Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet VI — Ishtar and the Bull of Heaven · 2 of 4 · tr. R. Campbell Thompson

Tablet VI, Section 1b

(Sooth), thou shalt vouch (?) for the truth (?) of (this) list—Thy maidenhood's consort, Tammuz, each year dost make him the cause of Wailing , (then cometh Next) the bird Roller gay-feather’d thou lovedst, and (yet) thou didst smite him 50.

Breaking his wing: in the grove doth he stand, crying kappi 'my wing!' Lovedst thou also a Lion, in (all) the full strength of (his) vigour, (Yet) thou didst dig for him seven and seven (deep) pits (to entrap him).

Lovedst thou also a Stallion, magnificent he in the battle, Thou wert the cause of a bridle, a spur, and a whip to him: (also) 55.

Thou wert the cause of his fifty miles galloping; thou wert the cause, too, (Eke), of exhaustion and sweating (?); (thereafter), ’twas thou who didst (also) Unto his mother Silili give cause for (her deep) lamentation.

Lovedst thou also a Shepherd, a neatherd, for thee without ceasing 60.

Each day to sacrifice yeanlings for thee would heap thee his charcoal, (Yet) thou didst smite him, transforming him into a jackal: his herd boy Yea, his own herd boy drove him away, and his dogs tore his buttocks.

Lovedst thou, too, Ishullanu, the gardener he of thy sire, 65.

Bringing delights (?) to thee ceaseless, while daily he garnish’d thy platter; ’Twas for thee only to cast thine eyes on him, and with him be smitten .

'O Ishullanu of mine, come, let me taste of thy vigour, Put forth thy hand, too, .

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' 70.

But he, Ishullanu, Said to thee 'What dost thou ask me?

Save only my mother hath baked (it), Nought have I eaten—(and) what I should eat would be bread of transgression, (Aye) and iniquity!

(Further), the reeds are a cloak against winter.

' 75.

Thou this [his answer] didst hear, didst smite him and make him a spider(?) , Making him lodge midway up a [dwelling(?)] —not to move upwards Lest there be drainage ; nor down, lest a crushing [o’erwhelm him].

So, too, me in my turn thou wouldst love and (then) [reckon] me like them." ________________________________ 80.

[Heard] this (then) Ishtar: she burst into rage and [went up] to Heaven, Hied her (thus) Ishtar to Anu, [her father], to Antu, her mother, 85.

Came she [to tell (them)]: "O father, doth Gilgamish load me with insult, Gilgamish tale of my sins, my sins and iniquities telleth." ________________________________ Anu made answer, (thus) speaking, and said unto Ishtar the Lady: "Nay, thou didst ask him [to grant thee largesse of the fruit of his body], 90.

(Hence) he the tale of thy sins, thy sins and iniquities telleth." .

Ishtar made answer (thus) speaking, and said unto [Anu, her father]: "Father, O make (me) a Heavenly Bull, which shall Gilgamish [vanquish], 95.

Filling [its body] with flame .

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Themes

Anthropomorphismtheology

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

Ishtar is depicted with human emotions such as rage and familial loyalty, visiting her parents to complain of insults.

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Living Godtheology

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

The deities act dynamically with personal agency, intervening directly in human affairs through wrath and petition.

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Shapeshifting Transformationtheology

Form-mutability as a constitutional property of divine and preternatural beings — gods, heroes, spirits, and their human practitioners possessing inherent capacity to alter form across human, animal, plant, or elemental states. Loki and Odin's transformations in Norse, Math's pigs and Blodeuwedd's owl-shape and Pwyll's exchange with Arawn in the Mabinogion, the Greek Proteus, the Indian dasavatara, Vainamoinen's bird-flight in the Kalevala, Ovid's metamorphoses, the shamanic and witch's capacity for ritual form-change. Distinct from anthropomorphism (divine taking specific human form, single embodiment) in that anthropomorphism establishes a stable form whereas this concept establishes form's plurality and instability.

The passage details Ishtar's inherent capacity to alter the form of her lovers into animals such as jackals and spiders.

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