Literature:Ishtar spoke to her father/Rencadian
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Ishtar spoke to her father/Rencadian is the incipit of a famed section in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic Mesopotamian poem, and one of the earliest surviving works of literature. |
- Adapted from an English translation of the Akkadian version, from Tablet VI.
Pæ Isjtar æn Anu, cæw nefnidh, menfarnasj:
"Nefnidh, æm pilcæmnæth nunør ændilre,
thwi λusjech me htæsjek Gilgamæsjeth nowbesteth.
Mechos tjæn meth pilcæmnæth nunør ol medhilre,
Sjim liyntsnøth re hngæfnæ dhin methukeste,
sjim fræych-kiymoltnøth mechaσnasj, dhe fræychnøth binderz mehærfre,
dhe sjim nowbangnøth mevezothø, æn huσâsj æn viycelthnøth ithø!
Dhe sjin nowbangnø viycelthnøth medhoascelhuwzæme!
Ishtar spoke to her father, Anu, saying:
"Father, give me the Bull of Heaven,
so he can kill Gilgamesh in his dwelling.
If you do not give me the Bull of Heaven,
I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld,
I will smash the door posts, and leave the doors flat down,
and will let the dead go up to eat the living!
And the dead will outnumber the living!"
Translations