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The Hittite version of the Epic of Gilgames
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
The Assyrian and Babylonian copies of the Seventh book of the Epic of Gilgames, which recorded the destruction of the demoniac Khumbaba and the death of Engidu, the companion of Gilgames, have not yet been recovered. It is, therefore, interesting to find that among the Hittite tablets from Boghaz Keui, now in Berlin, there are fragments of two or three different copies of it, not only in Hittite, but also in “ Kharrian ”, that is to say, Mitannian. There was, however, a reason for this. The home of Khumbaba was “ the Cedar forest” of the Amanus region, and the story of the struggle between him and the Babylonian hero possessed a special interest for the people of Asia Minor.
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References
page 560 note 1 Apparently Engidu is referred to.
page 563 note 1 This is the end of the 7th book.
page 567 note 1 We do not know whether qatikhi and qatikhu, which are interpreted “at thy feet” in a Tel el-Amarna letter (Knudtzon, 53. 64, 65), were Mitannian words or belonged to some other language.
page 567 note 2 KBK. iv, p. 48, 1. 17. It is uncertain whether we should connect this Khalua with the words khalwassis and khalwannas (KBK. ii, p. 40, 1, and p. 60, 4), since khal may here be the ideographic khal “ divination ”. Khalwannas is the name of a well of holy water, and khalwassis may possibly interchange with ibarwassis (ii, p. 40, 3). In Proto-Hittite the deity Khalwâsuit appears as Khanwâsuit. The name Khalmanu is found in one of the contracts published by Johns (Assyrian Deeds and Documents 261, Rev. 4), but the individual bearing it seems to belong to Nineveh or Armenia rather than to the Hittite region, so it may be derived from the name of the Akhlami.
page 567 note 3 Weidner instances also the Hittite Sulupassis and Sunupassis, irmani and irmali “sick”, Nur-Daggal and Nur-Dagan, Laplani and Niplani, Lulakhi and Nulakhkhi, שעל and Nukhasse.
page 568 note 1 Hesychius defines Kombê as “ mother of the Kurêtes ”.
page 568 note 2 The cast in the Art Institute at Chicago reads: (1) “Image of Tua-te king (2) of the country of Khumwis, (3) the High-priest”. The name of the king is uncertain as the first character is injured and may be either mi or tua, two characters which closely resemble one another. The name, therefore, will be either Mita or Midas, or else Tuate(s). The second character is ta, ti.
page 569 note 1 American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, April, 1922, pp. 214 sqq.
page 569 note 2 Historical and Grammatical Texts (University Museum, Philadelphia), v, pl. xi, 20Google Scholar.