Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet VII — The Death of Enkidu · 2 of 2 · tr. R. Campbell Thompson
Tablet VII, Section 1b
(Aye), by the road on the passage whereof there can be no returning, Unto the Dwelling whose tenants are (ever) bereft of the daylight, Where for their food is the dust, and the mud is their sustenance: bird-like 40.
Wear they a garment of feathers: and, sitting (there) in the darkness, Never the light will they see.
On the Gate .
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when I enter’d On the house (?) .
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was humbled the crown, For .
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those who (wore) crowns, who of old ruled over the country, .
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of Anu and Enlil ’twas they set the bakemeats, 45.
Set .
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., cool was the water they served from the skins.
When I enter’d Into (this) House of the Dust, were High Priest and acolyte sitting, Seer and magician , the priest who the Sea of the great gods anointed , (Here) sat Etana , Sumuqan; the Queen of the Underworld (also), Ereshkigal , in whose presence doth bow the Recorder of Hades, [Belit]-seri, and readeth before her; [she lifted] her head (and) beheld me, .
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and took this .
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Themes
◆Anthropomorphismtheology
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
The passage depicts deities and the dead with human characteristics, such as Ereshkigal lifting her head and kings wearing crowns.
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
The passage emphasizes the irreversible nature of death and the bereavement of daylight, indicating exile from the living world.