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150 way" that leads toward "the Great Sea." He was to follow that road until he reached two stone columns that serve as markers. Turning there, he would come to a town named (in the Hittite recension of the epic) Itla, sacred to the god Ullu- Yah. That god's permission was needed in order to cross into the Forbidden Region where Mount Mashu was; that, Urshanabi said, is your destination. Itla proved a mixed blessing for Gilgamesh. Arriving there he ate and drank, washed and changed to proper attire. On the advice of Shamash, he offered sacrifices to Ullu-Yah (meaning, perhaps, "He of the Peaks"). But the Great God, learning of the king's wish for a Shem, vetoed the idea. Seek- ing the intercession of Shamash, Gilgamesh then pleaded with the gods for an alternative: "Let me take the road to Utnapishtim, the son of Ubar-Tutu!" And that, after some deliberation, was permitted. After a journey of six days, Gilgamesh could see the sacred mountain of which Urshanabi the boatman had spoken: At the mountain of Mashu he arrived, where daily the Shems he watched as they depart and come in. On high, to the Celestial Band it is connected; below, to the Lower World it is hound. There was a way to go inside the mountain, but the en- trance was guarded by awesome "Rocket-men:" Rocket-men guard its gate. Their terror is awesome, their glance is death. Their dreaded spotlight sweeps the mountains. They watch over Shamash as he ascends and descends. Caught in the sweep of the deadly spotlight, Gilgamesh shielded his face; unharmed, he paced toward the Rocket-men (a scene depicted on a cylinder seal might have illustrated this episode—Fig. 46). They were astounded to see that the death rays did not affect Gilgamesh, and realized that "he who comes, me flesh of the gods is his body." Allowed to ap- DIVINE ENCOUNTERS The name of the mountain is Mashu.