61 The Epic of Gilgamesh,
N. K. Sandars, trans. (N.Y., 1972) p. 33, hereafter Gilgamesh;
For a more recent, literal translation see Dalley, Myths,
pp. 50-153.
62 Gilgamesh, p. 71. For Armenian parallels to Humbaba see note 49 above. On the translation of erenu as "pine" rather than "cedar" see Dalley, Myths,
p. 126 n. 20.
63 Gilgamesh, p.
77.
64 Gilgamesh, pp.
77-79.
65 Gilgamesh, pp.
83-84. The cut timber was sent down river to Mesopotamia by raft,
Dalley, Myths, pp. 76-77, 84-85.
66 Gilgamesh, p.
83.
67 Gilgamesh, pp.
79-80.
68 Gilgamesh, p.
87. Ishtar tries to bribe Gilgamesh with a chariot of lapis lazuli
and gold, driven by dragons, Dalley, Myths, p. 77. For
other references to horse and chariot in this myth see ibid.
pp. 78, 79, p. 129 n. 52. For references to metals and metallurgists,
ibid. pp. 82, 93, 144.
69 Gilgamesh, p.
98.
70 Gilgamesh, p.
100.
71 Gilgamesh, p.
108.
72 Gilgamesh, p.
113.
73 Vahan Inglizian, Hayastan
surb grk'i mej[Armenia in the Bible] (Vienna, 1947;
Armenian trans. of his German doctoral dissertation) pp. 106-121;
Dalley, Myths, pp. 1-8, 39-49.
74 Inglizian, pp. 122-24.
The magical tunnel is identified with a rock tunnel two miles
long which extends from Bylkalein to the main source of the Tigris
river. C. F. Lehmann-Haupt, Armenien Einst und Jetzt I (Berlin, 1910), Chapter 14, "Der Tigris
Tunnel".
75 Inglizian, pp. 132-33.
76 Inglizian, p. 117.
77 T. Howard-Carter, "The
Tangible Evidence for the Earliest Dilmun", Journal
of Cuneiform Studies vol. 33/3-4 (1981) pp. 210-223. Kramer,
Sumerians p. 281, who placed Dilmun in India observed that
Dilmun's description as "the place where the sun rises"
hardly fits Bahrain, which is south of Sumer. The passages of
the Gilgamesh cited above also have certain connections to the
Odyssey. Somewhere en route to Utnapishtim, Gilgamesh
meets a Circe-like woman called Siduri ("barmaid") who
urges Gilgamesh to turn back and to reconcile himself with his
lot of mortality by drinking wine and enjoying life. Unable to
dissuade him, this woman, like Circe, gives the hero instructions
on traveling to the other world.