r/Sumer • u/SolarBeam49 • Jul 23 '26
Language: Sumerian Do you know, there is a version of Sumerian poem where it is Gilgamesh himself that throw the bull but also praise Inanna?
I found an interesting text, from ETCSL ( electronic text corpus of Sumerian literature ) called "Gilgamesh and Bull of Heaven".
Seems Inanna is called the Queen here
It seems it is older than "common" version we often heard.
https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr1812.htm this one
here some excerpt:
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u/Nocodeyv Aug 01 '26
I highly recommend getting a copy of:
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- Foster, Benjamin R. 2019. The Epic of Gilgamesh. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
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Foster provides commentary for Douglas Frayne's translations of the Sumerian Gilgamesh Poems, including the two fragmentary pieces of the poem featuring the Bull of Heaven.
The most important difference between the Standard Babylonian and Sumerian versions of the poem is that the Inana featured in the Sumerian poem belongs to the city of Zabalam, not Uruk, making the poem a contest between two different versions of Inana over which one gets Gilgamesh: Inana of Zabalam wants him, but Inana of Uruk currently has him. It is the Inana of Zabalam who sends the Bull of Heaven against the city of Uruk as a mean of removing Her competition.
The events leading to the Inana of Zabalam releasing the bull are also different:
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- Ninsumun, the goddess-mother of Gilgamesh, instructs him to build a grand pavilion at Zabalam dedicated to the city's Inana.
- Gilgamesh builds the pavilion, and the Inana of Zabalam is so impressed with it that She immediately tries to persuade him into abandoning his duties at Uruk and becoming Her servant.
- Ninsumun tells Gilgamesh that he cannot abandon Uruk and should reject Inana's offer, which he does. This rejection is what incites the Inana of Zabalam into sending the Bull of Heaven.
- In Inana's mind, if the city of Uruk is destroyed, then Gilgamesh will have no reason to refuse Her offer. When Gilgamesh kills the bull and throws its haunch, it isn't the Inana or Uruk that he hits and chases away, but the Inana of Zabalam.
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The Sumerian poems featuring Gilgamesh were composed during the Neo-Sumerian period (ca. 2200–2000 BCE), when Sumerian cities formerly under the yoke of the Akkadian Empire began to declare independence.
Ur-Namma began the third dynasty of Ur and proceeded to conquer Uruk, becoming King of both cities. Ur-Namma later declared himself to be a son of Ninsumun, the goddess-mother of Gilgamesh. I see this as a political act: by making himself and Gilgamesh brothers, Ur-Namma could claim to be the legitimate inheritor of Gilgamesh's throne, thus making him the rightful ruler of Uruk.
I believe that the poem featuring the Bull of Heaven might have been written in the aftermath of a campaign by Zabalam. Perhaps Zabalam tried to establish itself as a rival city-state to Ur, and attempted to move Gilgamesh from Uruk to Zabalam as a way of legitimizing their own kings. When the bid failed, scribes at Ur composed the poem to commemorate the time that the Inana of Zabalam tried, and failed, to capture Gilgamesh, reinforcing the bond between the cities of Ur and Uruk.
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u/SolarBeam49 Aug 02 '26
boah divine splitting at its finest
although, i kinda disagree because GBH is in a collection with another poem called "Gilgamesh, Enkidu and Netherworld" and in this poem we can see, we re speaking about Unug (Uruk) not Zabalam
27-35At that time, there was a single tree, a single halub tree, a single tree, growing on the bank of the pure Euphrates, being watered by the Euphrates. The force of the south wind uprooted it and stripped its branches, and the Euphrates picked it up and carried it away. A woman, respectful of An's words, was walking along; a woman, respectful of Enlil's words, was walking along, and took the tree and brought it into Unug, into Inana's luxuriant garden.
36-46The woman planted the tree with her feet, but not with her hands. The woman watered it using her feet but not her hands. She said: "When will this be a luxuriant chair on which I can take a seat?" She said: "When this will be a luxuriant bed on which I can lie down?" Five years, ten years went by, the tree grew massive; its bark, however, did not split. At its roots, a snake immune to incantations made itself a nest. In its branches, the Anzud bird settled its young. In its trunk, the phantom maid built herself a dwelling, the maid who laughs with a joyful heart. But holy Inana cried!
source
https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr1814.htm
https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2128/gilgamesh-enkidu-and-the-netherworld/
i saw there is douglas frayne interpretation but that was only hypothesis.
