Page Content (OCR)
147 visions, the real and the imagined, the fights and the flights, and now all alone—that only now his most memorable saga was about to begin. How long Gilgamesh roamed aimlessly in the wilderness, the ancient epic does not tell. He trod unbeaten paths encoun- tering no man, hunting for food. "What mountains he had climbed, what streams he had crossed, no man can know," the ancient scribes noted. Finally he took hold of himself. "Must I lay my head inside the earth and sleep through all the years?" he asked himself, and join his comrade in death, or would the gods "let mine eyes behold the sun?" Again he was filled with determination to avoid a mortal's fate by reaching the Land of Living. Guided by the rising and setting sun—the celestial counter- part of Shamash—Gilgamesh trekked in a purposeful manner. As day followed day, the terrain began to change: the flat desert wilderness, home of lizards and scorpions, was ending and he could see mountains in the distance. The wildlife was also changing. "When at night he arrived at the mountain pass, Gilgamesh saw lions and grew afraid." He lifted his head to Sin and prayed: "To the place where the gods rejuvenate my steps are directed ... Preserve thou me!" The change from Shamash to Sin (the father of Shamash) as the protecting deity to whom the prayer is addressed is made in the text without pause or comment; and we are left to presume that somehow Gilgamesh had realized that he had reached a region dedicated to Sin. Gilgamesh "Went to sleep and awoke from a dream," in which he saw himself "rejoice with life." He took it as a favorable omen from Sin, that he would manage to cross the mountain pass despite the lions roaming there. Gathering his weapons, "Gilgamesh like an arrow descended among the lions," striking the beasts with all his strength: "He smote them, he hacked away at them." But by midday his weapons shattered and Gilgamesh threw them away. Two lions were In Search of Immortality