In 1816, Sir Henry Salt, British Counsel General to Egypt, along with the maverick Italian explorer Giovanni Caviglia, explored a spacious tomb on the northern slopes of Giza's famous plateau. It was part of a systematic investigation of all tombs, mastabas and pyramids in their unerring bid to find, and convey back to their own countries, antiquities and treasures of every kind, whether of commercial or philological value. In this somewhat bare tomb, with only internal pillars, a long corridor and a few side chambers for decoration, they found nothing of immediate interest. Yet at its farthest end they unexpectedly found themselves pushing through into a chasm-like chamber, partly hewn, partly natural, which opened up into a maze of subterranean passages. After travelling for a distance of some several hundred yards, the two men chanced upon a giant hewn chamber, which led into three more chambers of equal size, from which led 'labyrinthink' passages going off in various directions. Salt left Caviglia to explore them, he having become bored by these empty corridors and chambers. The Italian followed one or two for a few hundred feet more before giving up, having found no obvious antiquities.
It is a wonderful story, yet one that has gone unreported through to this present day, since no record of Caviglia's exploration of the 'catacombs' have survived, and Salt's own account, preserved in his memoirs, were only rediscovered recently, after nearly 200 years of obscurity.
So what exactly had Salt and Caviglia found, and why is their account so important?
Ever since the age of the Pharaohs Egyptian myths have spoken of an underworld domain existing beneath the Giza plateau. Similar stories were told by Roman and Arab travellers to Egypt, and even by those who inhabit the villages on the edge of the hot desert that still encroaches on the plateau today.
In more modern times psychics and mystics such as America's 'sleeping prophet' Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) have revived the search for what has come to be known as the Hall of Records, an underground realm thought to contain the lost arts and treasures of the ancients. In the last 30 years several expeditions, almost all of them funded by the Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE), the active wing of the Edgar Cayce Foundation, have attempted with success to locate its entrance.
Did the series of catacombs uncovered by Salt and Caviglia lead eventually to the lost Hall of Records, or were they simply natural cavities of very little archaeological value? Was there any real truth in the stories regarding the existence of an underworld domain beneath the Giza pyramid field? Was there any way its entrance might be located today? These were the questions the author sought to answer when in 1998 he began his own quest of discovery on the celebrated plateau at Giza, strewn with ruined monuments and empty sepulchres from a bygone age. Little did he realise that just ten years later he would be the first person to find and enter those same catacombs and 'labyrinthink' passages in an incredible story of treasure and discovery, reminiscent of the earliest days of exploration on the plateau.
PART ONE -UNDERWORLD
In the Edfu building texts, carved on the walls of Ptolemaic temple of Edfu in southern Egypt, we find reference to an island surrounded by water was expressed in terms of an original mound of creation that emerged from a primeval ocean (called the nun) at the beginning of time. Although this concept is found among the creation myths of other cult centres in Egypt, what makes the Edfu texts unique is that they allude to the existence within the island of a subterranean realm known as the duat n ba, literally translated as the 'Underworld (or Netherworld) of the Soul'.
This sacred domain was reached via a construction named bw-hnm, the Place of the Well, within which was an object described as the bnnt, meaning 'embryo', or 'seed', called also the 'Great Lotus', or 'throne', which exuded a divine radiance or efflux able to effect creation in the outside world, i.e. create the physical world around it. During an epoch known as the First Occasion (zep tepi), mythical beings referred to as the wrw n wrw, a term meaning the Eldest of the Eldest Ones, or more commonly the Primeval Ones, gathered here to perform magical rites using power objects, called iht, in concert with the functions of the bnnt-power object. The expression iht might well imply a hand-held stone or crystal, like the sacred lingam stones of Hindu tradition, which symbolise growth or new life. The Primeval Ones were said to have created a sacred domain on the edge of the lake, where they erected the first temple and temple enclosure in honour of their glorious leader called the Falcon, a kind of bird-man, arguably a powerful shaman in the guise of a bird.
Egyptologist EAE Reymond wrote in 1969 that the mythical world described in the Edfu texts must really have existed during some primordial age. She saw clear signs in the texts that this sacred domain was located near the ancient royal city of Memphis in Lower Egypt. It necropolis, or city of the dead, stretched from Sakkara in the south to Giza in the north.
So was the primeval mound or island of the Edfu texts to be found in the vicinity of Giza, where an ancient branch of the Nile once flowed? If so, what became of this place, and where was it in relationship to the Great Pyramid and its neighbours on the plateau today? More importantly did the Underworld of the Soul really exist as a subterranean realm? If so, could its entrance, called the Place of the Well, be located today?
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Well of the Saint
Convinced that the Place of the Well existed somewhere in the vicinity of the plateau at Giza, I discovered a legend preserved among the inhabitants of Nazlet es-Samman, the modern village that today encroaches on the eastern edge of the pyramid field. It spoke of a holy well of untold importance said to be the abode of a holy man named Hammed es-Samman. His duty was to guard its entrance, for beneath it was a stone passage that led directly to what was remembered as an underground 'city' or 'palace'.
That was at the end of 1998. No further information was forthcoming until May 2005, when during a research trip to Giza the author was introduced to a local business entrepreneur named Ali es-Samman. He knew very well the legend of Hammad es-Samman, explaining that until recently the saint had been venerated during an annual festival organized by the inhabitants of Nazlet es-Samman. More significantly, Ali was himself a living descendent of Hammad es-Samman, adding that the truth about the well had been kept secret until now, its significance being known only to a handful of village elders. According to Ali it did indeed link to an underground passageway which led, eventually, to a subterranean 'city' located beneath the modern village.
Incredibly, Ali went on to reveal the whereabouts of the well. He said it was located beneath one of several sacred sycamore fig trees, located in the heart of the modern Islamic cemetery Aish el-Ghurob ('bread of the crow') in the south-east corner of the plateau. Stunned, I asked whether I might be able to visit this holy place, and was told 'yes', we could go there the following day. It is important to emphasise here that prior to this time there had been very few references to this well in any of the hundreds of books written on the history of the monuments on the Giza plateau, and even then its significance had not been recognised.
So the next day, after dodging the secret police that linger around the Sphinx entrance on to the plateau in the company a guide, and paying baksheesh to the guardians of the cemetery, the author found himself being ushered past rows of white painted box tombs into the presence of one of Giza's lost holy sites.
The well, called Beer es-Samman, meaning the "well of the samman bird", is extremely old, being shown on the very earliest maps of the plateau. Its crystal-clear water, drunk by all who frequent the cemetery, comes from subterranean fissures that might easily break through to underground chambers and passages deep beneath the plateau.
Whilst at Beer es-Samman, standing beneath the shade of a mature sycamore fig tree (known as el-gomez in Arabic), a descendant of one mentioned in ancient Egyptian texts, I noticed just how close the well was to the north face of a prominent rocky knoll, situated some 150 metres to the south.
Known today as Gebel Ghibli (or Qibli), Arabic for 'southern hill', this enigmatic rock formation rises to a height of 60 metres (197 feet) above sea-level and lies approximately 400 metres due south of the Sphinx.
From the north, where the Giza pyramids are located, Gebel Ghibli seems to stick out like some kind of age-old primeval mound. Was there any evidence that this area might hold clues regarding Giza's greatest secret - the Underworld of the Soul of the Edfu texts?
Beside Sokar in Rostau
One clue regarding Gebel Ghibli's role at Giza is the Dream Stela, an inscribed stone slab set up between the paws of the Sphinx. It was erected by the pharaoh Thutmosis IV to commemorate the role played in his ascension to the throne by Harmachis (Hor-em-akhet, Horus in the Horizon), an ancient name for the monument. It refers to the Sphinx being located 'beside Sokar in Rostau', with Rostau being an ancient name for Giza. Significantly, Rostau means something like 'mouth of the passages'.
Sokar is arguably one of the oldest gods of ancient Egypt. He presided over death, resurrection, as well as the darkness of the tomb in which the dead lay in eternal slumber. Sokar is usually shown as a falcon-headed deity, either seated on a throne or wrapped as a mummy. He was guardian of the necropolis that served the ancient city of Memphis, and in particular the area of Rostau, ancient Giza, where once was to be found a shrine to Sokar known as the Shetayet. Although its location has never been determined, some Egyptologists believe it to have been in the vicinity of Gebel Ghibli, beneath which lies the well Beer es-Samman. More revealingly, Sokar has been identified with the mythical leader of the Edfu texts known as the Falcon, whose mythical precursors, the Primeaval Ones, were responsible for building Egypt's first temple and enclosure, on the banks of the lake containing the sacred island of creation.
Sokar of Rostau
The rocky knoll of Gebel Ghibli rises out of the plateau beyond the Sphinx.
Sokar's greatest rival, even by the Pyramid Age, was Osiris, the god of death and resurrection. His cult absorbed the falcon god's attributes and sites, until Sokar became simply Sokar-Osiris or even Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, after Ptah, the creator god of Memphis, whose cult also absorbed that of Sokar. Even though Osiris most probably started as a vegetation god of the Nile Delta, associated with cycles of regeneration, he quickly usurped Sokar's role as 'Lord of Rostau'. Even the Shetayet, the lost shrine of Sokar, evolved into the 'Tomb of Osiris'.
Yet one place that Sokar continued to rule was the duat, the Egyptian underworld, or netherworld, seen as both a physical realm beneath the earth, and also as a region of the night sky associated with the Egyptian afterlife. Ancient funerary texts, specifically the Am-duat, the 'Book of that which is in the Underworld', found inscribed on funerary papyri and on the walls of tombs during Egypt's New Kingdom period, c. 1575-1214 BC, speak of Sokar as governing the subterranean realm of Rostau. The deceased pharaoh in his role as the sun-god would have to navigate through this duat in order to reach an afterlife among the stars.
The ancient Egyptians believed that the trials and tribulation that the soul of the dead pharaoh would have to undergo on his dark journey through the underworld were reflected in the sun's journey through the hours of the night. As the sun-god, the solar orb was seen to enter the duat-underworld at sunset and travel via an imaginary tunnel beneath the earth, before emerging again at dawn on the eastern horizon. This strange chthonic realm was seen to be populated by multitudes of snakes, demons and spirits, and was divided into twelve 'hours', or divisions, reflecting the passage of the deceased's soul across the midnight hours.
The Fourth and Fifth Hours of the duat, where the pharaoh as the sun-god approached the midnight hour, were the dominion of Sokar. They even bear titles such as the 'House of Sokar', the 'Land of Sekri' (another form of the name Sokar) and, more significantly, Rostau, i.e. Giza. So different are the descriptions of the deceased's navigation through the Fourth and Fifth Hours of the duat, as opposed to the other ten hours, that Egyptian Egyptologist Selim Hassan (1893-1961) wrote that they must be interpolations stemming from a separate tradition dealing solely with the underworld of Giza-Rostau. Moreover, he wrote that a physical representation of the duat-underworld might once have existed at Giza, especially since representations of the Fourth and Fifth Hours seemed to reflect the manner in which the plateau slopes down from northwest to southeast as viewed from its southeast corner, i.e. from the vicinity of the Aish el-Ghorab cemetery lying beneath the shadow of Gebel Ghibli.
In the Fifth Hour Sokar is pictured standing on a double- or multi-headed serpent, holding its wings apart. Both figures appear on an oval-shaped island. This is guarded by a double-headed sphinx known as the aker-lion (akeru in plural). It is also surrounded by a waterway. Unquestionably the island is a representation of the mound of creation in the primeval waters. Elsewhere the aker-lions are said to protect the entrance and exit to the duat-underworld, symbolising, respectively, the point at which the sun disappears at sunset and rises again at dawn. Selim Hassan equated the aker-lion with Giza's Sphinx monument, which guards the eastern entrance to the plateau (as has Mark Lehner), while a mythical location in funerary texts known as the 'Highlands of Aker' has been identified as another name for the hills that encircle Giza.
