elders, who say;

‘Gilgamesh, do not put your trust in just your vast strength

but keep a sharp eye out, make each blow strike it’s mark…

The one who goes ahead saves the comrade

Let Enkidu go ahead of you

He has seen fighting, he has experienced battle’…

Gilgamesh says to Enkidu for them to visit the temple of his mother, Ninsun, to ask which pathto follow;

‘Ninsun, I must go to kill Humbaba the terrible,

to eradicate from the land

something baneful that Shamash hates,

intercede with Shamash on my behalf.’

The words of Gilgamesh grieve Queen Ninsun. She prepares herself with ablutions, and new vestment, and goes to the

roof of the Temple alone to consult with Shamash. She blames Shamash for inflicting a restless heart on Gilgamesh.

‘…on the day that you see him on the road

may Aja the Bride without fear remind you

and command also the Watchmen of the Night,

the stars, and at night your father Sin’.

(the god of the Moon) to protect her son.

She then calls to Enkidu, saying he is not of her womb, but he should consider

himself as such in his task, of protecting Gilgamesh as his brother.

Tablet IV. THE JOURNEY TO THE FOREST/MOUNTAIN OF THE GODS.

The two friends journey. They walk many leagues,until they reach a mountain range near Lebanon.

Gilgamesh climbs the mountain,and makes an offering to Shamash (the setting sun) whilst Enkidu

prepares their sleeping place;

He made him lie down,and…in a circle.

they…like grain from the mountain…

While Gilgamesh rested his chin on his knees

Sleep that pours over mankind overtook him’

(presaging his experiences on his journey to the ‘faraway’ later on).

Gilgamesh has troubling dreams and visions, hears voices in the night…and says to Enkidu,

‘the dream I had was deeply disturbing,

in the mountain gorges…

the mountain fell down on us.

Wet (?)..like flies…

he who was born in the wilderness.

Enkidu seeks to reassure Gilgamesh, says the dream was ‘most favourable’… this repeats during the night,

indicating forthcoming trials. The next night after travel similar dreams and visions occur. The following night,

while the disturbances continue, Shamash’s voice from the clouds declares to them;

‘Hurry, do not let Humbaba enter into

the forest,and hide in the thickets.

‘ he has not put on his 7 coats of armour’.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu say, emphasizing the universal need for support and unity;

‘One alone cannot-

Strangers…

a slippery path is not feared by two people who help

each other… a three-ply rope cannot be cut.’

They journey on, and reach the Forest the next day;

Tablet V.  THE CEDAR FOREST – HUMBABA THE ROBOT/ THE BATTLE.

They stood at the forest’s edge,

gazing at the top of the Cedar Tree

gazing at the entrance to the forest

Where Humbaba would walk there was a trail…

Then they saw the Cedar Mountain, the Dwelling of the Gods…

Across the face of the mountain the Cedar brought forth

luxurious foliage/ its shade was good,extremely pleasant…’

-Suddenly the swords…and after the sheaths…the axes were smeared…

dagger and sword…alone…

Humbaba spoke to Gilgamesh, saying, ‘He does not come…

…Enlil.’

Enkidu repeats his words to Humbaba saying

‘Humbaba, one alone…

…strangers…

a three-ply rope cannot be cut’…

Humbaba says to Gilgamesh ‘…an idiot and a moron should give advice to each other,

but you, Gilgamesh, why have you come to me?

Give advice, Enkidu, you ‘son of a fish’, who does not even know

his father’.

You have brought Gilgamesh into my presence,

. . . you stand…an enemy, a stranger…

Gilgamesh, throat and neck,

I would feed your flesh to the screeching vulture, the

eagle and the vulture.’

Gilgamesh spoke to Enkidu, saying ‘ my friend,why does Humbaba’s face keep changing…?’

With talk over, a fight to the death begins, a flurry of tumultuous strife;

‘ the ground split open with the heels of their feet,

as they whirled around in circles Mt Hermon and Lebanon split.

The white clouds darkened, death rained down on them like a fog.

Shamash raised up against Humbaba mighty tempests,Northwind.. . Eastwind,

. . . Ice wind, demon wind, wind of Simurru, Storm, Sandstorm . . !

‘so that Humbaba could not move; Humbaba begged for his life;

‘O scion of the heart of Erech, King Gilgamesh.

. . .Gilgamesh,let me go, I will dwell with you as your servant (?)

Enkidu addressed Gilgamesh, saying;

‘My friend, do not listen to Humbaba’

Humbaba; ‘You understand the rules of the forest,the rules…

further, you are aware of all the things so ordered by Enlil

I should have carried you up,and killed you

at the very entrance of the forest’. . .

So now, Enkidu, clemency is up to you.’

Enkidu says to Gilgamesh,

‘kill, destroy,and pulverise Humbaba, Gilgamesh,

before the pre-eminent god Enlil hears…’

As in the story of the deluge, (later in the poem, and Noah/Atra-hasis versions) the wishes of the gods – Enlil,

Lord of Earth, and Enki his brother, Lord of the Waters/South are at variance with each other. (the various changes

of mind of Yahweh in the Bible are where in previous versions the two deities clashed. Gilgamesh and Enkidu are able to

act against Enlil’s servant Humbaba because the deities Shamash and Ninsun (and Enki?) support them, against the servant

of the ‘Lord of the Earth’, Enlil.

After more discussion between Enkidu and Gilgamesh, they kill Humbaba;

…they ‘pull out his insides including his tongue’;

‘…abundance fell over the mountain, abundance fell over the mountain…

While Gilgamesh cuts down the trees, Enkidu searches through the ‘urmazallu’.

(they plan to float the cedar down the Euphrates river to Nippur,

and make a triumphal door from it;)

‘My friend, we have cut down the towering Cedar* whose top scrapes the sky…’;

‘they tied together a raft…Enkidu steered it/ while Gilgamesh

held the head of Humbaba.’

*possibly a symbol of the authority of Enlil, and the divine landing place, restricted to Lebanon as  the cedar was.In the

story of Solomon the cedar represents the region of Lebanon peopled by the ‘pagan’ Canaanites, etc.In fact Solomon

employedso many Phoenician craftsmen/ materials that his royal home was called the ‘Palace of the Forest of Cedars’.

Tablet VI. THE GODDESS ISHTAR PROPOSES TO GILGAMESH.

They wash themselves,’throwing off their dirty clothes and putting on clean ones’.

But they do not do so unobserved…

‘When Gilgamesh placed his crown upon his head/ a princess Ishtar

raised her eyes to the beauty of Gilgamesh.’

Inanna/ Ishtar was not the original ‘Mother’ of mankind – this being Ninhursag/Ninmah-in the Sumerian pantheon.Ishtar

(as she was called in the later Eastern Semitic language speaking Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian cultures) was the daughter

of  Nanna (Sin) and Ninlil, and the sister of Shamash (Utu) the widely respected and influential sun deity. Ishtar was the presiding goddess of love, sex, beauty, justice, politicsand war, and as such was the primary female deity who women could turn to for reassurance over problems of marriage, childbirth, health and so on. The Sumerian goddess of the Eanna (the ‘house-of heaven’;

or ‘temple of Erech’) duringthe Erech period of c.4000-3100Bce. . . became during the twomillennia from 3000-1000 Bcethe

foremost ‘goddess’ of the Middle/ Near East , being called therefore the ‘Queen of Heaven’.  As well as the Eastern Semitic civilizations of the Akkadians etcetera she was also adopted widely in surrounding areas –becoming as such as the Phoenician’s goddessAstarte,

the Greek Aphrodite, and so on…) In this sense of being the avatar of all female virtues and strengths, Ishtar also inspired the character of Esther in the Old Testament,and then‘Easter’, as well as ‘oestrogen’ andrelated feminine/fertility-associated words. In her role as fertility Goddess the myth of Ishtar and Tammuzin the Underworld was equated in Greek mythology by the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. She has many names,mythsand stories associated with her in the original Sumerian culture(s), and was considered an equal to the male deities of the Anuna; indeed she was so strong-willed and intelligent that various stories saw her outwitting and out-manoeuvring her relations, including Enki by giving him alcohol drinks as an offering when she visits him, and then ‘stealing’ the Tablets of Destiny.

Zechariah Sitchin argues that her increased role over time led to her being given sovereignty over the lands and peoples of the Indian sub-continent, to which she travelled in her ‘sky vehicle’ and was represented as thus in images from that time.

DIAGRAMS  of ISHTAR

‘Come along Gilgamesh, be you my husband/ to me grant your lusciousness.

Be you my husband, and I will be your wife

…Bowed down beneath you will be kings,lords and princes’…

Gilgamesh answers the goddess with a degree of circumspection;

‘What would I have to give you if I married you!

I would gladly give you food fit for a god,

I would gladly give you wine fit for a king.

(you are…)

…a half-door that keeps out neither breeze nor blast

a palace that crushes down valiant warriors

pitch that blackens the hand of it’s bearer…

Where are your bridegrooms that you keep forever..?’ *

* this perception of Gilgamesh raises a key issue namely the’inauspicious’  relationships/weddings

of gods and humans… As in the book of Genesis,Enoch, Jubilees, Bible, Greek myths etc –

(including Ishtar and Tammuz, a sheep-herd), there are few clear examples of fulfilled marriagesand families…

Gilgamesh then goes on to list some of her previous lovers/husbands;

You loved the Shepherd, the Master Herder,

Who continually presented you with bread baked in embers

…Yet you struck him, and turned him into a wolf,

so his own shepherds now chase him,

and his own dogs snap at his shins…

You loved Ishullannu, your father’s date gardener,

You raised your eyes and you went to him;

Ishullanu said to you;

What is it you want from me!

Has my mother not baked,and have I not eaten

that I should now eat food under contempt and curses

And that alfafa grass should be my only cover against cold?’…

And now me! It is me you love,and you will ordain for me as for them!”*

Ishtar’s response is not unexpected;

When Ishtar heard this,in a fury she went up to the heavens,

Going to Anu her father and crying,

going to Anrum, her mother,and weeping.

“Father, Gilgamesh has insulted me over and over.

Gilgamesh has recounted despicable deeds about me,

despicable deeds and curses!”

Anu addresses her equably;    (FIGURE FROM STELAE)

‘Was it not you who provoked King Gilgamesh?’

So that he recounted despicable deeds about you,

Despicable deeds and curses!’

Ishtar says,

‘Father, give me the Bull of Heaven,

So you can kill Gilgamesh in his dwelling.

Gilgamesh. ..

If you do not give me the Bull of Heaven,

I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld

I will smash the door posts,and leave the floors flat down

And will let the dead go up to eat the living…’!

Anu replies,

‘If you demand the Bull of Heaven from me,

there will be 7 years of empty husks for the land

Have you collected grain for the people!’

Ishtar answers smoothly,

‘I have heaped grain in the granaries for the people,

I have made the grasses grow for the animals.’

At which Anu recognises prudence and places the nose-ring of the

Bull of Heaven in  her hand, which she leads down to Earth.

Ishtar leads it down the Euphrates, and Sumer. Examples of it’s

power are given,it snorts and a huge pit opens up; a hundred men

fall in,etc. Then Enkidu falls in the hole, but only

up to his waist…

He jumps out and literally seizes the bull by the horns!

‘My friend,we can be bold (?)-

My friend,I saw…

And I will rip out…

I and you,we must share (?)

I shall grasp the Bull…

…between the nape,the horns,and…thrust your sword.’

Enkidu stalked and hunted down the Bull of Heaven…

…while Gilgamesh boldly and surely approached…between

the nape,the horns,and…he thrust his sword.’

Straight away they tear out its heartand present it as an offering

to their protector Shamash, then,

‘They withdrew bowing down humbly to Shamash.’

The inevitable uproar occurs;

Ishtar went up onto the top of the wall of Erech-Haven,

cast herself into the pose of mourning,

and hurled her woeful curse;

“Woe unto Gilgamesh who slandered me and killed the Bull of Heaven!”

At which Enkidu tears off the Bull’s hindquarters and throws

them in her face, with some strong words..;

“If I could only get at you I would do the same to you!”…

Ishtar reacts immediately;

‘…(she) assembled the (cultic women) of lovely-locks,joy-girls and

harlots and set them to mourning over the Bull.’

Gilgamesh examines the remains of the Bull; summoning the artists and craftsmen of

Erechtheyadmire the thickness of its horns, each made from lapis-lazuli ! (ie, to say the

Bull, like Humbaba, was a robot, a ‘machine’ created by the gods, or rather, not an actual bull…)

‘Two fingers thick is their casing.

Six vats of oil (!) the contents of the two

He gave as ointment to his (personal) god,Lugalbanda…

They wash their hands,and walk beside each other through the streets

of Erech, with Gilgamesh asking the palace retainers,

‘Who is the bravest of the men

Gilgamesh is the boldest of males…

She at whom we flung the hindquarters of the Bull Of Heaven in anger,

Ishtar has no-one that pleases her in the street’.

They hold a celebration in the palace,

The Young Men dozed off,sleeping on the couches of the night.

Enkidu was sleeping,and had a dream,

He woke up and revealed his dream to his friend.

Tablet VII. THE GREAT GODS CONFERENCE/ THE DEATH OF ENKIDU.

Enkidu’s dream forebodes troubles;

‘My friend,why are the Great Gods in conference?

in my dream, Anu Enlil and Shamash held a council,

and Anu spoke to Enlil;

‘Because they killed the Bull of Heaven and have also

slain Humbaba,

The one of them who pulled up the Cedar of the Mountain

must die!’

Enlil agrees saying

‘Let Enkidu die, but Gilgamesh must not die’.

Shamash defends them both;

‘Was it not at my command that they killed the Bull, and

Humbaba? Should innocent Enkidu now die?’

Enlil becomes angry, blaming Shamash for encouraging them.

Enkidu is lying there sick, in front of Gilgamesh, who asks why

he is being absolved instead of his brother…

Enkidu is troubled in his mind, that he is to be killed, and

will become a ghost, to roam the Cedar Forest alone, never to

be with his brother again.

He takes leave of his senses, talks to the door (the ceremonial

door made of the wood of the Cedar), and calls it a stupid wooden door;

‘Had I known that this was your gratitude…

I would have taken an axe, and chopped you up’.

Gilgamesh listens to his friend’s irrational words and the tears flow

from his face as he cautions him to be tactful;

“My friend, the gods gave you a broad mind and…

Though it behoves you to be sensible, you keep

uttering improper things!

The dream is important but very frightening,

your lips are buzzing like flies.

Though there is much to fear,the dream is important.

To the living they (the gods) leave sorrow

to the living the dream leaves pain.

I will pray and beseech the Great Gods…

I will appeal to Enlil,the Father of the Gods…

I will fashion a statue of you,of gold without measure,

do not worry…gold…

What Enlil says is not…

What he has said cannot go back,cannot…

My friend…of fate goes to mankind”

As dawn breaks,Enkidu raises his head,and cries out to Shamash,

recounting the time he was brought from the marshes in order to

control Gilgamesh; he curses the trapper in the marshes,he curses

Shamhat the harlot; ‘I will curse you with a great curse.. .’

Shamash,hearing Enkidu’s lengthy cursing,speaks down from the sky

reminding him of the blessings his new life brought him;

“Enkidu,why are you cursing the harlot Shamhat

she who fed you bread fit for a king (consciousness)

she who dressed you in fine garments,

and she who allowed you to make beautiful Gilgamesh your comrade!

Now Gilgamesh is your beloved brother-friend

He will have you lie on a couch of honour…

He will have the people of Erech go into mourning for you…

And after he will don the skin of a lion and roam the wilderness”

‘As soon as Enkidu heard the words of valiant Shamash,

His agitated heart grew calm,his anger abated.’

He now blesses the harlot Shamhat instead,wishing joy for her.

Then he recounts a further dream,to Gilgamesh;

He spoke everything he felt,saying…

‘Listen my friend,to my dream…

The heavens cried out and the earth replied,

And I was standing between them.

There appeared a man of dark visage-

His face resembled the abyss (anzu)

His hands were the paws of lions,

His nails the talons of an eagle!

-he seized me by the hair,and overpowered me.

I struck him a blow but he skipped about like a jump rope,

and then he struck me,and capsized me like a raft,

and trampled on me like a wild bull.

He encircled my whole body in a clamp.

“Help me my friend!” I cried,

But you did not rescue me,you were afraid,and did not…”

“Then he… and turned me into a dove,

So that my arms were feathered like a bird,

Seizing me,he led me down into the House of Darkness.. .

to the house where those who enter do not come out,

along the road of no return…

On entering the House of Dust,

everywhere I looked there were royal crowns gathered in heaps,

…it was the bearer of crowns,who in the past had ruled the land,

who now served Anu and Enlil cooked meats,

served confections and poured cool water from waterskins.

In the House of Dust that I entered

there sat the high priest and the acolyte,

there sat the purification priest and ecstatic,

there sat the anointed priests of the Great Gods.

There sat Ereshkigal the Queen of the Netherworld,

Beletseri,the Scribe of the Netherworld,knelt before her,

she was holding the tablet and was reading it out to her Ereshkigal.

She raised her head when she saw me…

‘Who has taken this man?'”

Following this, Enkidu is struck down with illnessand lays in his bed,for ten days,

growing worse each day; he calls to Gilgamesh to support him as he dies…

Notes on;

TABLET VI / –ISHTAR PROPOSES – SETS THE BULL OF HEAVEN ON THE TWO HEROES –

GILGAMESHAND ENKIDU KILL THE BULL OF HEAVEN.

TABLET VII     –THE GREAT GODS CONFERENCE – THE GODS ANU AND ENLIL DEMANDTHE DEATH

OFTHETWOHEROES – SHAMASH INTERVENES FOR MERCY – AS A COMPROMISE,

GILGAMESH IS PROTECTED, BUT ENKIDU MUST DIE.

The Bull of Heaven is a fascinating part of the story; when Gilgamesh rejects the advances of Ishtar, who importunes

Gilgamesh following his heroic exploits (told with great psychological insight) she asks of her father the deity Anu, that

she be allowed to set the fearsome wild Bull of Heaven on the two of them, as revenge. Anu is attentive, but mindful of

mankind and his responsibilities to his ‘office’ gently tries to dissuade her. Ishtar will not accept no for an answer from her

father though; until he eventually asks if she is prepared to unleash the Bull even though this will precipitate seven years of

famine. . . Ishtar has filled the granaries she says, they will be able to survive any famine. So the Bull descends from heaven,

and the battle ensues with Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

There are some standard poetic forms used here, as in other places in the poem; the Bull stamps and smashes a hole in the ground which swallows two hundred warriors. It stamps again and a hole swallows three hundred warriors; and so on. It stamps a third time, and Enkidu and Gilgamesh stand up to it, and begin to battle it;eventually finding it’s weak point.Gilgamesh grabs the Bull by the head, and Enkidu ‘surely approached. . . between the nape, the horns and. . . he thrust his sword’.

This is highly similar to their killing of the robot Humbaba, in that the one weak point in both of them is in the neck; very possibly pointing to an additional metaphorical meaning or significance. As we see in the Bible section, as well as the Great Pyramid section, the neck point – as symbolized/represented by the Occiput/ Occipital Gateway – is the ‘gateway’ between the body and the mind, or between matter and energy. As such it can symbolize a point on the World Tree axis where the energies of heaven reach the dimension of the Earth. How this relates to their killing the Bull of Heaven is a fair question.

But it is worthwhile considering anotheraspect of the Bull; firstly, the stellar associations of many myths within Sumerian (and other) cultures of antiquity mean that the symbolism in such works often refers to constellations – particularly of the Zodiac. Thus the era of the Taurine Age between 4400 and 2200 Bce may be the Wild Bull of Heaven which was ‘slain’ by the representatives of the succeeding Piscean era, Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

But while acknowledging the many stellar encodings within antiquity, as shown by the massive work of study ‘Hamlet’s Mill’ written by von Dechend and de Santillera, might it be possible thatthis name or epithet of ‘the Bull of Heaven’ be a cover for the presence of an individual, of celestial and earthly attributes? Could this being likewise be one of the gods of the Anunnaki, (who in the Bible had clear connections to the Nephilim, the younger generation of the tribe who acted ‘without permission’ and through  intercourse with ‘the daughters of men’ created bloodlines of hybrid humans known as the Watchers /‘giants’etc)?

The reason this may be a possibility is as follows; the Bull is shown to be the favourite creature of the god Enlil. If there is one child of Enlil who may be the unspoken figure represented by the Bull, it is his son Ninurta. For this god was a ‘mighty warrior’, a deity of agriculture (whose symbol was a plough, as well as a perched bird), a hunter, and in fact is considered by many to have been the deity who was the inspiration for the biblical figure of Nimrod, the mythical king of Babylon, the hunter ‘greatbefore the God, who built the Tower of Babel.

Ninurta was a favoured deity of the Assyrians, due to theirmarkedly warlike character, a feature so pronounced  that the end of the Assyrian Empire was welcomed by many peoples who considered them cruel and tyrannical rulers. Indeed, the statues of Ninurta were pulled down and destroyed at the end of the empire, accordingly – much as is still the practice today at the fall of dictators. In Babylonian mythology/ religion, Ninurta the son and successor of Enlil was called Marduk, occupying a central role in the civilization’s may myths and poems; for example the story of Marduk defeating and killing the sea-creature Tiamat, retold in countless forms across the Middle and Near East in antiquity. As noted by Zechariah Sitchin, the myth may be viewed as a celestial myth recounting the invasion of the solar system by a planet/ asteroid which threatened the stability of the entire system. See The Twelfth Planet for more details.

Nimrod, as Ninurta, was a ‘mighty man’ and a hunter; in factthe great-grandson of Noah, whose identifying features (Sumerian; ‘semi-divine’; ‘mighty man’ and warrior; hunter; king; and builder) identified him closelyto the descendants of the Nephilim, as defined at various points and texts (see Genesis 6.1-4);

“There were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown”.

It is indicated by this that the offspring were ‘heroic’, forceful leaders, kings even.And so the oppressive, voracious, ‘mighty’ leaders in some of the (unfortunate) groupingsbegan to wreak damage upon the societies of the time,seeking to exert total control over mankind, and consuming all ‘the works of men in the earth’ as described in the works ofBerossus, Josephus, the Book of Jubilees, Enoch, the Book of Noah (in the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls), the Iranian Book of Giants, which extended it’s different language versions into central Asia, such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uygur regions etc!) the works of the 1st century writer Philo, St Augustine, and so on. So as may be surmised, this was actually a major theme in the works of the Near and Middle East in antiquity, and one which stems from the complicated narratives of the Anunnaki, and the splicing of their celestial genes with (proto-) human ones over the millennia; a period of such a length of time and of which so little is known that the numerous references throughout antiquity can seem to only confuse the issue further…it is fair to say not one study of the different groups, and definitions, and lineages ‘of the gods’ throughout antiquity has cleared matters up yet, so inter-twined are the hundreds of references and strands of meaning and history.

Perhaps the epic of Gilgamesh was at the heart of the myths and narratives which led to the Hebrew development of the concept of the Nephilim. . .so as well as being hybrid genetically, he is a mighty man, of heroic appearance and actions. Furthermore he is a builder of the (sacred) city of Erech/ Erech-haven, according to the cosmic wisdom of the Seven Sages, much like Nimrud and Babylon. And tellingly, he is a source of disturbance to the civilized people in Urukthrough his sexual appetites, in effect ‘abusing’ his position of authority and power. The epic of Gilgamesh does not only detail this; for in describing the proposal of Inanna/ Ishtar, the most powerful and widely worshipped female goddess of the era, after Gilgamesh’s defeat of the Bull of Heaven, the poem lists not only the many lovers she has taken in the past, but their ill-fortune afterwards. Perhaps in this way indicating to (youthful) humanity the down-sides of sexual profligacy, while showing the ‘human side’ of the gods of the Anuna. Likewise the tendency of the powerful to abuse this aspect of their power over others. And yet whether Gilgamesh is, like his father, one of the ‘shepherd-kings’ of early civilization (considered as such by Gurdjieff as one of the ‘golden eras’ of history, when politics and religion were unified by their leaders), or one of the Nephilim of the Book of Genesis – or these were one and the same – is impossible to definitively answer.

In fact what is likewise uncertain is how the Hebrew concept of the Nephilim relates to the Sumerian and Babylonian myths of the Anunnaki creating mankind.In Sumerian mythology and texts there is no clear mention of a whole class of the gods disobeying the ‘laws’ of the heavens and descending to earth to take human wives. But there are examples of this sort of behaviour – in the parentage of Gilgamesh, whose mother is a goddess and his father is a king – as well as the examples cited by him when he reminds the goddess Inanna/Ishtar of her many human lovers.

Perhaps the Nephilim was a restatement by the Hebrew scribes of the traditions brought down from Sumer c.3000Bce all the way to Babylon c.570Bce when they were captives there and in cultural contact with some of the most eminent intellectual minds on earth, gathered in the centre of the empire which was the most powerful in the Middle and Near East, if not the world. (This is the situation as described by Gurdjieff in Beelzebub’s Tales to his Grandson in depicting the Society for the Adherents of Legominisms forming from all the philosophers brought from all corners of the ancient world on the orders of Nebuchadnezzar for some purpose, and then forgotten about. . .In fact it is conjectured by some researchers that Pythagoras was present for these reasons in Babylon during this period.)

If the aim of the Hebrew scribes was to assert the identity of their own ‘God’, plus religion and culture, as well as to alter perceptions of the gods and cultures of Sumer which had dominated the previous two and a half thousand years extensively across the Middle East, the idea of the Nephilim as a restatement of the original Anunnaki’s genetic procedures to create ‘homo sapiens’ may have been a way of achieving both. Or, it may have been a refinement of unspoken narratives which had existed for that same period of time without widespread awareness. . .

So the Book of Enoch for example, was so widely read and respected in the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries Bce (if not earlier), that possibly over 100 of it’s phrases were used in the language of the Bible, and Jesus himself is said to have quoted or rephrased language from it (Matthew 22.29-30/1Enoch 15). It is said that Enoch was viewed as scriptural in the New Testament’s Epistle of Barnabas (16.4), as considered as such by early figures such as Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus and Tertullian. . .

At the time 1Enoch may well have had the status of canonical writing, but due to it’s extensive passages on the names and activities of the Nephilim may well have found disfavour with both Hebrew and Christian compilers of ‘accepted canon’ in the 1^st and 2^nd centuries Ad, or thereabouts. And it may be said that the primary subjects of Enoch are as follows – the ‘sons of the gods’ who mated with human women and became ‘fallen angels’; the offspring these relationships created; the giving of celestial wisdom to humans by the fallen angels; the Deluge as a way of purging the Earth; and the passing on of celestial wisdom by Enoch to his family so that mankind might rebuild civilization after the destruction of the forthcoming Flood. Again to confuse matters, the angels who take Enoch to heaven give him the wisdom of the gods to pass to mankind – much as the Watchers did in their sin – and much as the serpent gave wisdom to mankind in Eden. . .to further obscure matters, the grandson of Enoch, Lamech has a son whose ‘face and skin’ shine like the Sun’,* giving strong indication for some reason he is the son of a Watcher.

