Literature:Ishtar spoke to her father/Rencadian

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

Ishtar spoke to her father/Rencadian