Babylonian and Assyrian Literature | Page 3

is supposed to be a solar personification, and the epic is interesting to modern writers not only on account of its description of the Deluge, but also for the pomp and dignity of its style, and for its noble delineation of heroic character.
[Signature: Epiphanius Wilson]
CONTENTS
THE EPIC OF ISHTAR AND IZDUBAR:
The Invocation.
The Fall of Erech.
The Rescue of Erech.
Coronation of Izdubar.
Ishtar and Her Maids.
Izdubar Falls in Love with Ishtar.
Ishtar's Midnight Courtship.
The King's Second Dream.
Izdubar Relates His Second Dream.
Heabani, the Hermit Seer.
Expedition of Zaidu.
Heabani Resolves to Return.
Heabani's Wisdom.
In Praise of Izdubar and Heabani.
Zaidu's Return.
The Two Maidens Entice the Seer.
Festival in Honor of Heabani.
Izdubar Slays the Midannu.
Annual Sale of the Maidens of Babylon.
Council in the Palace.
The King at the Shrine of Ishtar.
The King at the Temple of Samas.
Expedition against Khumbaba.
Conflict of the Rival Giants.
Coronation of Izdubar.
The King's Answer and Ishtar's Rage.
Ishtar Complains to Anu.
Fight with the Winged Bull of Anu.
The Curse of Ishtar.
Ishtar Weaves a Spell Over Izdubar.
Ishtar's Descent to Hades.
Effect of Ishtar's Imprisonment in Hades.
Papsukul Intercedes for Ishtar.
Release of Ishtar.
Tammuz Restored to Life.
Escape of Tammuz from Hades.
The King and the Seer Converse.
Contest with the Dragons.
Heabani Reveals Visions to the King.
Grief of the King Over Heabani.
Burial of the Seer.
Izdubar Enters Hades.
The King's Adventure.
The King Meets Ur-hea.
Mua Welcomes Izdubar.
The King Becomes Immortal.
Izdubar Falls in Love with Mua.
Mua's Answer.
TABLETS AND CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS:
Babylonian Exorcisms.
Accadian Hymn to Istar.
Annals of Assur-Nasi-Pal.
Assyrian Sacred Poetry.
Assyrian Talismans and Exorcisms.
Ancient Babylonian Charms.
Inscription of Tiglath Pileser I.
The Revolt in Heaven.
The Legend of the Tower of Babel.
An Accadian Penitential Psalm.
The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II.
Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar.
Accadian Poem on the Seven Evil Spirits.
Chaldean Hymns to the Sun.
Two Accadian Hymns.
Accadian Proverbs and Songs.
Babylonian Public Documents.
Babylonian Private Contracts.
Great Inscription of Khorsabad.
ISHTAR AND IZDUBAR
[Translated by Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton, M.A.]
ALCOVE I
TABLET I: COLUMN I
INVOCATION
O love, my queen and goddess, come to me;?My soul shall never cease to worship thee;?Come pillow here thy head upon my breast,?And whisper in my lyre thy softest, best.?And sweetest melodies of bright Sami,[1]?Our Happy Fields[2] above dear Subartu;[3]?Come nestle closely with those lips of love?And balmy breath, and I with thee shall rove?Through Sari[4] past ere life on earth was known,?And Time unconscious sped not, nor had flown.?Thou art our all in this impassioned life:?How sweetly comes thy presence ending strife,?Thou god of peace and Heaven's undying joy,?Oh, hast thou ever left one pain or cloy?Upon this beauteous world to us so dear??To all mankind thou art their goddess here.?To thee we sing, our holiest, fairest god,?The One who in that awful chaos trod?And woke the Elements by Law of Love?To teeming worlds in harmony to move.?From chaos thou hast led us by thy hand,?[5]Thus spoke to man upon that budding land:?"The Queen of Heaven, of the dawn am I,?The goddess of all wide immensity,?For thee I open wide the golden gate?Of happiness, and for thee love create?To glorify the heavens and fill with joy?The earth, its children with sweet love employ."?Thou gavest then the noblest melody?And highest bliss--grand nature's harmony.?With love the finest particle is rife,?And deftly woven in the woof of life,?In throbbing dust or clasping grains of sand,?In globes of glistening dew that shining stand?On each pure petal, Love's own legacies?Of flowering verdure, Earth's sweet panoplies;?By love those atoms sip their sweets and pass?To other atoms, join and keep the mass?With mighty forces moving through all space,?Tis thus on earth all life has found its place.?Through Kisar,[6] Love came formless through the air?In countless forms behold her everywhere!?Oh, could we hear those whispering roses sweet,?Three beauties bending till their petals meet,?And blushing, mingling their sweet fragrance there?In language yet unknown to mortal ear.?Their whisperings of love from morn till night?Would teach us tenderly to love the right.?O Love, here stay! Let chaos not return!?With hate each atom would its lover spurn?In air above, on land, or in the sea,?O World, undone and lost that loseth thee!?For love we briefly come, and pass away?For other men and maids; thus bring the day?Of love continuous through this glorious life.?Oh, hurl away those weapons fierce of strife!?We here a moment, point of time but live,?Too short is life for throbbing hearts to grieve.?Thrice holy is that form that love hath kissed,?And happy is that man with heart thus blessed.?Oh, let not curses fall upon that head?Whom love hath cradled on the welcome bed?Of bliss, the bosom of our fairest god,?Or hand of love e'er grasp the venging rod.
Oh, come, dear Zir-ri,[7] tune your lyres and lutes,?And sing of love with chastest, sweetest notes,?Of Accad's goddess Ishtar, Queen of Love,?And Izdubar, with softest measure move;?Great Samas'[8] son, of him dear Zir-ri sing!?Of him whom goddess Ishtar warmly wooed,?Of him whose breast with virtue was imbued.?He as a giant towered, lofty grown,?As Babil's[9] great pa-te-si[10] was he known,?His armèd fleet commanded on the seas?And erstwhile travelled on the foreign leas;?His mother Ellat-gula[11] on the throne?From