(* this part of the story is contained in the concurrent Book of Jubilees, and others, from the same period).

His wife denies any misbehaviour, and Enoch counsels him to be reassured the child is his. Yet the doubt is raised; and the name of this celestial ‘hybrid’ child?  Noah (!), whose name means ‘respite’ – there is no definitive answer as to his name’s meaning; (a point inherent in the words of both Cain, and his grandson Lamech concerning the extent of the punishment of YHVH to their line.

*This point in the Bible, of the sinful nature of the Nephilim gradually corrupting mankind, even the earth itself, until the purgative event of the Flood is made necessary, is an interesting question.  Modern life can tend to separate man from his physical environment, so that events in the one sphere can not be thought connected to the other. In reality though, due to the relationship of the energies produced by the earth to those produced by mankind, everything is connected, energetically. . .

so as Nature struggles to fulfil it’s energetic requirements for the onward evolution of the solar system (and galaxy etc.) adjustments are made to the energies required (or taken) from mankind. The writer J.G.Bennett, who was a student of Gurdjieff at the Prieure and later in Paris writes of this in his book Making a New World, as we shall examine later in this section.

So,many people or lines in the Sumerian, (Egyptian) and biblical stories may be interpreted through some facet of their character or family to be ‘of the lines of the gods’, though without full or clear definition.

In the Bible for instance, these lines are referred to as, at various times; the Nephilim – Watchers – Rephaim (to ‘sink’, be ‘slack’ or weak, or to ‘heal’, ‘restore’ or repair)– Emim – Anakim – Gibborim/ Gibeonites – Zamzummim (meaning; ‘the dealt with’/ dwellers in the desert/related to Samson?); and so on.

(Interestingly, considering the closeness of Anakim to Anunnaki, there is the additional semantic signpost in the stem of the name; Anak is stated (Abarim.com) to come from the Hebrew root ‘nq – which we have already seen is similar tothe root of the Proto-Indo-European ‘nagas’ (royal cobra/cosmic beings) from ‘s-nego’, (as well as being linked to ‘sinew’ and ‘neuro-s’/’nerves’), the word from which ‘snake’ evolved. Certainly of interest bearing in mind the deepest symbolic meanings attached to the serpent by the depictions of Enki / Oannes, as well as Egyptian meanings related to sunlight and energy, telluric pathways, and even genetics or lineages). ‘Anak’ itself is said to mean ‘long-necked’, or ‘necklace’, by various theological dictionaries, pointing possibly to these inner meanings as well as the obvious negative connotations).

This undefined connection to such lines is certainly the inheritance of Gilgamesh, even of the more ‘positive’ aspects as he seems to be in that his mother is the divine part of his hybrid nature; disqualifying him from being one of the Nephilim, if the definitions given by Enoch are taken as criteria, there being no female  nephilim.Whether Gilgameshmanages to rise above the inherent problems of the hybrid lines, (as Moses, David and others may be said to have done in the Bible), must be a personal judgement at the conclusion of the epic.

To return to Ninurta, it is commonly believed to be a good possibility that he was the role model for the ‘semi-divine’ or ‘hybrid’ king Nimrod (as indicated by the ambiguous phrase ‘who was great before the Lord’ , at Genesis 10.8-12). It is here that the city of Kalhu is mentioned as being of importance; ‘And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar’ (Sumer). Kalhu was a major Assyrian city, where there was a large temple dedicated to Ninurta, built by Ashurbanipal II (883-859Bce)which became the deity’s most important cult centre from then. (And in fact in later times the ruins of Kalhu became known as ‘Namrud’ linking Ninurta and Nimrod closely).

And there is strong supporting evidence from a Sumerian poem called ‘The Return of Ninurta to Nibru’;

1-6: ‘Created like Anu, O son of Enlil, born by Nintur, mightiest of the Anuna gods. . . imbued with terrible awesomeness. . . you are magnificent – let your magnificence be praised.

7-12: Sovereign of all the lands, in your massive might, warrior of Enlil, in your great might, fierce warrior,

You have made the gods prostrate themselves before you, you Ninurta, you are made complete by heroic strength.

16-17: The utterance of the sovereign is a storm. . .The word of Lord Ninurta is a storm. . .

26-29: Horned wild bull . . . Wild ram and stag. . . The great wild bull of the mountains . . . from it’s . . .

He put his. . . the strength in battle, in his belt.

Thus detailing his powers over various mythical beings. (from the ETCSL online archive). Though the paeans to deities in antiquity often had ‘poetic’ language, this instance certainly seems to be identifying Ninurta as one of the ‘mightiest’ of gods of the Anunnaki, in his physical strength, linking him closely with the ‘giants’/ mighty men of the Nephilim of the Hebrew texts, such as Nimrod, ‘mighty hunter before the Lord’. . . and when he reaches the home land of his father, it continues;  

76-79: …before he had yet approached Nibru from afar, Nuska the chancellor of Enlil came forth from the E-kur (mountain house/ziggurat; temple complex) to meet him.

80-86: He greeted Ninurta; My Sovereign, perfect warrior, heed yourself. Ninurta, perfect warrior, heed yourself.

Your radiance has covered Enlil’s temple like a cloak. When you step into your chariot, whose creaking is a pleasant sound, heaven and earth tremble. When you raise your arm. . .

87-91: The Anuna, the great gods. . . Do not frighten your father in his residence. Do not frighten your father in his residence. . . May your father give you gifts because of your heroic strength.

92-97: O Sovereign, shackle of An, first among the gods, seal-bearer of Enlil, inspired by E-kur, O warrior, because you have toppled the mountains your father need send out no other god besides you, O Ninurta; because you have toppled the mountains. . .

106-112: The great mother Ninlil, from within her ki-ur (sacred city/place), spoke admiringly to lord Ninurta: O wild bull, with fierce horns raised, son of Enlil, you have struck blows in the mountains. Warrior, lord Ninurta, you have… you have… the rebellious lands.

And so on.

So these relationships of many deities, celestial beings, Nephilim such as Nimrod, the line of Cain and ‘mighty men’ and kings all find common ground in Ninurta, and Nimrod.

But clarity is hard to find; it is possible to point to both Gilgamesh, and the bloodline of Noah as being representative of Nephilim, or (indeterminate) Watchers,or Anunnaki lineage; or the ‘best of mankind’.Likewise the celestial bloodlines are connected closely to the solar energies of the sun, in both their highest and also most unbalanced states; hence the ‘mighty man’ Samson (meaning ‘little Sun’) is a judge of Israel’; while a figure appointed by YHVH and ‘blessed’ as such, this can mean also possibly an ‘adversary’, as the word ‘satan’ means as divine opponent…) Samson isa member of the Nazarite order from birth, at the bequest of the Lord, and yet given to improper sexual relations with Philistine women, acts of wanton violence and destruction and so on. The name means ‘little Sun’, and the story of Samson is full of sun symbols; honey/ bees, a lion, foxes, a field of wheat-sheaves, fire and so on. These serve to link the (unruly and unbalanced) energies of Samson to the solar energies which vitalize the earth, as well as his genetics. The woman who betrays him for 1100 pieces of silver, Delilah, has her own links to similar genes; Delilah (considered to mean ‘low’, ‘weak’, ‘thin’ or ‘poor’)from ‘layela’ meaning night links her directly to the deity Lilith, the ‘dark’ goddess or ‘demon’ in Hebrew texts from the 6^th century Bce written in Babylon, a hybrid woman /bird or owl in representations. The most prevalent image given of Lilith because of this detail is actually a Babylonian image called the Burney Relief (c1750Bce) – the wings, horned head-wear, and ‘cord of protection’ within the image all attest to the Sumerian origin of what is without doubt a deity and member of the Anuna, most possibly a goddess of ‘the underworld’ such as Erishkigal. Images of the goddess Inanna are virtually indistinguishable from those of Lilith, featuring a deity in Anunnaki head-wearfacing directly forward, standing atop a lion, or other creature, withwings reaching down behind her back. The Burney Relief itself (left) is not definitively ascribed as being Inanna, another deity of the underworld such as Ereshkigal, or Lilith/Lilutu instead, the latter being the interpretation by Henri Frankfort 1936 and then Emil Kraeling in 1937…

It is to be remembered that in Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld Inanna the Queen of the Heavens planted her holy Huluppu tree beside the river in her city, only for Lilutu the ‘Queen of the Night’, a serpent and the Anzu-bird (of the abyss) invade it’s branches, causing Inanna to weep. So if the huluppu tree is considered in it’s holy nature to be a form of abstract, or World-Tree, then Inanna and Lilutu form mirror-images of good and evil, of opposing higher and lower aspects of the nature of reality. Pointing to the completeness of the symbolism contained within axial images such as the Tree of Life, or similar versions; the tree mentioned, or the cedar tree and the date-palm tree in Sumerian mythology, both representatives of the heavens and the divine. A symbolism continued on into the (Hebrew) Bible, in both respects, as well as many instances of Oak trees being associated with angels, and with sacred sites, such as Bethel.

There are versions of Gilgamesh written by the Assyrians and Akkadians which feature in Tablet XII (showing they are off-shoots of Gilgamesh in it’s most commonly accepted form) a being called a ‘ki-sikil-lil-la-ke’ which is associated with a serpent, and a zu bird ie. from the ‘depths’, the underworld, or the ‘abyss’ (a word which stems from apsu /abzu). This being appears to have some similarities to the stem for Lilith, (ie.‘layela’), although this theory, proposed by Samuel Noah Kramer in 1938, is questioned by some. Yet the genetics of the Nephilim are

repeatedly associated in the Bible with the serpent and the bird, especially the latter in female characters who are of the ‘celestial’, or ‘dark’, bloodlines, while the bird, and wings etcetera were very much used as metaphors for the ‘celestial’ nature of various beings.

(left); eagle-headed ‘apkallu’, one of the Seven Sages of Sumerian mythic history, and a symbol of celestial protection; from the NW Palace of Ashurnasirpal II,c.883-859 Bce,Nimrud, N.Iraq; (centre); the Anzu bird from Lagash, at the time of Entemena c.2,400Bce.

(right); the Anzu-bird, having stolen the Tablet of Destiny, being chased by Ninurta, from Babylon wall-frieze, c.1500Bce.

below; Marduk the Babylonian deity of the 2^nd millennium Bce, defeating Tiamat, the ‘sea-serpent’/ ‘creature of the deeps’/ symbol of chaos…

 Over time such a goddess such as Lilutu may have evolved into a demon, being associated with night, death and so on. The association of feminine deities with the underworld (neither positive nor negative in aspect) is a fact of mythic history from the earliest Sumerian period, and was continued by the Greeks in associating Demeter, and Persephone with the underworld. Demeter was a deity of wheat, and crops, which must be buried before they can be born; as Jesus spoke of wheat in the New Testament. Regardless, to link a human woman with these characteristics of Lilith as the Book of Judges narrative does, is suggestive of a ‘tainted’, or ‘dark’ personality or bloodline.Delilah is from the valley of Sorek – which means ‘fruitless tree’, or ‘special vine’, both metaphors for her genetic lineage, straightforwardly borne out by her manipulative behaviour, and betrayal of Samson for silver. So these traits of ‘being’begin to look intentionally ‘encoded’ into their life-stories. . .

This assessment is borne out by the Bible – in the Old Testament the name lilit(h) appears only once, in the Book of Isaiah, in a prophecy regarding the fate of Edom;

“Her nobles shall be no more, nor shall kings be proclaimed there, all her princes are gone. Her castles shall be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with bristles and briars. She shall become an abode for jackals and a haunt for ostriches. . . There shall Lilith repose . . . there shall the hoot owl nest and lay eggs . . .For the mouth of the LORD has ordered it, and His spirit shall gather them there.” (Isaiah 34.12-16)

As we see in the Bible section, the bloodlines of the Edomites are likewise represented as being of the lineages of the Nephilim; indeed the extended family of Herod are from Edom, and are virtually all depicted as representatives/ holders of material worldly power, and opponents of the spiritual.

The king of Israel and son of David, Solomon, is connected to the genetics of ‘gods’ and the Sun too, like Samson. Solomon, a by-word for human wisdom and stated author in the Old Testament of the Books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon,has a name strongly linked to Sun-symbolism. Moreover as such he ‘fell into’  pagan worship (in the hill-top temples and groves) from the Canaanite and Phoenician cultures his wives came from; so the first mention of the number 666 (cosmic# for male solar energy) in the Bible is in relation to an amount of gold (symbol of the sun) sent from abroad to Solomon as he builds the Temple – so can Shamash, one of the most approachable, and fair-minded of the Anunnaki besaid to be potentially representative of the Nephilim/ Watcher bloodlines?

As one of the original Anunnaki it is more the positive aspects of solar energy that he represents.

Enki too, as the Anunnaki ‘serpent-deity’ responsible for the celestial genetic infusion into human type beings which created Adam and Eve, (as well as being the ‘bringer of wisdom to mankind’) is seen by some as the (Nephilim) ‘serpent’ of the Book of Revelations, ie the devil. But the serpent of the Garden of Eden is not actually called satan or devil in the Bible; thus indicating a more complex reality than predominantly assumed. . . and several times in the Old Testament a ‘satan’ acts only according to the biddingof the Lord. So this is hard to completely delineate, or even understand.*

*these semantic contradictions and dualities can be found in many related subjects in the Bible, such as the nature of Moses’ inner-being; when he came down from being in the presence of the Lord at the peak of Mt Sinai, and receiving the Tablet of the Ten Commandments, his face was said in the Aramaic original texts c.100Ad to be  ‘horned with glowing light’ (much like Noah’s face at birth). So does this characteristic show their sanctity, or their Nephilim nature? Or just a (genetic) connection to the celestial genes of the deities of Sumer? The ‘horns’ of his appearance here were depicted as being situated on his forehead byMichelangelo, (in his statue at the church of St-Peter-in-Chains in Rome). And of great relevance, the symbol of the Anunnaki from the earliest representations in Sumer onwards were – horns upon their head-wear, something the Hebrew priests, scribes and compilers of the Old Testament in Babylon in 570 Bce would most definitely have seen numerous representations of. As another sign-post, the name Moses means ‘from the water he was drawn’ – and the name of the god Enki/Ea means ‘he who loved water’, pointing directly to his hybrid nature/ genetics, as did representations of him (or Oannes as the Babylonians called him) as half human and half fish. . .

The basket in which the baby Moses was placed, to hide in the reeds on the Nile (or ‘ark’ as it is called, the only other time in the Bible this word is used apart from that of the Covenant, a signpost to his sanctity) was coated with ‘slime and pitch’ – symbolic of his divine nature being contained within a ‘compromised’ Annedoti/ celestial lineage.*

*Note – the only other time this word ‘slime’ is used is in the building of the Tower of Babel (Gen11.3) – thus linking back to (the line of) Nimrod the ‘mighty hunter’ ie the ‘mighty man’ of the Nephilim, who is the great grandson of Noah, and who built the Tower to ‘be asthe Lord’’. . .As 11.4 says, “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth”, thus indicating the character of the tower, and why it’s ‘mighty nature’ was not allowed to stand, as well as echoing the Nephilim who were ‘mighty men, men of renown’.

Likewise why YHVH said ‘Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they will begin to do: and nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech”. (Genesis 11.7-9). Notice also that the Lord says ‘let us go down’, indicating that the Anunnaki are the ‘sons of heaven’, from which the Nephilim stemmed.

So this aspect of hisinner-nature may explain why after all the honour and blessings (and suffering) of Moses’ life, he was not allowed to cross the Jordan and enter the land of Israel, but could only ascend the mountain(s) overlooking it, where he died and was buried at (Deuteronomy 34.5-6). This mountain (group) is called Nebo (the son of Enlil’s son Marduk was called Nabo, in Babylon, and the word is close to Niburu, the home planet of the tribe), and more specifically the mountain Pisgah. When Balaam blesses Israel against the wishes of the Moabite king Balak, at Numbers 22, and 23.14 it states ’And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah’ (where pagan hilltop temples were sited) –  and the name Zophim means simply, ‘the watchers’. And so on, as the circumstantial details add up that this link to the bloodlines of Sumer (and Egypt, connected as they may have been) is a central part of the lives of Moses, his wife (Zipporah; ‘bird’, or ‘doom’)and his family and descendants. Coincidentally the mother of the pagan king Balak is called Zippor too. Even the word ‘field’ (of Zophim) contains meaning, as the name Adam itself means ‘field’, thus linking to genes and the creation of ‘the Adama’ – as the Anunnaki deities Enki and the goddess Nin-Ti were said to do in Sumerian works. Note Genesis 1.26;

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea…” etcetera.

As a last thought for the moment, this interpretation of the ‘’identity’ of the Bull of Heaven as actually being Enlil’s own son, Ninurta may provide an answer for the response of the Anunnaki gods of Anu and his son Enlil to the news of the Bull’s death;  Anu (the patriarch) demands Gilgamesh and Enkidu lose their lives, for having killed a divine ‘being’,to which Shamash intervenes at the Council of the Gods; ’Was it not at my command they killed the Bull of Heaven, and Humbaba? Should innocent Enkidu now die?’ But Anu and Enlil determine that indeed, although Gilgamesh is protected by virtue of being two-thirds divine, Enkidu must die; Enlil showing as such his fair-handedness(?), or possibly his ‘respect for the members of the tribe of the heavens’. . . confirming perhaps his Jovian role in the Sumerian pantheon.

But after the heavenly council discussions, Enkidu is killed by a sickness within seven days of their decision; for invading the Cedar Forest of the mountain of the Gods, destroying the Guardian of the Forest Humbaba, and for killing the Bull.

Tablet IX.   GILGAMESH ROAMS THE MOUNTAINS, MOURNING ENKIDU AND PONDERING HIS MORTALITY.

Gilgamesh laments as he wanders alone through the landscape;

‘I am going to die – am I not like Enkidu

Deep sadness penetrates my core,

I fear death,and now roam the wilderness

I will set out to the region of Utnapishtim

When I arrived at mountain passes at nightfall,

I saw lions and I was terrified!

I raised my head in prayer to Sin (the Moon god)

He was sleeping in the night, but awoke with a start with a dream;

A warrior enjoyed his life –

he raised his axe in his hand

drew the dagger from its sheath

and fell into their midst like an arrow…

He struck and scattered them,

The name of the former…

The name of the second…*

*Of interest here is how this dream presages the behaviour of Gilgamesh

when he damages the ability of the boat of Urshanabi to travel

across the (cosmic) waters to reach his aim of meeting Utnapishtim…

Possibly linking this behaviour to those who live in enjoyment without seeking

consciousness. . .

(some 26 missing lines here,) then Gilgamesh on his quest to speak with the

survivor of the flood encounters some other-worldly beings and places;

. . .Then he reached Mount Mashu,

Which daily guards the rising and setting of the Sun,

above which only the dome of the heavens reaches,

and whose flank reaches as far as the Netherworld below,

there were Scorpion-beings watching over it’s gate.

Trembling terror they inspire, the sight of them is death

Their frightening aura sweeps over the mountains.

He approaches them, terrified, but composing himself…

‘The scorpion-being called out to his female;

‘He who comes to us, his body is the flesh of the gods’

His female answered him, saying,

‘Only two thirds of him is a god, one third is human’.

They ask him his reason for approaching –

Gilgamesh explains to speak with his ancestor Utnapishtim

“Who joined the Assembly of the Gods, and was given eternal life.

About Death and Life I must ask him.”

The scorpion man replies that ;

‘never has there been, Gilgamesh,a mortal man who could do that.

No-one has crossed through the mountains,

for twelve leagues it is darkness throughout-

dense is the darkness,and light there is none.’

Gilgamesh answers

“Though it be in deep sadness and pain,

in cold or heat –

gasping after breath – I will go on!

Now! Open the Gate!”

The scorpion-man grants him the right to enter-

‘The Mashu Mountains I give to you freely,

the mountains, the ranges, may you traverse-

The gate of the mountain, to the rising of the Sun.’

He begins his journey;

‘As soon as Gilgamesh heard this

he heeded the utterances of the scorpion-being

Along the Road of the Sun he journeyed –

one league he travelled –

dense was the darkness, light there was none.’

He travels further into the darkness,from one to 12 leagues* (in a poetic form very similar to the journey of the spirit of

the Pharaoh through the (12 hours) of the night,upon death;from the earth through purgatory/hell, to the Heavens…)

‘Eleven leagues he travelled, and came out before the Sun(rise)

Twelve leagues he travelled and it became brilliant,

…it bears lapis-lazuli as foliage,

bearing fruit, a delight to look upon…

/Gilgamesh… on walking onward,

raised his eyes and saw…

Of interest here, is how this dream presages the behaviour of Gilgamesh  when he damagesthe ability of the boat of Urshanabi to travel across the (cosmic) waters to reach his aim of meeting Utnapishtim… especially considering it is two things that he damages. The effect is like a kaleidoscope of spiritually significant moments…

(some 26 missing lines here,) then Gilgamesh on his quest to speak with the survivor of the flood encounters some other-worldly beings (scorpion-men, often depicted as men with scorpion’s tails, were believed to represent ‘guardians of the deities’ at places where humanity was not allowed access to ;

*SIDE-BAR;on Egypt of the eras when the Book of the Dead was a main religious text, aimed at enabling the individual to attain immortality, in the same way Gilgamesh did.

The change in consciousness that characterized the ‘heroic age’ between c.2800Bce and 700Bce may be summarized as that during this period most societies, such as Egypt, were oriented towards the ruler, so much so that the emphasis was towards kings or Pharaohs being ‘blessed’, and attaining the kingdom of heaven.While this is not an absolute rule, it was a feature of early societies that the sovereign was considered as the link to the ‘gods’, and was usually of ‘celestial lineage’ himself.

But by the 7^th century Bce mankind had evolved enough that a ‘universal’ message was brought to virtually all societies turning awareness to the equal sacredness of all lives. AsJ.G.Bennett writes, in Gurdjieff; Making a New World;

“This saw the introduction of the great philosophies of Lao Tzu, Confucius, Gautama Buddha, Zoroaster, Jain, the Hebrew prophets of the Exile, Solon, Pythagoras and other Greek philosophers, and so on. This extraordinary set of men preached the right of every man to find his own salvation. . . It was implied that the possibility of completion and liberation was inherent in every human soul.” (p.57).

It may be said that this was a natural evolution of the steps of mankind’s growth of higher consciousness. Thus can be said, for example of many of the texts and liturgies of Egypt which were concerned with aiding the spirit of the Pharaoh (at death) to make it’s journey through the different levels of the ‘reality’ to the stars and Heaven; while ostensibly only for the benefit of the Pharaoh’s soul, the knowledge or (practical) wisdom contained in these texts would have filtered into the minds of all who heard and saw the texts dealing with this; even the entire society on holy days and festivals in the public spaces of the temples and cities would have absorbed the messages contained within the spoken texts and rites . . .

Equally significantly the priest orders of the state-religion would have read from them daily and passed on the wisdom to each new generation. An instinctive awareness of the ubiquity of human spirituality would have been continually growing throughout the millennia in question. Indeed, interestingly the Zodiac era from c.2000Bce-0Ad was that of Aries; where absolute political authority lay in the hands of one man, with little questioning of his actions. So this was the era of absolute kings and pharaohs etc. The Piscean Age, as symbolized by Jesus, was a new dispensation, as his words in The Sermon on the Mount foretell; ”Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, who mourn. . . are meek. . . hunger and thirst for righteousness . . . are merciful. . . pure in heart. . . peacemakers. . . persecuted for righteousness sake” . (See G.Strachan,The Bible’s Hidden Cosmology, p146-50 for more on this).

And in support of the themes raised in the Bible section, the two ‘leaders’ Strachan considers as exemplars of the ‘outward’, Aries worldly/ political/ military template of rulership are king David, and later, Simon Peter; both characters which we see in the Bible section may be considered as both ‘blessed’ and yet ‘compromised’ in terms of the celestial lineages.

While being a major step in human history and evolution, the period of Aries beforehand may perhaps be said tohave been a preparatory one which also was the expression of cosmic energies, being the sign of male, ‘fire’-based energies (which created the physical world structures from which further growth then came); so every era has it’s own attributes and characteristics, which connect the turning of the ‘gears’ of the world to that of those of the ‘heavens’. *The dodecahedral (12 fold) nature of the zodiac, the sexagesimal system, the months of the year, and the hours of the day, the notes in an octave, and so on are a part of these connections between the dimensions. And it was in Sumer from effectively the start that the heavenly beings’ (of the Twelfth Planet) introduced these measures to mankind. As an example, the night journey of Gilgamesh through the terrors of his attempt to reach the sacred Mt Mashu where he looks to find Utnapishtim takes him 12 hours, one by one, as tests and terrors are ascribed to each of the hours. Thus indicating the cosmic/ higher-dimensional nature of the journey he is taking. This matches exactly the concurrent Egyptian ritual read to the spirit of the Pharaoh the night of his death, which described the passing of each of the 12 hours as ‘way-stations’ in his journey from the Earth through the Duat on into the afterlife and the heavens. This is in the Egyptian Book of Coming Forth by Day, or the book of The Dead as sometimes termed, a text dating in early forms  from around 2200Bce. By the end of the Old Kingdom circa 2000Bce the Pyramid Texts ceased to be an exclusively royal privilege, and became widely available, as the Coffin Texts throughout the political elite, and the religious orders also. (The Book of the Dead first developed in Thebes circa 1700Bce, in the cultic centre of Egypt and temple complex of the highest standards of esoteric/ sacred architecture. See Schwaller de Lubiscz for more on the temple complex at Karnak andThebes).

Some examples of Egyptian culture and architecture;

(left/ centre) bas-reliefs/ central columns at the Great Hypostyle Hall, the Temple of Ramesses III, Karnak, Thebes.

(right) the Papyrus of Ani from the Book of the Dead; from the Bridgeman art library, Wikimedia/ PD.

(below) Depiction of the Duat in the Papyrus of Queen Nejmet/ the Book of the Dead, particularly the Twelve Hours or Houses of the Night, through which the soul had to pass to reach judgement, after which the soul ascended through the heavens to the sacred constellations/ stars.

