Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet X — How Gilgamish Reached Uta-Napishtim · 3 of 4 · tr. R. Campbell Thompson

Tablet X, Section 1c

Gilgamish, if perchance thou succeed in traversing the Ocean, What wilt thou do, when unto the Waters of Death thou arrivest?

Gilgamish, there is Ur-Shanabi, boatman to Uta-Napishtim, He with whom sails (?) are, the urnu of which in the forest he plucketh, 30.

(Now) let him look on thy presence, (and) [if it be] possible with him Cross—(but) if it be not, (then) do thou retrace thy steps (homewards)." [paragraph continues] Gilgamish, hearing this, [taketh] (his) axe in his [hand], awhile he draweth Glaive from his baldric (?)].

(Then) did Ur-Shanabi speak to him (yea), unto Gilgamish, (saying): "Tell to me what is thy name, (for) I am Ur-Shanabi, (henchman), (Aye), of far Uta-Napishtim ." To him did Gilgamish answer: 5.

"Gilgamish, (that) is my name, come hither from Erech(?), E-Anni (?), (One) who hath traversed the Mountains, a wearisome journey of Sunrise, 10.

Now that I look on thy face, Ur-Shanabi—Uta-Napishtim Let me see also—the Distant one!" Him did Ur-Shanabi [answer], Gilgamish: .

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." : (Thus) did Ur-Shanabi speak to him, (yea), unto Gilgamish, (saying) "Why is thy vigour all wasted .

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Gilgamish (thus) continued his speech to Ur-Shanabi, (saying) "Pr’ythee, Ur-Shanabi, which is [the way unto Uta-Napishtim ?

What is its token, I pr’ythee, vouchsafe me, vouchsafe me nits token].

If it be possible (even) the Ocean (itself) will I traverse, 35.

But if it should be impossible, [(then) will I range o’er the desert]." ________________________________ (Thus) did Ur-Shanabi speak to him, (yea), unto Gilgamish, (saying): "Gilgamish, ’tis thine own hand hath hinder’d [thy crossing the Ocean], Thou hast destroyéd the sails(?), (and) hast piercéd (?) the .

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(Now) destroy’d are the sails(?), and the urnu not .

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40.

Gilgamish, take thee thy axe in [thy] hand; O, descend to the forest, [Fashion thee] poles each of five gar in length; make (knops of) bitumen, Sockets, (too), add (to them) : bring [them me]." (Thereat), when Gilgamish [heard this], Took he the axe in his hand, (and) [the glaive] drew forth [from his baldric], 45.

Went to the forest, and poles each of five gar in length [did he fashion], (Knops of) bitumen he made, and he added (their) sockets: and brought them .

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, Gilgamish (then), and Ur-Shanabi fared them forth [in their vessel], Launch’d they the boat on the billow, and they themselves [in her embarking].

After the course of a month and a half he saw on the third day 50.

How that Ur-Shanabi (now) at the Waters of Death had arrivéd.

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Themes

Living Godtheology

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

Uta-Napishtim is portrayed as an active, responsive immortal being who interacts directly with the hero rather than a distant abstract principle.

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Psychopomp Journeycosmology

Guided passage of the soul through afterlife realms.

Ur-Shanabi acts as a boatman guiding Gilgamesh across the Waters of Death, fulfilling the role of a psychopomp who facilitates passage through death realms.

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Shamanic Journeypraxis

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.

Gilgamesh, a living practitioner, undertakes a deliberate journey across forbidden boundaries (Waters of Death) to access a transcendent realm and gain immortality.

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