Sokar standing on a serpent in the Fifth Hour of the Duat, called Rostau.
Not even the sun-god was allowed to penetrate Sokar's secret chamber during his nocturnal journey into an afterlife among the stars, reached following his release from the duat into the pre-dawn light of the eastern horizon. Instead, the soul of the deceased is pulled along on his night-barque over the top of a conical pyramid-mound often drawn above the aforementioned oval-shaped island on which Sokar stands.
Was the island on water in the Land of Sekri the same as the primeval mound of the Edfu texts? If the Shetayet of Sokar was located in the vicinity of Gebel Ghibli, as seems likely, then the presence beneath its northern face of the well Beer es-Samman, with its legend concerning subterranean passages leading to either a mythical 'palace' or 'city', was of deep interest. Did the well mark the site of the Shetayet of Sokar, where the entrance - or indeed the eastern exit - to Rostau, the 'mouth of the passages', was to be found?
Could additional evidence help confirm Gebel Ghibli's role in this fascinating saga? We shall see now how Giza's southern hill was used during the Pyramid Age not only as a survey point (as it has been again in modern times), but that it also features in landscape geometry that implies some kind of unified plan, or 'grand design', that decided the placement, and maybe even the visual perspective, of the Giza Pyramids.
Five The Cygnus Correlation
Since pharaonic times the Great Pyramid has been associated with the stars. Its air shafts and descending corridor are thought to align to stars, while as late as medieval times star worshippers called Sabaeans came to from Syria to Giza on pilgrimages to venerate the Great Pyramid as the expression of a specific star. Thus when in 1993 Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert in their super bestseller The Orion Mystery saw the three 'belt' stars of Orion as defining the ground-plan of the Giza Pyramids the theory met with considerable enthusiasm. However, not all were convinced by this 'Orion correlation theory' (OCT), as it became known, since its accuracy left much to the imagination.
Among the dissenters was chartered engineer Rodney Hale, C.Eng MIET, a friend and colleague of the author. He attempted to superimpose the Orion belt stars upon a plan of the Giza Pyramids. Matching the stars -Alnitak and Alnilam - to the Great and Second Pyramid was easy, but the third star, Mintaka, fell way short of marking the apex of the Third Pyramid. In fact, it did not even hit the pyramid. Extending out this ground-sky overlay to incorporate other nearby pyramids was even less accurate.
This had always troubled Hale, and whilst working on a research project with the present author to understand the importance in the ancient mindset of the Northern Cross, the constellation of the celestial swan Cygnus, he had a flash of inspiration. He wondered what would happen if the three main 'wing' stars of Cygnus - Gienah (epsilon Cygni), Sadr (gamma Cygni) and Delta Cygni (it has no other name) - which form an arrangement similar to that of the Orion belt stars, were to be superimposed on Giza's pyramid field?
The answer is that the stars matched very well the geographic positions of the three main pyramids. In addition to this, another key star in Cygnus, the second brightest in the constellation, named Albireo, situated at the base of the constellation's cruciform design, was found to fall upon the heights of Gebel Ghibli, while Cygnus's brightest star, Deneb, was denoted by a huge stone mastaba (labeled 'Lepsius 14') in Giza's western cemetery, west of the Great Pyramid.
Star overlays at Giza. The stars of Cygnus in red. Those of Orion in green.
Hale and the author also determined that the star Deneb, as viewed from Giza at the start of the Pyramid Age, would have risen over the Cairo suburb of Matariyeh, which once formed part of the ancient cult centre of Heliopolis (the biblical city of On), meaning 'city of the sun'. Here was to be found another holy well named Ain-shams, Arabic for 'eye of the sun'. This lies beneath a very ancient sycamore fig, just like it counterpart at Giza. The earliest descendent of this tree at Heliopolis was sacred to the sky-goddess Nut (pronounced nu-it or noot), who seems to have been a personification of the Milky Way as it arches over the earth at night. Nut was said to have given birth each day to the sun-god Ra from a region of the Milky Way known as the Great Rift, where the stars of Cygnus are to be found. She was also said to have given birth to the falcon-headed Horus, a stellar counterpart to Sokar, which, as we shall see, might well have defined Cygnus's role as a celestial falcon in ancient Egyptian astronomy.
At Giza the sacred sycamore, or gomez tree, was sacred to the goddess Hathor, who like her Heliopolitan counterpart Nut, bore the title 'Mistress of the Sycamore'. Hathor was the female patron of Giza, and a strange legend preserved even today speaks of how she fed on the blood of the dead in the necropolis by eating of the crimson red fruit of the gomez in the Islamic cemetery. Local folk tradition records how if a woman wishes to get pregnant she repairs to Beer es-Samman and here eats of the fruit of the gomez, which, through its distinctive appearance, has become a universal symbol of fertility (fig leaves even feature in the biblical story of the garden of Eden).
Hathor in her role as a sky-goddess was, like Nut, the mother of the falcon god Horus, her name even meaning the 'house of Horus', a reference to her cosmic womb. Also like Nut, who was perhaps merely an extension of the same goddess, Hathor was most likely a personification of the Milky Way. It was Horus with whom every pharaoh was associated in life, whilst the king's mother and wife were usually identified with Hathor.
The relationship between Nut at Heliopolis and Hathor at Giza, connected respectively by their own sacred trees and holy wells, and linked through the influence of Cygnus, only strengthens the case for the constellation's influence in ancient Egyptian astronomy.
Heliopolis was where the astronomer-priests responsible for the design of the Giza Pyramids would have lived and taught their arts. It is towards Heliopolis that American Egyptologist Mark Lehner, the director of the Giza Plateau Mapping Project, believes the pyramids are aligned.
Immediately the author's Cygnus-Giza correlation was published it ignited a ferocious debate which drew in Robert Bauval and his supporters - was Cygnus or Orion the better match at Giza? The author realized very quickly that he would have to verify his claims regarding Cygnus, and so once again the services of technical engineer Rodney Hale were sought.
Six The Fourth Pyramid
In addition to checking the validity of the initial Cygnus-Giza correlation, which the author found remains compelling, other potential alignments at Giza were now investigated. For example, in 2005 the author had taken some shots of the Giza pyramids as viewed from the ruins of a 'sun' temple built by the pharaoh Userkaf, who initiated the Fifth Dynasty of Egyptian history, c. 2480 BC. The site is located just north of Abusir, a pyramid field some 13 kilometres (8 miles) south-southeast of Giza. Userkaf's sun-temple is one of only two such structures surviving, even though today it is little more than a scattering of desert-ravaged ruins.
American astronomer Dr Ronald Wells had proposed that the monument's raised causeway, which ran from the main temple down to a lower valley temple, was aligned to a sequence of stars used as a star-clock. The first star in the sequence was found to be Deneb, Cygnus's brightest star, with the last one being Sadr, Cygnus's central wing star, located at the centre of the Northern Cross. This discovery led Wells to consider that the star Deneb had in some way been special to Userkaf, who ruled directly after Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, the builders of the Giza Pyramids.
Looking at the photograph of the Giza pyramids, Rodney Hale now noticed that the perceived heights of the Giza Pyramids as viewed from Userkaf's sun-temple matched very closely the positions of the three Cygnus wing stars as they set in the north-west. This was easily confirmed by synchronizing the three stars over the apexes of their respective pyramids - Gienah with the Third Pyramid, Sadr with the Second Pyramid and delta Cygni with the Great Pyramid, exactly the same order as the original Cygnus-Giza overlay.
On learning of this new match, the author checked survey measurements made during his visit to Userkaf's sun-temple, hoping to find that the recorded azimuth bearings of the Giza Pyramids would permit the three Cygnus wing stars to set down into their respective pyramids as viewed from this spot during the Pyramid Age. Yet Userkaf's sun-temple was located too far south of east for this to have happened with any accuracy. An observation point where this might have occurred, visibility permitting, would have to be at an azimuth much closer to south-east.
This fact aside, something did immediately become apparent. The projected line of sight which would have enabled the witnessing of Cygnus's wing stars setting into their respective pyramids was traceable much closer to the Giza plateau. Having scanned the local landscape, the author realized instantly where this was - Gebel Ghibli, Giza's southern hill. This seemed beyond coincidence.
Thus a line was projected from the summit of Gebel Ghibli through the centre point of the Second Pyramid, giving an azimuth bearing of approximately 307 degrees. The author then ascertained the setting point of Sadr, the pyramid's corresponding Cygnus star as viewed from Giza in 2600 BC, and found that this too was 307 degrees, meaning that the star would have extinguished, i.e. set, into the vertical centre line of the Second Pyramid as viewed from Gebel Ghibli during this age. Remember, it was the star Sadr that represented the Second Pyramid in the Cygnus-Giza gound-sky overlay.
More revelations were to follow. If this Sadr setting line was followed away from the plateau then at a position some two and a half kilometres from the Second Pyramid all three Cygnus wing stars would indeed have been seen setting into their corresponding pyramids. This certainly made sense of why the heights of each corresponding pyramid conformed perfectly with the astronomical positions of the Cygnus wing stars as viewed from this all important line.
One amazing fact concerning the three Giza pyramids is that their apexes form a perfect arc, and if the centre of this circle is traced it falls precisely on the Sadr setting line, close to where the three Cygnus wing stars set into their corresponding pyramids. Is this all simply coincidence?
This was extraordinary confirmation of Cygnus's role at Giza, and subsequent research carried out by Rodney Hale and the author uncovered a number of other major alignments featuring Gebel Ghibli, Giza and Cygnus. Such findings made sense of ancient texts, as well as medieval Arabian stories that spoke of each pyramid representing an individual star.
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The star Deneb setting into the apex of Giza's Second Pyramid.
In addition to this, it was found that as viewed from Gebel Ghibli during the Pyramid Age, Cygnus's brightest star Deneb set down each night into the peak of the Second Pyramid.
On top of this was another compelling fact. Inside the Great Pyramid is a bare room high within its solid stone interior known as the King's Chamber. It contains a large granite sarcophagus orientated north-south. For many years writers have speculated as to why the King's Chamber, which some believe once contained the mummy of King Khufu, is positioned south of the monument's vertical centre line at an angle of just over 6 degrees. One quite incredible solution presents itself. In the Pyramid Age, the star Deneb culminated its nightly transit at 83.48 degrees, some 6.12 degrees north of Giza's zenith point, precisely in opposition to the King's Chamber's offset.
Anyone, whether dead or alive, lying within the chamber's sarcophagus, with their head in the south and their feet to the north, could have symbolically gazed up through the apex of the Great Pyramid to witness Deneb crossing the meridian each night. Putting it another way, once each day Deneb synchronised perfectly with the apex of the Great Pyramid as viewed from the sarcophagus in the King's Chamber. The fact that the two air-shafts in the north and south walls of the King's Chamber are thought to target the culmination of stars crossing the meridian makes this new Cygnus alignment totally viable. No other star crosses this same path during the Pyramid Age, making it a unique celestial phenomenon with profound implications to the concept of the soul's journey into an afterlife among the northern stars.
Many of the alignments identified by Rodney Hale at Giza feature Gebel Ghibli, which was almost certainly the plateau's original survey point. Yet it is much more than simply a convenient hill to be used for surveying purposes. It bears two alternative names in Arabic - one being al-Hadbah, meaning the 'high place', a name with religious connotations especially in Semitic religions. The other is 'Tarfiya', an ancient word meaning the 'first place', or the 'place of beginnings', alluding to the hill's role as a primeval mound, from which all else in the outside world took form. Among the geometry fixed on Gebel Ghibli is a north-south datum, or meridian, line that targets the Sphinx monument. Right angles taken from this datum line to each of the three pyramids create perfect Pythagorean triangles with single number figure ratios 3:4, 5:2 and 7:1. Since such ratios were found by Pythagoras to determine the interludes in musical scales, Giza's Pythagorean geometry expresses the idea that Gebel Ghibli can be seen as the point of first creation from which emanated primary tones that effected creation in the outside world.
