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The Sumerian Bilgames and Akka presents elders who urge their king to avoid war. The Epic of Gilgamesh uses a similar council scene before the forest expedition, where the elders warn that youthful ambition for war underestimates the danger.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Gilgamesh and Aga 17
Bilgames and Akka
Ancient Near East, Sumerian
Before his city’s elders Bilgames laid the matter, seeking a solution: ‘“To empty the wells, to empty the wells of the land, to empty the shallow wells of the land, to empty the deep wells furnished with hoisting ropes:” let us not submit to the house of Kish, let us wage war!’ The convened assembly of his city’s elders gave answer to Bilgames: ‘“To empty the wells, to empty the wells of the land, to empty the shallow wells of the land, to empty the deep wells furnished with hoisting ropes:” let us submit to the house of Kish, let us not wage war!’ Bilgames, the lord of Kullab, placing his trust in the goddess Inanna, took no notice of what his city’s elders said. Before his city’s young men Bilgames laid the matter a second time, seeking a solution: ‘“To empty the wells, to empty the wells of the land, to empty the shallow wells of the land, to empty the deep wells furnished with hoisting ropes:” let us not submit to the house of Kish, let us wage war!’
Epic of Gilgamesh II 289
Ancient Near East, Babylonian
281 [who is there that would venture] into his forest? 282 [Adad is the first, but he is] the second! 283 [Who is there] among the Igigi [that would oppose him?] 284 [In order to keep the cedars safe,] 285 Enlil made it his destiny [to be the] terror of the people. 286 [And] he who ventures into his forest, feebleness will seize him!’ 287 The senior advisers arose, 288 they expressed in return (their) opinion to Gilgameš: 289 ‘You are young, Gilgameš, carried away by enthusiasm, 290 and the thing that you talk of you do not understand. 291 Ḫumbaba, his voice is the Deluge, 292 his speech is fire, his breath is death. 293 He hears his forest’s murmur for sixty leagues; 294 he who ventures into his forest, [feebleness will seize him!] 295 Who is there that would venture into his forest? 296 Who is there among the Igigi that would oppose him? 297 Adad is the first, but he is the second! 298 In order to keep the cedars safe, 299 Enlil made it his destiny to be the terror of the people. 300 Gilgameš heard the words of the senior advisers,
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Notes and References
“... This poem was known in antiquity by its incipit, 'The envoys of
Akka'. It is the shortest of the Sumerian tales of Bilgames and also
the best preserved. It must have been a favourite copy-text in Old
Babylonian schools. It differs from the other four Sumerian poems in
ha ving no obvious counterpart in the Akkadian material, though the
consultation of the elders and the young men in assembly is a motif
also found - in different context - in Tablet II of the standard version
of the Babylonian epic. ...”
George, Andrew
The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian
(p. 143) Penguin Books, 2000
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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