GLOSSARY
OF NAMES
A SHORT description of the gods and of
other persons and places mentioned in the Epic will be found in this
Glossary. The gods were credited at different times with a variety of
attributes and characteristics, sometimes contradictory; only such as are
relevant to the material of the Gilgamesh Epic are given here. The small
number of gods and other characters who play a more important part in the
story are described in the introduction; in their case a page reference to
this description is given at the end of the Glossary note. Cross-references
to other entries in the Glossary are indicated by means of italics. ADAD: Storm-, rain-, and weather-god. ANUNNAKI: Usually gods of the underworld,
judges of the dead and offspring of Anu. ANTUM: Wife of Anu.
ANU: Sumerian An; father of gods, and god
of the firmament, the 'great above'. In the Sumerian cosmogony there was,
first of all, the primeval sea, from which was born the cosmic mountain
consisting of heaven, 'An', and earth, 'Ki'; they
were separated by Enlil, then An carried off the
heavens, and Enlil the earth. Ann later retreated
more and more into the background; he had an important temple in Uruk. APSU: The Abyss; the primeval waters under
the earth; in the later mythology of the Enuma Elish, more particularly the sweet water which mingled
with the bitter waters of the sea and with a third watery element, perhaps
cloud, from which the first gods were engendered. The waters of Apsu were thought of as held immobile underground by the
'spell' of Ea in a death-like sleep. ARURU: A goddess of creation, she created Enkidu from clay in the image of Anu.
AYA: The dawn, the bride of the Sun God
Shamash. BELIT-SHERI: Scribe and recorder of the
underworld gods: BULL of HEAVEN: A personification of
drought created by Anu for Ishtar. DILMUN: The Sumerian paradise, perhaps the DUMUZI: The Sumerian form of Tammuz; a god
of vegetation and fertility, and so of the underworld, also called 'the
Shepherd and 'lord of the sheepfolds'. As the companion of Ningizzida 'to all eternity' he stands at the gate of
heaven. In the Sumerian 'Descent of Inanna' he is
the husband of the goddess Inanna, the Sumerian
counterpart of Ishtar. According to the Sumerian King-List Gilgamesh was
descended from 'Dumuzi a shepherd'. EA: Sumerian Enki;
god of the sweet waters, also of wisdom, a patron of arts and one of the
creators of mankind, towards whom he is usually well-disposed. The chief god
of Eridu, where he had a temple, he lived 'in the
deep'; his ancestry is uncertain, but he was probably a child of Anu. EANNA: The temple precinct in Uruk sacred to Anu and Ishtar. EGALMAH: The ' ENDUSUGGA: With Nindukugga,
Sumerian gods living in the underworld; parents of Enlil.
ENKIDU: Moulded
by Aruru, goddess of creation, out of clay is the
image and 'of the essence of Anu', the sky-god, and
of Ninurta the war-god. The companion of Gilgamesh,
he is wild or natural reran; he was later considered a patron or god of anima
b and may have been the hero of another cycle. See P. 30. ENLIL: God of earth, wind, and the
universal air, ultimately spirit; the executive of Anu.
In the Sumerian cosmogony he was born of the union of An
heaven, and Ki earth. These he separated, and he
then carried off earth as his portion. In later times he supplanted Anu as chief god. He was the patron of the city of ENMUL: See Endukugga.
ENNUGI: God of irrigation and inspector of
Canals. ENUMA ELLISH: The Semitic creation epic
which describes the creation of the gods, the defeat of the powers of chaos
by the young god Marduk, and the creation of man
from the blood of Kingu, the defeated champion of
chaos. The title is taken from the first words of the epic 'When on high'. ERESHKIGAL: The Queen of the underworld, a
counterpart of Persephone; probably once a sky-goddess. In the Sumerian
cosmogony she was carried off to the underworld after the separation of
heaven and earth. See p. 27. ETANA: Legendary king of GILGAMESH: The hero of the Epic; son of the
goddess Ninsun and of a priest of Kullab, fifth king of Uruk
after the flood, famous as a great builder and as a judge of the dead. A
cycle of epic poems has collected round his name. HANISH: A divine herald of storm and bad
weather. HUMBABA: Also Huwawa;
a guardian of the cedar forest who opposes Gilgamesh and is killed by him and
Enkidu. A nature divinity, perhaps an Anatolian, Elamite, or Syrian god. See p. 32. IGIGI: Collective name for the great gods of
heaven. IRKALLA: Another name for Ereshkigal; the Queen of the underworld. ISHTAR: Sumerian Inanna;
the goddess of love and fertility, also goddess of war, called the Queen of
Heaven. She is the daughter of Anu and patroness of
Uruk, where she has a temple. See p. 25. ISHULLANA: The: gardener of Anu,
once loved by Ishtar whom he rejected; he was turned by her into a mole or
frog. KI: The earth. KULLAS:Part of Uruk. LUGULEANDA: Third king of the post-diluvian dynasty of Uruk, a god
and shepherd, and hero of a cycle of Sumerian poems; protector of Gilgamesh. MAGAN: A land to the west of Mesopotamia,
sometimes MAGILUM: Uncertain meaning, perhaps 'the
boat of the dead'. MAMMETUM: Ancestral goddess responsible for
destinies. MAN-SCORPION: Guardian, with a similar
female monster, of the mountain into which the sun descends at nightfall.