What links may be traced between the deities who created the civilization of Sumer, and the founding ‘gods’ of Egypt are is a question too complex to study now; but writers such as Sitchin certainly considered the set of Egyptian gods, in their tribe or families, to be the same beings of the Anunnaki in everything but name – citing for instance the name for the gods in Egypt;Neteru(which means either ‘guardians’ or ‘Watchers’)  as one example of the ubiquity of this class of beings – or nomenclature indicating celestial beings – throughout the Middle/Near East in these times. The Bible calls the Nephilim ‘Watchers’ but also uses the term to refer to protecting angels of the Lord, in Isaiah 21.11/62.6-9. Similar in concept is the guardian(s) at the gate of Eden  in Genesis 3.24;

“So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim,

and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life”.

In fact, this concept of ‘watchmen’ is not new to the Hebrew or Egyptian religions; for in the Epic of Gilgamesh the goddess Ninsun says in Chapter III regarding her worries for her son Gilgamesh before he sets out on his adventure; “

‘…on the day that you see him on the road

may Aja the Bride without fear remind you

and command also the Watchmen of the Night,

the stars, and at night your father Sin’.

(the god of the Moon) to protect her son.

TABLET X. – THE INN-KEEPER SIDURI, AND GILGAMESH’S JOURNEY WITH THE

BOATMAN URSHANABI TO ‘THE FAR-AWAY’ ‘CONFLUENCE OF THE RIVERS’

WHERE UTNAPISHTIM LIVES.

Having journeyed beyond the known world now, Gilgamesh meets Siduri,the

‘inn-keeper’;

The tavern-keeper Siduri who lives by the sea-shore,(universe)

She lives. . .

the pot-stand was made for her,the golden fermenting vat was made for her

She is covered with a veil…

Gilgamesh was roving about…

wearing a skin…

having the flesh of the gods in his body,

but sadness deep within him,

looking like one who has been travelling a long distance.

*note- the use of cooking/domestic implements as objects of ‘religious’

reverence/symbolism was popular across virtually all of the

main cultures of the Middle East at this early stage of civilization,

(see Sumerian objects discovered in the Tomb of Kings,for example).

Most probably this resulted from their being objects of clear

significance and worth to all members  of society – especially when

then gold-plated and sanctified.

The tavern-keeper mistakes Gilgamesh for a murderer, not  someone who is on a quest! –

“That fellow is surely a murderer !

Where is he heading?…”

…she bolted her door,

bolted her gate, bolted the lock.’

But at her noise Gilgamesh pricked up his ears,

lifted his chin, and then laid his eyes on her.

“Tavern-keeper, what have you seen that made you bolt your door,

bolt your gate, bolt the lock?”

Siduri repeats her worries, he looks like a vagabond, a murderer…

He answers forcefully,

“I am Gilgamesh,I killed the Guardian!

I destroyed Humbaba who lived in the Cedar Forest,

I slew lions in the mountain passes!

I grappled withe Bull (of Heaven),and killed him.”

Siduri asks, if you are Gilgamesh, the man who did these things,

“Why are your cheeks so emaciated, your expression so desolate?

…Why is there such sadness deep within you?”

He explains the series of events that led to his situation; the friendship

with Enkidu, their journey to the Cedar forest, their battle with the robot

Humbaba; and thereafter with the Bull of Heaven.

” My friend,whom I love deeply, who went through every hardship with me,

Enkidu,whom I love deeply…

the fate of mankind has overtaken him”.

Further, he adds,

“I began to (then) fear death, and so roam the wilderness.

The issue of my friend oppresses me, so I have been roaming

long trails through the wilderness…”

“How can I stay silent,how can I be still!

My friend whom I love has turned to clay.

Am I not like him? Will I lie down,never to get up again?”

“So now,tavern-keeper,what is the way to Utnapishtim!

What are it’s markers…Give me the markers!

…If possible,I will cross the sea;

if not,I will roam through the wilderness…”*

* the ‘sea’ here,in context of the ‘quest’ Gilgamesh is following, is the ‘sea’ of the depths

of ‘space’ – as the ‘Lord of the Deep’ epithet the deityEnki is called means, as well as the

various beings in the Old Testament are labelled as ‘sea-creatures’  of the ‘deep’; Tiamat,

Rahab, Leviathanetc, indicating origins beyond the limits of the solar system…and perhaps

of the levels of the subconscious.

The markers may therefore assume the character of astronomic guide-points, bearing in

mind the journey made later to the ‘far-away’ beyond the bounds of the Earth to speak to

Siduri answers kindly,

“There has never been,Gilgamesh,any passage whatever.

there has never been anyone since days of yore who

crossed the sea.

The only one who crosses the sea is valiant Shamash (the Sun-god’).

…the crossing is difficult,it’s ways are treacherous–

and in between are the Waters of Death that bar it’s approaches!

And even if,Gilgamesh,you should cross the sea,

When you reach the Waters of Death what would you do!”

Continuing,Siduri gives some (puzzling) advice;

“Gilgamesh,over there is Urshanabi,the ferryman of Utnapishtim.

The ‘stone-things’ are with him, he is in the woods picking mint.

Go,let him see your face

If possible, cross with him;

If not,you should turn back.”

But Gilgamesh is seized by forcefulness,as is his nature;

“When Gilgamesh heard this

he raised the axe in his hand,

drew the dagger from his belt,

and slipped stealthily away after them.

Like an arrow he fell among them (the ‘stone-things’)

From the middle of the woods,their noise could be heard.”

The ferry-man, Urshanabi responds to the clamour;

“Urshanabi,the sharp-eyed, saw. . .

When he heard the axe, he ran toward it.

He struck his head…Gilgamesh.’

He clapped his hands and…his chest,

while the ‘stone things’… the boat

…Waters of Death

…broad sea

in the Waters of Death…

…to the river

…the boat

.. .on the shore”

ie. Gilgamesh has destroyed the correct way to cross the seato reach

the waters of Life, (the river)in the only way designed for reaching safety…

“Gilgamesh spoke to Urshanabi,the ferryman,

…you”

But Urshanabi cuts him off immediately,to ask familiar questions;

“Why are your cheeks emaciated,your expression desolate!

Why is there such sadness deep within you!”

Gilgamesh supplies the same explanations to Urshanabi as to Siduri; his

epic travels with his friend Enkidu, journeying across mountains to

battle the servant of Enlil, Humbaba, and the Bull of Heaven,sent by

Innana/ Ishtar…after which the death of Enkidu, and Gilgamesh’s wandering

through the wilderness pondering human mortality. Again he asks for guidance;

“Now Urshanabi, what is the way to Utnapishtim?

What are it’s markers! Give them to me! Give me the markers!”

If possible I will cross the sea…”

Urshanabi the ferry-man answers;

“It is your hands,Gilgamesh, that prevent the crossing!

You have smashed the ‘stone-things’,you have pulled out their

retaining ropes. (?)*

Gilgamesh, take your axe..go down into the woods,

and cut down 300 punting poles each 60 cubits in length.”

*In other versions this second part of the sentence indicates that he has ‘picked up all

the urnu-snakes’, as well as smashing the ‘stone things’…

There are some reasons for preferring this interpretation.The punting poles are for

propelling the boat ‘manually’ across the waters of ‘Death’.

Gilgamesh does this in the forestand brings them down to the boat,whereupon;

“. . .(they) boarded the boat,

Gilgamesh launched the ‘magillu-boat’ and they sailed away.”*

* The magillu-boat is from the Sumerian ma-gi-lumand is a ship of the

netherworld, a ‘boat of the west’, associated with the setting of the sun;

‘All living creatures born of the flesh shall sit at last in the boat of the

West, and when it sinks,when the boat of Magilum sinks,they are gone. . .’

They travel a distance of a month and a half’s journey in 3 days, until arriving at the Waters of

Death. Here, Urshanabi gives Gilgamesh one of the punting poles, and instructs him topropel

the boat in this way, while making sure his hand does not touch the Waters…

It takes up 12 poles, and then all 120 of the poles, to push the boat forwards.Once the poles are

all used up, Gilgamesh is reduced to taking off his shirt/garments and hoping to use them as sails;

but they are within sight of Utnapishtim now, having crossed the waters.

Utnapishtim – the original Noah, having received the help of the godsand survived the Deluge,

now lives with his wife in the ‘Far-away’ ie beyond the boundaries of Earth…

Utnapishtim is quick to sense problems approaching;

“Utnapishtim was gazing far off into the distance,

puzzling to himself he said. . .

Why are the ‘stone-things’ of the boat smashed to pieces!

And why is someone not it’s master sailing on it?

The one who is coming is not a man of mine. . .

I keep looking but not. . .

I keep looking but not. . .”

Utnapishtim poses the same questions to Gilgamesh as before;

“Why is your heart so wretched, your features so haggard!

Why do you look like one who has been travelling a long distance

so that ice and heat have seared your face?

…you roam the wilderness!”

Gilgamesh repeats what he has said when asked the same questions by the

other two ‘cosmic servants’,Siduri and Urshanabi…he tells about Enkidu,

their experiences and Enkidu’s death,then Gilgamesh’s period of inner questioning,

concerning the reasons for man’s existence, the inevitability of death;

“That is why I must go on,to see Utnapishtim who they call the Faraway.

I went circling through all the mountains

I traversed treacherous mountains, and crossed all the seas-

that is why sweet sleep has not mellowed my face,

…though my muscles are filled with pain…”

Here Utnapishtim asks Gilgamesh what his labours have achieved,

in a passage reminiscent of biblical passages in both Ecclesiastes, and Job;

“Why Gilgamesh,do you. . . sadness?

You were created from the flesh of gods and mankind

who made. . like your father and mother?

Have you ever. . .Gilgamesh. . . to the fool…

They placed a chair in the Assembly. . .

But to the fool they gave beer dregs instead of butter. . .

Clothed with a loincloth (!)like . .

And. . .in place of a sash,

because he does not have . .

does not have words of counsel. . .

Take care about it,Gilgamesh,

. . .their master. . .

. . .Sin. . .(the god of the Moon)

. . .eclipse of the moon. . .

The gods are sleepless.

They are troubled, restless. . .

Long ago it has been established. . .

You trouble ourself. . .

.. .your help. . .

If Gilgamesh. . .the temple of the gods

.. .the temple of the holy gods,

. . .the gods.. .

.. .mankind,

They took. . .for his fate

You have toiled without cease, and what have you got!

Through toil you wear yourself out,

You fill your body with grief,

your long life-time you are bringing near (to a premature end)

Mankind. . .

the fine youth and the lovely girl

.. .death.

No one can see death,

no one can see the face of death,

no one can hear the voice of death,

yet there is savage death that snaps off mankind.

For how long do we build a household?

For how long do we seal a document?

For how long do brothers share the inheritance?

For (how) long is there to be jealousy in the land?

For how long has the river risen and brought the overflowing waters,

so that (people like) dragonflies drift down the river!

The face that could gaze upon the face of the Sun

has never existed ever.

How alike are the sleeping and the dead…

. . .Yes,a human being, a man (are you).

After Enlil had pronounced the blessing,(creating homo sapiens)

The Anunnaki the Great Gods assembled.

Mammetum,she who forms destiny,determined destiny with them.

They established Death and Life,

but they did not make known ‘the days of death’.

Tablet XI. THE STORY OF THE FLOOD.

Gilgamesh speaks with directness to the venerable man;

“I have been looking at you,

But your appearance is not strange – you are like me!

…My mind as resolved to fight with you,

(But instead) my arm lies useless over you.

Tell me, how is it that you stand in the Assembly of the Gods,

and have found life?”

Utnapishtim* (see chapter for discussion of the possible inner

meanings of his nametaken from 2000Bce Babylon version

resolves to tell his tale to Gilgamesh;

“I will reveal to you,Gilgamesh,a thing that is hidden,

a secret of the gods I will tell you!

(in ancient) Shurrupak, on the banks of the Euphrates

there were gods inside it.

The hearts of the Great Gods moved them to inflict the Flood.

Their Father Anu uttered the oath (of secrecy),

Valiant Enlil was their advisor…

…Enki,the clever prince,was under oath with them,

So he repeated their talk to the reed house(!);

Reed house,reed house! Wall,wall!

O man of Shurrupak…

Tear down the house and build a boat!

Abandon wealth and seek living beings!

Spurn possessions and keep alive beings!

Make all living beings go up into the boat,

The boat which you are to build.

It’s dimensions must measure equal to each other:

It’s length must correspond to it’s width,

Roof it over like the Apsu.

Utnapishtim replies to his Lord, who has chosen to warn himas a

righteous man, to ensure mankind,and all animals survive the forth-

coming Flood.

“I understood and spoke to my lord, Enki:

‘My lord…I will heed and do it.

But what shall I answer the city,the populaceand the Elders!’

Enki advises him to say to them that he is building a boat to leave the city

as the God Enlil rejects him, so he therefore wishes to sail to live with his

lord Enki in the ‘Apsu’…

‘(and further)…upon you he will rain down abundance,

a profusion of fowl, myriad fishes,

In the morning he will let loaves of bread shower down,

and in the evening a rain of wheat!’

Utnapishtim and his family and friends set about building the Ark.

(Of interest, as well as the cubic definitions of the ‘ark’, are

the quantities of goods used; it’s walls are 10 x 12 cubits in height

– it has six decks, thus is divided into seven levels. The inside of

each level is divided into 9 compartments. Then –

“Three times 3,600 units of bitumen I poured into the…kiln

Three times 3,600 porters of casks who carried (vegetable) oil,

apart from the 3,600 units of oil which they consumed

and two times 3,600 units of oil which the boatman stored away…”

So considering the base-60 units of the sexagesimal system introduced

by the Sumerians,examined in other chapters,the boat and it’s (cube-like)

dimensions would appear to be harmonically related to the measurements of

time and space of the sexagesimal system…thus the measures would seem to

be used symbolically in some sense.

When the boat is finally built, Utnapishtim and all load all the silver

and gold they possess (!), all the living beings are loaded on, all his

family, followed by all the beasts and animals of the field, as

well as all the craftsmen go up into it.

“Shamash had set a stated time:

‘In the morning I will let loaves of bread shower down,

and in the evening a rain of wheat!

Go inside the boat, seal the entry!’

The stated time had arrived…

I watched the appearance of the weather-

the weather was frightful to behold!

Just as dawn began to glow

there arose from the horizon a black cloud

Adad rumbled inside of it

before him went Shullat and Hanish,

heralds going over mountain and land.

The Anunnakilifted up the torches,

setting the land ablaze with their flare,

Stunned shock over Adad’s deeds overtook the heavens,

and turned to blackness all that had been light.

The. . . land shattered like a. . .pot

All day long the South Wind blew. . .

blowing fast, submerging the mountain in water,

overwhelming the people like an attack.

No one could see his fellow,

they could not recognise each other in the torrent

The Gods were frightened by the Flood,

and retreated, ascending to the heaven of Anu.

The gods were cowering like dogs, crouching by the outer wall.

Ishtar shrieked like a woman in childbirth,

the sweet-voiced Mistress of the Gods wailed:

“Alas,the olden days have turned to clay,

because I said evil things in the Assembly of the Gods!

How could I. . . order a catastrophe to destroy my people!!

No sooner have I given birth to my dear people

than they fill the sea like so many fish!”

The gods – those of the Anunnaki – were weeping with her,

the gods humbly sat weeping, sobbing with grief,

their lips burning,parched with thirst.

Six days and seven nights

came the wind and flood,the storm flattening the land.

When the seventh day arrived,the storm was pounding,

the flood was a war, struggling with itself like a woman

in labour…

*       *        *         *

The sea calmed,fell still, the whirlwind and flood stopped up.

I looked around all day long-quiet had set in

and all the human beings had turned to clay!

The terrain was flat as a roof.

I opened a vent and fresh air fell upon the side of my nose.

I looked around for coastlines in the expanse of sea,

and at twelve leagues there emerged a region of land.

Mt Nimush held the boat,allowing no sway.

One day and a second…a third,fourth Mount Nimush held the boat

A fifth day,a sixth…when the seventh day arrived

I sent forth a dove and released it…”

The dove returns though,finding nowhere to land. Utnapishtim sends

off a swallow, which returns likewise. He sends off a raven;

“The raven went off,and saw the waters slither back

It  eats,it scratches,but does not circle back to me,

Then I sent out everything in all directions and sacrificed

a sheep.

I offered incense in front of the mountain-ziggurat.”

The Flood is over, although its consequences remain.

Utnapishtim burns more herbs,reeds, cedar and myrtlein

offering;

“The gods smelled the savour,

the gods smelled the sweet savour,

and collected like flies over a (sheep) sacrifice

Just then Beletili arrived,

…You gods,as surely as I shall not forget this lapis-lazuli

around my neck,

may I be mindful of these days,and never forget them!

The gods may come to the incense offering,

but Enlil may not come to the incense offering,

because without considering he brought about the Flood,

and consigned my people to annihilation.

Just then Enlil arrived.

He saw the boat and became furious (knowing nothing

of mankind’s survival.)

“Where did a living being escape?

No man was to survive the annihilation!”

…Enki spoke to Valiant Enlil,saying:

‘It is yours,O Valiant One,who is the Sage of the Gods

How,how could you bring about a Flood without consideration

…charge the offense to the offender

but be compassionate lest (mankind) be cut off,

be patient lest they be killed…

Instead of your bringing on the Flood,

…would that (Pestilent)Erra had appeared to ravage the land!

It was not I who revealed the secret of the Great Gods,

I (only) made a dream appear to Utnapishtim,and thus he heard

the secret of the gods.

Now then! The deliberation should be about him!” (!)

Enlil went up inside the boat

and grasping my hand, made me go up.

He had my wife go up and kneel by my side.

He touched our forehead and,standing between us,he blessed us:

‘Previously Utnapishtim was a human being

But now let Utnapishtim and his wife become like us,the gods!

Let Utnapishtim reside faraway,at the Mouth of the Rivers’

They took us faraway and settled us at the Mouth of the Rivers”.

Thus ends Utnapishtim’s account of the Flood,and his part in it…

From this he turns his attention to Gilgamesh,and his inner quest;

“Now then,who will convene the gods on your behalf,

that you may find the life you are seeking!

Wait! You must not lie down for six days and seven nights”.

This is the chance for Gilgamesh to achieve his quest,

all that he asked for and sought. But he cannot fulfil his task;

“As soon as he sat down (with his head) between his legs

Sleep, like a fog, blew over him.”

Utnapishtim said to his wife:

“Look there! The man,the youth, who wanted (eternal) life!

Sleep, like a fog, blew over him!”

Utnapishtim’s wife says to touch him, awaken him, that he

may return to his home safely the way he came…

“Utnapishtim said to his wife:

Mankind is deceptive,and will deceive you.

Come, bake loaves for him, and keep setting them by his head

and draw on the wall each day that he lay down.”

They do this each day baking a cake of bread, and marking on

the wall how many days it is he has slept…

Each day’s loaf becomes desiccated, stale, mouldy and so on…

…”the fifth sprouted grey (mould),the sixth is still fresh.

the seventh – suddenly he touched him and the man awoke

Gilgamesh said to Utnapishtim

‘The very moment sleep was pouring over me

you touched me and alerted me!’

Utnapishtim spoke. . saying

‘Look over here Gilgamesh,count your loaves!

You should be aware of what is marked on the wall!’…

Gilgamesh repeats his claim,and Utnapishtim goes over the

pictures on the wall, and the 7 loaves placed beside him

as he slept…

The truth sinks in, leaving Gilgamesh bereft of hope:

“O woe! What shall I do Utnapishtim, where shall I go!

The Snatcher has taken ahold of my flesh,

in my bedroom Death dwells,

And wherever I set foot there too is Death!”

Utnapishtim speaks to the ferryman, Urshanabi, enjoining him

to help clean and dress the matted-hair and bedraggled traveller

Gilgamesh in a sense of renewal anyway.

…”Let him cast away his animal skin and have the sea carry it off,

let his body be moistened with fine oil,

let the wrap around his head be new

let him wear royal robes worthy of him!

Until he goes off to his city,

until he sets off on his way

let his royal robe not become spotted,let it be perfectly new!”

Gilgamesh boards the boat in his newly cleaned state, with the guide

Urshanabi,but as they leave, the wife of Utnapishtim the Faraway says;

…”(he) came here exhausted and worn out.

What can you give him so that he can return to his land (with honour)!

“Then Gilgamesh raised a punting pole

and drew the boat to shore

Utnapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh saying,

…you came here so exhausted and worn out…

I will disclose to you a thing that is hidden,Gilgamesh,

I will tell you.

There is a plant. . .like a boxthorn

Whose thorns will prick your hand like a rose.

If your hands reach that plant you will become a young man again”

– the Plant (or Tree) of Eternal Life as it has been called…

“Hearing this, Gilgamesh opened a conduit(!) (to the Apsu – the ‘abyss’)

and attached heavy stones to his feet.

They dragged him down,to the Apsu they pulled him.

He took the plant though it pricked his hand,

and cut the heavy stones from his feet,

letting the waves throw him,onto the shores”.

Gilgamesh explains the plants worth to Urshanabi,saying

“I will bring it to Erech-Haven,

and have an old man eat the plant to test it.

…Then I will eat it and return to the condition of my youth”(!)

But before their journey back has ended,disaster strikes;

” at thirty leagues they stopped for the night.

Seeing a spring and how cool it’s waters were,

Gilgamesh went down and was bathing in the water.

A snake smelled the fragrance of the plant

silently came up and carried off the plant.

While going back it sloughed off it’s casing”.

(ieis rejuvenatedimmediately)

Gilgamesh is stunned by misfortune,yet again,and sits down weeping;

“For whom have my arms laboured Urshanabi!

I have not secured any good deed for myself,

but done a good deed for the ‘lion of the ground’!”

And though his mind turns to re-tracing his steps to the conduit

and repeating his actions there, he quickly realises

“as I was opening the conduit I turned my equipment over into it”…

What can I find (to serve) as a marker for me!

I will turn back (from the journey by the sea) and leave the

boat by the shore”…

But there is no second chance here, and they continue back to

the home city of Gilgamesh…

“They arrived in Erech-Haven.

Gilgamesh said to Urshanabi,the ferryman,

‘Go up,Urshanabi, onto the wall of Erech and walk around.

Examine it’s foundation, inspect it’s brickwork thoroughly–

is not (even the core of) the brick structure of kiln-fired brick

and did not the Seven Sages themselves lay out it’s plan!

One league city, one league palm gardens,one league lowlands,

theopen area of the Ishtar Temple,

three leagues and the open area of Erech it encloses.

* *       *    *       *    *        *     *         *     *

(Translated by Maureen Gallery Kovacs –

taken from www.holybooks.com/the-epic-of-gilgamesh.)

NOTES ON –

TABLET X.- THE INN-KEEPER SIDURI;  GILGAMESH’S JOURNEY

WITH THE BOATMAN URSHANABI TO ‘THE FAR-AWAY’, THE

‘CONFLUENCE OF THE RIVERS’WHERE UTNAPISHTIM LIVES.

TABLET XI.- THE FLOOD/ AND THE TESTING OF GILGAMESH/ THE

TREE OF LIFE AND THE SERPENT.GILGAMESH RETURNS HOME.

This part of the epic comes after Gilgamesh has left the ordinary world behind, on his quest; in Tablet IX he reaches the sacred Mount Mashu, where he is stopped by scorpion-men (ie, other-worldly beings of some danger). He states his wish to journey to the Assembly of the Gods to ask Utnapishtim how to achieve freedom from death. The scorpion-beings allow him to enter the Road of the Sun, something which ‘no-one has ever done before’, for the reason that he is two-thirds divine, his mother being the goddess Ninsun. Over the course of the twelve hours of the night he travels through various terrors and difficulties, until arriving at daylight at the ‘way-station’ of the inn-keeper Siduri, who is there to provide comfort to those who journey there.

Of the scorpion-beings and the 12 hour overnight journey, these very closely resemble the circumstances of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, (or the Book of Coming Forth) where the spirit of the Pharaoh must go through the twelve Houses of the Duat and have the actions of his life ‘weighed’ by celestial beings before he can ascend to the heavens.

So in Gilgamesh these scorpion-men appear to fulfil similar roles of guardians of the celestial spaces on earth to which Gilgamesh seeks entrance. It is only when they note his being is two-thirds Anunnaki by virtue of his mother’s nature that they let him past.

This brings us to the ‘tale within a tale’ in the Epic of Gilgamesh – which is of course that of The Flood, and the actions of Utnapishtim (in the different versions of thousands of years he is named Ubaru-Tut, Atra-hasis, Ziusudra (the last ruler of Sumer in WB-62 King List before the Flood/ 17^th century Bce, Old Babylonian), Xisuthros (in the Greek language of Babylonian priest Berossus)  who is forewarned by one of the Anunnaki, Enki of the coming catastrophe. And of course Noah in the Bible telling of the story.

With characteristic relevancy, we return here to Gurdjieff, who wrote of it in his auto-biography which constituted the second series of his writings, “Meetings with Remarkable Men”(written circa 1929 , first published in Paris,1960).

Gurdjieff wrote of the circumstances of the epic’s transmission through millennia via the sung word in central Asia; his father was a performing ashokh or bard, who knew many Central Asianpoems, epics, folk-tales, songs and stories, and used to recite to him sections of the Epic of Gilgamesh, a ‘poem known throughout the households of Asia and the East’. The young Gurdjieff describes listening as a child to his father singing parts of the epic and then discussing the Deluge with the dean of Kars Cathedral– and later onrecognised the words when translations began to be published by scholars who had deciphered the Sumerian,Akkadian,Babylonian and Assyrian (etc) versions of the same epic – stating his surprise that the versions found by archeologists in the ruinsof Nineveh, and Babylon on clay tablets dating 3000 years old, matched virtually word-for-word those he had heard his father reciting in 1880 inKars, Georgia, adistant outpost of the Russian empire!

Gurdjieff writes that the 21^st tablet of Gilgamesh (the Flood section) he heard as a child went as follows;

“I will tell thee, Gilgamesh,

Of a mournfulmystery of the Gods:

How once, having met together,

They resolved to flood the land of Shuruppak.

Clear-eyed Ea, saying nothing to his father, Anu

Nor to the Lord, the great Enlil,

Nor to the spreader of happiness, Nemuru,

Nor even to the underworld prince, Enua,

Called to him his son Ubaru-Tut:

Said to him: ‘Build thyself a ship,

Take with thee thy near ones

And what birds and beasts thou wilt:

Irrevocably have the Gods resolved

To flood the land of Shuruppak.”

As Gurdjieff writes, he was ‘struck by the fact, at first inexplicable to me, that this legend had been handed down by ashokhs from generation to generation for thousands of years, and yet had reached our day almost unchanged’. (Meetings with Remarkable Men, p33-6).The names in this  indicate that the version heard was one of the oldest ever, connecting to the Sumerian King Lists; Ubara-Tut was said to be the last king before the Flood, and the father of Utnapishtim.