In addition to the profound geometry showing Gebel Ghibli's importance in the grand design at Giza, it plays another significant role as well.
There are clear indications from the ancient texts that the entombed body of Osiris was brought from the nearby Nile to Giza for interment. Indeed, it is said that the 'Tomb of Osiris' can be found at Rostau, ancient Giza. Many have attempted to understand these claims, with most concluding that the body of Osiris lies somewhere either in the vicinity of Gebel Ghibli or beneath the plateau somewhere in its physical representation of the duat-underworld.
When viewed on the line between Gebel Ghibli and the vertical centre line of the Great Pyramid, and only from this line, the hill bears an uncanny resemblance to a mummified human form lying on its back, its arms crossed over its chest and its feet raised upright. Incredibly, this is how Osiris is represented lying in rest after his evil brother Set tricked him into a coffin, which was then sealed and cast into the Nile close to Giza, before being retrieved by his wife Isis and interred at Rostau.
Since Osiris usurped the role earlier played at Giza by Sokar, who is also depicted as a mummified human although with the head of a falcon instead of that of a man, it is possible that Gebel Ghibli originally represented Sokar, not Osiris. A virtual beak-like protuberance is visible within the simulacra formed by Gebel Ghibli, and if this was recognized by the ancient Egyptians then it makes sense of why the Sheyatet or shrine of Sokar was said to have been located in this very area, arguably even in the vicinity of the well Beer es-Samman at its base.
The resemblance between the Osiriform body and the visual appearance of Gebel Ghibli as seen from the Second Pyramid.
Since Sokar was a guardian of Rostau, the name given to the Fifth House of the duat-underworld, it makes sense to look for its entrance, or indeed exit, in the vicinity of Gebel Ghibli.
The mummified Sokar within the Mound of Creation, flipped horizontally to show the similarity with the simulacra at Gebel Ghibli, the proposed Tomb of Osiris and shrine of Sokar.
If so, then Beer es-Samman becomes the most obvious candidate for such an entrance. The belief held locally by village elders that it allowed access to a tunnel system that led eventually to a subterranean 'city' or 'palace' should be taken very seriously indeed. Moreover, the author has recently uncovered evidence that the subterranean passage that leads away from Beer es-Samman is said to link to another well 400 metres to the north-northeast in the Valley Temple of Khafre, just beyond the right paw of the Sphinx. This is exactly where Edgar Cayce predicted an entrance to a passageway leading to the Hall of Records would be found.
The role played at Giza by Gebel Ghibli and the well Beer es-Samman was becoming clearer, but why exactly was Cygnus so important to the ancient Egyptian mindset, especially at Giza? Would its role at Giza help us to uncover even more about the plateau's chthonic domain?
Eight He Who Unfolds Two Wings
The protective wings of a bird, particularly the hawk, falcon or vulture, were very significant in the funerary religion of ancient Egypt. The soul, or ba, of the deceased was depicted as a human-headed falcon on its journey into an afterlife among the stars, while a protective falcon is shown squatting with its wings outspread on the roof of the shrine on Sokar's henu-boat. A similar protective falcon is seen on the roof of Osiris's funerary shrine, and often the pharaoh was depicted as a child beneath the protective wings of Horus. Most famously, a life-size seated statue of Khafre - builder of the Second Pyramid - carved in hard speckled diorite and found down the aforementioned well in the Valley Temple of Khafre, next to the Sphinx, in the nineteenth century, shows a falcon on the king's shoulders with its protective wings embracing his neck. Was this protective role of the divine falcon the inspiration behind the Giza Pyramids being laid out to mimic the stars forming the outstretched wings of the celestial bird? If so, then can we go on to identify the constellation's role in ancient Egyptian cosmology? Khafre with protective falcon.
In Egypt's New Kingdom, c. 1575-1087 BC, Giza's Great Sphinx bore the name Hor-em-akhet, Horus-in-the Horizon (the Greek Harmachis), a form of the god Horus the Elder, whose usual guise was as the divine falcon. Was it possible that the divine falcon of ancient Egyptian mythology was in some way connected with Cygnus's role as a protective influence over the Giza Pyramids?
The Sphinx was known as Hor-em-akhet, Horus in the Horizon.
Both Horus and Sokar, the underworld god of Rostau, are likely to have had a common ancestor in a stellar falcon god known as Dwn-'nwy (pronounced dun-neu-wi). He is mentioned several times in the Pyramid Texts, c. 2350 BC, alongside other principal gods such as Osiris, Thoth and Atum. More significantly, Dwn-'nwy features among a group of sky figures shown together on astronomical ceilings found in tombs as far back as 1475 BC.
The falcon god Dwn-'nwy.
This familiar group (see below), which include a hippo-croc hybrid, an ox's foreleg or complete bull, and the falcon man Dwn-'nwy, are thought to represent key constellations of the northern sky, especially those in the vicinity of the northern celestial pole. As to their identifies, there are only a few certainties. The Ox foreleg, or bull, known as MÅ¡htyw, is unquestionably the seven stars of the Big Dipper, or Plough, part of the constellation we know today as Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The hippo-croc has been identified as the constellation Draco, the celestial dragon, while the falcon man Dwn-'nwy was identified as early as 1932 by distinguished British Egyptologist Gerald Wainwright, an expert in ancient Egypt's sky-religion, as made up of stars from the constellation Cygnus, the Northern Cross.
The northern sky group from the ceiling of the tomb of Rameses VI.
Dwn-'nwy, whose name means 'he who unfolds two wings', is shown repeatedly holding between his outstretched hands either a rope, a pole or spear that extends to touch or reach the bull or ox foreleg constellation. Wainwright saw this link as reflecting the very similar relationship between Cygnus and Ursa Major, which spar around each other with the stars of Draco between them.
Following Wainwright's lead, Czech Egyptologist Zbynek Zaba, and after him French Egyptologist and astronomer Jean-Philippe Lauer and Italian mathematician and metrologist Livio Stecchini, wrote that the visual relationship between certain stars in Cygnus and those of Ursa Major were utilised during the Pyramid Age to determine true north, towards which the entrances to almost all pyramids and mastaba tombs were orientated. This symbolic meridian line, universally seen among indigenous cultures as a sky-rope or ladder stretching from the northern horizon to the southern horizon via the zenith point, was utilized to access a heaven conceived of as existing beyond Ursa Major and Draco in the vicinity of the Cygnus constellation.
The rope, pole or spear held by Dwn-'nwy and attached to the ox foreleg, or bull, constellation has long been thought to represent the meridian line, and new research by Rodney Hale and the author ably shows that this was indeed the case. Moreover, this line was created using the star Sadr in Cygnus along with Megrez and Phecda in the Big Dipper, which when aligned comes within 30 arc minutes of true north. More significantly, at the beginning of Giza's pyramid building phase, Sadr crossed the meridian in the northern night sky close to midnight at the time of the summer solstice, the new year in ancient Egypt, when Sirius returned to the night sky after a period of 70 days in the underworld and the Nile inundation brought new life to the Nile valley. Six months later at midnight on the winter solstice, the meridian line was reversed with Cygnus beneath the horizon (i.e. in the underworld) and its place taken by the stars of Leo, the celestial lion, which, it has been argued, was identified with both the Great Sphinx and Hor-em-akhet, Horus in the Horizon.
It thus becomes clear why Sadr, Cygnus's central cross star, might have played such a crucial role in the alignment of the Giza monuments. It helped mark the passing of the old year, and a bringing forth of a new one - the passage of time and time cycles of crucial important to the ancient Egyptians. This is why, according to the findings of astronomer Dr Ronald Wells, Sadr appears as the last in a sequence of early morning stars used as a star-clock during the reign of Userkaf.
Cygnus played other roles in ancient Egypt as well, from the vulva or womb of the sky-goddess Nut to the cosmic bird Gengen-wer, who brought the universe into manifestation through its honk or call. Even though the constellation's greater significance has not previously been recognized by Egyptologists, there is no doubt that it was an important constellation in Egyptian myth and religion. Moreover, it was seen as the entrance to the sky-world in various cultures around the world.
Cygnus is arguably the oldest constellation in the world, being seen as a bird since Palaeolithic times, when Deneb, Cygnus's brightest star, bore the role of Pole Star. In otherw words, Cygnus was seen to turn about the northern celestial pole each night, without ever setting, why in shamanic traditions around the world the sky-pole was often shown with a swan on top. It is even shown as a bird on a pole in a fresco dated c. 15,000 BC in the famous caves at Lascaux in southern France.
The well-scene at Lascaux showing Cygnus as a bird on a pole, representing the pole star and cosmic axis of the universe.
Cygnus has since Palaeolithic times been seen variously as the womb, vulva or navel of the Cosmic Mother, through which the world was linked via an imaginary umbilical cord, symbolised either by the Milky Way or meridian line. Key prehistoric and ancient sites worldwide were created to reflect on the ground the influence of the Cygnus stars, particularly at Newgrange in Ireland and Cuzco in Peru. Many other sites bore specific stellar alignments featuring Cygnus including Gobekli Tepe in southeast Turkey, Avebury in southern England, Alas Stenar in Sweden and Great Circle in Newark, Ohio. Everywhere in the world its stars formed an integral part in cults relating to the process of death and rebirth.
Thus Cygnus's role in ancient Egypt cannot be seen in isolation. It was fundamental in the creation of Egypt's earlier myths, particularly those associated with the sky-world and its shadow counterpart in the underworld.
At Giza Cygnus is represented on the ground as the constellation as it might appear when upside down beneath the earth, i.e. in the duat-underworld, and thus as the chthonic falcon god Sokar. His 'feet' (represented by the star Albireo) are thus on Gebel Ghibli, with his head in the northwest close to where the star Deneb falls in Cygnus-Giza ground-sky correlation. In the illustration showing Sokar's dominion over the Fifth House of the duat-underworld, the falcon-headed figure is shown on an island surrounded by a waterway, very likely an illusion to Gebel Ghibli as the primeval mound. He stands on a double or multi-headed serpent, which in celestial terms is the constellation of Draco, which when Cygnus is in the underworld hangs above the northern horizon like a string of beads, its head only out of view below the earth - a striking pose that in Graeco-Roman times gained it the title Akephalos, the Headless One.
In chthonic terms the serpent signifies the duat-underworld, sometimes described in Egyptian funerary texts as the backbone or body of a serpent, through which the midnight sun has to pass on his journey into the afterlife. It has been proposed elsewhere that Gebel Ghibli is the simulacrum of a head of a snake, its body being the hills that encircle the plateau. As an extension of this idea, the multiple heads of the snake can be seen quite literally as 'the mouths of the passages', an allusion to the entrances to Giza's own subterranean realm preserved in the ancient name Rostau. That Sokar stands upon the serpent is evidence of his dominion over Rostau's duat-underworld.
The waterway in the illustration is at the same time the underground waters that run through the natural fissures beneath the plateau and feed wells such as Beer es-Samman, as well as the former extension of the Nile that once flowed past the plateau. Celestially, the running water is the Milky Way, known in ancient Egypt as the Winding Waterway, over which the deceased must cross on his way to the starry realm. It was from the Cygnus region of the Milky Way that life was seen to originate, and thus it was here that the pharaoh had to reach in order to become a star himself.
But where exactly were the 'mouths' of Giza's chthonic serpent, the entrances to its duat-underworld? One 'mouth', the eastern exit, from which the sun emerged at dawn, was most probably Beer es-Samman, situated at the base of Gebel Ghibli, just 400 metres from the Sphinx monument. Yet where was the western entrance, in to which the sun disappeared at night? Selim Hassan noted how similar the illustration of the Fifth House of the duat-underworld, with its view of Sokar on the island, was to the plateau's gradually descending slope which starts in the northwest and runs down to the southeast. In the knowledge that Beer es-Samman is in the southeast corner of the plateau, then it seems likely that the serpent's 'mouth' acting as the entrance to Giza's duat-underworld was at its north-western extreme. Was this really possible? Was there truly another entrance to Giza's hidden realm somewhere in the northwestern corner of the plateau. It seems possible, and only one candidate came to mind - the enigmatic Tomb of the Birds.