Shown on sealings and ivory inlays as a figure with
the upper part of the body human and the lower part ending in a scorpion's
mil. According to the Enuma Elish
created by the primeval waters in order to fight the gods. MASHU: The word means 'twins' in the Akkadian language. A mountain with twin peaks into which
the sun descends at nightfall and from which it returns at dawn. Sometimes
thought of as NAMTAR: Fate, destiny in its evil aspect;
pictured as a demon of the underworld, also a messenger and chief minister of
Ereshkigal; a bringer of disease and pestilence. NEDU: See Ned. NERGAL: Underworld god, sometimes the
husband of Ereshkigal, he is the subject of an Akkadian poem which describes his translation from heaven
to the underworld; plague-god. NETI: The Sumerian form of Nedu, the chief gatekeeper in the underworld. NINDUKUGGA: With Endukugga,
parental gods living in the underworld: NINGAL: Wife of the Moon God and mother of
the Sun. NINGIESU: An earlier form of Ninurta; god of irrigation and fertility, he had a field
near NINGIZZIDA: Also Gizzida;
a fertility god, addressed as 'Lord of the Tree of Life'; sometimes he is a
serpent with human head, but later he was a god of healing and magic; the
companion of Tammuz, with whom he stood at the gate of heaven. NINHURSAG: Sumerian mother-goddess; one of
the four principal Sumerian gods with An, Enlil,
and Enki; sometimes the wife of Enki,
she created all vegetation. The name means 'the Mother'; she is also called 'Nintu', lady of birth, and IG, the earth. NINKI: The 'mother' of Enlil,
probably a form of Ninhursag. NINLIL: Goddess of heaven, earth, and air
and in one aspect of the underworld; wife of Enlil
and mother of the Moon; worshipped with Enlil in NINSUM The mother of Gilgamesh, a minor
goddess whose house was in Uruk; she was noted for
wisdom, and was the wife of Lugulbaada. NINURTA: The later forth of Ningirsu; a warrior and god of war, a herald, the south
wind, and god of wells and irrigation. According to one poem he once dammed
up the bitter waters of the underworld and conquered various monsters. NISABA: Goddess of grain. NISIR: Probably means ' PUZUR-AMURRI: The steersman of Utnapishtim during the flood. SAMUQAN: God of cattle; SEVEN SAGES: Wise men who brought
civilization to the seven oldest cities of SHAMASH: Sumerian Utu;
the sun; for the Sumerians he was principally the judge and law-giver with
some fertility attributes. For the Semites he was also a victorious warrior,
the god of wisdom, the son of Sin, and 'greater than his father'. He was the
husband and brother of Ishtar. He is represented with the saw with which he
cuts decisions. In the poems 'Shamash' may mean the god, or simply the sun. SHULLAT: A divine herald of storm and of
bad weather. SHULPAE: A god who presided
over feasts and feasting. SHURRUPAX: Modem Fara,
eighteen miles north-west of Uruk; one of the
oldest cities of Mesopotamia, and one of the five named by the Sumerians as
having existed before the flood. The home of the hero of the flood story. SIDURI: The divine wine-maker and brewer;
she lives on the shore of the sea (perhaps the SILILI: The mother of the stallion; a
divine mare? SIN: Sumerian Nama,
the moon. The chief Sumerian astral deity, the father of Utu-Shamash,
the sun, and of Ishtar. Ills parents were Enlil and
Ninlil. His chief temple was in TAMMUZ: Sumerian Dunuzi;
the dying god of vegetation, bewailed by Ishtar, the subject of laments and
litanies. In an Akkadian poem Ishtar descends to
the underworld in search of her young husband Tammuz; but in the Sumerian
poem on which this is based it is Inanna herself
who is responsible for sending Dumuzi to the
underworld because of his pride and as a hostage for her own safe return. UBARA-TUTU: A king of Shurrupak
and father of Utnapishtim The only king of URSHANABI: Old Babylonian Sursunabu; the boatman of Utnapishtim
who ferries daily across the waters of death which divide the garden of the
sun from the paradise where Utnapishtim lives for ever (the Sumerian Dilmun).
By accepting Gilgamesh as a passenger he forfeits this right, and accompanies
Gilgamesh back to Uruk instead. URUK: Biblical Erech,
modem Warka, in southern Babylonia between Fara (Shutrupak) and UTNAPISHTIM: Old Babylonian Utanapishtim, Sumerian Ziusudra;
in the Sumerian poems he is a wise king and priest of Shurrupak;
in the Akkadian sources he is a wise citizen of Shurrupak. He is the son of Ubara
Tutu, and his name is usually translated, 'He Who Saw Life'. He is the protege of the god Ea, by whose connivance he Survives
the flood, with his family and with 'the seed of all living creatures';
afterwards he is taken by the gods to live for ever
at 'the mouth of the rivers' and given the epithet 'Faraway'; or according to
the Sumerians he lives in Dihnun where the sun
rises |