However, before the Deluge section is reached, Tablet X. sees Gilgameshreachthe hostel of Siduri, the inn-keeper who fulfils a ‘celestial role’ like all of the characters from this point on.She is initially suspicious of him, saying ‘who is this murderer who approaches my inn?’, then ‘bolts the door, bolts the gate, bolts the lock’, to stop him entering.When he asks why she does this she asks him;

“Why are your cheeks so emaciated, your expression so desolate?

…Why is there such sadness deep within you?”

He recounts therefore his deeds with Enkidu, killing both Humbaba the ‘robot’, and the Bull of Heaven, then the death of his friend and his own travels since then, seeking someone he can ask about gaining eternal life.

Having been allowed to entershe directs him to the boatman – Urnashabi – who is the only person able to travel to where Utnapishtim lives,saying the following;

Difficult is the place of crossing…

In between are the Waters of Death

Which bar the approaches !

Utnapishtim’s boatman is there,Gilgamesh

His name is Urshanabi

With him are the lodestones

In the forest he picks urnu-snakes

If it be possible,make the crossing with him

If it not be possible, retrace your steps.

When Gilgamesh heard this,

In his hand he raised his axe

He drew his dagger from his belt

He slipped into the forest,

And went down to them.

He descended upon them like an arrow…

When Urshanabi saw the flash of the dagger,

And heard the axe…

He struck his head…Gilgamesh

Seized the wings…the breast,

The stone things…and the boat.

When Urshanabi rushes to stop him, he says;

‘Gilgamesh,you have hindered the crossing  (of the celestial sea)

With your hands you have done this !

You have smashed the lodestones…which bear me along

You have also picked the urnu-snakes.

The lodestones are smashed

The urnus are not in the forest

In your anger you did smash them…

Immediately we see that Gilgamesh has made his ‘cosmic’ journey much harder than  necessary – by his own hands, possessed by the negative emotion of anger…

Students of Gurdjieff will know how much attention in the work on the self is paid to observing,and then not expressing negative emotions – be they fear, anger, hatred, resentment,boredom, frustration, anxiety and so on. This injunction to curb negative emotions is not just from a moral perspective…it may even be ‘justified’  in some situations. But the main reason for this is that whatever the rightness, negative emotions, especially anger,burn up the day’s available resources of energy within the self. The chemical factory that is the body and the self, produces broadly speaking the same amount of energy each day,through our actions,for the next day’s usage…

Now,as we only have a certain amount of intellectual,emotional,socialand instinctive energies, the conscious person takes care to spend them wisely –in the words of Isaiah, “Why do you spend your wages on that which is not bread? “

And negative emotion is a simple waste, burning up stores of energy, so that if continued all that day’s reserves may be spent…at which point fatigue becomes the predominant state of the psyche…It is the refinement not just of the energies used, but of the self also which enable the growth of the individual. In the process of refinement,the powerful and as such dangerous energies (of the subconscious) are cleansed,refined,and controlled at all times…so just seeking more and more power is not the way forward.

This requirement for Grail seekers to learn awareness of the need to refine the self in this way,has been at the crux of all inner/heroic quests, since the time of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

So as Gilgamesh has acted destructively, and from the immature stance of anger,and thus made his cosmic journey so much harder, we can infer that the writers of the poem were indicating exactly this inability of the immature personality to develop positively, or to develop higher energy bodies.Put simply – negative emotions can only bring about a lower state of consciousness.

And the implication of the writers, in what is raised by the poem, seems to be the inadequacy of Gilgamesh really, ‘heroic’ though he is, for the quest he has set his heart (or mind) on…or re-emphasizing the point, a high level of self-awareness, and experience of everyday life, are required of a person considering changing their life in pursuing their inner ‘quest’.Gilgamesh may be a ‘hero’,or even king,or leader of the entire society,but this does not guaranteeeither full achievementor ‘immortality’. So there are two perspectives at play throughout the poem.

And in support of this idea, the thoughts of Utnapishtim on the approaching vessel are recorded thus;

Utnapishtim peers into the distance

Speaking to his heart,

He says these words,takes counsel with himself;

Why have the lodestones of the boat been broken?

Why does one who is not her master ride in her?    (!)

The man who comes here is not of my men.

And…I peer, but I cannot see…

I peer, but I cannot see.

Lode-stones and ‘Urnu-snakes’.

Now, as to the two images of this section, these have puzzled innumerable students and academics; how can ‘stone things’ make navigation easier? How can snakes in the forest make a boat journey possible?

Let’s examine them more closely,with an eye to the symbolic possibilities, and also to the themes of this chapter, and book…

The stone-things,as the poem has it – or lodestones as some translators have translated it – are highly puzzling. Stone objects,in a boat? So,to return to our metaphorical interpretation of the narrative, what is happening?

Gilgamesh and the boatman (Urshanabi,a ‘servant of the cosmos’) are of the intent of travelling to ‘the faraway’ ie,beyond the limits of Earthto ask of Utnapishtim (or in the Babylonian version, Ziusudra) the survivor of the Flood – and again,one who occupies a ‘cosmic’ role – for the secret of eternal Life. So clearly we have left behind the trappings of the ordinary by this point in the poem.And as the poem makes clear, to make this journey – through inner or outer dimensions, or both – the individual is aided by the ‘stone things’ of the boat. Perhaps it is of some help to consider the possible meanings of these things.Sosome commentators have raised the possibility that what is referred to is not so much ordinary stones,as refined stones, ie,crystals… this certainly could be of help in making understanding clearer. But in what sense of crystals? As outer aids of navigationpossibly? Or perhaps as representations of the crystals within the body and the mind…?

Several interpretations arise here. Firstly, as symbols of the seven chakras of what might be called ‘Eastern’ philosophy and religion.These are energy centres,or vortices, within the human energy field, and are placed along the mid-line of the body.The firsthighest chakra is the Lotus chakra,situated at the crown of the head.This chakra receives the highest energies of the universe, from sidereal origins- the six other chakras are situated at the forehead,throat,heart,solar plexus,stomach,genitalsand so on,enabling the drawing in of energies through these energy ‘gates’ into the person’s being. (Curiously,the site of each of the seven chakras is closely matched in medical terms by the presence of glands of the endocrine system, which release chemicals that improve ‘communication’ between the instinctiveand the emotional and intellectual centres of the body…)

Anyway,this possibility certainly would be fitting in the sense of enabling the individual to journey to the higher dimensions in an inner sense or to raise their consciousness to the level of the ‘cosmic’.

The clearest way in which people impair their own ability to be open to the higher levels, is as mentioned, through damaging patterns of negative emotion. And equally,through self-destructive patterns of behaviour – such as, addiction to alcohol or drugs, to sex (in excess,at least, a spending of stored and refined energies)or equally, in any negative,and repetitive behaviours lacking self-awareness or self-control.Such an interpretation of Gilgamesh’s destruction of the stone things bears quite well upon consideration.

Of tangential relation to the stone things, is the presence within the human brainof magnetic nodes,which play a role in our sense of balance,and moreover, provide the instinctive levels of the brain with a sense (how precise is unknown as yet)of the individual’s standing in the magnetic fields of the Earth… in similar manner many animals,particularly birdspossess the ability tonavigate their way (home) from any point,by an awareness that iseffectively an inner compass..!

This physiological interpretation of the metaphor of the ‘stone things’ can be taken further; as with all of the works of antiquity said to be derived from cosmic consciousness, one of the foremost aspects of such wisdom is the inner metabolism of the human body and mind; and this is one of the most complex ‘material’ structures in the entire universe.

 So, as we have seen in other sections, many of the relevant civilizations – Sumerian, Egyptian, Hebrew, and so on – produced texts and artworks with encoded allegories of the complexities of the human body. Many examples of the significance of the spine have been examined, as a central part of the human body. This stemming from the arising of chordates, and vertebrates around the time of the Cambrian Explosion circa 520 million years ago; considering the stability, and ubiquity of chordate body forms since then, as noted by Michael Baigent, life may be said to consist of 5% creativity, and 95% consolidation since then. The axial nature of the spine is central to virtually all higher forms of life, be that of the sea, land or air. And this reaffirms the physics of a di-pole by which a rod has two ends, one positive, one negative – ‘every stick has two ends’ as Gurdjieff wrote – which the human body replicates with the head at the positive end, the ‘tail’ at the other.

The 20^th century philosopher and writer Schwaller de Lubicz wrote in “The Temple in Man” in some detail on the physiological parallels concerned with human perception and wisdom, in the ground-plans, proportions and structures of many Egyptian edifices, particularly the Temple of Luxor. So he equates many architectural details with aspects of the human body, and brain; in particular from our perspective, he writes of the spine as follows;

“The pharaonic teaching shows us Man composed of three beings; the sexual being, the corporeal being,

and the spiritual being. Each has it’s own body and organs. These three beings are interdependent, in the

flux of juices and the nervous influx; the spinal marrow is the column of ‘fire’ that connects the whole.

The being properly called ‘corporeal’ is the body – the chest and abdomen, where the organs for the assimilation

of solids, liquidsand air are located.

The head is the container of the spiritual being, where the blood, built up in the body, comes to be spiritualized

in order to nourish the nervous flux and prepare the ‘ferments’ of the blood and the ‘seed’”.

And here de Lubizc goes on to assess the significance of the ‘pineal’ gland, or ‘eye’, what Descartes called the ‘seat of the soul’. De Lubizc mentions the belief of Galen, circa 131Ad, that the pineal gland served as a ‘sluice for the amount of spirit necessary for the maintenance of psychic equilibrium’ (The Temple in Man, p.107). An amazing assessment in the second century for the gland which regulates a person’s sleep-waking (circadian) rhythms, among other things.

Features of the pineal gland are not entirely unique to humankind; many forms of vertebrate own a pineal gland, or ‘parietal eye’ / ‘third eye’. It is believed that it may have developed in fish needing a photo-sensory apparatus on the top of the head, and helps in all vertebrates which have one to regulate circadian rhythms and the production of melatonin, a serotonin-related hormone. So within one part of the pineal gland are indeed photoreceptor rods, vestiges perhaps of evolution. The pineal gland is located precisely between the two hemispheres, and unlike virtually all other centres within the brain, is not separated from the bloodstream by the blood-brain barrier.

This capacity of the gland to produce melatonin etc containsmore than just physiological significance; to those concerned with psychology and esoteric matters, it is closely linked to many aspects of higher or mystical experience within the self – and is linked therefore by some esotericists with questions ofwhat makes human identity.

So it is incredible that the Tree of Life stela first depicted by the Sumerians, and then reproduced in all of the following civilizations of Akkadia, Babylon and Assyria, contains what appears to be a ‘celestial being’ inserting a ‘pine-cone’ into the back of a man’s head, at the level of the occiput (itself linked etymologically to ox, axis, octave and so on). In other words towards the neck-point of the body where spine and head(or the physical and energetic dimensions) meet. Hence the importance of the neck in works such as Gilgamesh (where the two heroes must strike to kill the terrible Guardian of the Forest Humbaba); the Bible, where Beersheba, the ‘heaven-earth gateway’ is located at Shechem, meaning ‘shoulder’ or ‘back’; and in many other examples. So in Islam, for example, Mohammed says; “Each man’s fate have we tied around his neck”. . .

It may well be that the ‘stone things’ of the forest which Gilgamesh damages refer to this physiological meaning of parts of the brain, in particular obviously, the pineal gland; already shown to be central within Sumerian (and therefore produced by the ‘celestial’ beings who created not just civilization, according to their mythology, but mankind itself – the Anunnaki).

Within the incredibly complex processes of the human body and brain, one relevant condition may be calcification of the gland, a condition which affects many children and young adults, leading to two immediate consequences; the reduction of melatonin production, with serious effects, and related, the onset of puberty; the internal secretions of the pineal gland are known to restrain the development of the reproductive organ glands, so that damage to the pineal gland’s functionings see a development whereby growth of the reproductive organs and skeleton are increased. (The Pineal Body, Gray’s Anatomy, 26/8/2011). This may be one reason – among many – why Jesus said ‘he who wishes to enter heaven must become as the little children first’ in paraphrase. In other words,(beside the point of the essence-based innocence, and untainted forms of perception of the young), placing spiritual growth in dualistic opposition to sexual growth at least during the years of childhood. A point within the Epic of Gilgamesh concerning the profligate sexual behaviour and lowly ‘mundane’ consciousness of the hero.

(right; pineal gland seated between the hemispheres of the brain, outside of the blood:brain barrier, towards the occipital and parietal lobes of the rear of the head; indicated by blue dot).

But to return to the question of the ‘stone things’, there are indeed other matters than those of physiology and the brain, fascinating though those are. In particular, the ancient Egyptian (and later Greek) concept of the omphalos stone, set at ‘heaven-earth’ gateway points on the earth’s surface to signify, and enhance, inter-dimensional energy exchange as part of the life systems of the planet and solar system, and wider. Similarly in the Bible, when Jacob is shown the divine nature of Beer-Sheba, the Well of Seven, with it’s ‘ladder (tree, or axis) to heaven’, he marks the site with a sacred stone, which he then consecrates with oil. This passage is the history of sacred architecture and it’s place in world-energy grids in a nutshell; for the stones, whether menhirs, monoliths, cubes, or temples, not only mark the sacred site, but alter the (cosmic) energies coming through the earth; whether as the Eben Shettiyah/ Foundation Stone of the Temple of Jerusalem keeping the life-giving waters of the Abyss (or Ab-Zu in Gilgamesh) in correct abeyance  (ie at the right pressure), or the structures of the temples of antiquity which encapsulate celestial proportions within their design, thus resonating the energies of the heavens throughout the world. . .

These stones were always depicted in pairs for some reason, in Egyptian depictions, as well as Sumerian/ Assyrian stelae, and Greek; in Egypt they were known as Shen rings, and were related to Sumerian ‘rod and ring’ symbols; both symbolizing both divinity, and the ‘encircling’ protection of the gods for the world, and the Creation; in the Tablet of Shamash the deity himself holds the divine symbol of protection, while the two deities above him hold ‘measuring cords’ keeping a sacred planet or site in place. We have seen in the Bible section how this four-rayed star may symbolize the ‘powers of heaven’ as they meet with the four-square material dimensions of the world. Much perhaps as the Garden of Eden is described as being with four (sacred) rivers flowing outwards. Likewise mention is made in Eden of the points of the compass, to support this ‘orientation’ of divine energies within material reality.

Genesis 2.10; “And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads” – making this description far more likely to be abstract than actual…

Notice the two ravens or crows atop the marker stones in the Egyptian version of the Shen rings/ omphalos markers; these are equable with the two eagles that the god Jove released in Greece; flying in opposite directions, they crossed paths again at Delphos, thus gaining it the title of the ‘centre of the world’, as the Delphos Temple and oracle were situated there also, at a inter-dimensional gateway. In the Assyrian version it is the two Anuna deities located above Shamash who hold the ‘measuring cords’ in place, an image also found in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, (or Book of Coming Forth by Day); again with cords, and also sited by the omphalos marker stones, in an image we have already noted contains symbolism of the centrality of the number twelve; (below; Papyrus of Queen Nejmet, of the 21^st dynasty,from the Book of the Dead, c.1070Bce).

And these marker-stones, according to Graham Hancock had other connections to celestial influences too; so the capstone of every pyramid, as well as later symbols the Obelisk, was built with the tip being the conical or geometrical ‘pyramidion’ called the Benben stone. The links with the male reproductive organs, and thus ‘fertility’ are obvious. But more subtle associations exist; according to many writers the first Benben stones were actually iron meteorites which had struck the earth. However, as Hancock notes on p.168 of ‘Fingerprint of the Gods’, benben stones may well have developed as particular representations of exactly these omphalos stones so widely known throughout the Near East in antiquity. Hancock quotes Randall Clark from 1949 saying that “It is a lesson of these texts (the Pyramid Texts of the 5^th Dynasty on) that the Benben stone is a betyl-like object (omphalos marker stone), and that it is modified into a pyramidion by the Fourth Dynasty”. Hancock goes on to list the veneration of many cultures in the region in antiquity for ‘sacred stones which fell from the heavens’, (whether iron or rock in nature).

It is possible to consider that the shape of benben stones and obelisks was drawn not just from the male member, or from omphalos markers, but from the shape of quartz crystals. These stone things have long been considered as energetically significant manifestations

of nature; as we see in the Bible section, crystals played a major part in the various depictions of the Celestia City of Heaven, with each of the 12 gates, and 12 tribes of Israel having a particular type of crystal. In the China section we saw see likewise the 12 ‘Cosmic Tones’, (or Notes) that were the basis of all musical instruments, and (via Chung bells and string lengths of the Gu-Qin) the weights and measures of early Chinese societies – at a date around 600 Bce at least. And in this section we have seen the use of a variety of crystalline rock-forms in the Great Pyramid, including granite, with a high content of quartz crystals in some of the most significant points of the edifice, such as the Ante-Chamber and King’s Chamber, plus the plugs at various key points. Also the possibility that crystals were placed in the square and rectangular slots that ran up the sides of the steps of the Grand Gallery, for use in lighting the stairs, plus potentially changing the vibrational frequencies of the energies refined within the structures of the pyramid. This is believed to be one of the chief properties of crystals such as rose quartz; not only are crystals geometrically structured at the atomic level to resonate certain frequencies with high degrees of fidelity, but they can be ‘programmed’ with energy to hold certain types of information too. This property is at the heart of the computer age, as silicon chips were developed as ‘memory’ blocks due to their crystalline structure. The same concept underlies the ages-old myths of the crystal skulls, some of which have been found in the last century or two. The concept is that beings of highest ‘celestial’ consciousness experimented with using carved crystal objects such as the skull(s) to store, and then later transmit information from the past eras when human consciousness was more naturally in tune with the higher planes. As such the skulls are believed to hold messages of some great significance, and hope for mankind at this troubled point in it’s evolution. Whether this is true or not is completely a matter of personal belief – but, taken in conjunction with the other references to crystals from antiquity onwards, could be an indication of the central role in mankind’s evolution crystals may play.

So examples of some of the revered stones ‘of the heavens’ which were found in antiquity include; the Kaaba,sacred stone of Islam, a massive cubic Black Stone set at the omphalos-point (the ‘centre-of-the-world) at Mecca, in Saudi Arabia. Other ancient revered stones included; the two omphalos marker-stones placed at the Delphic Oracle in Greece in antiquity; possibly in the Ark of the Covenant, believed by some to have held a stone ‘from the heavens’ as well as the two Tablets.

And as mentioned the ancient world held another sacred place to be a ‘centre of the world’ in it’s higher dimensional energies, namely, Jerusalem. And at it’s geometric heart, where the Temple of Jerusalem was built, beneath the Holy-of-Holies (itself cubic in design) was the Eben Shettiyah, to stop the waters of the earth, said to have flowed there after the Deluge, from overwhelming the world again. But, in keeping with the subtlety of antiquity, to also allow the life-giving waters of the Abyss to nourish the land (whether this means ‘physically’, or ‘energetically’ is a moot point).

So these stone things connect strongly to questions centred around the pathways the energies of the cosmos take in vitalizing the earth; energies which are composed of the material (or materialized energies as Ouspensky might define it) of the universe; of the planets, the Sun, the galaxy we inhabit the Milky Way; and All Galaxies, the congregations of stars within sidereal space of vast size and distance. . . all levels of the (seven levels of the) cosmos which make up the Ray of Creation; and which energies are present within every person on earth too, in varying degrees of composition. In recognising the importance of these energies in the correct growth of the self, we connect the ‘stone things’ which Gilgamesh smashes, to the Plant of (Eternal) Life which he obtains from the depths of the Ab-zu, (only to lose while he bathes that evening. And to who? To the serpent, symbol of eternity, and again, the energies of life in it’s depiction as the Ouroboros in Greece and Egypt, wrapped around the world with it’s tail in it’s mouth. That the serpent has the energies of eternity in itself is shown by it’s changing it’s skin when it eats of the Plant of Life, thus renewing itself in a perpetual cycle of life.

It almost seems fair to say that the (cosmic) serpent is a more appropriate beneficiary of the Plant than Gilgamesh, incomplete as he is.

And in one brief diversion, in studying the cos# values ‘encoded’ within chapter and verse numbers of the bible, it is noted that several of the Pi (3.1415) codings refer to ‘the serpent’ ..! Thus indicating that the symbol of the serpent is not simply that associated with evil, as the phrase ‘that old serpent, the Devil’ in Revelations implies; but potentially also with the energies of the universe as they circle around the circumference of the world in energy-lines equivalent to the Ouroboros – andare thus related harmonically to the values of the ‘transcendent value’ Pi, it being central to the spherical geometries of both the heavens and the earth. Indeed the circle itself represents the ‘heavens’ in sacred architecture, and the cube that of the ‘earth’, as four-square material reality The cube as designed in the Holy-of-Holies represents at it’s centre, or quincunx, the perfect geometrical point where the celestial energies enter the material dimensions; hence on the day of the consecration of the Temple of Jerusalem (sited at the world-significant geometric omphalos point within Jerusalem), the singing and music of the (sacred) musicians, tuned to the harmonics of the cosmos and it’s frequencies, cause the chamber (of the edifice ‘tuned’ to celestial harmonics via the proportionate divisions of the octave) to fill with a dense cloud of smoke; the ‘glory of God’ according to the Bible at 1Kings 8.10, forcing the people flee to find fresh air..!

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Moving on from the ‘stone things’ to the puzzle of the ‘urnu snakes’, it again is of use to consider that they are metaphors for an energy source,be that internal to a person, or obtainable at some level of reality…

Firstly, on the level of the human system and energies it processes, the snakesare not apparently a necessity for ordinary life,only for ‘higher life/aims’.By his actions Gilgamesh affects only the cosmic journey of himself and the boatman; and the possibility of this is reduced, or made more difficult, so that they are able to proceed only by dint of ‘elbow grease’ ie by working harder and less efficiently.

As a way of affirming this, the numbers involved might be interpreted as hints about this (in)efficiency – in having to use normal, material labour, Gilgamesh is told to cut 120 poles from trees,to ‘punt’ the boat. As 120 has the significance in the geometry we have been studying foremost as one third of 360°, (as well as 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5) this could be a hint that material energy contains a third ofthe potential of the ‘alternative’,or higher cosmic energy sources the boatman (as perhaps ‘extraterrestrial’) uses most frequently… likewise Gilgamesh ‘picks the wings…the breast…’ ie takes the most fruitful part of the energies released by his destructive actions (of these different but related energy sources) – and leaves the restbroken and no longer usable – an apt comparison between materialfuel processes such as gasoline/petrol combustion,or even nuclear power production – and the more sustainable energy production which comes from renewable sustainable processes.

In purely personal terms , ie energetic processes within the boundaries of the individual,in the three-fold symbol used throughout this book,of Head,Chest and Stomach,we can posit the following interpretation; As Gilgamesh fails to use the higherconsciousness of which the Headand the Heart are capable of,he is left with only the lowest third,that of the Stomach,or material-based consciousness; what is visible to the eye,the everyday,the obvious,assumptions and so on.

And this lower consciousness is indicated by his (foolish) destruction, of the’stone things’,and by his expressing his negative emotion,his anger.

The poem makes this intellectual and emotional inadequacy very clear,leaving only the physical level remaining as a result thereof… And as such,he has to propel the vessel by sheer muscle-powerrather than by (cosmic) consciousness.  Rather like modern fuelssuch as petrol,gasetc are products of the earthly level,unlike solar energy, or any further developments  physics and chemistry may eventually achieve.

So for the momentthe world is dependent upon fuel of the lowest potential class, ie,basic materiality.

So, to speculate some more on the ‘urnu snakes’. Firstly,the usage of the metaphor ‘snake’ immediately arouses our interest,because it coincides with the paths that energy flows through, both spiralling through space – through the earth (dragon lines)- and through the body (meridians)and within the atom,as the ‘snake’ of energy circles around the ‘stone’ at the centre of the atom,the proton where most of the ‘mass’ of each atom is to be found.

We see in the Bible section how several of the most important references to the ‘serpent’ within the book are placed at the number 3.1415; this being Pi, it connects the ‘serpent’ to the geometries of the sphere, ie. the world, as well as the other aspects of Pi which is one of the key constants within the fields of both mathematics and physics. So in fact this sense of ‘coiling energy’ may be the primary meaning of the metaphorical use of the word ‘snake’ in much of antiquity; with the additional significant meanings, relating to the instinctive (reptilian) centre, central to the self’s survival instincts, as evidenced by both Enki the serpent deity, and his charge Utnapishtim, who ‘abandons possessions’ and ‘chooses life’, ie. survives. Something we will examine in a little more detail later.Further connotationsexist obviously of (cosmic) intelligence, and cunning; as wellas being connected to ideas of ‘evil’, as the Bible makes clear in many instances. All the meanings of which were applied throughout the many eras and civilizations of antiquity and history.

One additional reference to the urnu-snakesmaintains that a possible meaning stems from the Egyptian culture word Urmu, which denotes a river to the Underworld…so here we have two of the concepts under consideration; a flow of energy,and a cosmic setting. A ‘cosmic river’, in other words, a meaning which certainly correlates therefore.

Thus it seems fair to consider that the urnu-snakes do indeed represent a cosmic source of energy,that mankind not only does not know how to derive and use, but moreover does not even suspect is potentially available as an energy source…

Another ‘clue’ perhaps, could be found in the etymology of Sumerian language; the word ‘Ur’ was possibly used to denote the first city built in the Sumerian epoch,and afterwards to indicate the location of any city,in the sense of a ‘centre’,or ‘place’.Five thousand years later we still use this stem in our everyday language,whenever we talk ofliving in an ‘urban’setting. And yet this is not the full original meaning of the word; in fact Ur was the Sumerian word for ‘light’, ie the ‘light of the heavens’. This fed through to Hebrew virtually unchanged, presumably via the Babylonian Capture of 598-539Bce; so Isaiah for instance uses the word ‘Or’ for the Light created by God, as opposed to it’s ‘prosaic’ meaning. Likewise the Greek word ‘Ouroboros’, the serpent which circles the earth so that it’s mouth and tail meet, derives it’s name from the same etymological root. Although it is said to represent ‘eternity’ and has been ascribed that meaning many times in history, it is a complex metaphor. The conceptdoes clearly imply an energy-line stretched around the world too, (within which the cosmic energies of the Sun and the stars – of light especially – travel through the earth).

The constellation Orion too, or ‘Ur-anna’ as it was called by the Greeks, was central to many cultures in antiquity, such as the Egyptians, as evidenced by their god Osiris (Orion). And there are potential links to the constellation which the geometry of the Great Pyramid contains within it’s essential design. (Something we examine in the Egypt and Giza section). The Sphinx, an artwork containing esoteric symbolism, is believed by many to have been created millennia before the full Giza complex was developed, and the Great Pyramid and colleagues were built. And the ‘lion of the ground’ looks eastwards, directly along the 30^th Parallel, towards the source of the earth’s life-force, the rising sun.

