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So Anu created the Bull of Heaven for Ishtar his daughter. The Bull fell on the earth; with his first snort he slew a hundred men, and again he slew two hundred, he slew three hundred; with his second snort hundreds more fell dead. With his third snort he charged at Enkidu, but he dodged aside and leapt on the Bull and seized it by the horns.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, trans. by N. K. Sandars, Penguin Classics, London, 1971 (1964) p. 85-86.
PLACE: Uruk, city of Mesopotamia, valley of Euphrates.
TIME: 3rd Millennium B.C.
CIRCUMSTANCE: The Bull of Heaven: "a monster that personifies the seven years' drought which was sent by the angry goddess in punishment for her rejection by Gilgamesh". (from Introduction p. 34)
Hark, there is an echo through all the country
Like a mother mourning.
Weep,all the paths where we walked together,
And the beasts we hunted, panther and tiger,
Lion and leopard, stag and ibex,
The bull and the doe.
The mountain we climbed where we slew the watchman
Weeps for you,
The river along whose bank we used to walk,
Weeps for you,
Etc.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, trans. by N. K. Sandars, Penguin Classics, London, 1971 (1964), p.91.
PLACE: Uruk, city of Mesopotamia, valley of Euphrates.
TIME: 3rd Millennium B.C.
CIRCUMSTANCE: Poem of remorse for death of Enkidu. The sound of mourning is heard like an echo through the country.
He began to rage like a lion, like a lioness robbed of her whelps. This way and that he paced round the bed, he tore out his hair ...
The Epic of Gilgamesh, trans. by N. K. Sandars, Penguin Classics, London, 1971 (1964), p.92.
PLACE: Uruk, city of Mesopotamia, valley of Euphrates.
TIME: 3rd Millennium B.C.
CIRCUMSTANCE: Gilgamesh's action of distraught. His grief of Enkidu's death is compared to a lioness robbed of her offsprings.
'You know the city Shurrupak, it stands on the banks of Euphrates? That city grew old and the gods that were in it were old... In those days the world teemed, the people multiplied, the world bellowed like a wild bull, and the great god was aroused by the clamour and he said to the gods in council, "The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel." So the gods in their hearts were moved to let loose the deluge;...
The Epic Of Gilgamesh, trans, by N. K. Sandars, Penguin Classics, London, 1971 (1964), p.105.
PLACE: Uruk, city of Mesopotamia, valley of Euphrates.
TIME: 3rd Millennium B.C., when the story of the flood was told; the flood itself happened at a much earlier time. It is a prehistorical event for which the date is unknown.
CIRCUMSTANCE: The cause of the flood: noise produced by mankind enraged the gods so such that they "let loose the deluge".
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