Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet X — How Gilgamish Reached Uta-Napishtim · 1 of 4 · tr. R. Campbell Thompson
Tablet X, Section 1a
THE TENTH TABLET.
HOW GILGAMISH REACHED UTA-NAPISHTIM.
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Dwelt Siduri, the maker of wine .
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Wine(?) was her trade, her trade was .
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Cover’d she was with a veil and .
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Gilgamish wander’d [towards her] .
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Pelts was he wearing .
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Flesh of the gods in [his body] possessing, but woe in [his belly], (Aye), and his countenance like to a (man) who hath gone a far journey.
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Look’d in the distance the maker of wine, (and) a word in her bosom Quoth she, in thought with herself: "This is one who would ravish (?) [a woman], 15.
Whither doth he advance in .
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?" As soon as the Wine-maker saw him, Barr’d she [her postern], barr’d she her inner door, barr’d she [her chamber(?)].
Straightway did Gilgamish, too, in his turn catch the sound [of her shutting(?)], Lifted his chin, and so did he let [his attention fall on her].
________________________________ Unto her (therefore) did Gilgamish speak, to the Wine-maker saying]: 20.
"Wine-maker, what didst thou see, that [thy postern (now)] thou hast barréd, Barréd thine inner door, [-barréd thy chamber(?)]?
O, I'll smite [thy] portal, [Breaking the bolt] .
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[Unto him (answer 'd) the Wine-maker, speaking to Gilgamish, (saying): "Why is thy vigour (so) wasted, (or why) is thy countenance sunken, (Why) hath thy spirit a sorrow (?), (or why) hath thy cheerfulness surcease?
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(O, but) there's woe in thy belly!
Like one who hath gone a far journey (So) is thy face—(O,) with cold and with heat is thy countenance weather’d, .
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that thou shouldst range over the desert." Gilgamish unto her (answer’d and) spake to the Wine-maker, saying: 40.
"Wine-maker, ’tis not my vigour is wasted, nor countenance sunken, Nor hath my spirit a sorrow (?), (forsooth), nor my cheerfulness surcease, No, ’tis not woe in my belly: nor doth my visage resemble One who hath gone a far journey—nor is my countenance weather'd 45.
Either by cold or by heat .
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that (thus) I range over the desert.
Comrade (and) henchman, who chased the wild ass, the pard of the desert, Comrade (and) henchman, who chased the wild ass, the pard of the desert, Enkidu—we who all haps overcame, ascending the mountains, 50.
Captured the Heavenly Bull, and destroy’d him]: we [o’erthrew Humbaba, He who abode in the Forest of Cedars; we slaughter’d the lions There in the Gates (?) of the mountains (?); with me enduring all hardships, Enkidu, (he was) my comrade—the lions we slaughter’d (together), (Aye), enduring all hardships—and him his fate hath o’ertaken.
(So) did I mourn him six days, (yea), a se’nnight, until unto burial I could consign (?) him .
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Themes
◆Anthropomorphismtheology
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
The passage depicts divine beings (Siduri) and semi-divine heroes (Gilgamesh with 'Flesh of the gods') possessing human forms, emotions, and domestic actions like barring doors and making wine.
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
Siduri is portrayed as an active, responsive divine figure who interacts personally with Gilgamesh, speaking and reacting to his presence rather than remaining abstract.
The living practitioner's deliberate trance-journey into spirit, underworld, or upper realms — Lemminkainen's descent into Tuoni and Wainamoinen's entry into Wipunen's body in the Kalevala, the Siberian shaman's drum-mediated travel, Inuit angakkuq's submarine journey to Sedna, classical katabasis as ritual technique. The practitioner returns with knowledge, songs, lost-words, or a recovered soul. Distinct from psychopomp_journey (which guides the *dead* soul through afterlife realms) and from spiritual_ascent (which is the soul's *upward* return to source); shamanic_journey is the *living* practitioner crossing into ordinarily-inaccessible domains as a worked technique.
The text describes Gilgamesh's physical quest across the desert to reach Uta-Napishtim (the immortal), fitting the structure of a living practitioner crossing into inaccessible domains for knowledge or life.