Curiously, considering the nature of Orion in terms of it’s geometric ‘balanced’ shape, linked as mentioned to the geometries of the axis of the Vesica Piscis and the Great Pyramid, the constellation is situated close upon the Celestial Equator, so that it is visible from both hemispheres. . .

So, the term ‘urnu’ may possibly indicate that the ‘snakes’, or the ‘energy’-lines/ source, are both light and/or place-specific. In doing this, the writers may have been pointing to the availability of energy from a world energy-grid; or even ‘cosmic’ energy-grid.

(Many modern writers, often adherents of the works of Nicola Tesla,aver that zero-point energy is obtainable from the environment,without the destructive combustion of petrolor gas, or nuclear fuels; considering the amount of statements made in the history of esoteric and religious works, it remains as of now something of a ‘philosopher’s stone’…)

So,Urshanabi directs Gilgamesh to cut down 120 punting poles,in order to propel the boat across the waters of death (the ‘afterlife’ usually necessary for people to enter before experiencing ‘celestial’ circumcstances; the vacuum of space?)without touching them…

As would be expected,there is yet more data concerning the subject,across cultures;the role of ‘cosmic serpents’ in the creation,and guidance of mankind,finding its relation in mostif not all of the early main civilizations – Sumer, Egypt, India, China etc – is reflected in the iconographyand religious tenets of the builders of Angkor Wat, a vastcomplex of temples monasteries in Cambodia dating to the 12^th century.

For the ‘cosmic serpents’ of Buddhist belief who inspired Angkor Wat,and are representedall around the buildings, with over seventy two carved images of essentiallymythic cobras on the (symbolic) bridge to the complex (left),are called the Nagas.Thesehave occupied a significant role in Hindu and Buddhist mythology for centuries, if not longer.As ‘cosmic figures’ of great wisdom,and power,mythology holds that they exist within a subterranean kingdom beneath the surfaceof a lake, something which seems to offer some connectionto the characteristics of the Sumerian god, Enki/Oannes. . .

It cannot be a coincidence that Nahash in Hebrew, and Nagas in Hindu culture stand for thesameconcepts…in cultures with no apparent links or historical connections! That said, it is absolutely accepted by historians and antiquarians that there were trade links between Sumer/ Akkadia and India, (particularly the Indus Valley and Harappa) from the 3^rd millennium Bce, ie from around 2350Bce…most likely through the trade routes existing through the lands of Iran, and Afghanistan. So there are clearlysome connections between the cultures’ beliefs inregard to the Nahash. It may be the Hebrew word was instituted through cross-cultural contact during the period of the Babylonian Captivity, from c.603-538 Bce. Indeed the word ‘snake’ comes from the stem in Proto-Indo-European of‘(s)nego’.; related words to develop from this were sinew, nerve, neuron and so on.

It was the role of Enki/Thoth/Ptah (the developer) to create at some point in history,the genetic creation of mankind, as the ‘scientific’ leader of the programme.Equally involved was the goddess Ninhursag acting as ‘mother’,providingfemale celestial genes to the process, as well as at later points incubating the embryos ofseveral fertilised offspring within her womb…

So it is no surprisethat in SumerEnki was portrayed,or represented as a snake-human hybrid; or with water and fishes flowing from his shoulders, to convey the same meaning as the Oannes hybrid image of half-man half-fish.

a. / b; the Adda Seal, featuring Utu/Shamash, Inanna/Ishtar and Enki/Ea, depicted with water and fishes flowing from his shoulders (symbolic perhaps of the Ap-su, the subterranean waters, and holding the Anzu-bird, also a symbol of the energies of the abyss, or ‘depths’…

c. The Tablet of Gudea showing similar attributes to the Anuna deity Ningishzida as he presents king Gudea (ruler of the city of Lagash, 2080-2060Bce) to Ninurta/ Ningirsu.

d. Anuna deity portrayed as hybrid man/fish at Khorsabad, Assyria, dated to c.716Bce.

e. Ningishzidadepicted for some reason entirely as a serpent in the centre of the Libation of Gudea from the same period; the two Mushussu appear to be holding staffs, or swords, or possibly door/ gateways, linking to his role (along with Dumuzi) as celestial ‘gatekeeper’.

f. the twin helix of DNA, the building block of all organic life.

In Egypt the serpent as representing the cosmic energies of light in particular was incorporated into the headwear of the gods as the Uraeus, which stemmed from the female deity Wadjet, a human woman with serpent head, or vice-versa. The name ‘uraeus’ is clearly possibly connected to Ur-anna, the Sumerian word meaning the ‘Light of the Heavens’, strongly supported by the links between the two civilizations..

(left) Seti I offering to the goddess of Truth who wears the Uraeus, Abydos (below) Thoth, the Second Hermes; from the Brooklyn Museum, New York.

It is noteworthy the depiction of Thoth, the god of wisdom shows the Uraeus with a sun situated on top of the serpent; pointing to the inner meaning of the serpent as the energies of the sun, and stars. The symbols of medicine today the Rod of Asclepius, and the Caduceus both stem from Greek, and possibly earlier cultures, especially the Sumerian and the Egyptian,(both of which were significant sources of Greek civilization and mythology), and  had many references to serpents in their iconography. Both civilizations had deep connections to genetic ‘science’ and creation by the gods within their myths and religions. As such it can be argued the symbology was of a cosmic level of consciousness; from this perspective two intertwined serpents of the Sumerian god Ningishzidu for example prefigurethe knowledge of DNA’s twin helix by around 5000 years! That Ningiszida, along with Dumuzi was a deity of plants, agriculture and fertility lends support to the myth of the Anuna’s creation /genetic refinement of the key species of the Fertile Crescent in pre-history, of both plants, domesticated stock and even humanity as ‘homo sapiens’… all of which are asserted within the Sumerian texts.

It is possible to further hypothesize that the horned head-wear of the Anunnaki was just as possibly a representation of – serpents rather than cattle horns as is the near universal assumption (!) – this depiction of Shamash from the Tablet of Shamash at Sippar under Assyrian rule c.888Bce shows the head-wear being discussed, with the image below that being one of the Anuna also from an Assyrian relief circa 750Bce.

Bearing in mind the countless examples of fish, water, and serpent symbolism contained in depictions of Anuna such as Enki, Ea, Oannes, Shamash and Ningiszida, it is also possible to analyse the role of Enki in Sumerian art and writings from a perspectiveof modern understanding. Sofor the title of him as the lord of the Abzu,or the depths,it is possible to apply this to the three-fold division of the human body or brain,as we have already seen.

Considering Enki was the lord of the ‘depths’,or mines (as provider of metallurgy, and technology, and the crafts of civilization),or the lower world/ Ap-su / Lands of the South / the Waters (all of which epithets belonged to Enki)then in thehead/ heart/ stomach division Enki represented the latter of these,the lower trunk of the bodycomprising the stomach, the liver, kidneys, sex organs and so on. (We have seen how Enki was referred to in the Babylonian creation myth, the Enuma Elish;

“(Ninmah); O my son, rise from thy bed. . .work what is wise

Fashion servants of the gods, may they produce their. . .”

“(Enki); O my mother, the creature whose name thou hast uttered, it exists,

Bind upon it the. . .of the gods;

Mix the heart of the clay that is over the abyss,

The good and princely fashioners will thicken the clay,

Thou, do thou bring the limbs into existence;

Ninmah will work above thee,

(goddesses of birth) will stand by thee at thy fashioning;

O my mother, decree thou, that it’s the new-borns’ fate

Ninmah will bind upon it the. . .of the gods. . .as man.”

As the figure of Enki shows,he was depicted as part humanand part snake – although this image can just as well be seen as representing the digestive system of the lower body. In broader terms the entirephysical (rather than intellectual or emotional brain system)  is called the instinctive brainorcentre, and is largely overseen by the Reptilian centre of the brain (as opposed to the mammalian or intellectual areas located around the inner-most instinctive brain), which as noted earlier,in all creatures oversees the instinctive functions of the body in allaspects. As such it is most closely concerned with matters of reproduction and as importantly, survival; internally throughthe physiological processes,and externally through focussing on the immediate environment,and thevarious tasks necessary for survival. Food,shelter,danger avoidance,social needs,reproduction,health and healingare all within the ambit of the instinctive centre.

So to return to the story of Utnapishtim (or Atra-Hasis,or Noah), it is obviously apt thatthe god assigned to represent the instinctive body,is the one god of the ‘family’ of the Anunnakiwho breaks the oath of  the council to keep knowledge of the forthcoming catastrophe – theFlood – from mankind. Enki gets around this proscription by talking to the reed-wall while Utnapishtim is nearby,and thus able to over-hear Enki say the following;

Avoid Death – build a boat

Give up possessions – save life.

That the instinctive centre is capable of functioning while a person isunable to talkor reason, is well known,and documented,in many amazing cases ofsurvival in the most demanding of circumstances.

As extreme shock or trauma and injury affect a person,they progressivelylose the higher intellectual functions,and rely commensurately on their instinctive centre.

So a person in a life-threatening situation may act entirely on instinct, especially if stress, fatigue and injury affect the functioning of the higher centres of intellect.That the mind can know whatto do, or assess a situation to find a way through – and act accordingly,even when severely shocked and injuredgives insight onto how strong the willto live is, as well as how powerful the non-verbal/intellectual centres of the ‘stomach’ are.It can be seen at such times how resilient the basis of our mind and body – the instinctive centre – is, through allkinds of situations and difficulties.

In the section of Gilgamesh where Utnapishtim recounts surviving the Deluge by building a boat, it isstated that guidance of the boat was given to the navigator, Puzur-Amurri. This is (arguably) a symbolic reflection of the instinctive centre’s guidance of the body, effectively independent of the conscious mind. (Puzur-Amurriis said to mean ‘protection of the god’, which correlates as such). Indeed the word ‘puzur’ means ‘secret’, of whatever matters as such; in this sense it reflects perfectly the Hebrew meaning of the word ‘Nahash’ (the bronze serpent created by Moses for medical purposes) which has as one it’s meaning the same thing; ‘knower (or keeper) of secrets’. In this way both can be seen to link to the instinctive ‘darkest’ ‘hidden’ centre of the human being, the instinctive centre. In Gurdjieff terms, as well as Sumerian mythology of Enki, this relates to the ‘stomach’ level of the three-brained being. In brain terms it is the ‘reptilian’ centre, concerned exclusively with instinctive functions of the human body.

This innate ability of the body, as well as of the emotional and mental centres, affirms the advice of Gurdjieff to strive towards always being sensitive to the perceptions of all the centres within the body,rather than just the ones we tend to prefer or habitually rely on – and to thus always aim towards being “all-centres-balanced”.

SIDE-BAR

Whether there are any positive interpretations of the celestial lineages (as the Sumerian ones are predominantly), which are indicated in the Old Testament is a matter for debate, and personal assessment. But the more the Bible is examined, the more complex it’s wisdom is seen to be, so that simplistic assumptions are rarely found to have good foundations. Perhaps in this way the Bible rewards each reader according to their level of being, and consciousness, and in this way encourages a striving to change them within the self. For example, the story of Noah’s Ark is clearly impossible, upon a minimum of reflection. No mention is made of trapping male and female pairs of every animal species on earth; let alone the impossibility of tracking them down; or fitting them within the Ark. So while it is thus a myth or narrative, that did not happen as simply as depicted, this gives it much greater meanings metaphorically, from the judgement of mankind, to the Deluge, and the establishment of civilizations afterwards. In other words, it can be read in various ways; firstly, as Gurdjieff taught, as a ‘mystery-school’ text examining how the aspirant should marshal his resources to follow the path towards enlightenment and perfection… this sense is supported by the text of Gilgamesh, which in the second half of the epic after the death of Enkidu turns to Gilgamesh’s realization that he is neither perfect nor immortal, despite his ‘heroic’ status. In short the poem becomes a ‘grail quest’ concerned not with renewing society or the hero’s  homeland, but with achieving ‘heavenly’ status, or a ‘soul’.

And additionally the events depicted in the Flood narratives, both in Gilgamesh, and the Bible, may be an artistic description of historical events which did affect the entire world; but with implications of celestial intervention that guided the course of events circa 10,800Bce, as well as holding metaphorical keys related to the creation of domesticated animals and crops/plants by the cosmic visitors, as well as the genetic narrowing of mankind at the point where Noah and his family (as the only humans to survive the Flood), may hold genuine significance concerning mankind’s evolution, as all the nations of the earth grew from the 3 sons of Noah.

To consider briefly the levels of consciousness – or being – of the various characters within the epic of Gilgamesh, one can divide them into 7 separate and quite clearly differentiated levels,namely;

1. The ‘gods’ – or ‘deities’                           –    perfected selves- or ‘cosmic beings’.

2. Utnapishtim, and wife/Siduri/boat-pilot  –    perfected humans/ now ‘cosmic’.

3. Gilgamesh                                             –    Grail Quest (failed/return to normal life).

4. Enkidu                                                  –    Failed/not ready for quest/ dies.

5. The Hierodule, Shamhat.                         –    Sophisticated, worldly, female.

6. The townsfolk                                 –    Normal, unperfected, growing.

7. The robot                                  –    Mechanical, hopeless.

As can be seen, there are clear distinctions between the various levels, which provide a ladder of being, a scale of sorts, for the careful reader to compare the wisdom, and being, of the story’s characters. And perhaps to then gauge their own way of life, and readiness to aim for the ‘higher life’… this can surely be taken as evidence as to the experienced level of consciousness of the writer(s) of the poem../?/.

And additionally, for those who view epics as requiring vast armies, battles, and societal upheavals, this provides an example of how the development of consciousness and being very often take place away from the spotlight of society…the examples in the Old Testament of a character developing (or receiving divine inspiration) away from the centre of action of kings and their courtiers,are incredibly frequent…the episode of Elijah in the desert and the cave being tested, and given help  by the angel of the Lord,at 1 Kings 19, is an epic passage in itself.

So for example, the choosing of David as king of Israel exemplifies this difference-the tallest, best looking candidate is chosen initially as most suitable – until the Lord intervenes choosing unassuming youth David, saying “Men choose a king by what is in his face – but the Lord chooses by what is in his heart…”

And so on. The true prophets of the Old Testament for the most part stay away from the courts of the ruling kings, indeed are often in conflict with them,being concerned more with their own development than with worldly influence or power..

And of course, in Gilgamesh, the highest level of being possible for a human is held by Utnapishtim and his wife, who once granted this blessing by Enlil after The Flood, were then taken to live beyond the world, in The Faraway as it is termed, at ‘the parting of the waters’ , a cosmic location, somewhere within the reaches of the solar system possibly…

Notes on – TABLET XI – GILGAMESH’S TEST. THE PLANT OF LIFE / GILGAMESH RETURNS HOME.

Utnapishtimand his wifewelcome this stranger into their home, situated at ‘the confluence of the rivers’, symbol  of the higher spheres, whether on earth or outside of it. . . (like the centre of the circle in the double-circle symbol of the Vesica section, where the four ‘rivers’ pour from the centre of the ‘heavenly’ circle into the four-square material reality of earth, signified by the squared circle. This form of energy diffusion through the dimensions, and it’s representation as rivers may have been initially conceived by the Sumerian culture – see the depiction in this image of the Earth, as indicated by the four-square base plus omphalos marker-stones on which it rests, emanating water/ four rivers as shown).

Two points of note occur in the stela of Shamash; firstly the representation of the ‘star’may be referring to the Sun, or possibly to the Earth, placed on the ground as it is; and as noted elsewhere, highly possibly symbolic of the central areas/Locations on earth where the energies of the heavens are received and distributed from. As such it may be equated with the four rivers of Eden, showing the outward flow of divine energies, from a central point into this world; and in related fashion, the symbol may be representing the solar nature of life-forces contained within both material rivers, and energetic ‘rivers’ within the material dimensions of earth.

And secondlythe cord in the hand of Shamash is one of the clearest in antiquity of the ‘cord of protection’ which was placed around the universe to protect the Creation against the forces of chaos or entropy. Also linked to the cords given to the ‘angels’ to measure, in both Revelations (11.1), and the Book of Enoch (ch.51), as well (!) as the ‘stretching of the cord’ ceremony in ancient Egypt, from the 6^th dynasty on, a ceremonyfor establishing the (sacred) bounds of the land. Over time this protective symbol in artworks came to be placed around the name of the sovereign, the Pharaoh, thus beginning the custom of the ‘royal cartouche’ within hieroglyphics. With the small changes to symbols that occur across centuries, in the civilizations stemming from Sumer in the 2^nd and 1^stmillenniaBce such as those of Babylon and Assyria, it is highly possible that this symbolic looped cord was changed into a small ‘bucket’ or container, possibly as understanding of the meaning of the cord was lost. No doubt the container was considered to hold water, as representative of the provision of life itself by the gods.

It is in this final section that the epic sees the testing of the being of Gilgamesh, according to the test set by Utnapishtim, the representative of those who are blessed with ‘eternal life’ for their attainments ie. ‘perfected beings’. In terms of the 12^th century grail quests this section is the same as when the knight Perlesvaus reached the castle at Montsalvat (or the ‘castle Perilleum’, or the castle ‘of souls’; or ‘castle Eden’ in various 12/13^th century versions), to be tested similarly.

So Utnapishtim sets Gilgamesh the ‘simple’ task necessary to be granted eternal life; he must stay awake for one week. And curiously, considering the ‘heroic’ nature of Gilgamesh’s various achievements, he does not manage to succeed in the slightest when it most counts; he falls asleep almost instantly;

“As soon as he sat down (with his head) between his legs

Sleep, like a fog, blew over him.”

Utnapishtim said to his wife:

“Look there! The man, the youth, who wanted (eternal) life!

Sleep, like a fog, blew over him!”

Anyway, to return to our (sleeping) hero, Gilgamesh’s daily bread stands witness only to his failure as he sleeps through his test for 7 days and nights.  And as with several motifs, or metaphors of this subtlest of the epics of antiquity, there is not so much a judgement of morality, of  ‘good’ or ‘bad’,  so much as an understanding that most aspects of human life contain not only the seeds of growth, but also the potential for imbalance, and failure. . .

Nevertheless, Gilgamesh’s failure notwithstanding, it is with apparent kindness and sensitivity when he awakes, that they give Gilgamesh the opportunity here to refresh and wash himself, and put on clean apparel before he returns to the normal world – and Utnapishtim perhaps far sightedly (?) gives him the knowledge of where to find the plant of Eternal Life (his original quest), along the way home. (No abode in the Heavenly sphere for poor Gilgamesh)…

This Plant he finds, with the help of the boatman, in the depths of the Apsu (the waters of the abyss) – but stopping that evening

at a  clear pool to wash before returning home to Erech – he immediately loses the Plant of Life to a snake, predecessor of the

serpent of the Garden of Eden..!

It might be germane to briefly examine this irony, with attention to the differences between Utnapishtim and Gilgamesh, for

in this is the difference that separates them. In Gilgamesh’s original quest, at home, was his wish to avoid death, to live forever.

To not suffer the human fate of others. Utnapishtim on the other hand, was more balanced, and less personally ambitious, thus

proving his inner worth. Thus receiving the help and guidance of the god Enki as the planet moved towards the immense

catastrophe of the Deluge, who was not prepared to see humanity destroyed by Enlil’s decision.

(A brief word here, to state the possibility that virtually all legends of the Flood may have been concerned with some events a little more complex than simply a surfeit of rain/ the flooding of the lands; thus it is possible to combine these floods with more wide-ranging phenomena – so to rephrase the concept, far more may have been going on, at a planetary level than simple flooding; chief amongst such possibilities is the great destabilisation caused by a reversal of the Earth’s magnetic fields, possibly resulting in earthquakes, volcanic activity, tidal-waves, atmospheric phenomena, droughts, famines, and so on. This sort of widespread upheaval, could have been the type of scenario large areas of the Earth underwent, over the course of perhaps a year or two or more- thus leaving it’s imprint in the memory of many peoples, by it’s universality, and uniqueness…) Sitchin of course proposed that the periodic arrival of the ‘wandering’ planet Niburu of the Anuna tribe caused immense gravitational, magnetic and energetic disturbances to the equilibrium of planet Earth every 3,600 years; the times being around the time of Jesus, 3,600 Bce (matching the birth of Sumer proper), 7,200 Bce bringing innovations to the Fertile Crescent and agriculture, and 10,800 Bce being the time of the Deluge…

Whether this concept is intended as ‘real’, or is symbolic of some (unknown) planetary energetic process operating on a 3600 year cycle is unclear; evidence is hard to find. Perhaps science may have some results which show a 3600 periodic disturbance to life on Earth, ie in growth cycles – or maybe it doesn’t. The significant thing to bear in mind is the Anunnaki’s mythology contains possibilities the ‘uniform’ theory of evolution in history overlooks; and additionally points to the importance of cycles of number, such as 60 x 60 = 3600 meaning that the sexagesimal system of measuring both time and space introduced by the Sumerian civilization connects the dimensions of the Earth with those of  the higher dimensions of the heavens; or more simply, matter with energy. One of the most central aspects of cosmic number, and

something which mankind was introduced to in it’s early formative stages…

Anyway, to the survivor of the Deluge –  Utnapishtim -this innate decency of his is reflected in the telling of the tale in the Bible, as Noah is deemed the most worthy man of his age on the Earth, and one who deserves as such the ‘blessing’ of ‘divine help’…

And yet the story of the conception of Noah related in the Book of Enoch, (plus in fragments of the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls Books of Jubilees andNoah) tells a disturbing tale;when he is born, he has bright white hair and skin, which glows ‘like the sun’, and bright blue eyes as bright as lamps; and his chest has a patch of dried skin, or horn. In the Book of 1Enoch, in ch.106; Lamech is convinced his son is not his, but a child of the Watchers. He tells his father Methuselah;

“I have begotten a strange son, diverse from and unlike man, and resembling the sons of the god of heaven*; and his nature is different and he is not like us, and his eyes are as the rays of the sun and his countenance is glorious. And it seems to me that he is not sprung from me, but from the angels”.

It appears he has ‘gotten’ a child from the Watchers; much like Eve says in Genesis when pregnant with Cain, “I have gotten a man from the Lord” – something said in Jewish rabbinical texts to reflect the circumstance of the Serpent of Eden coupling with her while Adam was elsewhere in the Garden. (Ginzburg, Legends of the Jews, 1909). His father Lamech is so worried by this other-worldly baby that he sends to his grandfather Enoch for advice. Enoch, who is residing ‘in the heavens with the angels’ (identically to Utnapishtim residing in ‘thefar away’) reassures him that the child is his. Yet he asks his wife if the baby is his, or someone else’s.  When she asks who, he says the child looks like one of the children of the gods, the Watchers. He asks his wife again if she has slept with ‘one of the Watchers’ – she responds by asking would he tread upon his wife’s finer feelings? Methuselah the father of Lamech travels to the ‘extremities of the earth’ to consult hisfather, Enoch, who lives in seclusion while writing the secrets of heavenly wisdom (to pass on to mankind to help rebuilding after the forthcoming Deluge. Noah’s grandfather Methuselah says to his father Enoch;

“Unto Lamech my son there hath been born a son, the like of whom there is none, and his nature is not like man’s nature, and the colour of his body is whiter than snow and redder than the bloom of a rose; and the hair of his head is whiter than white wool, and his eyes are like the rays of the sun, and he opened his eyes and thereupon, lighted up the whole house. And he arose in the hands of the midwife, and opened his mouth and blessed the Lord of heaven”.

Enoch has been blessed by having been taken up through the heavens, by two angelic beings to hear the words and plans of the Lord. This prophet, one of the holiest figures in the Old Testament, upon hearing the report of Methuselah, replies;

“I have shown you that in the generation of Yared my father, those who were from heaven disregarded  the word of Yahuah. Behold they committed crimes, laid aside their class, and commingled with women. With them also they transgressed, married with them and begot children. A great destruction therefore shall come upon all the earth, a deluge, a great destruction shall take place in one year.

The child which is born to you shall survive on the earth, and his three sons shall be saved with him. When all mankind who are on earth shall die, he shall be safe and his posterity shall beget on the earth giants, not spiritual but carnal. Now inform your son that he who is born is his child in truth, and he shall call his name Noah for he shall be to you a survivor. He and his children shall be saved from the corruption which shall take place in the world, from all the sin which shall take place in his days. Afterwards shall greater impiety take place, for I am acquainted with holy mysteries, which Yahuah himself has discovered to me, and which I have read in the tablets of heaven. Generation after generation shall transgress, until a time when the righteous shall arise, and crime shall perish from off the earth, until all goodness come upon it. Now go and tell your son that the child which is born is his child in truth, and that there is no deception.”

 (The Book of 1Enoch, ch 106).

 Thus the matter of Noah’s lineage has more questions than answers in this  book and other related ones. It is more than coincidental – ie. stands interpretation as an ‘allegorical sign-post’ –  that Cain and Seth’s lineages have identical names, indicating the two lines are somehow intertwined, in ways difficult to discern. But the passage quite clearly indicates one of the main subtexts of antiquity, that the genes of the Watchers are present to a high degree in Noah. As Lamech in the Cainite line (the two are near identical, indicating some form of relationship) bewails the long-term ‘fate’ heand his bloodline must endure –

“If Cain shall be avenged seven-fold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold” (Genesis 4.24)

(thus introducing the 7/ 77/ 777 motif or cos# theme which will from then link the ‘celestial’ lineages with the powers of the sun). So the narrative is that like Gilgamesh, Noah is ‘of the bloodline of the gods’; and like Moses in the Old Testament, and several other figures, exists under constant pressure because of this. A perspective like this may explain the unhappiness and restlessness of Gilgamesh, and his need to fulfil a ‘Grail Quest’, in clear contrast to the ordinary humans of the city.(see the Bible sections on King David, St Peter, and Moses.)

But the survival of the ‘bloodline of the gods’ as represented by Noah and his family is one of the key moments of history; for what is the Book of Genesis telling us about the ‘bottle-neck’ of humanity which then peopled the nations of the world, as the sons of Noah did.  Was the line of Noah one of the Nephilim, which YHVH said caused the Flood? Or a different ‘cosmic’ lineage, from earlier more harmonious lineages?

So the story of the Flood is a troubling and opaque narrative, both in the Bible, and in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

In Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim listens to his ‘celestial’ guide, plans his course, builds his craft for preserving mankind’s and nature’s seeds, and is a calm presence at all times, when warned of the forthcoming catastrophe, then during and after the Flood.

And when the architect of the flood, Enki’s elder brother, Enlil discovers the survival of the seed of their creation, Mankind, he is at first filled with wrath. Unlike virtually all the other gods, of the Anunnaki. For as they left the surface of the Earth in their space craft, to circle around Earth for the duration of the flood, many wept as they watched from their orbit above, the destruction of mankind, the towns and cities, their work and creation.