Nine Tomb of the Birds
In May 2005, when the well Beer es-Samman was discovered in Giza's Islamic cemetery, the author had also visited the site where the star Deneb fell on the plateau's ground-sky overlay. Nothing of any obvious value could be discerned, prompting the question of why this area on the edge of the western cemetery might be so important. This had led to the consultation of old plans of the plateau, and one in particular seemed of special significance. Composed in 1837 by British engineer John Shae Perring, working alongside British explorer Col Howard Vyse, it showed a site marked as 'pits and chambers of bird mummies'. The feature, composed of a series of chambers and parallel corridors, was shown in dotted lines indicating that it was cut deeply into the rock of the plateau's northern cliff.
Research into this 'Tomb of the Birds' revealed that in 1836-7 Vyse and Perring uncovered here the bodies of mummified birds (as well as those of some animals), signalling the presence here of a cult in honour of a specific god associated with birds in some way. Unfortunately, Vyse and Perring left no indication as to what type of birds were wrapped as mummies. Only one was mentioned specifically, and all that was said is that the bird was of great size. Most likely the birds were either raptors, thus indicating the cult of Horus or Sokar, or ibises, which were sacred to Thoth, the god of writing and the moon. He was guardian of a flint box contained in a hidden chamber that Khufu sought in vain to find in order to build the Great Pyramid. This story, told in a text recorded in the so-called Westcar Papyrus, makes it clear that something of immense value was contained in this box, something that belonged to a bygone era, and was eagerly sought after by Khufu. What was this item? Was it a secret locked in darkness within Giza's subterranean realm?
In January 2007 the author visited the Tomb of the Birds for the first time, sensing that it held important clues regarding Giza's Cygnus-Giza correlation. It is a large, spacious tomb with a deep cut façade and an opening towards the north, the direction of the afterlife in ancient Egyptian theology.
The entrance corridor to the Tomb of the Birds at Giza.
Only after the author had visited the Tomb of the Birds for the first time did he come to realise that it conformed to some rigid landscape geometry determined again by Rodney Hale. A perfect 3:4:5 Pythagorean triangle could be drawn linking the heights of Gebel Ghibli with the Sphinx, the apexes of the Great and Second Pyramid and the Tomb of the Birds. One side of this triangle was the north-south datum line, while another was the Sadr setting line that locks in the apex of the Second Pyramid with Gebel Ghibli. Thus as viewed from Gebel Ghibli, the wing star Sadr set down behind the Second Pyramid into a position on the horizon corresponding to the Tomb of the Birds.
Other landscape geometry at Giza seemed also to emphasise the significance of the location of the Tomb of the Birds. More incredibly, the author then discovered that in 1816-7 Egypt's British Consul General Henry Salt, working alongside the famous Italian explorer Giovanni Caviglia, had visited the same area of the plateau and gained access in one particular tomb to what Salt would later describe in his memoirs as a series of 'catacombs'. These were explored for a distance of several hundred yards before the two men came across an enormous hewn chamber, adjoined to three others of equal size and shape. From these led various 'labyrinthick' passages, some of which Caviglia explored, before both men retreated having apparently found no treasure.
This recollection of a cave system long thought to have existed at Giza is found among Salt's personal diaries, which languished unnoticed in the British Museum for over 190 years before being rediscovered again recently, and published with a suitable commentary by a team of editors. They offered their own insights into the places mentioned by Salt in connection with Giza, and with reference to the tomb containing the entrance to the catacombs, they adjudged it to be in the northern most extreme of its western cemetery.
Yet keen eyed Egyptological writer-researcher Nigel Skinner Simpson, working in concert with the author, quickly realised that the editors of the memoirs had got it wrong, and that the real site indicated by Salt as the entrance to the catacombs was somewhere in the vicinity of the Tomb of the Birds. Arguably it was the tomb itself, yet since two others were to be found in the same vicinity, further work was needed to determine which one concealed a possible entrance to Giza's hidden realm.
The author was convinced that it had to be the Tomb of the Birds since it was the largest of the three tombs, and one of the other two he had visited back in January 2007. it was a small, single roomed affair, and unlikely to conceal some great secret. More likely was the Tomb of the Birds, which not only featured in Giza's Cygnus-based ground-sky correlation, but had also produced the mummified remains of birds, either raptors or ibises, suggesting that it had become a shrine to a deity with chthonic attributions, most obviously either Sokar or Thoth, both of whom have been linked with Giza's subterranean world. Moreover, the sun at midsummer when viewed from the Sphinx Temple sets exactly between the Great and Second Pyramid, very close to the position on the west-northwestern horizon of the Tomb of the Birds. Thus it might have been seen that the sun, as viewed from the Sphinx area, set down into this tomb, which acted as the entrance 'mouth' to the duat-underworld.
The fact that Salt and Caviglia had explored Giza's catacombs for a distance of several hundred yards before giving up implied that if these presumably nature fissures followed the natural contours of the plateau's geology and gradually headed east towards the main pyramid field, then it meant that they could easily link up with a whole labyrinthine network of cave tunnels that existed beneath the pyramids. These in turn would link with underground waterways, one of which carries water to the well Beer es-Samman, another possible entrance to Giza's hidden realm. The whole system would be interlinked, and somewhere in here were the four hewn chambers entered by Salt and Caviglia, as well as other treasures of a bygone epoch.
Was the Tomb of the Birds really the western entrance to Giza's own physical representation of the serpent-like duat-underworld presided over by Sokar, whose visible 'tomb' was the all important hill of Gebel Ghibli?
Even though no obvious entrance to the catacombs had been discovered in the Tomb of the Birds by the author in January 2007, the author now became determined to get back there as soon as possible and search again. Through contact with the Association of Research of Enlightenment (ARE), the active wing of the Edgar Cayce Foundation, an organisation that has supported expeditions in search of the Hall of Records for the past 50 years. Suitably impressed by the author's findings, they agreed to sponsor a new exploration of the Tomb of the Birds.
Ten 'Wonderful News'
After several delays, this expeditation finally took place in March 2008. On Monday, 3rd March the author revisited the Tomb of the Birds in the company of Nigel Skinner-Simpson and his wife Sue. Exploring the deepest part of the tomb, they came across a small hole in a mudbrick wall, on the other side of which was another wall of stone and mortar. Shining the torch down into the void, a wonderful sight greeted them. It was a vast natural chasm-like chamber, partly hewn, that led into a cave system. The author pursued one cave tunnel for some distance, before he and a guide came under attack from bats, forcing them to beat their retreat.
A email sent the next day to John van Auken, the director of the ARE, began 'Wonderful news', echoing Carter's cable to Lord Carnarvon following the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. It went on to tell him that the author had at last located and entered Giza's cave system after nearly 200 years of obscurity.
The author at the entrance to Giza immense cave system.
Unfortunately, at this present time the author is unable to go into any detail regarding what he discovered, on this and a subsequent visit to the cave system, where he and his wife managed to travel a much greater distance into realms previously never described on paper. Suffice to say it was beyond all expectations, and as these words are being written further visits are planned to explore the site still further. The furore that will inevitably surround the release of this information will be unimaginable. Within reach is the truth behind the Hall of Records. What Cayce and other psychics have predicted in connection with Giza's hidden realm now needs urgent reassessment, for we might well be on the verge of one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time. So let us try to understand just what it is that these individuals, and the Arab writers before them, tell us will be found beneath the pyramids.
The author in another part of Giza's incredible cave system.
Ten What are the Hall of Records?
In this final chapter the author attempts to reconstruct the Hall of Records based on conventional knowledge drawn from various disparate sources.
For Edgar Cayce, Giza hidden realm concealed a Hall of Records, which, like the Library of Thoth, contained the wisdom of the ancients deposited before the time of the Flood. He said that an entrance would be found in the vicinity of the right paw of the Sphinx, and indeed we find that in this very vicinity is the Valley Temple of Khafre, in which is the well linked according to local legend via a tunnel with Beer es-Samman in the cemetery Aish el-Ghorab. This tunnel is said to lead to an underground 'palace' or 'city', almost certainly a reference to the Hall of Records.
America's 'sleeping prophet' Edgar Cayce (1877-1945)
In addition to this, the author is certain that Gebel Ghibli is 'the first pyramid builded', (341-8) where according to Cayce's readings members of a race that inhabited Giza prior to the rise of dynastic Egypt were interred. This 'mound [not] yet uncovered' faced 'that of the Mystery [of the Sphinx] (5540-5, see also 1717-1). The heights of Gebel Ghibli lie some 400 metres due south of the Sphinx, which can be seen side on, facing east, from this vantage point. Cayce's pyramid-mound is said to form an entrance to the 'Tomb of Records' (2329-3), another name for the Hall of Records. This is another indication that the well Beer es-Samman holds vital clues regarding another entrance into Giza's cave system, and arguably even an access route to what awaits discovery deep beneath the plateau.
For English mythic writer H Randall Stevens the chambers beneath the Sphinx monument were 'Halls of Initiation', where initiates could receive knowledge of the ultimate. Yet to Andrew's psychic colleague back in 1985 Giza's hidden realm consists of a series of chambers (one being the mysterious 'Green Chamber' - see below) recording the moment of first creation in the physical universe, an opinion that conforms very well with the Edfu building texts.
British mystic H Randall Stevens' conception of a Hall of initiation beneath the Sphinx monument.
Many Arab and Jewish writers spoke of what lies beneath the pyramids. All suggested that something of great importance would be found there. Universally they said it belonged to a civilization that pre-dated the dynastic race.
Very little indication of this race has ever emerged at Giza, or elsewhere in Egypt. However, the fact that Giza's cave system is formed from natural fissures in the bedrock, carved out by the passage of water across 10,000s if not 100,000s of years, now provides a perfect opportunity to search for evidence of human activity at Giza stretching back well beyond the Pyramid Age.
Egyptologists will probably claim that they have known about Giza's cave system for years. Even if this were true, to date nothing has ever been made public about them. No articles have appeared about either the caves, or their entrances, and no pictures have emerged into the public domain. In our opinion, the exploration of Giza's cave complex after nearly 200 years of obscurity is itself arguably one of the greatest discoveries on the plateau for a very long time. It is a story of international interest, with incredible ramifications.
Beyond this is the knowledge that leading Egyptologists, currently engaged in excavations at Giza, do firmly believe that some kind of Hall of Records exists beneath the plateau. Yet in a move to distance themselves from the unorthodox ideas of Edgar Cayce, they have started to refer to it as the Green Chamber, strangely echoing the words of the author's own psychic friend. For them it is a physical expression of the cosmological wisdom and teachings of Thoth, vestiges of which are contained in the so-called Emerald Tablets of Hermes (the Greek name for Thoth). It from this text that we gain the basic hermetic tenet of 'As above, so below', something that is very applicable for the ground-sky relationship at Giza.
Such a belief creates a more acceptable vision of the Hall of Records, not just for the Egyptological community, but also for Arab Egyptologists, since it takes away nothing from the accepted origins of the ancient Egyptian race, whom they prize as their own ancestors. In Islamic tradition Hermes (and thus Thoth) is the prophet Idris (the Jewish Enoch), who brought back the children of God to the true faith through his profound wisdom and teachings. That Idris might have concealed the true wisdom and teachings of God in Egypt, which one day might be found and used to unite all those who have strayed from the true faith is a powerful message, and one that will remain poignant in the decades and even centuries to come.
PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: CRITIAS; HERMOCRATES; TIMAEUS; SOCRATES
Timaeus. How thankful I am, Socrates, that I have arrived at last, and, like a weary traveller after a long journey, may be at rest! And I pray the being who always was of old, and has now been by me revealed, to grant that my words may endure in so far as they have been spoken truly and acceptably to him; but if unintentionally I have said anything wrong, I pray that he will impose upon me a just retribution, and the just retribution of him who errs is that he should be set right. Wishing, then, to speak truly in future concerning the generation of the gods, I pray him to give me knowledge, which of all medicines is the most perfect and best. And now having offered my prayer I deliver up the argument to Critias, who is to speak next according to our agreement.
Critias. And I, Timaeus, accept the trust, and as you at first said that you were going to speak of high matters, and begged that some forbearance might be shown to you, I too ask the same or greater forbearance for what I am about to say. And although I very well know that my request may appear to be somewhat and discourteous, I must make it nevertheless. For will any man of sense deny that you have spoken well? I can only attempt to show that I ought to have more indulgence than you, because my theme is more difficult; and I shall argue that to seem to speak well of the gods to men is far easier than to speak well of men to men: for the inexperience and utter ignorance of his hearers about any subject is a great assistance to him who has to speak of it, and we know how ignorant we are concerning the gods. But I should like to make my meaning clearer, if Timaeus, you will follow me. All that is said by any of us can only be imitation and representation. For if we consider the likenesses which painters make of bodies divine and heavenly, and the different degrees of gratification with which the eye of the spectator receives them, we shall see that we are satisfied with the artist who is able in any degree to imitate the earth and its mountains, and the rivers, and the woods, and the universe, and the things that are and move therein, and further, that knowing nothing precise about such matters, we do not examine or analyze the painting; all that is required is a sort of indistinct and deceptive mode of shadowing them forth. But when a person endeavours to paint the human form we are quick at finding out defects, and our familiar knowledge makes us severe judges of any one who does not render every point of similarity. And we may observe the same thing to happen in discourse; we are satisfied with a picture of divine and heavenly things which has very little likeness to them; but we are more precise in our criticism of mortal and human things. Wherefore if at the moment of speaking I cannot suitably express my meaning, you must excuse me, considering that to form approved likenesses of human things is the reverse of easy. This is what I want to suggest to you, and at the same time to beg, Socrates, that I may have not less, but more indulgence conceded to me in what I am about to say. Which favour, if I am right in asking, I hope that you will be ready to grant.
Socrates. Certainly, Critias, we will grant your request, and we will grant the same by anticipation to Hermocrates, as well as to you and Timaeus; for I have no doubt that when his turn comes a little while hence, he will make the same request which you have made. In order, then, that he may provide himself with a fresh beginning, and not be compelled to say the same things over again, let him understand that the indulgence is already extended by anticipation to him. And now, friend Critias, I will announce to you the judgment of the theatre. They are of opinion that the last performer was wonderfully successful, and that you will need a great deal of indulgence before you will be able to take his place.
Hermocrates. The warning, Socrates, which you have addressed to him, I must also take to myself. But remember, Critias, that faint heart never yet raised a trophy; and therefore you must go and attack the argument like a man. First invoke Apollo and the Muses, and then let us hear you sound the praises and show forth the virtues of your ancient citizens.
Crit. Friend Hermocrates, you, who are stationed last and have another in front of you, have not lost heart as yet; the gravity of the situation will soon be revealed to you; meanwhile I accept your exhortations and encouragements. But besides the gods and goddesses whom you have mentioned, I would specially invoke Mnemosyne; for all the important part of my discourse is dependent on her favour, and if I can recollect and recite enough of what was said by the priests and brought hither by Solon, I doubt not that I shall satisfy the requirements of this theatre. And now, making no more excuses, I will proceed.
Let me begin by observing first of all, that nine thousand was the sum of years which had elapsed since the war which was said to have taken place between those who dwelt outside the Pillars of Heracles and all who dwelt within them; this war I am going to describe. Of the combatants on the one side, the city of Athens was reported to have been the leader and to have fought out the war; the combatants on the other side were commanded by the kings of Atlantis, which, as was saying, was an island greater in extent than Libya and Asia, and when afterwards sunk by an earthquake, became an impassable barrier of mud to voyagers sailing from hence to any part of the ocean. The progress of the history will unfold the various nations of barbarians and families of Hellenes which then existed, as they successively appear on the scene; but I must describe first of all Athenians of that day, and their enemies who fought with them, and then the respective powers and governments of the two kingdoms. Let us give the precedence to Athens.
In the days of old the gods had the whole earth distributed among them by allotment. There was no quarrelling; for you cannot rightly suppose that the gods did not know what was proper for each of them to have, or, knowing this, that they would seek to procure for themselves by contention that which more properly belonged to others. They all of them by just apportionment obtained what they wanted, and peopled their own districts; and when they had peopled them they tended us, their nurselings and possessions, as shepherds tend their flocks, excepting only that they did not use blows or bodily force, as shepherds do, but governed us like pilots from the stern of the vessel, which is an easy way of guiding animals, holding our souls by the rudder of persuasion according to their own pleasure;-thus did they guide all mortal creatures. Now different gods had their allotments in different places which they set in order. Hephaestus and Athene, who were brother and sister, and sprang from the same father, having a common nature, and being united also in the love of philosophy and art, both obtained as their common portion this land, which was naturally adapted for wisdom and virtue; and there they implanted brave children of the soil, and put into their minds the order of government; their names are preserved, but their actions have disappeared by reason of the destruction of those who received the tradition, and the lapse of ages. For when there were any survivors, as I have already said, they were men who dwelt in the mountains; and they were ignorant of the art of writing, and had heard only the names of the chiefs of the land, but very little about their actions. The names they were willing enough to give to their children; but the virtues and the laws of their predecessors, they knew only by obscure traditions; and as they themselves and their children lacked for many generations the necessaries of life, they directed their attention to the supply of their wants, and of them they conversed, to the neglect of events that had happened in times long past; for mythology and the enquiry into antiquity are first introduced into cities when they begin to have leisure, and when they see that the necessaries of life have already been provided, but not before. And this is reason why the names of the ancients have been preserved to us and not their actions. This I infer because Solon said that the priests in their narrative of that war mentioned most of the names which are recorded prior to the time of Theseus, such as Cecrops, and Erechtheus, and Erichthonius, and Erysichthon, and the names of the women in like manner. Moreover, since military pursuits were then common to men and women, the men of those days in accordance with the custom of the time set up a figure and image of the goddess in full armour, to be a testimony that all animals which associate together, male as well as female, may, if they please, practise in common the virtue which belongs to them without distinction of sex.
Now the country was inhabited in those days by various classes of citizens;-there were artisans, and there were husbandmen, and there was also a warrior class originally set apart by divine men. The latter dwelt by themselves, and had all things suitable for nurture and education; neither had any of them anything of their own, but they regarded all that they had as common property; nor did they claim to receive of the other citizens anything more than their necessary food. And they practised all the pursuits which we yesterday described as those of our imaginary guardians. Concerning the country the Egyptian priests said what is not only probable but manifestly true, that the boundaries were in those days fixed by the Isthmus, and that in the direction of the continent they extended as far as the heights of Cithaeron and Parnes; the boundary line came down in the direction of the sea, having the district of Oropus on the right, and with the river Asopus as the limit on the left. The land was the best in the world, and was therefore able in those days to support a vast army, raised from the surrounding people. Even the remnant of Attica which now exists may compare with any region in the world for the variety and excellence of its fruits and the suitableness of its pastures to every sort of animal, which proves what I am saying; but in those days the country was fair as now and yielded far more abundant produce. How shall I establish my words? and what part of it can be truly called a remnant of the land that then was? The whole country is only a long promontory extending far into the sea away from the rest of the continent, while the surrounding basin of the sea is everywhere deep in the neighbourhood of the shore. Many great deluges have taken place during the nine thousand years, for that is the number of years which have elapsed since the time of which I am speaking; and during all this time and through so many changes, there has never been any considerable accumulation of the soil coming down from the mountains, as in other places, but the earth has fallen away all round and sunk out of sight. The consequence is, that in comparison of what then was, there are remaining only the bones of the wasted body, as they may be called, as in the case of small islands, all the richer and softer parts of the soil having fallen away, and the mere skeleton of the land being left. But in the primitive state of the country, its mountains were high hills covered with soil, and the plains, as they are termed by us, of Phelleus were full of rich earth, and there was abundance of wood in the mountains. Of this last the traces still remain, for although some of the mountains now only afford sustenance to bees, not so very long ago there were still to be seen roofs of timber cut from trees growing there, which were of a size sufficient to cover the largest houses; and there were many other high trees, cultivated by man and bearing abundance of food for cattle. Moreover, the land reaped the benefit of the annual rainfall, not as now losing the water which flows off the bare earth into the sea, but, having an abundant supply in all places, and receiving it into herself and treasuring it up in the close clay soil, it let off into the hollows the streams which it absorbed from the heights, providing everywhere abundant fountains and rivers, of which there may still be observed sacred memorials in places where fountains once existed; and this proves the truth of what I am saying.
Such was the natural state of the country, which was cultivated, as we may well believe, by true husbandmen, who made husbandry their business, and were lovers of honour, and of a noble nature, and had a soil the best in the world, and abundance of water, and in the heaven above an excellently attempered climate. Now the city in those days was arranged on this wise. In the first place the Acropolis was not as now. For the fact is that a single night of excessive rain washed away the earth and laid bare the rock; at the same time there were earthquakes, and then occurred the extraordinary inundation, which was the third before the great destruction of Deucalion. But in primitive times the hill of the Acropolis extended to the Eridanus and Ilissus, and included the Pnyx on one side, and the Lycabettus as a boundary on the opposite side to the Pnyx, and was all well covered with soil, and level at the top, except in one or two places. Outside the Acropolis and under the sides of the hill there dwelt artisans, and such of the husbandmen as were tilling the ground near; the warrior class dwelt by themselves around the temples of Athene and Hephaestus at the summit, which moreover they had enclosed with a single fence like the garden of a single house. On the north side they had dwellings in common and had erected halls for dining in winter, and had all the buildings which they needed for their common life, besides temples, but there was no adorning of them with gold and silver, for they made no use of these for any purpose; they took a middle course between meanness and ostentation, and built modest houses in which they and their children's children grew old, and they handed them down to others who were like themselves, always the same. But in summer-time they left their gardens and gymnasia and dining halls, and then the southern side of the hill was made use of by them for the same purpose. Where the Acropolis now is there was a fountain, which was choked by the earthquake, and has left only the few small streams which still exist in the vicinity, but in those days the fountain gave an abundant supply of water for all and of suitable temperature in summer and in winter. This is how they dwelt, being the guardians of their own citizens and the leaders of the Hellenes, who were their willing followers. And they took care to preserve the same number of men and women through all time, being so many as were required for warlike purposes, then as now-that is to say, about twenty thousand. Such were the ancient Athenians, and after this manner they righteously administered their own land and the rest of Hellas; they were renowned all over Europe and Asia for the beauty of their persons and for the many virtues of their souls, and of all men who lived in those days they were the most illustrious. And next, if I have not forgotten what I heard when I was a child, I will impart to you the character and origin of their adversaries. For friends should not keep their stories to themselves, but have them in common.
Yet, before proceeding further in the narrative, I ought to warn you, that you must not be surprised if you should perhaps hear Hellenic names given to foreigners. I will tell you the reason of this: Solon, who was intending to use the tale for his poem, enquired into the meaning of the names, and found that the early Egyptians in writing them down had translated them into their own language, and he recovered the meaning of the several names and when copying them out again translated them into our language. My great-grandfather, Dropides, had the original writing, which is still in my possession, and was carefully studied by me when I was a child. Therefore if you hear names such as are used in this country, you must not be surprised, for I have told how they came to be introduced. The tale, which was of great length, began as follows:-
I have before remarked in speaking of the allotments of the gods, that they distributed the whole earth into portions differing in extent, and made for themselves temples and instituted sacrifices. And Poseidon, receiving for his lot the island of Atlantis, begat children by a mortal woman, and settled them in a part of the island, which I will describe. Looking towards the sea, but in the centre of the whole island, there was a plain which is said to have been the fairest of all plains and very fertile. Near the plain again, and also in the centre of the island at a distance of about fifty stadia, there was a mountain not very high on any side.
