Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet V — The Fight with Humbaba · 2 of 2 · tr. R. Campbell Thompson

Tablet V, Section 1b

(Then) [faded] the glare, (then) faded the fires, 20.

Falling, [the brands] turn’d to ashes—[Come, let us go] down to the desert, That we may counsel together." Enkidu (now) to interpret his dream unto Gilgamish speaketh: .

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In the following manner .

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the Sun-god in heaven .

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the trees: He saw [Gilgamish]: of the Sun-god in heaven in .

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And [shew’d him] the dam on the ditches.

Gilgamish [spake] then [in orison] unto the Sun-god in heaven; "Lo, on that day to the city .

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which is in the city: 10.

I in sooth [pray] to the Sun-god in heaven: I on a road have now started, .

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." Unto th’ entreaty of Gilgamish hearken’d the Sun-god in heaven, Wherefore against Humbaba he raised mighty winds: (yea), a great wind, Wind from the North, (aye), [a wind from the South], yea [a tempest] (and) storm wind, 15.

Chill wind, (and) whirlwind, a wind of (all) evil: ’twas eight winds he raiséd, Seizing [Humbaba] before and behind, so that nor to go forwards, Nor to go back was he able: and then Humbaba surrender’d.

20.

Wherefore to Gilgamish spake (thus) Humbaba: "O Gilgamish, (pr’y thee), Stay, (now, thy hand): be [thou] now my [master], and I'll be thy henchman: [O disregard] (all) [the words which I spake [(so) boastfull against thee, 25.

Weighty .

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I would lay me down .

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and the Palace.

Thereat to [Gilgamish] Enkidu [spake]: "[Of the rede which] Humbaba [Maketh to thee] thou darest in nowise offer acceptance.

(Aye, for) Humbaba [must] not [remain alive] .

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[they cut off] the head of Humbaba.

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Themes

Animismcosmology

The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.

Humbaba is depicted as a guardian spirit of the Cedar Forest, embodying the localized divine presence within natural landscape and trees.

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Anthropomorphismtheology

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.

The Sun-god Shamash hears prayers and speaks through dreams, while Humbaba speaks, begs, and surrenders like a human being.

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Divine Providencetheology

Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.

The Sun-god actively orders the unfolding of events by raising winds to aid Gilgamesh against Humbaba.

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Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

The Sun-god is portrayed as an active, responsive reality that hearkens to entreaty and intervenes directly in human affairs.

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Prayerpraxis

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

Gilgamesh explicitly speaks in orison to the Sun-god, and the text notes the god hearkened to this entreaty.

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