” Some cowered like dogs, against the wall…their lips were feverish of thirst,

they suffered cramps from hunger.”

(This is the earliest artistic image known possibly highlighting the different  experiences of those spiritual beings who remain  in ‘the heavens’, and those who directly undergo the problems of life personally, on the material plane – a theme repeated in many re-tellings and stories throughout history).

” Inanna (Ishtar) cried out like a woman in travail”, and wept –

” alas, the olden days are turned to clay…”

The elder goddess Ninmah, instrumental in the genetic birthing of the Adam and Eve likewise cried.

” My creatures have become like flies, filling the rivers like dragonflies“.

So when it came to light that a spark of mankind had survived, with the aid of Enki, few of the gods were troubled by this, the opposite in fact – except Enlil, the overall ruler.

” When he saw the ship, Enlil was wroth, he was filled with rage against the Igigi

gods. Has some living soul escaped? No man was to survive the destruction…”

…

Yet as the other gods unanimously support the survival of mankind, Enlil is gradually brought by their both assuagement and reproachto acceptance instead. And beckoning Utnapishtim and his wife to him, he touches their foreheads,and blesses them, granting them eternal life, to live in ‘the faraway place’…the ‘heavens’.

So in contrast to Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim was a worthy and intelligent being, who through his  maturity and selflessness, was granted the honour of ensuring mankind’s survival, and afterwards the blessing of eternal life, with his wife, to exist thereafter in a cosmic setting.

Gilgamesh was less deserving for various reasons, in fact it can be argued that his idea of immortality – intending for his life (of achievement, and pleasure) to go on as before, in the earthly setting, but for longer – is the foremost difference between him, and Utnapishtim/Noah.

Thirdly, the granting of cosmic consciousness, and/or immortality, to the successful individual, ie, Enoch, Utnapishtim/Noah, Elijah, Daniel(tested twice in Sun-related metaphors- in the fire-and in the lions den), Ezekiel, Isaiah, and so on. It is here that we approach the crux of our study, for this wisdom, or gift of life, is the object of the self-perfection of the  Grail seeker – it is the cosmic energy that creates and maintains life itself…

So Gilgamesh fails in his quest,and sleeps for the full week – presumably due to exhaustion. Although there may well be a deeper message within this failure, considering the importance of the task, and the opportunity to gain eternal life ie ‘a soul’.

What this may well be indicating is the inherent dichotomy within the hybrid bloodlines, of being ‘mighty men’ and ‘warriors’ and kings, and yet weak and incomplete beings, who need to strive to perfect themselves if the flaws of the lines are to be avoided. The Bible has many instances of compromised individuals who contain this inner-contradiction, some of whom are quite cognisant of their own nature; King David for instance, who sees the weakness of his bloodline as well as it’s fierceness;

2Samuel 3.39;

And I am this day weak,though anointed king. And

these menthe sons of Zeruiah (his cousins) be too hard for me;

The Lord shall reward the doer of evil accordingto his wickedness.

Nevertheless,Utnapishtim and his wife watch over Gilgamesh’s sleeping form, while he anticipates his excuses /denials when he wakes;

“Utnapishtim said to his wife:

Mankind is deceptive, and will deceive you.

Come, bake loaves for him, and keep setting them by his head

and draw on the wall each day that he lay down.”

thus formulating a  neat demonstration of how far short he falls of the required standard, by baking a cake of bread for each day that he slumbers.

In a side-track of interest,bread in the Bible is used as a metaphor for learning, and understanding- representing the product of our daily lives and labours, with which over time our inner selves grow; thereforein a more ‘esoteric’ sense, as the end-result of the mystery schools/sources of higher consciousness which created them… so bread was used to symbolize the accumulated,(or simply concentrated) wisdom of these significant organisations within mankind’s history; rather as 17/18^th century schools used the symbol of the beehive, and honey to represent the same concept(s).

In this metaphor,the different energies,and activities of a person in ‘the work’ can be seen as ingredients, the variations of which determine how well growth is attained.

So the Old Testament’s first book introduces this complex analogy, with the following, spoken by the Lord God to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden – at the moment they are cast out into everyday reality of problems and pains, at Genesis 3.16;

¹⁶In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, til thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.

No more will they exist in a blessed state of being, where their heavenly consciousness is enabled for them by the environment they live within. This is symbolic in one sense of ‘the fall’, from heavens to earth (in the Ray of Creation – though Eden is sited upon earth it represents the part of it which is celestial). This difference in energies between levels of the cosmos is mirrored in the words of YHVH when he curses Cain at Genesis 4.11-12;

¹¹And now thou art cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to

receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it

shall not yield henceforth unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond

shall thou be in the earth.

Just the references in the first book of the Old Testament alone indicate the metaphorical meaning(s) given to bread throughout the Bible… so it comes to assume (particularly in the sense of wheat) a sense of being asymbol of the Sun and it’s life-giving energies. Thus bread assumes further symbolic layers of meaning relating to the ‘material’ product of God’s spirit, and the energies of the Cosmos as they apply to the evolution of the Earth – fertility and growth.And so, once this metaphor is established, differences in each of the ingredients (water, grain, yeast, salt); in the time taken and method used to preparethe dough; and in the amount of heat in the oven, and so on, can therefore likewise be applied to the growth (or ‘baking’)  of  wisdom, andcorresponding being, within the self. (see the Bible’s Book of Proverbs’ first chapters for the connection between respect for ‘Sophia’, ‘wisdom’, and the growth of the spirit).With regard to the bread metaphor, differences at any stage of the process will therefore affect the final outcome in the quest for (self-)perfection. This analysis is one which Gurdjieff wrote in detail, using the same process of bread-making to represent that of working upon oneself.

So from a Grail quest perspective, the bread of everyday life, the fruits of material life, become a little tarnished, embodying the pleasure of food, or worldly experience, from  which the aspirant must lessen his/her over-reliance…

Perhaps this is what Moses  was indicating in Deuteronomy 8.2-3 when he said;

²And thou shall remember all the way which the Lord

thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness,

to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in

thine heart…

³And He humbled thee,and suffered thee to hunger, and

fed thee with manna… that he might make thee know that

man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that

proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.

There are many other references to bread in the books of the Bible;

– Exodus; the bread of heaven in the wilderness- manna.

– The Feast of Passover, or The Feast of Unleavened Bread,

to celebrate the escape from Egypt.

– Proverbs;’stolen waters are sweet – and bread eaten in

secret is pleasant’.

– Ecclesiastes; ‘go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink

thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.’

– (Again,as in Gilgameshthe metaphor can be viewed in dual terms;

ie, as Utnapishtim says to Gilgamesh when he ‘fails’ in his Quest by sleeping –

Go, enjoy the bread of normal life. . .

– Ecclesiastes again;’Whatsoever thy hand find to do, do it with thy might;

for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave,

whither thou goest. I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not

to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise,

nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill.

But time and chance happeneth to them all.  For man also knoweth not his

time.. .’

– Isaiah; For behold, the Lord of Hosts doth take away from Jerusalem… the

stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water…’

– again;’wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread.’

– in the New Testament, in Matthew, Jesus says; ‘It is not meet to take the

children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord; yet the

dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.

– Luke 11.3, The Lord’s Prayer; Give us day by day our daily bread.

– Matthew,on Judas; from the first day of the feast of unleavened bread (Passover),

he sought to betray him.

– Matthew; Jesus warns of the leaven (yeast – distortions) of the Pharisees.

– Matthew; The Last Supper – And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and

blessed it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my

body.

– Luke; When Satan tests Jesus on the mountain – If thou be the Son of God,

command this stone that it be made bread.

– Luke; at Jesus’ resurrection, and return; And it came to pass, as he sat at

meat with them, he took bread and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And

their eyes were opened, and they knew him. . .

– John;For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth

life unto the world…And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of Life,  he

that cometh to me  shall never hunger.

– Corinthians;the Lord Jesus the same night he was betrayed, took bread,and

brake it and gave it. . .

And so on, illustrating the curious ‘vines’ or ‘threads’ of various metaphors, which run through theBible, and similar works of cosmic consciousness.

Nb; Bearing some relevance,it is a matter of historical fact that the word “LORD” itselfis derived from a 12^th or 13^th  century Anglo-Saxon word, ‘lowarden‘. Thisaccording to linguistsmeant at that time ‘loaf warden’! ie. the person in control of the community’s resources. Quitea fitting connection to the overall theme.

And linguistically,in Gilgamesh,the name of the ark builderUtnapishtim provides someinteresting food for speculation, connecting the semi-divine hero to the piscine nature of hybrid deities /kings such as Enki/Ea, Oannes, and so on. The word for fish has it’s roots as far back as Proto-Indo-European where ‘*peyks’ was used for fish. Possibly with links to other cultures – but widespread throughout history definitely; ‘episcopalian’ for instance, in the Roman Catholic church stems from it, due to the piscine connections of both Jesus and Simon Peter.

There is an interesting point of support for the theme of this chapter,in his (excellent) book Serpent in the Sky,the Egyptologist John Anthony West writes there is a hieroglyph representing the dual nature of the division of the primal unity, as this division both enables further developments in the process of the multiplicity of energy finding different modes ofevolution to experience (thus increasing the cosmos’complexity,and thus meaning); and as such the process of creating unity within diversity – while simultaneously this can be viewedless positively as a ‘fracture’ of the divine unity as it divides itself into the higher and lower dimensions…so in making the evolution of matter and energy possible (what can be viewed as ‘the outward breath of Brahma’), something can be said to be lost, the unity of the ‘heavens’, or energetic realms.

An alternative viewpoint is that all the different levels are reflections of the growth of the ‘Creation’, in which all of the parts are dependent upon the whole, and evolve in unison through their interactions and relationships. As in the Qabalah, every stage from 1 to 10 enables more and more relationships and structures of reality. This symbol gives meaning to each of the numbers between 1 and 10 in ‘cosmic number’ terms, as symbolizing a discrete level of the energetic and material dimensions at that stage in the evolutionary process. Viewed from the perspective of the Ray of Creation, this universal inter-connectedness’ is broadly the concept of Gurdjieff called ‘reciprocal maintenance’. Each level of the Ray of Creation from ‘All Galaxies’ down to the ‘Moon’ exists to transform the energies of the cosmos for itself, and onwards for the good of the entirety, in a manner much similar to the metabolism of the human body. As J.G.Bennett writes in Making a New World, this process was necessary to renew the universe, or enable it to survive the degradations of Time; “Everything separate and closed within itself must perish for lack of a principle of renewal. Full renewal requires full mutuality. It is by universal giving and receiving of energies that cosmic harmony is maintained.”(p159-60).

 Mankind, like organic life exists to fulfil a universal purpose in this respect too; mankind’s energies are essential to the working of everything within the solar system, if not the cosmos – showing the importance of this unique planet.Thus the damages done to the earth by man’s selfish appetites affect not only the living world, but far wider afield.And the imbalances caused in nature by humanity’s excesses and destructiveness affect the quality of the energies within the earth (as ‘Gaia’) so significantly that the only result in the future can be greater disequilibrium until genuine changesare achieved.

One symptom is the increasing loss of fertility/ productiveness of the soil in many of the world’s agricultural regions – as artificial fertilizers and excessive crop production, etc impact upon vitamins and minerals within the crops produced, the future as things are looks to be unsustainable. As Bennett writes,

The soil is less than one-millionth of the earth’s mass, and yet. . . it is the scene of nearly all of the transformations upon whichlife depends… We know that our life is dependent upon the soil. The deserts produced by the ‘rape of the soil’ are a constant reminder of the precarious hold that we have upon life. When soil is treated with substances incompatible with it’s essence – it’s place in universal maintenance is disturbed, and it gradually ceases to liberate the energies that are needed for the evolution of our planet. We are already beginning to observe the consequences of creating an ecological imbalance on the level of soil essence. If we look more deeply, we discover that we are violating the laws of our own existence, and perhaps understand that this must bring it’s own retribution. (p160)

The words of YHVH to Cain when banishing him (at Genesis 4.12) resonate;

‘When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth’.

As noted already, this bears some similarity to the loss of fertility caused by salination in the irrigation-dependent agricultures of the Sumerian and Akkadian civilizations, which left the ground unworkable for many decades, and caused an effective collapse of society requiring mass-scale migrations.

The Laments of Sumer and Urim contain a similar theme when describing the storm which lashes the land;

On that day Heaven rumbled, the earth trembled, the mountains roared. Shamash (the sun) lay down at the horizon, dust passed over the mountains. The foreigners in the city even chased away it’s dead. Large trees were uprooted, the forest trees were ripped out. The crop drowned while it was still on the stalk, the yield of the grain diminished.

To return to the concept of the difference between the higher and lower dimensions, or matter and energy, the Egyptians,according to West, found the most fitting symbol for this duality in both positive and negative terms, in natureto be the ‘snake’. For while giving further expression to the potentialities of intelligence,as a cosmic energy,the serpent’s intelligence can also be said to be divisive and incomplete,from a higheror spiritual  perspective. .. (possibly because of it’s ‘separation’ from emotion, as well as instinct).

In the Epic of Gilgamesh the creature which through its intelligence and subtletyrecognises and makes awaywith the gift of eternal life–called the Plant of Life in the poem – is of coursethe snake. As it is similarly depicted in the Garden of Eden.

And what is the epithet actually used for this snake in the epic, as asymbol of a valuablebut dangerous energy for humans (harmful without the long process of conscious resolution and refinement)? It is calledseveral timesin this part of the poem, ‘the lion of the ground’.

In this interplay of themes and symbols is one of the key points of themetaphor; for in using the symbol of the snake to represent the powers andpotentials of solar energies,as the lion is so used,the authors were indicating the double-edged sword that solar masculineintelligence is,when developed without the balances offeminineenergies. Either aspect holdmany potentials,but without discernment and refinement and balancethe endresult is unlikely to approach completeness,such as the full symbol ofthe Tao suggests…

For those who are uncomfortable with the possibility that we are influencedby the energies of the Sun and the Moon as stated,it is perhaps fair torestate the assertion in alternative language; namely,that we are,as products of,and as the highest (materially situated) expression ofthe cosmic energies at work throughout the universe,we receiveor exist uponthe ‘masculine’ creatively productive,and ‘feminine’creatively receptive forces present within all levels of reality. Andas such happily contain the ability to refine the balance of these forces within ourselves into ‘perfect’ equilibrium…

While there are those who would say that they do not rely on theseenergiesfrom the Sun,Moon, Earthand elsewhere for their proper functioning,as they cannot perceive them, for the greatest part these energies are absorbed and utilised on a deeply subconscious, instinctive basis,this being the work of the instinctive centre in particular. Although all the energies we exist upon are ‘cosmic’ in nature. As Gurdjieff showed, within the human being are present proportions of the energies of each of the levels of the Ray of Creation, from the highest to the low. Each human is thus to varying extent a mirror of the inter-connected levels of the cosmos – ‘Man is a microcosm of the Universe’ – and the one can be read from the other. See Ouspensky’s In Search of the Miraculous for more on this).

That the snake, the ‘lion of the ground’ represents solar and cosmic energies was a basic metaphor throughout antiquity. Symbols of the Ouroboros, the serpent encircling the world with it’s tail in it’s mouth were devised by the Greeks; while the Egyptian civilization in concurrence with the earliest Sumerian used the snake to represent an integral part of the fabric of the universe   –

(left) Akhenaten and Nefertiti, bas-relief, the temple of Abydos.

This extends to representations of the rays of the Sun being depicted as serpents; in other words this equates the energies of the sun with the metaphor of the lion (which is likewise ubiquitous throughout antiquity). So the life-giving solar energies are implied wherever serpents are included in the narrative, throughout all of the civilizations studied. The serpent by which steals the Plant of Life while Gilgamesh bathes in the pool on his journey home therefore symbolizes the energetic pathways by which the Sun maintains life on earth; and in addition to this, the powers of the intelligence infused into humanity by the serpent/ water deity Enki in the ‘birthing creation chamber’ described in the Anunnaki myths.(see the myth of ‘Cattle and Grain’ which mentions that the creation of the cattle-god and grain-goddess, as well as then human beings took place in something called ‘the creation chamber of the gods’ – Samuel Noah Kramer, p72).

So the multiple levels of the metaphor are linked by the concept of power, in particular that of the Sun in it’s relation to the earth and life upon it. As with all forms of power, the dividing line between optimal and unbalanced power is a thin one, with the latter represented by beings with uncontrolled and excessive powers (of the sun.) So the serpent is a perfect symbol for both types, and must be analysed in each instance for the writers’ intentions.

Another crucial symbol present from the Sumerian period onwards is the other symbol of the tableau in Gilgamesh at the pool; the Plant (or Tree) of Life. Obviously not a single plant, what does this concept therefore mean?

As it is the stuff of life itself it must be referring to a cosmic phenomenon; as mentioned, effectively the solar and other energies which represent the workings of the higher dimensions on earth. Other plants were given similar ‘sacred’ attributions over the millennia; for example the gods were often associated the ‘date-palm’ in stelae in Sumer and in Egypt, and later Hebrew iconography – possibly because it’s name of ‘tamarisk-palm’ meaning ‘dark’ (Hebrew; ‘tamar’) indicating the unknowable nature of the gods. The Sumerian myth of the Tamarisk and the Date-Palm’ was later followed by Babylonian Egyptian and Hebrew ideas of the same nature whereby the manifestations of heaven were represented by the ‘ultimate’ symbol of life’s goodness, the (fruit)-tree. The symbol of the Tree of Life was also instituted by the Sumerians in the stela shown below, in a form which was then copied across thousands of years and numerous places. In fact it can be said that there is no other image as frequently depicted in the entirety of the period between 3000-500 Bce.

(left)The Tree of Life;Assyrian version from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, Nimrud, 883-859 Bce, and (right) an older Akkadian version of the same tableaux, from the 2^nd millennium Bce.

The figure on the left of the picture is often an ‘eagle’- headed ‘angel’, or protective spirit (as in the middle of the three images to the left); the figure to the right behind the human is believed to be Utu/ Shamash, the sun deity (often allied with Ea/Enki, the deity concerned with giving wisdom to mankind). Shamash appears to be holding a ‘pine-cone’ towards the back of the man’s head (at the occipital bone of the skull); for what reason cannot be said definitively.

Yet this action appears to hold great inner significance, and as such may be connected to some of the central themes of the Anunnaki myths and narratives, as well as later biblical ones.

The human/bird figure, (akin to Hindu hybrid god Garuda) symbolizes the heavenly,non-human nature of the being, as such connecting it potentially to some of the most relevant orders of angelic beings in the Bible, such as the Seraphim.(It is a common-place of Near Eastern mythology and religious art from this era that heavenly beings were indicated by  the presence of a pair of wings ; see left, threeimages of winged deities/ celestial beings from 10^th century Bce Assyrian/ Aramean stela, and from another Assyrian depiction c.900 Bce of the Tree of Life, from the Louvre museum); it is certain that this tableaux, of some form of celestial intervention to the state of the human being among other things, is one of the most reproduced and repeated images of Near Eastern antiquity, for the period of one thousand years at leastafter it’s first appearance in Sumer.

And what are the celestial beings doing in the Tree of Life? Placing what looks to be something like a pine-cone into the back of the man’s neck; this object may be argued to hold significance in several ways; firstly, the shape of it is possibly a pine-cone. This may link the action of the ‘infusion’ to the ‘pineal-gland’, which derives it’s name (in the 17^th century) from the pine-cone! The pineal-gland is said to be at the centre of the brain’s ability to connect with cosmic energies or dimensions, and is called ‘the third eye’ in Eastern esotericism. Descartes called it ‘the principal seat of the soul’, an amazing conclusion to reach about an organ little bigger than a grain of rice. Which may itself be a link to the biblical saying that ‘the kingdom of heaven is no bigger than a mustard seed’. . . incredibly, the pineal-gland is not separated from the blood-flow of the body, unlike the rest of the brain protected by the blood-brain barrier system, the pineal has ‘profuse blood flow’ with only the kidney receivinga greater blood supply relative to it’s weight.  And the pineal-gland is located precisely towards the centre of the lower back of the head, at a point close to the brain-stem also, (virtually where the brain-stem meets the brain).

As well as being a possible symbol of the pineal-gland, the pine-cone itself incorporates some cosmic principles, in particular that of Phi, the Golden Proportion; in the pine-cones spirals are found the Fibonacci sequences of numbers which define the number of spirals in many plants in nature; the pineapple, sunflower head, tansy flower (from the Greek, meaning ‘immortal’), various floret vegetables such as cauliflower veronica, as well as countless plants, sea-shells, galaxies, weather systems, the DNA helix, the body (crown of the head, the ear, the finger-prints, etc) and so on. This cosmic principle is therefore being inserted into the human being (possibly the ‘pre-human’/ hominid form the Anunnaki are said to have inserted their celestial DNA into at various points circa 100,000 – 35,000 years ago) thus ‘perfecting’ the human being, creating the ‘adama’, or ‘homo sapiens’.

Finally, the object may be seen to be similar to both a pyramid, and more abstractly the ‘tetractys’, the symbol popularized by Plato and the Greeks for showing the primacy of the numbers 1-10 in representing reality, in the form of a pyramid of 4, 3, 2 and 1 dots – as shown by the flowing from the unity of 1 down to the stability of 4, which equates to material reality. As the sum of 10 is contained within the tetractys therefore 10 symbolizes the complete process of energetic forces finding expression within the material forms of reality. The dodecahedral (12-fold) nature of the heavens in contrast is seen in the 12 Tribes of Israel, the 12 Houses of the Zodiac, the months of the year, the hours of the day and the night, even in major nerve systems within the body and brain, there being 12 cranial nerves within the human body. (similarly, with regard to ‘cosmic number’ there are 12 majorand 72 minor acupuncture meridians within the body believed to convey Qi energy along pathways which feed the nervous system; which pattern the muscles and tendons etc, which shape and mobilize the skeleton, upon which framework everything is situated…)

The point where the deity is placing the pine-cone is of great significance too; having already noted in various sections the importance of the Octave, in linking the doubling of energies as they vitalize matter; the octave, and the Law of Seven are ways of analysing the changes in vibrational frequency within matter within the processes of existence; Gurdjieff stated that all phenomena and processes of growth or change occurring within reality show the workings of the Law of Seven.

Related to the word ‘octave’ are the words for axis/ oak/ octave/ ox/ oss (bone) – all are concerned with the essential energy/matter continuum called the Tree of Life, or World Tree. Within the body this is obviously the spine, from the ‘sacrum’ at the pelvis up through to the Occiput where the spinal cord meets the brain. The spine is the essential information super-highway of the body, along which millions of electrical signals pass every second, relaying information up to the brain for analysis, and down to the body for movement and so on. So this point of the human body is a key junction, where it might be said that energy and matter meet within the human frame. As we saw in the Egypt section, the Great Pyramid and Sphinx at Giza are at a point on the Nile where it then branches out into the Nile Delta, thus creating from above a symbol of this ‘gateway point’ on the earth’s surface; compare the two diagrams, of the spine/brainstem, and Giza/the Nile.

Thus the celestial being in the Sumerian stela is (symbolically) inserting a cosmic symbol towards the ‘seat of the soul’ (the pineal) at a point where the spiritual and material worlds meet, upon the central axis of the body; an axis which in effect is the human ‘Tree of Life’ conjoining the heavens and the earth.Note in the third image, from a bas-relief of Assyria displayed at the British Museum the head-ribbon (?) reaching down from the hat; this may well be a reference to the symbolism of the brain-stem and the spine believed encoded into the original tableaux.

Hence the centrality of this stela throughout thousands of years across the Middle and Near East of antiquity. What is of interest is the subject matter of the various stelae – with time there may be said to have been a loss of understanding of the subjects of ‘celestial consciousness’ within the stelae where the artists were concerned. This occurred over time as the Anunnaki stepped back from contact with humanity towards the Piscean era. By 500 Bce virtually all that remained of what was once daily guidance and personal leadership of the deities of the Anunnaki was the memory of such ‘protectorship’. As Sitchin notes, the stelae and texts even of the Hebrew civilization bear witness to this gradual sense of abandonment, and a wish for the situation to return to what was the norm in preceding eras; one where gods were said to inhabit the temples atop the ziggurats, travel to and fro between the celestial planet and the ‘landing places’ in the Near East such as the divine mountain in Lebanon (where Gilgamesh and Enkidu ‘trespassed’ when seeking the advice of the gods), lead their nation’s armies into battle, and so on.

The Hebrew faith ascribed the increasing distance of YHVH to the ‘sins of the people’ (as in some of the Psalms), and begged for his return; but once the narrative is known, that the separation of the Anuna from humanity was assured from the day it began (for the cosmic purposes of the free will of mankind), then there is nothing that could have changed the situation, or improved it.

With regard to the Tree of Life, there are more symbolic meanings attached to it yet. . . ones connected to questions of mathematics and geometry, as we saw in the Vesica Piscis section; for the Tree of Life is an exact match for the tables of the height, hypotenuse and width of the inner-triangles of the centre of the Vesica; itself a symbol of the balance and symmetry of the different dimensions. The double-triangles of the Vesica match not only the Tree of Life, but also the basic structural plan of the Great Pyramid, (situated at the centre of the world’s landmasses), and the pattern of the constellation of Orion.

Said to be the source in it’s symmetries of the ground-plan of the Pyramids at Giza, and the constellation represented by the Egyptian deity Osiris. The original etymology of Osiris is Asur/ Asar; like the Hebrew As/Uz the stem for words concerning ‘bone’, or ‘foundation’, or ‘strength’ – thus giving the meaning every related symbol in this section was said to own. One more link is that Orion may have been so named in Babylon from the Sumerian Ur-Anna/u, which means ‘the light of the heavens’; or of sun-light. Thus bringing us full-circle to the energies of life we started this final section with. . .

And there is the fact that there already exists a ‘ground-lion’ which has received our attention; namely, The Sphinx at Giza..!

Moreover,we have discussed the fact that the Sphinx is perfectly oriented to the Eastof the compass – and as suchnot only does it guide our attention to the heliacal rising of the Sun, at due East(at all Spring Equinoxes,no matter what point in the Great Cycle of Precession).In doing so,it also looks directly along the 30th Parallel, significant line of force ingeometric and telluric terms(which may be compared to the Chinese feng shui concept of dragon-lines) which circles the globe with the energies of the Sun and the heavens.

To return to Gilgamesh on his journey home to Uruk-haven, once he has lost his hard attained gift, the Plant of Life (or Eternal Youth), there is nothing to do but to continue his journey home. Upon reaching Uruk/Erech he points out to Urshanabi the quality of it’s construction, the celestial source of it’s design;

“They arrived in Erech-Haven.