In this mountain there dwelt one of the earth born primeval men of that country, whose name was Evenor, and he had a wife named Leucippe, and they had an only daughter who was called Cleito. The maiden had already reached womanhood, when her father and mother died; Poseidon fell in love with her and had intercourse with her, and breaking the ground, inclosed the hill in which she dwelt all round, making alternate zones of sea and land larger and smaller, encircling one another; there were two of land and three of water, which he turned as with a lathe, each having its circumference equidistant every way from the centre, so that no man could get to the island, for ships and voyages were not as yet. He himself, being a god, found no difficulty in making special arrangements for the centre island, bringing up two springs of water from beneath the earth, one of warm water and the other of cold, and making every variety of food to spring up abundantly from the soil. He also begat and brought up five pairs of twin male children; and dividing the island of Atlantis into ten portions, he gave to the first-born of the eldest pair his mother's dwelling and the surrounding allotment, which was the largest and best, and made him king over the rest; the others he made princes, and gave them rule over many men, and a large territory. And he named them all; the eldest, who was the first king, he named Atlas, and after him the whole island and the ocean were called Atlantic. To his twin brother, who was born after him, and obtained as his lot the extremity of the island towards the Pillars of Heracles, facing the country which is now called the region of Gades in that part of the world, he gave the name which in the Hellenic language is Eumelus, in the language of the country which is named after him, Gadeirus. Of the second pair of twins he called one Ampheres, and the other Evaemon. To the elder of the third pair of twins he gave the name Mneseus, and Autochthon to the one who followed him. Of the fourth pair of twins he called the elder Elasippus, and the younger Mestor. And of the fifth pair he gave to the elder the name of Azaes, and to the younger that of Diaprepes. All these and their descendants for many generations were the inhabitants and rulers of divers islands in the open sea; and also, as has been already said, they held sway in our direction over the country within the Pillars as far as Egypt and Tyrrhenia.
Now Atlas had a numerous and honourable family, and they retained the kingdom, the eldest son handing it on to his eldest for many generations; and they had such an amount of wealth as was never before possessed by kings and potentates, and is not likely ever to be again, and they were furnished with everything which they needed, both in the city and country. For because of the greatness of their empire many things were brought to them from foreign countries, and the island itself provided most of what was required by them for the uses of life. In the first place, they dug out of the earth whatever was to be found there, solid as well as fusile, and that which is now only a name and was then something more than a name, orichalcum, was dug out of the earth in many parts of the island, being more precious in those days than anything except gold. There was an abundance of wood for carpenter's work, and sufficient maintenance for tame and wild animals. Moreover, there were a great number of elephants in the island; for as there was provision for all other sorts of animals, both for those which live in lakes and marshes and rivers, and also for those which live in mountains and on plains, so there was for the animal which is the largest and most voracious of all. Also whatever fragrant things there now are in the earth, whether roots, or herbage, or woods, or essences which distil from fruit and flower, grew and thrived in that land; also the fruit which admits of cultivation, both the dry sort, which is given us for nourishment and any other which we use for food-we call them all by the common name pulse, and the fruits having a hard rind, affording drinks and meats and ointments, and good store of chestnuts and the like, which furnish pleasure and amusement, and are fruits which spoil with keeping, and the pleasant kinds of dessert, with which we console ourselves after dinner, when we are tired of eating-all these that sacred island which then beheld the light of the sun, brought forth fair and wondrous and in infinite abundance. With such blessings the earth freely furnished them; meanwhile they went on constructing their temples and palaces and harbours and docks. And they arranged the whole country in the following manner:
First of all they bridged over the zones of sea which surrounded the ancient metropolis, making a road to and from the royal palace. And at the very beginning they built the palace in the habitation of the god and of their ancestors, which they continued to ornament in successive generations, every king surpassing the one who went before him to the utmost of his power, until they made the building a marvel to behold for size and for beauty. And beginning from the sea they bored a canal of three hundred feet in width and one hundred feet in depth and fifty stadia in length, which they carried through to the outermost zone, making a passage from the sea up to this, which became a harbour, and leaving an opening sufficient to enable the largest vessels to find ingress. Moreover, they divided at the bridges the zones of land which parted the zones of sea, leaving room for a single trireme to pass out of one zone into another, and they covered over the channels so as to leave a way underneath for the ships; for the banks were raised considerably above the water. Now the largest of the zones into which a passage was cut from the sea was three stadia in breadth, and the zone of land which came next of equal breadth; but the next two zones, the one of water, the other of land, were two stadia, and the one which surrounded the central island was a stadium only in width. The island in which the palace was situated had a diameter of five stadia. All this including the zones and the bridge, which was the sixth part of a stadium in width, they surrounded by a stone wall on every side, placing towers and gates on the bridges where the sea passed in. The stone which was used in the work they quarried from underneath the centre island, and from underneath the zones, on the outer as well as the inner side. One kind was white, another black, and a third red, and as they quarried, they at the same time hollowed out double docks, having roofs formed out of the native rock. Some of their buildings were simple, but in others they put together different stones, varying the colour to please the eye, and to be a natural source of delight. The entire circuit of the wall, which went round the outermost zone, they covered with a coating of brass, and the circuit of the next wall they coated with tin, and the third, which encompassed the citadel, flashed with the red light of orichalcum.
The palaces in the interior of the citadel were constructed on this wise:-in the centre was a holy temple dedicated to Cleito and Poseidon, which remained inaccessible, and was surrounded by an enclosure of gold; this was the spot where the family of the ten princes first saw the light, and thither the people annually brought the fruits of the earth in their season from all the ten portions, to be an offering to each of the ten. Here was Poseidon's own temple which was a stadium in length, and half a stadium in width, and of a proportionate height, having a strange barbaric appearance. All the outside of the temple, with the exception of the pinnacles, they covered with silver, and the pinnacles with gold. In the interior of the temple the roof was of ivory, curiously wrought everywhere with gold and silver and orichalcum; and all the other parts, the walls and pillars and floor, they coated with orichalcum. In the temple they placed statues of gold: there was the god himself standing in a chariot-the charioteer of six winged horses-and of such a size that he touched the roof of the building with his head; around him there were a hundred Nereids riding on dolphins, for such was thought to be the number of them by the men of those days. There were also in the interior of the temple other images which had been dedicated by private persons. And around the temple on the outside were placed statues of gold of all the descendants of the ten kings and of their wives, and there were many other great offerings of kings and of private persons, coming both from the city itself and from the foreign cities over which they held sway. There was an altar too, which in size and workmanship corresponded to this magnificence, and the palaces, in like manner, answered to the greatness of the kingdom and the glory of the temple.
In the next place, they had fountains, one of cold and another of hot water, in gracious plenty flowing; and they were wonderfully adapted for use by reason of the pleasantness and excellence of their waters. They constructed buildings about them and planted suitable trees, also they made cisterns, some open to the heavens, others roofed over, to be used in winter as warm baths; there were the kings' baths, and the baths of private persons, which were kept apart; and there were separate baths for women, and for horses and cattle, and to each of them they gave as much adornment as was suitable. Of the water which ran off they carried some to the grove of Poseidon, where were growing all manner of trees of wonderful height and beauty, owing to the excellence of the soil, while the remainder was conveyed by aqueducts along the bridges to the outer circles; and there were many temples built and dedicated to many gods; also gardens and places of exercise, some for men, and others for horses in both of the two islands formed by the zones; and in the centre of the larger of the two there was set apart a race-course of a stadium in width, and in length allowed to extend all round the island, for horses to race in. Also there were guardhouses at intervals for the guards, the more trusted of whom were appointed-to keep watch in the lesser zone, which was nearer the Acropolis while the most trusted of all had houses given them within the citadel, near the persons of the kings. The docks were full of triremes and naval stores, and all things were quite ready for use. Enough of the plan of the royal palace.
Leaving the palace and passing out across the three you came to a wall which began at the sea and went all round: this was everywhere distant fifty stadia from the largest zone or harbour, and enclosed the whole, the ends meeting at the mouth of the channel which led to the sea. The entire area was densely crowded with habitations; and the canal and the largest of the harbours were full of vessels and merchants coming from all parts, who, from their numbers, kept up a multitudinous sound of human voices, and din and clatter of all sorts night and day.
I have described the city and the environs of the ancient palace nearly in the words of Solon, and now I must endeavour to represent the nature and arrangement of the rest of the land. The whole country was said by him to be very lofty and precipitous on the side of the sea, but the country immediately about and surrounding the city was a level plain, itself surrounded by mountains which descended towards the sea; it was smooth and even, and of an oblong shape, extending in one direction three thousand stadia, but across the centre inland it was two thousand stadia. This part of the island looked towards the south, and was sheltered from the north. The surrounding mountains were celebrated for their number and size and beauty, far beyond any which still exist, having in them also many wealthy villages of country folk, and rivers, and lakes, and meadows supplying food enough for every animal, wild or tame, and much wood of various sorts, abundant for each and every kind of work.
I will now describe the plain, as it was fashioned by nature and by the labours of many generations of kings through long ages. It was for the most part rectangular and oblong, and where falling out of the straight line followed the circular ditch. The depth, and width, and length of this ditch were incredible, and gave the impression that a work of such extent, in addition to so many others, could never have been artificial. Nevertheless I must say what I was told. It was excavated to the depth of a hundred, feet, and its breadth was a stadium everywhere; it was carried round the whole of the plain, and was ten thousand stadia in length. It received the streams which came down from the mountains, and winding round the plain and meeting at the city, was there let off into the sea. Further inland, likewise, straight canals of a hundred feet in width were cut from it through the plain, and again let off into the ditch leading to the sea: these canals were at intervals of a hundred stadia, and by them they brought down the wood from the mountains to the city, and conveyed the fruits of the earth in ships, cutting transverse passages from one canal into another, and to the city. Twice in the year they gathered the fruits of the earth-in winter having the benefit of the rains of heaven, and in summer the water which the land supplied by introducing streams from the canals.
As to the population, each of the lots in the plain had to find a leader for the men who were fit for military service, and the size of a lot was a square of ten stadia each way, and the total number of all the lots was sixty thousand. And of the inhabitants of the mountains and of the rest of the country there was also a vast multitude, which was distributed among the lots and had leaders assigned to them according to their districts and villages. The leader was required to furnish for the war the sixth portion of a war-chariot, so as to make up a total of ten thousand chariots; also two horses and riders for them, and a pair of chariot-horses without a seat, accompanied by a horseman who could fight on foot carrying a small shield, and having a charioteer who stood behind the man-at-arms to guide the two horses; also, he was bound to furnish two heavy armed soldiers, two slingers, three stone-shooters and three javelin-men, who were light-armed, and four sailors to make up the complement of twelve hundred ships. Such was the military order of the royal city-the order of the other nine governments varied, and it would be wearisome to recount their several differences.