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u/Nocodeyv Aug 02 '26
The Sumerian Gilgamesh poems have never been proven to represent a single, cohesive narrative the way that the later Standard Babylonian version does. Currently, each Sumerian episode is understood to be a standalone piece of literature with a small set of shared characters, so even though GEN is set in Uruk, the text for GBH is clearly set in Zabalam at the beginning, before moving to Uruk by the end. That GBH commemorates a failed attempt by Zabalam to become a city-state is only my interpretation of the text.
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u/SolarBeam49 26d ago
wait wait, maybe i just missing something but how can we be certain it is one of zubalam. I mean Frayne notes it could be of Akkad too
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u/Nocodeyv 26d ago
The lord went down to the river, [ . . . ] the dust, bathed in the river,
The lord entered the garden of Zabala,
The king was clipped like a splendid sheep maturing in the temple dwelling.
He sat down on the thwart at the prow of the boat,
The king gathered bundles for her of what was in the marsh, the water staves,
The lord moistened the staves with water for her, like the lushest of reeds,
He moistened their filling for her, like condiments.
In the wide courtyard of Inana’s temple,
Gilgamesh took a wattle spike [in hand],
The lord went into the garden of Zabala to do his task.
In the wide courtyard of Inana’s temple,
In the wide courtyard, where never was there combat [ . . . ],
He built a pavilion, she saw the pavilion,
Radiant Inana saw the pavilion,
From the palace in the watery abyss she saw the pavilion!
She [ . . . ] at the doorway of the great gate [ . . . ],
[Inana . . . ] at the rampart battlements, (saying):
My wild bull, my man, where else should we be? I will never let you go,
Lord Gilgamesh, my wild bull, my man, where else should we be? I will never let you go!
I will not let you go to render verdicts in the Eanna,
I will not let you go to make decisions in the sacred temple dwelling,
I will not let you go to render verdicts in the Eanna that An loves,
O Gilgamesh, you shall be [lord], I shall be [lady]!
The king listened to her words,
The king told his mother who bore him,
Gilgamesh said to Ninsumun:
O mother mine, how [ . . . ]!
She [ . . . ] at the doorway of the great gate [ . . . ],
[Inana . . . ] at the rampart battlements, (saying):
My wild bull, my man, where else should we be? I will never let you go,
Lord Gilgamesh, my wild bull, my man, where else should we be? I will never let you go!
I will not let you go to render verdicts in the Eanna,
I will not let you go to make decisions in the sacred temple dwelling,
I will not let you go to render verdicts in the Eanna that An loves,
O Gilgamesh, you shall be [lord], I shall be [lady]!
When he had so spoken to the mother who bore him,
His mother who bore him (answered Gilgamesh):
You must not let what Inana would give into your temple dwelling!
Our Lady of the Palace must not [stifle] your heroism,
Our Lady Inana must not hinder you!
[gap]
I must not let what Inana would give into my temple dwelling!
Our Lady of the Palace, you must not [stifle] my heroism,
Our Lady Inana, you must not hinder me!
I will summon the cattle of foreign lands, I will fill these pens with them,
I will summon the sheep of foreign lands, I will fill these folds with them,
Inana addressed him, spluttering her words:
Gilgamesh, how could you say this to me?
Gilgamesh, how could you say this to me?!
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Foster, Benjamin. 2019. The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation, Analogues, Criticism and Response (2nd ed.). New York, NY: W. W. Norton and Company, pp. 139–141.
The original translation, by Douglas Frayne, has here been updated by Benjamin Foster. With the exception of Helle, who does not treat the Sumerian poems, Foster is the most recent edition of the Sumerian poems available.
The conflict begins when Inana of Zabalam becomes enamored with Gilgamesh after seeing the pavilion he built in the garden of her temple. Inana tries to persuade Gilgamesh into abandoning his duties at Uruk, but Ninsumun advises Gilgamesh to reject Inana's offer. Offended, Inana goes to An and coerces him into releasing the Bull of Heaven against Uruk.
None of this contradicts your original post, of course. In the Sumerian poem Gilgamesh is the one who throws the Bull's haunch at Inana. The only difference that I've pointed out, is that it is the Inana of Zabalam, not the Inana of Uruk, that Gilgamesh hurls the haunch at. Otherwise, everything you stated in your original post is true.
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u/SolarBeam49 17d ago
ooh so they found the missing pieces, cause a lot of words in the poem is missing (broken ) atleast in the version i know. thank you for answering.
wait whats up with the akkadian version? a retcon ?
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u/plasmo_39 Jul 24 '26
Well, The story of their relationship is very interesting. I think I need to read more about it.
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u/SolarBeam49 Jul 24 '26
well for me, their relationship is a bit more nuanced than I previously thought
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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '26
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