Gilgamesh said to Urshanabi, the ferryman,

‘Go up, Urshanabi, onto the wall of Erech and walk around.

Examine it’s foundation, inspect it’s brickwork thoroughly–

is not (even the core of) the brick structure of kiln-fired brick

and did not the Seven Sages themselves lay out it’s plan!

One league city, one league palm gardens, one league lowlands,

the open area of the Ishtar Temple,

three leagues and the open area of Erech it encloses.

In a repetition of the first verse of the epic – a structure which brings the reader full-circle, and perhaps Gilgamesh too – for having failed in his quest to achieve immortality and the blessing of the gods, he must return to ordinary life, to resume the threads of his former life. Whether he has learnt from his experiences remains unanswered.

THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH – an abridged version of the poem.

PRECIS–

Tablet I. Introduction to Erech-Haven, and the hero/king,Gilgamesh.

”  II. Enkidu’s creation, civilization by Shamhat;Gilgamesh & Enkidu meet; fight; become best friends.

” III. Preparations for the quest – to the sacred mountain in Lebanon.

”  IV. The journey to the forest/mountain of the Gods.

”   V. The Cedar forest – Humbaba the terrifying robot/the battle.

”  VI. The goddess Inanna proposes to Gilgamesh.

” VII. The great Gods conference/the death of Enkidu.

“VIII. Gilgamesh mourns Enkidu…

”  IX. Gilgamesh roams the mountains/wilderness,ponders man’s mortality.

”   X. The inn-keeper (replenisher) Siduri questions G.’s appearance.

Gilgamesh’s journeyto ‘the Faraway’ with the pilot Urshanabi. He meets

Utnapishtim, survivor of the Deluge.

”  XI.THE STORY OF THE FLOOD.

Gilgamesh seeks eternal life. The Plant of Eternal Youth. His return home to Erech-Haven.

Tablet I. INTRODUCTION TO ERECH-HAVEN, AND THE HERO KING GILGAMESH.

He who has seen everything I will make known to the lands.

…Anu granted him the totality of knowledge of all.

He saw the Secret, discovered the Hidden,

he brought information of (the time) before the Flood.

He went on a distant journey,pushing himself to exhaustion, but then was brought to peace.

He carved on a stone stelae all of his toils; and built the wall of Erech-Haven, the wall of the sacred Eanna Temple, the holy sanctuary.

Go up on the wall of Erech, and walk around,

Examine it’s foundation,inspect it’s brickwork thoroughly,

…did not the Seven Sages themselves lay out it’s plans?

Supreme over other kings,lordly in appearance

he is the hero,born of Erech,the goring wild bull.

…Mighty net, protector of his people

raging flood-wave who destroys even walls of stone!

It was he who opened the mountain passes,

who dug wells on the flank of the mountain.

It was he who crossed the ocean,the vast seas,to the rising sun,

who explored the world regions, seeking life.

It was he who reached by his own sheer strength Utnapishtim,the Far-Away,

who restored the sanctuaries (cities)that the Flood had destroyed!

Two-thirds of him is god, one-third of him is human. . .

The great Goddess (Aruru) designed the model for his body.

She prepared his form. . .

. . .beautiful, most handsome of men,

. . .perfect.

He walks around the enclosure of Erech,

Like a wild bull he makes himself mighty, head raised

There is no rival who can raise his weapon against him.

His fellows stand alert, attentive to him,

And the men of Erech become anxious. . .

Gilgamesh does not leave a son to his father,

Day and night he arrogantly (?)

Is Gilgamesh the shepherd of Erech-haven,

Is he the shepherd. . .

bold, eminent, knowing and wise!

Gilgamesh does not leave a daughter to her mother.

The daughter of the warrior, the bride of the young man

The gods kept hearing their complaints, so

The gods of the heavens implored the Lord of Erech (Anu)

. . .”bold, eminent, knowing and wise,

Gilgamesh does not leave a girl to her mother!

The daughter of the warrior, the bride of the young man”,

Anu listened to their complaints,

And the gods called out to Ninhursag (Anu’s wife);

It was you. . . who created mankind,

now create a zikru to it/ him.

Let him be equal to his (Gilgamesh’s) stormy heart,

let them be a match for each other so that Erech may find peace!”

When Ninhursag heard this she created within herself the zikru of Anu

She washed her hands, she pinched off some clay, and threw it into the wilderness

In the wilderness she created valiant Enkidu,

born of silence, endowed with strength by Ninurta (early Sumer god of agriculture/healing/hunting)

He knew neither people nor settled living,

He ate grasses with gazelles,

And jostled at the watering hole with the animals,

as with animals his thirst was slaked with mere water.

A trapper addressed his father, saying

Father, a certain fellow has come from the mountains.

He is the mightiest in the land,

His strength is as mighty as the meteorite of Anu!

. . .he filled in the pits that I had dug

wrenched out my traps that I had spread,

released from my grasp the wild animals.

The trappers father spoke to him saying;

My son, there lives in Erech a certain Gilgamesh.

There is no one stronger than he,

Go, set off to Erech,

Tell Gilgamesh of this Man of Might

He will give you the harlot Shamhat, take her with you.

The woman will overcome the fellow (?) as if she were strong

When the animals are drinking at the watering place

have her take off her robe and expose her sex

When he sees her he will draw near to her,

and his animals, who grew up in his wilderness, will be alien to him.

This all goes according to plan; after a week with her he no longer associates or identifies with

the wild animals, but thinks and talks like a human – he is civilized. (Initially in his new state, he goes

to get water, but the animals sense the change in him, and run away;

for six days and nights Enkidu stayed aroused,

and had intercourse with the harlot

until he was sated with her charms.

But when he turned his attentions to his animals

the gazelles saw Enkidu and darted off.

Enkidu. . .his utterly depleted body

his knees that wanted to go off with his animals went rigid;

Enkidu was diminished, his running was not as before.

But then he drew himself up, for his understanding had broadened.

Turning around, he sat down at the harlot’s feet,

The harlot said to Enkidu,

‘You are beautiful’, Enkidu, you are become like a god.

Why do you gallop around the wilderness with the wild beasts?

Come, let me bring you into Erech-Haven,

to the Holy Temple, the residence of Anu and Ishtar,

the place of Gilgamesh, who is wise to perfection.

Enkidu, you who do not know how to live,

I will show you Gilgamesh, a man of extreme feelings,

he has strength mightier than you

without sleeping day or night

Enkidu, it is your wrong thoughts you must change!

It is Gilgamesh Shamhat loves,

And Anu, Enlil (etc) have enlarged his mind,

Even before you came from the mountain

Gilgamesh in Erech had dreams about you”.

Gilgamesh meanwhile tells his mother of a dream of a heavenly comet landing by him;(fear of change?); she tells him this is the creation of herself and Anu;

‘As for the stars of the sky that appeared

and the meteorite of Anu, which fell next to you,

you tried to lift but it was too mighty for you,

I made it compete with you,

and you loved and embraced it, as a wife,

It is he who will repeatedly save you.

Your dream is good and propitious!’

Which Gilgamesh accepts; ‘may I have a friend and advisor; a friend and advisor may I have!’

Tablet II.  Enkidu’s  ‘civilization’/ THE FIRST MEETING OF GILGAMESH AND ENKIDU

Shamhat’s ‘taming’ of Enkidu  continues. She again declares her love  for Gilgamesh… Enkidu wishes to

meet him. They repair to a shepherd’s hut where Shamhat clothes him, (and repairs her own clothing)*

*the use of washing the self, and donning clean clothing as a metaphor, or ‘indicator’ of metaphysical

questions is frequent throughout the narratives of the numerous characters and events of the epic…

Shamhat then introduces him to eating and drinking prepared meals like a human;

‘The harlot spoke to Enkidu, saying;

          Eat the food Enkidu, it is the way one lives;

          Drink the beer, as is the custom of the land…

      . . .and he drank the beer; seven jugs! and became expansive

           and sang with joy! / He was elated and his face glowed’.

Following this he washes, and puts on clean clothes;

           ‘He splashed his shaggy body with water,

            And rubbed himself with oil, and turned into a human.

            He put on some clothing, and became like a warrior…’

–  then he and Shamhat journey towards the city.

They meet a man who is hurrying to a wedding. He tells them he is hurrying, because;

      ‘. . .the selection of brides. . .

            I have heaped up tasty delights for the wedding on the ceremonial platter.

            For the King of Broad-Marted Uruk (G.),

            Open is the veil of the people for the choosing of a girl’. . .

In other words,  Gilgamesh will have first intercourse with the bride, the husband second, and more

‘match-making’ opportunities will be present thereafter, perhaps. Of Gilgamesh’s ‘kingly privilege’ the

poem says,’This is ordered by Anu, from the severing of the umbilical cord it has been destined for him’.

Enkidu is angry at this news, and they hurry to the streets of the city. Enkidu blocks the entry of Gilgamesh

to the marital chamber – they grapple and fight.

After some time Gilgamesh stops, and embraces Enkidu, and they become best friends.

Here the mother of Gilgamesh speaks plaintively to him; She went up to Shamash’s gateway

(leader of the Igigi who circled above earth according to Sitchin – ‘those who turned’, or ‘those

who observe and see’ – and Middle/Eastern god representing the Sun – and Eagle figure in stela)..! 

      – plaintively she implored – ‘Enkidu has no father or mother…

        he was born in the wilderness, no-one raised him’…

Enkidu hears these words, and begins to weep. Gilgamesh takes his hand, and Enkidu declares to Gilgamesh (presumably an oath of friendship or fealty).(42 lines missing-) presumably Gilgamesh suggesting they journey to the Cedar Forest, which circles the holy mountain, the ‘landing place of the gods’, in Lebanon –

    Enkidu replies to Gilgamesh;

      ” To protect the Cedar Forest (around the sacred mountain/ landing place 

        of the gods) Enlil (Lord of the Earth/ author of the destruction of the flood)

        assigned Humbaba  (the robot) as a terror to mankind.”

   Gilgamesh replies-   

     ‘ Who my friend can ascend  to the heavens? Only the gods

       can dwell forever with Shamash

       As for human beings, their days are numbered, and

       whatever they keep trying to achieve is but wind’…

    (See Ecclesiastes for same. Many correlations between these two texts…)

‘Now you are afraid of death- what has become of your bold strength?

         I will go in front of you (to cut down the Cedar, and battle Humbaba)

         Should I fail, I will have established my fame…it is I who will

         establish fame for eternity…’

       They go to the forge, to fashion an axe and weapons for the battle ahead.

       Enkidu asks the townspeople to dissuade Gilgamesh from his plans;

      ‘Humbaba’s roar is a flood/ his mouth is fire, his breath Death!…

     – who among even the Igigi can confront him?

  Tablet III.  PREPARATIONS FOR THE QUEST.

   Gilgamesh listens to the counsel of the town elders, who say;

            ‘Gilgamesh, do not put your trust in just your vast strength

             but keep a sharp eye out, make each blow strike it’s mark…

             The one who goes ahead saves the comrade

             Let Enkidu go ahead of you

             He has seen fighting, he has experienced battle’…

Gilgamesh says to Enkidu for them to visit the temple of his mother, Ninsun, to ask which path

   to follow;

  ‘Ninsun, I must go to kill Humbaba the terrible,

   to eradicate from the land

   something baneful that Shamash hates,

   intercede with Shamash on my behalf.’

(right) Shamash seated on throne, from The Tablet of Shamash,

c.900 Bce, Sippar, Mesopotamia under rule of the Assyrians.

Wikimedia, Public Domain.

The words of Gilgamesh grieve Queen Ninsun. She prepares herself with ablutions,

and new vestment, and goes to the roof of the Temple alone to consult with Shamash 

She blames Shamash for inflicting a restless heart on Gilgamesh.

         ‘…on the day that you see him on the road

            may Aja the Bride without fear remind you

            and command also the Watchmen of the Night,

            the stars, and at night your father Sin’.

           (the god of the Moon) to protect her son.

She then calls to Enkidu, saying he is not of her womb, but he should consider himself as

such in his task, of protecting Gilgamesh as his brother.

   Tablet IV. THE JOURNEY TO THE FOREST/MOUNTAIN OF THE GODS.

The two friends journey. They walk many leagues,until they reach a mountain range near Lebanon.

Gilgamesh climbs the mountain,and makes an offering to Shamash (the setting sun) whilst Enkidu prepares their sleeping place;

            He made him lie down,and…in a circle.

            they…like grain from the mountain…

            While Gilgamesh rested his chin on his knees

            Sleep that pours over mankind overtook him’

 (presaging his experiences on his journey to the ‘faraway’ later on).

     Gilgamesh has troubling dreams and visions, hears voices in the night…and says to Enkidu,

                            ‘the dream I had was deeply disturbing,

                             in the mountain gorges…

                             the mountain fell down on us.

                             Wet (?). . .like flies…

                             he who was born in the wilderness.

Enkidu seeks to reassure Gilgamesh, says the dream was ‘most favourable’… this repeats during the

night, indicating forthcoming trials. The next night after travel similar dreams and visions occur. The

following night, while the disturbances continue, Shamash’s voice from the clouds declares to them;

‘Hurry, do not let Humbaba enter into

                           the forest,and hide in the thickets.

                          ‘ he has not put on his 7 coats of armour’.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu say, emphasizing the universal need for support and unity;

‘One alone cannot-

                Strangers…

                a slippery path is not feared by two people who help

                each other… a three-ply rope cannot be cut.’

   They journey on, and reach the Forest the next day;

Tablet V.  THE CEDAR FOREST – HUMBABA THE ROBOT/ THE BATTLE.

         They stood at the forest’s edge, 

         gazing at the top of the Cedar Tree

         gazing at the entrance to the forest  

         Where Humbaba would walk there was a trail…

         Then they saw the Cedar Mountain,the Dwelling of the Gods…

         Across the face of the mountain the Cedar brought forth

         luxurious foliage/ its shade was good,extremely pleasant…’

        -Suddenly the swords…and after the sheaths…the axes were smeared…

         dagger and sword…alone. ..

         Humbaba spoke to Gilgamesh, saying, ‘He does not come. ..

         …Enlil.’

Enkidu repeats his coda to Humbaba saying

‘Humbaba, one alone. . .

        …strangers…

         a three-ply rope cannot be cut.’

Humbaba says to Gilgamesh’…an idiot and a moron should give advice to each other,

                     but you,Gilgamesh,why have you come to me?

                     Give advice,Enkidu,you ‘son of a fish’,who does not even know

‘                    his father’.

                     You have brought Gilgamesh into my presence,

                  …you stand…an enemy, a stranger…

                     Gilgamesh,throat and neck,

                     I would feed your flesh to the screeching vulture,the

                     eagle and the vulture’

Gilgamesh spoke to Enkidu, saying ‘ my friend,why does Humbaba’s face keep changing..?’

   Pleasantries over, a fight to the death begins, a flurry of tumultuous strife;

            ‘ the ground split open with the heels of their feet,

              as they whirled around in circles Mt Hermon and Lebanon split.

              The white clouds darkened/ death rained down on them like a fog.

              Shamash raised up against Humbaba mighty tempests,Northwind. . .Eastwind,

           …Ice wind,demon wind, wind of Simurru,Storm,Sandstorm..’!

                   ‘so that Humbaba could not move; Humbaba begged for his life;

                   ‘O scion of the heart of Erech,King Gilgamesh.

                 …Gilgamesh,let me go, I will dwell with you as your servant (?)

Enkidu addressed Gilgamesh,saying;

                   ‘My friend,do not listen to Humbaba’

              Humbaba;’You understand the rules of the forest,the rules…

                  further ,you are aware of all the things so ordered by Enlil

                  I should have carried you up,and killed you/

                  at the very entrance of the forest’…

                  So now,Enkidu, clemency is up to you.’

Enkidu recommends to Gilgamesh, ‘kill, destroyand pulverise Humbaba, Gilgamesh before

                      the pre-eminent god Enlil hears…’

     As in the story of the deluge, (later in the poem,and Noah/Atra-hasis versions),

     the wishes of the gods – Enlil,Lord of Earth, ad Enki his brother,Lord of the

     Waters/South,are at variance with each other. Gilgamesh and Enkidu are able to act against

     Enlil’s servant Humbaba, because the fellow divinities Shamash, and Ninsun (and Enki?)

     support them against the ‘Lord of the Command’, Enlil.

 After more discussion between Enkidu and Gilgamesh, they kill Humbaba.

      …they ‘pull out his insides including his tongue’;

          ‘ …abundance fell over the mountain,

               abundance fell over the mountain…

     While Gilgamesh cuts down the trees, Enkidu searches through the ‘urmazallu’

               – symbol of?

      (they plan to float the cedar down the Euphrates river to Nippur,

       and make a triumphal door from it;)

      ‘My friend, we have cut down the towering Cedar* whose top scrapes the sky…’;

      ‘they tied together a raft…Enkidu steered it/ while Gilgamesh

       held the head of Humbaba.’

   –  *possibly a symbol of the authority of Enlil, and the divine landing place,

       restricted to Lebanon as the cedar was. See…the importance of Cedars in the Bible/ Solomon, etc.

Tablet VI. THE GODDESS ISHTAR PROPOSES TO GILGAMESH

   They wash themselves,’throwing off their dirty clothes and putting on clean ones’.

   But they do not do so unobserved…

          ‘When Gilgamesh placed his crown upon his head/ a princess Ishtar

           raised her eyes to the beauty of Gilgamesh’

(Inanna/ Ishtar- not the original ‘Mother’ of mankind – Ninnar/Ninsun- in the Anuna pantheon

she was the daughter of Enki. Thus as the succeeding generationbecame the foremost ‘goddess’,

the Queen of Heaven, of the middle-lateS/A/B/A eras, theSumerian goddess of the Eanna

(‘house-of heaven’;temple of Erech,in circa 2500Bce)- when adopted by later Mesopotamian civilizations (c.2100-500Bce) – plus within surrounding areas (such as the Phoenician’s goddess

Astarte/ Greek Aphroditeetc…)

Esther (see Old Testament book)and Easter, oestrogen/ all feminine/fertility-associated, very

likely derived from her name root.She has many names,myths,and stories associated with her

in the Sumerian cultures,and by the late-Sumerian era was equivalent to being the pre-eminent

‘feminine aspect of the divinity’, among the other gods and goddesses…ie the main goddess

women in particular prayedto,in all stages of their lives.)

   ‘Come along Gilgamesh, be you my husband/ to me grant your lusciousness.

    Be you my husband, and I will be your wife

 …Bowed down beneath you will be kings,lords and princes’…

Gilgamesh answers the goddess with a degree of circumspection;

   ‘What would I have to give you if I married you!

    I would gladly give you food fit for a god,

    I would gladly give you wine fit for a king.

   (you are. . .)

   …a half-door that keeps out neither breeze nor blast

      a palace that crushes down valiant warriors

      pitch that blackens the hand of it’s bearer…

    Where are your bridegrooms that you keep forever..?’ ¹

¹ this perception of Gilgamesh raises a key issue namely the

      ‘inauspicious’ weddings of gods and humans…

      As in the book of Genesis,Enoch,Greek myths etc –

    (including Ishtar and Tammuz, a sheep-herd), there are

    virtually no clear examples of fulfilled marriages,and families…

Gilgamesh then goes on to list some of her previous lovers/husbands;

   You loved the Shepherd, the Master Herder,

   Who continually presented you with bread baked in embers

…Yet you struck him, and turned him into a wolf,

   so his own shepherds now chase him,

   and his own dogs snap at his shins…

   You loved Ishullannu, your father’s date gardener,

   You raised your eyes and you went to him;

   Ishullanu said to you;

   What is it you want from me!

   Has my mother not baked,and have I not eaten

   that I should now eat food under contempt and curses

   And that alfafa grass should be my only cover against cold?’…²

And now me! It is me you love,and you will ordain for me as for them!”

² notwithstanding the mentioned ubiquity of Ishtar as a feminine goddess

     in late Sumerian/ABA / Middle Eastern cultures, it might be fair to argue that she is

     more representative of the ‘nubile young woman’,rather than

     middle-aged, (and sexually ‘inactive’) ‘mother’-role. ..

 Anyway…  Ishtar’s response is not unexpected;

  When Ishtar heard this,in a fury she went up to the heavens,

  Going to Anu,her father and crying,

  going to Anrum, her mother,and weeping.

 “Father, Gilgamesh has insulted me over and over.

  Gilgamesh has recounted despicable deeds about me,

  despicable deeds and curses!”

Anu addresses her calmly;   

  ‘Was it not you who provoked King Gilgamesh?’

   So that he recounted despicable deeds about you,

   Despicable deeds and curses!’

Ishtar says,

  ‘Father, give me the Bull of Heaven,

   So you can kill Gilgamesh in his dwelling. ..

   If you do not give me the Bull of Heaven, 

   I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld

   I will smash the door posts,and leave the floors flat down

   And will let the dead go up to eat the living. .!’

 Anu replies,

   ‘If you demand the Bull of Heaven from me,

    there will be 7 years of empty husks for the land

    Have you collected grain for the people!’

Ishtar answers smoothly,

   ‘I have heaped grain in the granaries for the people,

    I have made the grasses grow for the animals.’

  At which Anu recognises prudence and places the nose-ring of the

  Bull of Heaven in  her hand, which she leads down to Earth.

Ishtar leads it down the Euphrates, and Sumer. Examples of it’s

  power are given,it snorts and a huge pit opens up; a hundred men

  fall in,etc. Then more. Then Enkidu falls in the hole, but only

  up to his waist…

   He jumps out and literally seizes the bull by the horns!

  ‘My friend,we can be bold (?)-

   My friend,I saw…

   And I will rip out…

   I and you,we must share (?)

   I shall grasp the Bull…

…between the nape,the horns,and…thrust your sword.’

   Enkidu stalked and hunted down the Bull of Heaven…

…while Gilgamesh boldly and surely approached…between

   the nape,the horns,and…he thrust his sword.’

   Straight away they tear out its heart,and present it as an offering

   to their protector Shamash, then;

 ‘They withdrew bowing down humbly to Shamash.’

  The inevitable uproar occurs;

Ishtar went up onto the top of the wall of Erech-Haven,

  cast herself into the pose of mourning,

  and hurled her woeful curse;

 “Woe unto Gilgamesh who slandered me and killed the Bull of Heaven!”

 At which Enkidu tears off the Bull’s hindquarters and throws

 them in her face, with some strong words..;

 “If I could only get at you I would do the same to you!”…

 Ishtar reacts immediately;

 ‘…(she) assembled the (cultic women) of lovely-locks,joy-girls and

  harlots and set them to mourning over the Bull.’

Gilgamesh examines the remains of the Bull,summoning the artists and craftsmen they

 admire the thickness of its horns, each made from lapis-lazuli ! (ie,as if to

 say the Bull, like Humbaba, was a robot, a ‘machine’ created by the gods…)

 ‘Two fingers thick is their casing.

  Six vats of oil (!) the contents of the two

  He gave as ointment to his (personal) god,Lugalbanda. ..

 They wash their hands,and walk beside each other through the streets

 of Erech, with Gilgamesh asking the palace retainers,

 ‘Who is the bravest of the men 

Gilgamesh is the boldest of males…

  She at whom we flung the hindquarters of the Bull Of Heaven in anger,

  Ishtar has no-one that pleases her in the street’.

 They hold a celebration in the palace,

 ‘The Young Men dozed off,sleeping on the couches of the night.

  Enkidu was sleeping,and had a dream,

  He woke up and revealed his dream to his friend’.

Tablet VII. THE GREAT GODS CONFERENCE/ THE DEATH OF ENKIDU.

 Enkidu’s dream forebodes troubles;

  ‘My friend,why are the Great Gods in conference?

  in my dream,Anu Enlil,and Shamash held a council,and

  Anu spoke to Enlil;

 ‘Because they killed the Bull of Heaven and have also

  slain Humbaba,

  The one of them who pulled up the Cedar of the Mountain

  must die!’

 Enlil agrees saying ‘let Enkidu die,but Gilgamesh must not die’.

 Shamash defends them both;

 ‘Was it not at my command that they killed the Bull, and

  Humbaba? Should innocent Enkidu now die?’

 Enlil becomes angry,blaming Shamash for encouraging them.

 Enkidu is lying there sick, in front of Gilgamesh,who asks why

 he is being absolved instead of his brother…

 Enkidu is troubled in his mind,that he is to be killed,and

 will become a ghost,to roam the Cedar Forest alone,never to

 be with his brother again.

 He takes leave of his senses,talks to the door (the ceremonial

 door made of the wood of the Cedar),and calls it a stupid wooden door;

‘Had I known that this was your gratitude. ..

  I would have taken an axe,and chopped you up’.

Gilgamesh listens to his friend’s irrational words and the tears flow

 from his face as he cautions him to be tactful;

“My friend, the gods gave you a broad mind and…

 Though it behoves you to be sensible, you keep

 uttering improper things!

 The dream is important but very frightening,

 your lips are buzzing like flies.

 Though there is much to fear,the dream is important.

 To the living they (the gods) leave sorrow

 to the living the dream leaves pain.

 I will pray and beseech the Great Gods…

 I will appeal to Enlil,the Father of the Gods…

 I will fashion a statue of you,of gold without measure,

 do not worry…gold…

 What Enlil says is not…

 What he has said cannot go back,cannot…

 My friend…of fate goes to mankind”

 As dawn breaks,Enkidu raises his head,and cries out to Shamash,

 recounting the time he was brought from the marshes in order to

 control Gilgamesh; he curses the trapper in the marshes,he curses

 Shamhat the harlot; ‘I will curse you with a great curse. ..’

 Shamash,hearing Enkidu’s lengthy cursing,speaks down from the sky

 reminding him of the blessings his new life brought him;

 “Enkidu,why are you cursing the harlot Shamhat

  she who fed you bread fit for a king (consciousness)

  she who dressed you in fine garments,

  and she who allowed you to make beautiful Gilgamesh your comrade!

  Now Gilgamesh is your beloved brother-friend 

  He will have you lie on a couch of honour…

  He will have the people of Erech go into mourning for you…

  And after he will don the skin of a lion and roam the wilderness”

‘As soon as Enkidu heard the words of valiant Shamash,

 His agitated heart grew calm,his anger abated.’

 He now blesses the harlot Shamhat instead,wishing joy for her.

 Then he recounts a further dream,to Gilgamesh;

 He spoke everything he felt, saying. ..

 ‘Listen my friend,to my dream…

  The heavens cried out and the earth replied,

  And I was standing between them.

  There appeared a man of dark visage-

  His face resembled the abyss (anzu)

  His hands were the paws of lions,

  His nails the talons of an eagle!

 -he seized me by the hair,and overpowered me.

  I struck him a blow but he skipped about like a jump rope,

  and then he struck me,and capsized me like a raft,

  and trampled on me like a wild bull.

  He encircled my whole body in a clamp.