As to offices and honours, the following was the arrangement from the first. Each of the ten kings in his own division and in his own city had the absolute control of the citizens, and, in most cases, of the laws, punishing and slaying whomsoever he would. Now the order of precedence among them and their mutual relations were regulated by the commands of Poseidon which the law had handed down. These were inscribed by the first kings on a pillar of orichalcum, which was situated in the middle of the island, at the temple of Poseidon, whither the kings were gathered together every fifth and every sixth year alternately, thus giving equal honour to the odd and to the even number. And when they were gathered together they consulted about their common interests, and enquired if any one had transgressed in anything and passed judgment and before they passed judgment they gave their pledges to one another on this wise:-There were bulls who had the range of the temple of Poseidon; and the ten kings, being left alone in the temple, after they had offered prayers to the god that they might capture the victim which was acceptable to him, hunted the bulls, without weapons but with staves and nooses; and the bull which they caught they led up to the pillar and cut its throat over the top of it so that the blood fell upon the sacred inscription. Now on the pillar, besides the laws, there was inscribed an oath invoking mighty curses on the disobedient. When therefore, after slaying the bull in the accustomed manner, they had burnt its limbs, they filled a bowl of wine and cast in a clot of blood for each of them; the rest of the victim they put in the fire, after having purified the column all round. Then they drew from the bowl in golden cups and pouring a libation on the fire, they swore that they would judge according to the laws on the pillar, and would punish him who in any point had already transgressed them, and that for the future they would not, if they could help, offend against the writing on the pillar, and would neither command others, nor obey any ruler who commanded them, to act otherwise than according to the laws of their father Poseidon. This was the prayer which each of them-offered up for himself and for his descendants, at the same time drinking and dedicating the cup out of which he drank in the temple of the god; and after they had supped and satisfied their needs, when darkness came on, and the fire about the sacrifice was cool, all of them put on most beautiful azure robes, and, sitting on the ground, at night, over the embers of the sacrifices by which they had sworn, and extinguishing all the fire about the temple, they received and gave judgment, if any of them had an accusation to bring against any one; and when they given judgment, at daybreak they wrote down their sentences on a golden tablet, and dedicated it together with their robes to be a memorial.
There were many special laws affecting the several kings inscribed about the temples, but the most important was the following: They were not to take up arms against one another, and they were all to come to the rescue if any one in any of their cities attempted to overthrow the royal house; like their ancestors, they were to deliberate in common about war and other matters, giving the supremacy to the descendants of Atlas. And the king was not to have the power of life and death over any of his kinsmen unless he had the assent of the majority of the ten.
Such was the vast power which the god settled in the lost island of Atlantis; and this he afterwards directed against our land for the following reasons, as tradition tells: For many generations, as long as the divine nature lasted in them, they were obedient to the laws, and well-affectioned towards the god, whose seed they were; for they possessed true and in every way great spirits, uniting gentleness with wisdom in the various chances of life, and in their intercourse with one another. They despised everything but virtue, caring little for their present state of life, and thinking lightly of the possession of gold and other property, which seemed only a burden to them; neither were they intoxicated by luxury; nor did wealth deprive them of their self-control; but they were sober, and saw clearly that all these goods are increased by virtue and friendship with one another, whereas by too great regard and respect for them, they are lost and friendship with them. By such reflections and by the continuance in them of a divine nature, the qualities which we have described grew and increased among them; but when the divine portion began to fade away, and became diluted too often and too much with the mortal admixture, and the human nature got the upper hand, they then, being unable to bear their fortune, behaved unseemly, and to him who had an eye to see grew visibly debased, for they were losing the fairest of their precious gifts; but to those who had no eye to see the true happiness, they appeared glorious and blessed at the very time when they were full of avarice and unrighteous power. Zeus, the god of gods, who rules according to law, and is able to see into such things, perceiving that an honourable race was in a woeful plight, and wanting to inflict punishment on them, that they might be chastened and improve, collected all the gods into their most holy habitation, which, being placed in the centre of the world, beholds all created things. And when he had called them together, he spake as follows-*
* The rest of the Dialogue of Critias has been lost.
Found in Egypt in the 1870s, the Ebers Papyrus contains prescriptions written in hieroglyphics for over seven hundred remedies. This prescription for an asthma remedy is to be prepared as a mixture of herbs heated on a brick so that the sufferer could inhale their fumes.
Georg Ebers (1837-Â1898)
Cure for Diarrhoea: 1/8th cup figs and grapes, bread dough, pit corn, fresh Earth, onion, and elderberry.
Cure for Indigestion: Crush a hog's tooth and put it inside of four sugar cakes. Eat for four days.
Cure for Burns: Create a mixture of milk of a woman who has borne a male child, gum, and, ram's hair. While administering this mixture say: Thy son Horus is burnt in the desert. Is there any water there?There is no water. I have water in my mouth and a Nile between my thighs. I have come to extinguish the fire.
Cure for Lesions of the Skin: After the scab has fallen off put on it: Scribe's excrement. Mix in fresh milk and apply as a poultice.
Cure for Cataracts: Mix brain-of-tortoise with honey. Place on the eye and say: There is a shouting in the southern sky in darkness, There is an uproar in the northern sky, The Hall of Pillars falls into the waters. The crew of the sun god bent their oars so that the heads at his side fall into the water, Who leads hither what he finds? I lead forth what I find. I lead forth your heads. I lift up your necks. I fasten what has been cut from you in its place. I lead you forth to drive away the god of Fevers and all possible deadly arts.
Reference Used: Brier, Bob. Ancient Egyptian Magic. Quill Press: New York, 1981.
Herbal Remedies used by the Ancient Egyptians
Acacia (acacia nilotica)- vermifuge, eases diharea and internal bleeding, also used to treat skin diseases. · Aloe vera - worms, relieves headaches, soothes chest pains, burns, ulcers and for skin disease and allergies. · Basil (ocimum basilicum)- excellent for heart. · Balsam Apple (malus sylvestris)or Apple of Jerusalem - laxative, skin allergies, soothes headaches, gums and teeth, for asthma, liver stimulant, weak digestion. · Bayberry(Myrica cerifera) - stops diarrhea, soothes ulcers, shrinks hemorrhoids, repels flies. · Belladonna - pain reliever;camphor tree - reduces fevers, soothes gums, soothes epilepsy. · Caraway (Carum carvi; Umbelliferae)- soothes flatulence, digestive, breath freshener. · Cardamom( Eletarria cardamomum; Zingiberacae)- Used as a spice in foods,digestive, soothes flatulence. Colchicum (Citrullus colocynthus) - also known as "Meadow Saffron", soothes rheumatism, reduces swelling. · Common Juniper tree (Juniperis phonecia; Juniperus drupacea)- digestive, soothes chest pains, soothes stomach cramps. · Cubeb pepper (Piper cubeba; Piperaceae)- urinary tract infections, larynx and throat infections, gum ulcers and infections, soothes headaches. · Dill (Anethum graveolens)- soothes flatulence, relieves dyspepsia, laxative and diuretic properties. · Fenugreek(Trigonella foenum-graecum) - respiratory disorders, cleanses the stomach, calms the liver, soothes pancreas, reduces swelling. · Frankincense(Boswellia carterii) - throat and larynx infections, stops bleeding, cuts phlegm, asthma, stops vomiting. · Garlic (Allium sativa) - gives vitality, soothes flatulence and aids digestion, mild laxative, shrinks hemorrhoids, rids body of "spirits" (note, during the building of the Pyramids, the workers were given garlic daily to give them the vitality and strength to carry on and perform well). · Henna (Lawsomia inermis) - astringent, stops diarrhea, close open wounds (and used as a dye). · Honey was widely used, a natural antibiotic and used to dress wounds and as a base for healing unguants, as was castor oil, coriander,beer and other foods. · Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra - mild laxative, expels phlegm, soothes liver, pancreas and chest and respiratory problems. · Mustard (Sinapis alba) - induces vomiting, relieves chest pains. · Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha) - stops diarrhea, relives headaches, soothes gums, toothaches and backaches. · Onion (Allium cepa) - diuretic, induces perspiration, prevents colds, soothes sciatica, relieves pains and other cardiovascular problems. · Parsley (Apium petroselinum) - diuretic. · Mint (Mentha piperita) - soothes flatulence, aids digestion, stops vomiting, breath freshener. · Sandalwood (Santallum albus) - aids digestion, stops diarrhea, soothes headaches and gout (used, of course, in incense). · Sesame (Sesamum indicum)- soothes asthma. · Tamarind (Tamarindus indica)- laxative. · Thyme (Thymus/Thimbra) - pain reliever. · Tumeric (Curcumae longa) - closes open wounds (also was used to dye skin and cloth). · Poppy (papaver somniferum) - relieves insomnia, relieves headaches, anesthetic, soothes respiratory problems, deadens pain.
(No headline) /////// make it into a tablet, [put] another on top, dip into honey. To be swallowed by the patient.
pHearst 2
(Ebers No.18, 22, 25, 32, 33) Remedy for evacuating the belly /////// SASA fruit 1 ro, mix with HsA, make into 7 pills, dip into honey. To be swallowed by the patient.
pHearst 3
(= Ebers No.32) Remedy [for evacuating the belly] A lump of salt, dip in honey. To be swallowed by the patient. To be taken with a finger full of honey afterwards [or wash down] with sweet beer. For 4 days.
pHearst 26
(Ebers 86, 97, 129) Remedy for curing the wxd in the belly Grains of SASA 4 ro, sam plant 4 ro, fruit of the Sn-tA plant 4 ro, sweet beer 20 ro, zrm liquid 5 ro. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 48
(= Ebers No.217) Remedy for expelling the disease of the pit of the stomach Flour of dates 8 ro, fruit of the DAr.t plant 1 ro, amA grains 5 ro, sweet beer 25 ro. Cook, filter. Take for 4 days. Divide into doses of 10 ro.
pHearst 49
(= Ebers No.218) Another remedy Milk 5 ro, honey 2 ro, water 10 ro. Cook, filter. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 50
(Ebers No.284f) Remedy to cause the stomach to accept bread Figs 4 ro, jns.t fruit 4 ro, xntj earth 1 ro, honey 1 ro, water 5 ro. As previously.
pHearst 58
(= Ebers No.7) Remedy to open the body (purging) Milk 25 ro, flour 8 ro, honey 8 ro, sweet beer 5 ro. Filter. Take for 4 days.
Remedies for the anus
pHearst 4
Remedy to expel the rhn of the wxd in the anus. Fruit of the xt-ws.t tree. Bandage with it.
pHearst 5
//////// //////. Bandage with it, for as long as it smells badly. During 4 days.
pHearst 6
The same Fruit of the DAr.t plant, mix with honey, make into /////
pHearst 7
Remedy for the anus when it is ill Make hot poultices with (flat) plates, with sand or with HsAr of beer.
pHearst 88
Remedy for the kns body part (probably the perineum) when it is ill. Fruit of the doum palm 8 ro, gum 1 ro, water 5 ro. Expose to the dew over night. Take daily.
pHearst 93
(Ebers No.138, 140, 143, 160, 785) Remedy for cooling the anus Crushed waH grains 8 ro, wDaj.t of dates 8 ro, fresh bread 4 ro, fruit of the doum palm 8 ro, water 20 ro. Expose to the dew over night. Take for 4 days.
Remedies for the teeth
pHearst 8
(Ebers 743) [Remedy for fastening a tooth] which is about to fall out Kernels of the doum palm 5 ro, sam plant 5 ro, gum 5 ro. Apply to the tooth.
Remedies for the blood
pHearst
Treating the blood //// ////// 1/2 ro, gum 2 ro, flour 4 ro, jns.t seeds 12 1/2 ro, water 10 ro. Expose to the dew during the night. Move from side to side in the mouth. For 4 days.
pHearst 69
For treating the hb-n-tA in the blood Roasted wheat grains 2 1/2 ro, jHw grains 2 1/2 ro,goose lard 4 ro, water 20 ro. Expose to the dew over night, filter. Take 4 days.
pHearst 129
(Ebers No.724) Remedy for driving out "blood eating" from all limbs Crush HD plant with tallow. Apply.
pHearst 130
(Ebers No.725) The same AH bread, mix with natron and jnj.t of dates. Put on the places where there is blood.
pHearst 143
(= Ebers No.593) Remedy for driving out a "nest of blood", which has not settled yet sam plant 4 ro, jSd fruit 2 ro, SASA grains 1/2 ro, fruit of the Sn plant 4 ro, goose fat 2 ro. Cook with abundant beer. Drink for 4 days.