 “Help me my friend!” I cried,

  But you did not rescue me,you were afraid,and did not…”

 “Then he. .. and turned me into a dove,

  So that my arms were feathered like a bird,

  Seizing me,he led me down into the House of Darkness…

  to the house where those who enter do not come out,

  along the road of no return…

  On entering the House of Dust,

  everywhere I looked there were royal crowns gathered in heaps,

…it was the bearer of crowns,who in the past had ruled the land,

   who now served Anu and Enlil cooked meats,

   served confections and poured cool water from waterskins.

  In the House of Dust that I entered

  there sat the high priest and the acolyte,

  there sat the purification priest and ecstatic,

  there sat the anointed priests of the Great Gods.

  There sat Ereshkigal (means?) the Queen of the Netherworld,

  Beletseri,the Scribe of the Netherworld,knelt before her,

  she was holding the tablet and was reading it out to her Ereshkigal.

  She raised her head when she saw me. ..

 ‘Who has taken this man?'”

 Following this, Enkidu is struck down with illness, and lays in

 his bed,one day,two, upto ten days,growing worse each day; he

 calls to Gilgamesh for him to support him,as he dies…

Tablet VIII. GILGAMESH mourns ENKIDU

Gilgamesh recounts the life, and actions of Enkidu, and the friendship of

 the two.

“…Enkidu my friend, the swift mule. . . the panther of the wilderness

    after we joined together and went up into the mountains,

    fought the Bull of Heaven and killed it,

    And overwhelmed Humbaba,who lived in the Cedar Forest.

    Now what is this sleep which has seized you?

    You have turned dark and do not hear me!

   But his eyes do not move,

   he touched his heart,but it beat no longer.

   He covered his friend’s face like a bride,

   swooping down over him like an eagle,

   and like a lioness deprived of her cubs,

   he kept pacing to and fro.

   He shears off his curls and heaps them on the ground,

   ripping off his finery and casting it away as an abomination.”

  Gilgamesh has entered a new phase of life. ..

  The tablet ends with Gilgamesh giving obeisance to Shamash,and leaving to

  roam the wilderness, dressed in wild animal skins.

 Tablet IX.   GILGAMESHROAMS THE MOUNTAINS, MOURNING ENKIDU AND PONDERING HIS MORTALITY.

Gilgamesh laments as he wanders alone through the landscape;

 ‘I am going to die – am I not like Enkidu

  Deep sadness penetrates my core,

  I fear death,and now roam the wilderness

  I will set out to the region of Utnapishtim  (Noah figure)

  When I arrived at mountain passes at nightfall,

  I saw lions and I was terrified!

  I raised my head in prayer to Sin (the Moon god)

  He was sleeping in the night,but awoke with a start with a dream;

  A warrior enjoyed his life –

  he raised his axe in his hand

  drew the dagger from its sheath

  and fell into their midst like an arrow…

  He struck and scattered them,

  The name of the former…

  The name of the second…**

**Of interest here, is how this dream presages the behaviour of Gilgamesh

  when he damages the ability of the boat of Urshanabi to travel

  across the (cosmic) waters to reach his aim of meeting Utnapishtim…

  especially considering it is two things that he damages.

  The effect is like a kaleidoscope of spiritually significant moments…

  (some 26 missing lines here,) then Gilgamesh on his quest to speak with the

   survivor of the flood encounters some other-worldly beings and places ;

…Then he reached Mount Mashu,

   Which daily guards the rising and setting of the Sun,

  above which only the dome of the heavens reaches,

  and whose flank reaches as far as the Netherworld below,

  there were Scorpion-beings watching over it’s gate.

  Trembling terror they inspire, the sight of them is death

  Their frightening aura sweeps over the mountains.

Gilgamesh approaches them,terrifiedbut determined…

 ‘The scorpion-being called out to his female;

 ‘He who comes to us,his body is the flesh of the gods’

  His female answered him,saying,

 ‘Only two thirds of him is a god, one third is human’.

 They ask him his reason for approaching –

Gilgamesh explains to speak with his ancestor Utnapishtim,

“Who joined the Assembly of the Gods,and was given eternal life.

  About Death and Life I must ask him.”

 The scorpion man replies that ;

  ‘never has there been,Gilgamesh ,a mortal man who could do that.

   No-one has crossed through the mountains,

   for twelve leagues it is darkness throughout-

   dense is the darkness,and light there is none.’

Gilgamesh answers

“Though it be in deep sadness and pain,

  in cold or heat –

  gasping after breath – I will go on!

  Now! Open the Gate!”

 The scorpion-man grants Gilgamesh the right to enter-

‘The Mashu Mountains I give to you freely,

  the mountains,the ranges,may you traverse-

  The gate of the mountain,to the rising of the Sun.’

Gilgamesh begins his journey;

 ‘As soon as Gilgamesh heard this

  he heeded the utterances of the scorpion-being

  Along the Road of the Sun he journeyed –

  one league he travelled –

  dense was the darkness, light there was none.’

 He travels further into the darkness,from one to 12 leagues*

(in a poetic form very similar to the journey of the spirit of

 the Pharaoh through the (12 hours) of the night,upon death;

 from the earth, through purgatory/hell, to the Heavens…)

 ‘Eleven leagues he travelled, and came out before the Sun(rise)

  Twelve leagues he travelled and it became brilliant,

…it bears lapis-lazuli as foliage,

  bearing fruit,a delight to look upon. . .

  /Gilgamesh . ..on walking onward,

   raised his eyes and saw…

Tablet X.  THE INNKEEPER (REPLENISHER) SIDURI.

Having journeyed beyond the known world now, Gilgamesh meets Siduri,the

‘inn-keeper’;

The tavern-keeper Siduri who lives by the sea-shore,(universe)

She lives…

the pot-stand was made for her,the golden fermenting vat was made for her

She is covered with a veil…

Gilgamesh was roving about…

wearing a skin…

having the flesh of the gods in his body,

but sadness deep within him,

looking like one who has been travelling a long distance.

*note- the use of cooking/domestic implements as objects of ‘religious’

reverence/symbolism was popular across virtually all of the

main cultures of the Middle East at this early stage of civilization,

(see Sumerian objects discovered in the Tomb of King,for example).

Most probably this resulted from their being objects of clear

significance and worth to all members  of society – especially when

then gold-plated, and revered.

The tavern-keeper mistakes Gilgamesh for a murderer, not a king on a quest! –

“That fellow is surely a murderer !

Where is he heading?…”

…she bolted her door,

bolted her gate, bolted the lock.’

But at her noise Gilgamesh pricked up his ears,

lifted his chin, and then laid his eyes on her.

“Tavern-keeper, what have you seen that made you bolt your door,

bolt your gate, bolt the lock?”

Siduri repeats her worries, he looks like a vagabond, a murderer…

Gilgamesh answers forcefully,

“I am Gilgamesh, I killed the Guardian!

I destroyed Humbaba who lived in the Cedar Forest,

I slew lions in the mountain passes!

I grappled withe Bull (of Heaven),and killed him.”

Siduri asks, if you are Gilgamesh, who did all these things,

“Why are your cheeks so emaciated, your expression so desolate?

…Why is there such sadness deep within you?”

Gilgamesh explains the series of events that led to his situation; the friendship

with Enkidu, their journey to the Cedar forest, their battle with the robot

Humbaba; and their battle with the Bull of Heaven.

” My friend,whom I love deeply, who went through every hardship with me,

Enkidu,whom I love deeply…

the fate of mankind has overtaken him”.

Further, he adds,

“I began to (then) fear death, and so roam the wilderness.

The issue of my friend oppresses me, so I have been roaming

long trails through the wilderness…”

“How can I stay silent,how can I be still!

My friend whom I love has turned to clay.

Am I not like him? Will I lie down,never to get up again?”

“So now,tavern-keeper,what is the way to Utnapishtim!

What are it’ markers…Give me the markers!

…If possible,I will cross the sea;

if not,I will roam through the wilderness…”*

*  the ‘sea’ here,in context of the ‘quest’ Gilgamesh is following,is the’sea’ of the depths of ‘space’ –

the ‘Lord of the Deep’, as theAnunnaki god Enki is called,as well as the various beings in the Old Testament

are labelled as ‘sea-creaturesof the ‘deep’; Tiamat,Leviathan etc, indicating origins beyond thelimits of the

solar system…

And the markers thus assume the character of astronomic guide-points…

Siduri answers kindly,

“There has never been,Gilgamesh,any passage whatever.

there has never been anyone since days of yore who

crossed the sea.

The only one who crosses the sea is valiant Shamash (the Sun-god’).

…the crossing is difficult,it’s ways are treacherous–

and in between are the Waters of Death that bar it’s approaches!

And even if,Gilgamesh,you should cross the sea,

When you reach the Waters of Death what would you do!”

Continuing,Siduri gives some (puzzling) advice;

“Gilgamesh,over there is Urshanabi,the ferryman of Utnapishtim.

The ‘stone-things’ are with him, he is in the woods picking mint.

Go,let him see your face

If possible, cross with him;

If not,you should turn back.”

But Gilgamesh is seized by forcefulness,as is his nature;

“When Gilgamesh heard this

he raised the axe in his hand,

drew the dagger from his belt,

and slipped stealthily away after them.

Like an arrow he fell among them (the ‘stone-things’)

From the middle of the woods,their noise could be heard.”

The ferry-man, Urshanabi responds to the clamour;

“Urshanabi,the sharp-eyed, saw…

When he heard the axe, he ran toward it.

He struck his head…Gilgamesh.’

He clapped his hands and…his chest,

while the ‘stone things’… the boat

…Waters of Death

…broad sea

in the Waters of Death…

…to the river

…the boat

. . .on the shore.”

Ie Gilgamesh has destroyed the correct way to cross the sea,to reach the waters of Life,

(the river),in the only way designed for reaching safety…

What the ‘stone-things’ (possibly) are, is examined in the Gilgamesh chapter.

“Gilgamesh spoke to Urshanabi,the ferryman,

…you”

But Urshanabi cuts him off immediately,to ask familiar questions;

” Why are your cheeks emaciated,your expression desolate!

Why is there such sadness deep within you!”

Gilgamesh supplies the same explanations to Urshanabi as to Siduri; his

epic travels,and travails, with Enkidu, journeying across mountains to

battle the servant of Enlil, Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven,sent by

Ishtar…after which the death of Enkidu, and Gilgamesh’s wandering through the

wilderness pondering human mortality. Again he asks for guidance;

“Now Urshanabi, what is the way to Utnapishtim?

What are it’s markers! Give them to me! Give me the markers!”

If possible I will cross the sea…”

Urshanabi the ferry-man answers;

“It is your hands,Gilgamesh, that prevent the crossing!

You have smashed the ‘stone-things’,you have pulled out their

retaining ropes. (?)*

Gilgamesh, take your axe. . .go down into the woods,

and cut down 300 punting poles each 60 cubits in length.”

*In other versions this second part of the sentence indicates

that he has ‘picked up all the urnu-snakes’, as well as smashing

the ‘stone things’…

There are some reasons for preferring this interpretation, which

are examined in the Gilgamesh chapter.

The punting poles are for propelling the boat ‘manually’

across the waters of ‘Death’.

Gilgamesh does this in the forest,and brings them down to the boat,

whereupon;

“… (they) boarded the boat,

Gilgamesh launched the ‘magillu-boat’ and they sailed away.”*

* The magillu-boat is from the Sumerian ma-gi-lum,and is a ship of the

netherworld, a ‘boat of the west’, associated with the setting of the sun;

‘All living creatures born of the flesh shall sit at last in the boat of the

West, and when it sinks,when the boat of Magilum sinks,they are gone.’

They travel a distance of a month and a half’s journey in 3 days, until

arriving at the Waters of Death.

Here, Urshanabi gives Gilgamesh one of the punting poles, and instructs him to

propel the boat in this way, while making sure his hand does not touch

the Waters…

It takes up 12 poles, and then all 120 of the poles, to push the boat forwards.

Once the poles are all used up, Gilgamesh is reduced to taking off his shirt/garments

and hoping to use them as sails;

But they are within sight of Utnapishtim now, having crossed the waters.

Utnapishtim – the original Noah having received the help of

the gods,and survived the Deluge, now lives with his wife, in the ‘Far-away’

ie beyond the boundaries of Earth…

Utnapishtim is quick to sense problems approaching;

“Utnapishtim was gazing far off into the distance,

puzzling to himself he said…

Why are the ‘stone-things’ of the boat smashed to pieces!

And why is someone not it’s master sailing on it?

The one who is coming is not a man of mine. ..

I keep looking but not…

I keep looking but not…”

Utnapishtim poses the same questions to Gilgamesh as Siduri and then Urshanabi;

“Why is your heart so wretched, your features so haggard!

Why do you look like one who has been travelling a long distance

so that ice and heat have seared your face?

…you roam the wilderness!”

Gilgamesh repeats what he has said when asked the same questions by the

other two ‘cosmic servants’,Siduri and Urshanabi…he tells about Enkidu,

their experiences and Enkidu’s death,then Gilgamesh’s period of inner questioning,

concerning the reasons for man’s existence, the inevitability of death;

“That is why I must go on,to see Utnapishtim who they call the Faraway.

I went circling through all the mountains

I traversed treacherous mountains, and crossed all the seas-

that is why sweet sleep has not mellowed my face,

…though my muscles are filled with pain…”

Here Utnapishtim asks Gilgamesh what his labours have achieved,

in a passage reminiscent of biblical passages in bothEcclesiastes, and Job;

“Why Gilgamesh,do you…sadness?

You were created from the flesh of gods and mankind

who made. ..like your father and mother?

Have you ever…Gilgamesh…to the fool…

They placed a chair in the Assembly…

But to the fool they gave beer dregs instead of butter…

Clothed with a loincloth (!)like.. .

And…in place of a sash,

because he does not have. . .

does not have words of counsel…

Take care about it,Gilgamesh,

…their master…

…Sin…(the god of the Moon)

…eclipse of the moon…

The gods are sleepless…

They are troubled, restless…

Long ago it has been established…

You trouble ourself…

…your help…

If Gilgamesh…the temple of the gods

…the temple of the holy gods,

…the gods…

…mankind,

They took…for his fate.

You have toiled without cease, and what have you got!

Through toil you wear yourself out,

You fill your body with grief,

your long life-time you are bringing near (to a premature end)

Mankind…

the fine youth and the lovely girl

…death.

No one can see death,

no one can see the face of death,

no one can hear the voice of death,

yet there is savage death that snaps off mankind.

For how long do we build a household?

For how long do we seal a document?

For how long do brothers share the inheritance?

For (how) long is there to be jealousy in the land?

For how long has the river risen and brought the overflowing waters,

so that (people like) dragonflies drift down the river!

The face that could gaze upon the face of the Sun

has never existed ever.

How alike are the sleeping and the dead…

…Yes,a human being, a man (are you).

After Enlil had pronounced the blessing,(creating homo sapiens)

The Anunnaki the Great Gods assembled.

Mammetum,she who forms destiny,determined destiny with them.

They established Death and Life,

but they did not make known ‘the days of death’.

Tablet XI. THE STORY OF THE FLOOD.

Gilgamesh speaks with directness to the venerable man;

“I have been looking at you,

But your appearance is not strange – you are like me!

…My mind as resolved to fight with you,

(But instead) my arm lies useless over you.

Tell me, how is it that you stand in the Assembly of the Gods,

and have found life?”

Utnapishtim* (see section for discussion of the possible inner

meanings of his name,taken fromBabylonian version

resolves to tell his tale to Gilgamesh; 

“I will reveal to you,Gilgamesh,a thing that is hidden

a secret of the gods I will tell you!

(in ancient) Shurrupak, on the banks of the Euphrates

there were gods inside it.

The hearts of the Great Gods moved them to inflict the Flood.

Their Father Anu uttered the oath (of secrecy),

Valiant Enlil was their advisor…

…Enki,the clever prince,was under oath with them,

So he repeated their talk to the reed house(!);

Reed house,reed house! Wall,wall!

O man of Shurrupak…

Tear down the house and build a boat!

Abandon wealth and seek living beings!

Spurn possessions and keep alive beings!

Make all living beings go up into the boat,

The boat which you are to build.

It’s dimensions must measure equal to each other:

It’s length must correspond to it’s width,

Roof it over like the Apsu (Deep ‘South’)

Utnapishtim replies to his Lord, who has chosen to warn him,as a

righteous man, to ensure mankind,and all animals, survive the forth-

coming Flood.

“I understood and spoke to my lord, Enki:

‘My lord…I will heed and do it.

But what shall I answer the city,the populace,and the Elders!’

Enki advises him to say to them that he is building a boat to leave the city

as the God Enlil rejects him, so he therefore wishes to sail to live with his

lord, Enki, in the ‘Apsu’/’Deep South’…

‘(and further,that)…upon you he will rain down abundance,

a profusion of fowl, myriad fishes,

In the morning he will let loaves of bread shower down,

and in the evening a rain of wheat!’

Utnapishtim and his family and friends set about building the Ark.

(Of interest, as well as the cubic definitions of the ‘ark’, are

the quantities of goods used; it’s walls are 10 x 12 cubits in height

– it has six decks, thus is divided into seven levels. The inside of

each level is divided into 9 compartments. Then –

“Three times 3,600 units of bitumen I poured into the. . .kiln

Three times 3,600 porters of casks who carried (vegetable) oil,

apart from the 3,600 units of oil which they consumed

and two times 3,600 units of oil which the boatman stored away…”

So considering the base-60 units of the sexagesimal system introduced

by the Sumerians,examined in other sections,the boat and it’s (cube-like)

dimensions would appear to be harmonically related to the measurements of

time and space of the sexagesimal system…thus the measures would seem to

be used symbolically in some sense, in one of the oldest works of art ever

known to mankind…

When the boat is finally built, Utnapishtim and all, load all the silver

and gold they possess (!), all the living beings are loaded on, all his

‘kith and kin’, followed by all the beasts and animals of the field, as

well as all the craftsmen go up into it.

“Shamash had set a stated time:

‘In the morning I will let loaves of bread shower down,

and in the evening a rain of wheat!

Go inside the boat, seal the entry!’

The stated time had arrived…

I watched the appearance of the weather–

the weather was frightful to behold!

Just as dawn began to glow

there arose from the horizon a black cloud

Adad rumbled inside of it

before him went Shullat and Hanish,

heralds going over mountain and land.

The Anunnaki lifted up the torches,

setting the land ablaze with their flare,

Stunned shock over Adad’s deeds overtook the heavens,

and turned to blackness all that had been light.

The …land shattered like a…pot

All day long the South Wind blew…

blowing fast,submerging the mountain in water,

overwhelming the people like an attack.

No one could see his fellow,

they could not recognise each other in the torrent

The Gods were frightened by the Flood,

and retreated,ascending to the heaven of Anu.

The gods were cowering like dogs,crouching by the outer wall.

Ishtar shrieked like a woman in childbirth,

the sweet-voiced Mistress of the Gods wailed:

“Alas,the olden days have turned to clay,

because I said evil things in the Assembly of the Gods!

How could I…order a catastrophe to destroy my people!!

No sooner have I given birth to my dear people

than they fill the sea like so many fish!”

The gods – those of the Anunnaki – were weeping with her,

the gods humbly sat weeping,sobbing with grief,

their lips burning,parched with thirst.

Six days and seven nights

came the wind and flood,the storm flattening the land.

When the seventh day arrived,the storm was pounding,

the flood was a war, struggling with itself like a woman

in labour…

*       *        *         *

The sea calmed,fell still, the whirlwind and flood stopped up.

I looked around all day long–quiet had set in

and all the human beings had turned to clay!

The terrain was flat as a roof.

I opened a vent and fresh air fell upon the side of my nose.

I looked around for coastlines in the expanse of sea,

and at twelve leagues there emerged a region of land.

Mt Nimush held the boat,allowing no sway.

One day and a second…a third,fourth Mt Nimush held the boat

A fifth day,a sixth…when the seventh day arrived

I sent forth a dove and released it…”

The dove returns though,finding nowhere to land. Utnapishtim sends

off a swallow, which returns likewise He sends off a raven;

“The raven went off,and saw the waters slither back

It  eats,it scratches,but does not circle back to me.

Then I sent out everything in all directions and sacrificed

a sheep.

I offered incense in front of the mountain-ziggurat.”*

* This poem is undoubtedly the template for the biblical story

of Noah,and the Ark. Whether this ‘invalidates’ the bible is

less clear than it would seem. The different possibilities are

examined in the Gilgamesh chapter.

The Flood is over, although its consequences remain.

Utnapishtim burns more herbs,reeds, cedar and myrtle,in

offering;

“The gods smelled the savour,

the gods smelled the sweet savour,

and collected like flies over a (sheep) sacrifice.

Just then Beletili arrived,

…You gods,as surely as I shall not forget this lapis-lazuli

around my neck,

may I be mindful of these days,and never forget them!

The gods may come to the incense offering,

but Enlil may not come to the incense offering,

because without considering he brought about the Flood,

and consigned my people to annihilation.

Just then Enlil arrived.

He saw the boat and became furious (knowing nothing

of mankind’s survival.)

“Where did a living being escape?

No man was to survive the annihilation!”

…Enki spoke to Valiant Enlil,saying:

‘It is yours,O Valiant One,who is the Sage of the Gods

How,how could you bring about a Flood without consideration

…charge the offense to the offender

but be compassionate lest (mankind) be cut off,

be patient lest they be killed…

Instead of your bringing on the Flood,

…would that (Pestilent)Erra had appeared to ravage the land!

It was not I who revealed the secret of the Great Gods,

I (only) made a dream appear to Utnapishtim,and thus he heard

the secret of the gods.

Now then! The deliberation should be about him!” (!)

Enlil went up inside the boat

and grasping my hand, made me go up.

He had my wife go up and kneel by my side.

He touched our forehead and,standing between us,he blessed us:

‘Previously Utnapishtim was a human being

But now let Utnapishtim and his wife become like us,the gods!

Let Utnapishtim reside faraway,at the Mouth of the Rivers’

They took us faraway and settled us at the Mouth of the Rivers”.

Thus ends Utnapishtim’s account of the Flood,and his part in it…

From this he turns his attention to Gilgamesh,and his quest;

“Now then,who will convene the gods on your behalf,

that you may find the life you are seeking!

Wait! You must not lie down for six days and seven nights”.

This is the chance for Gilgamesh, to achieve his quest,

all that he asked for and sought. But he cannot fulfil his task;

“soon as he sat down (with his head) between his legs

Sleep, like a fog, blew over him.”

Utnapishtim said to his wife:

“Look there! The man,the youth, who wanted (eternal) life!

Sleep, like a fog, blew over him!”

Utnapishtim’s wife says to touch him, awaken him, that he

may return to his home safely the way he came. ..

“Utnapishtim said to his wife:

Mankind is deceptive,and will deceive you.

Come, bake loaves for him, and keep setting them by his head

and draw on the wall each day that he lay down.”

They do this each day baking a cake of bread, and marking on

the wall how many days it is he has slept…

Each day’s loaf becomes desiccated, stale, mouldy, and so on…

…”the fifth sprouted grey (mould),the sixth is still fresh.

the seventh – suddenly he touched him and the man awoke.

Gilgamesh said to Utnapishtim

‘The very moment sleep was pouring over me

you touched me and alerted me!’

Utnapishtim spoke. ..saying

‘Look over here Gilgamesh,count your loaves!

You should be aware of what is marked on the wall!’…

Gilgamesh repeats his claim,and Utnapishtim goes over the

pictures on the wall, and the 7 loaves placed beside him

as he slept…

The truth sinks in, leaving Gilgamesh bereft of hope:

“O woe! What shall I do Utnapishtim, where shall I go!

The Snatcher has taken ahold of my flesh,

in my bedroom Death dwells,

And wherever I set foot there too is Death!”

Utnapishtim speaks to the ferryman, Urshanabi, enjoining him

to help clean and dress the matted-hair and bedraggled traveller

Gilgamesh.

…”Let him cast away his animal skin and have the sea carry it off,

let his body be moistened with fine oil,

let the wrap around his head be new

let him wear royal robes worthy of him!

Until he goes off to his city,

until he sets off on his way

let his royal robe not become spotted,let it be perfectly new!”

Gilgamesh boards the boat in his newly cleaned state, with the guide

Urshanabi,but as they leave,the wife of Utnapishtim the Faraway says;

…”(he) came here exhausted and worn out.

What can you give him so that he can return to his land (with honour)!

“Then Gilgamesh raised a punting pole

and drew the boat to shore

Utnapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh saying,

…you came here so exhausted and worn out…

I will disclose to you a thing that is hidden,Gilgamesh,

I will tell you.

There is a plant…like a boxthorn

Whose thorns will prick your hand like a rose.

If your hands reach that plant you will become a young man again”

– the Plant (or Tree) of Eternal Life as it has been called…

“Hearing this, Gilgamesh opened a conduit(!) (to the Apsu – the ‘abyss’)

and attached heavy stones to his feet.

They dragged him down,to the Apsu they pulled him.

He took the plant though it pricked his hand,

and cut the heavy stones from his feet,

letting the waves throw him,onto the shores”.

Gilgamesh explains the plants worth to Urshanabi,saying

“I will bring it to Erech-Haven,

and have an old man eat the plant to test it.

…Then I will eat it and return to the condition of my youth”(!)

But before their journey back has ended,disaster strikes;

” at thirty leagues they stopped for the night.

Seeing a spring and how cool it’s waters were,

Gilgamesh went down and was bathing in the water.

A snake smelled the fragrance of the plant

silently came up and carried off the plant.

While going back it sloughed off it’s casing”.(ie re-juvenated

immediately…)

Gilgamesh is stunned by misfortune,yet againand sits down weeping;

“For whom have my arms laboured Urshanabi!

I have not secured any good deed for myself,

but done a good deed for the ‘lion of the ground’!”

And though his mind turns to re-tracing his steps to the conduit

and repeating his actions there, he quickly realises

“as I was opening the conduit I turned my equipment over into it”…

What can I find (to serve) as a marker (?) for me!

I will turn back (from the journey by the sea) and leave the

boat by the shore”…

But there is no second chance here, and they continue back to

the home city of Gilgamesh…

“They arrived in Erech-Haven.

Gilgamesh said to Urshanabi,the ferryman,

‘Go up,Urshanabi, onto the wall of Erech and walk around.

Examine it’s foundation, inspect it’s brickwork thoroughly–

is not (even the core of) the brick structure of kiln-fired brick

and did not the Seven Sages themselves lay out it’s plan!

One league city, one league palm gardens,one league lowlands,the

open area of the Ishtar Temple,

three leagues and the open area (?) of Erech it encloses.

(Translated by Maureen Gallery Kovacs – taken from www.holybooks.com/the-epic-of-gilgamesh.)

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