Remedies for unidentified diseases
pHearst 10
////// on the first day Fruit of the DAr.t plant /////, beans 20 ro, ama flour. Grind, mix with the mstA of a Hdw vessel. Bandage with it. For 4 days.
pHearst 11
2nd remedy Mix fresh barley flour, cream, [with honey]. [Bandage] with it. For 4 days.
pHearst 12
3rd remedy Fruit of the DAr.t plant 20 ro, ama of spelt ////, with HsA //// grind //// [until] he is well. For 4 days.
pHearst 17
(= Ebers No.72) To expel the tpA.t from the head Grains of barley, ground and roasted, 5 ro, kernels of the doum palm ground and roasted 5 ro, soft tallow 5 ro, mix. Apply to the head. At ///// of his head cause him to bend to the ground without giving a remedy against it. But after his head has been anointed with this remedy, it shall be smeared in with fish grease on the 2nd day, it shall be smeared in with hippo grease on the 3rd day, it shall be rubbed with the crumb (?) of spoilt wheat bread by applying it to his head every day.
pHearst 19
Remedy against whj Blood of ox, cook, eat.
pHearst 20
Remedy for soothing the HAj.t Put pig's blood into wine. Drink immediately
pHearst 22
(= Ebers No.433) Remedy Incense 5 ro, xntj earth 5 ro, wdd of a goat 5 ro, mix. Bandage with it.
pHearst 23
(= Ebers No.434) Remedy qsn.tj plant 5 ro, incense 5 ro, grains from the HD plant 5 ro, stew to a salve. Bandage with it.
pHearst 24
(= Ebers No.437) To expel xnsj.t from the head Castor berries 5 ro, tallow [5 ro], oil 5 ro, mix. Rub in daily.
pHearst 25
Remedy for expelling Sna Make wheat into dough, wash, cook, expose to the dew over night. Filter it in the morning and add 4 ro of honey and strain it through cloth. Take during 4 days. I have witnessed that it helped me.
pHearst 28
(= Ebers No.632) Remedy for treating the left side Figs 8 ro, jSd fruit 4 ro, jwnSj fruit 4 ro, jns.t fruit 20 ro, gum 1 ro, xntj earth 1 ro, incense 1/2 ro, smtj 1/2 ro, cumin 1/2 ro, flour 1 ro, water 160 ro. Expose to dew during the night, filter. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 34
Expelling "the influences" from all limbs xt-ws.t 5 ro, afAj grains 5 ro, acacia seeds 5 ro, mix with goat tallow. Bandage with it.
pHearst 37
(= Ebers No.584) What is to be used against nhp in the limbs Cook pulverized nHAsawj with grease. Apply the nhp to all body parts of the male patient or female patient.
pHearst 38
Remedy against saS.t Milk of sycamore, flour of DAr.t fruit. Apply.
pHearst 39
(= Ebers No.537) Drive out ASj.t Fruit of the DAr.t plant, salt of the North, cook with urine. Apply.
pHearst 40
(= Ebers No.538) Another remedy Gum, natron, acacia seeds, pulverize. Bandage with it.
pHearst 53
(= Ebers No.4) Remedy for expelling disease from the body Mix THwj fruit with beer. Swallow.
pHearst 55
(= Ebers No.5) Remedy for the body when it is ill Cumin 1/2 ro, goose lard 4 ro, milk 20 ro. As above.
pHearst 56
(= Ebers No.6) The same Figs 4 ro, jSd fruit 4 ro, sweet beer 20 ro. As above.
pHearst 71
(= Ebers No.243) II. Remedy, prepared by Shu for Re himself Wheat meal 5 ro, salt of the North 5 ro, lard 5 ro, fruit of the SAw plant 5 ro, charcoal soot from the wall 5 ro, flour of the DAr.t fruit 5 ro, bean flour 5 ro, qsntj plant 5 ro, incense 5 ro, xntj earth 5 ro, HsA 5 ro. Mix. Bandage the parts which are ill with it.
pHearst 72
(= Ebers No.244) III. Remedy, prepared by Tefnut for Re himself Flour of amaa 5 ro, Snf.t grains 5 ro, lard 5 ro. Grind together. Bandage with it all parts which are ill. This will expel diseases, the influences of the male and female spirit from the body of the patient so that he will be will immediately.
pHearst 73
(= Ebers No.245) IV. Remedy, prepared by Geb for Re himself Flour of the DAr.t fruit 5 ro, flour of the THwj fruit 5 ro, flour of the fruit of the xt-ws.t tree 5 ro, finely pulverized with date wine yeast. Bandage with it all parts which are ill. It expels the diseases, the influences of the male and female spirit from the body of the patient so that he will be will immediately.
pHearst 74
(= Ebers No.246) V. Remedy, prepared by Nut for Re himself Wall tiles [5 ro], stem of the qAd.t plant 5 ro, pebbles from the beach 5 ro, natron 5 ro, salt 5 ro, fresh bread 5 ro, lard 5 ro, sfT fat 5 ro, honey 5 ro, Sns dough 5 ro. Cook together. Bandage with it all parts which are ill. It expels the diseases, the influences of the male and female spirit from the body of the patient so that he will be will immediately.
pHearst 125
(= Ebers No.563) Remedy for allaying the wSa pains in all limbs Tigernuts 5 ro, jrtj fruit 5 ro, natron 5 ro, salt of the North 5 ro, HsA of the awAj.t liquid 5 ro, Snf.t grains 5 ro, cumin 5 ro. Cook. Rub in.
pHearst 126
(Ebers No.564) The same Charcoal 5 ro, date wine 5 ro, salt of the North 5 ro, beer dregs 5 ro, incense 5 ro, myrrh 5 ro. Cook. Bandage with it.
pHearst 131
(Ebers No.302) Remedy for driving out dHr.t Fruit of the DAr.t plant, pulverize with honey. Take with sweet beer.
pHearst 132
(Ebers No.588) Remedy for opening things which have come into existence on their own Fruit of the tHwj plant, salt of the North, honey. Mix. Bandage with it.
pHearst 133
(Ebers No.569) Remove the liquid from a xsd in all body parts of a male or female patient Fruit of the Sn plant, kA.t-Sw grains. Pulverize finely. Bandage with it until all the liquid has left it. pHearst 134 Drive out diseases from all body parts of a male or female patient Napeca bread fruit with water
pHearst 135
[The same] Fruit of the Sn plant, honey, jSd fruit, gum, salt of the North, safflower. Bandage with it.
pHearst 142
(=Ebers 695) Drive out all things Dust (?) from a statue 5 ro, jbs grains 5 ro, SASA grains 5 ro, grease 5 ro, wax 5 ro. Cook, filter. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 152
(= Ebers 713) Remedy for dividing the body Donkey's milk 25 ro, acacia seeds 2 ro, drnkn plant 2 ro, dwA-tA (?) plant 1 ro, qAA fruit of the arw tree 2 ro, honey 2 ro. Cook, filter. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 159
(= Ebers No.733) Drive away the Hmt-zA A scarab, cut off its head and wings, heat in lard. Apply. But if you wish to destroy it cook its head and wings, add it to the lard of apnn.t worms, heat it and have the patient drink it.
pHearst 160
(Ebers No.705, 707) Spell against the mSpn.t illness Run out, who enters, without coming out again, who attacks (?) me without laying its hands on me. Retreat from me, for I am Horus, distance yourself, for I am the son of Osiris, The magic of my mother protects my body so that nothing evil can enter my body and no mSpn.t into my flesh. Run out, run out, run out, run out, run out, run out, run out! To say over the jnnk plant. Cook, pulverize. Apply.
pHearst 161
jhr remedy Precipitation product of honey, dry myrrh, fruit of the SAw plant, with dregs of the pAwr beverage, pulverize. Rub in.
pHearst 162
The same Antimony, snn resin, triturate with fresh oil. As above.
pHearst 163
The same mnj.t of the SAms plant. Apply.
pHearst 164
The same Waste (?) of the coppersmith, tree oil, tallow, spd stone, ink, incense, DAjs plant. Bandage with it.
pHearst 165
The same Hippo lard, HD (?) stone. As above.
pHearst 166
The same Incense, fruit of the [?] plant, natron, sfT fat, minium. As above.
pHearst 167
To drive away the mSSw.t illness Xaq.t of snakes, cream, fruit from the tjSps tree. Rub in.
pHearst 168
Remedy for driving away the tmj.t Charcoal, Snf.t seeds, dregs from the aA.t liquid, flour of psn pastry, mandrake, spelt, the lower part of pdd.w, salt of the North. Cook. Bandage with it.
pHearst 169
The same jSd fruit of the castor oil plant, fruit of the nSA plant, dates, THwj fruit, fruit of the SAms plant, tA liquid of the washerman, honey. As above.
pHearst 170
Spell against the Tnt-amw disease Who is knowledgable like Re? Who knows the same? This god. Cover (? or perhaps heat) the body with coal, until the god is filled with them (?). As Seth fended off the sea, thus Seth will fend you off, you Tnt-amw. Do not enter, do not enter the body of NN, born of NN. This charm is spoken 4 times over fresh oil and loaves of "kesseb bread". Drive them away with it and banish them with amulets of Stt-wt.
pHearst 171
Remedy for healing the jrwtn illness Finely pulverized mgA plant with wine. Make him drink it. Make a phlebotomy on his thigh.
pHearst 172
Another against sSpn Immerse mgA plant in water. Rub his nose with it.
pHearst 206
(= Ebers No.752) Remedy for nsj.t Snf.t seeds 20 ro, white sX.t fruit 4 ro, green sx.t fruit 4 ro, fruit of the wan tree 2 ro, sd of the xdj.t plant 2 ro. Mix. Drink.
pHearst 207
(= Ebers No.754) Another remedy Figs 5 ro, jSd fruit 4 ro, white lard 4 ro, sweet beer 25 ro, honey 1 ro, wnS fruit 2 ro, fruit of the wan tree 2 ro. Cook, filter. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 208
(Ebers No.756) Another remedy Donkey's feces, finely powdered, with wine. Drink for one day.
pHearst 209
(= Ebers No.751) Another remedy Fennel, afA plant, DAjs plant, wD plant, beer. Mix by stirring. Drink.
pHearst 210
(= Ebers No.753) The same A lump of salt, cook with HsA. Swallow.
pHearst 211
Drive nsj.t from the body jHw grains, fruit of the DAr.t plant, fennel, sweet beer. Mix. Swallow.
pHearst 245
Remedy for .... of the wbn in all body parts Flour of .... [5 ro], ..... [5 ro], .... tree 5 ro, wax 5 ro, cow tallow 5 ro. Cook. [Bandage with it, then he will be well] immediately.
pHearst 246
Another remedy for ..... Flour of DAr.t fruit 5 ro, natron 5 ro, date .... [5 ro], ..... Bandage with it for 4 days.
pHearst 247
[Another remedy against] ..... Water of ms.t 5 ro, SASA grains [5 ro], .... [5 ro]. Bandage with it for 4 days.
pHearst 248
[Another remedy] ..... [5 ro], white gum (?) 5 ro, honey 5 ro. Bandage with it [for 4 days].
pHearst 253
....... drive out the heat ............. .................. Bandage with it.
pHearst 254
Another [remedy] Heat............ Apply.
pHearst 255
............. Salt of the North, ..........., acacia seeds, ................. Mix, put ......... by the fire. Bandage [with it].
pHearst 256
............ ................ Rub it in.
pHearst 257
The same Fresh ax...... and a hair, soak [with] ........... to this hair and give ...........
The same sfT oil, myrrh, ......... , ...Sn ......., ..........., fruit of the wan tree, cumin, salt, ............, ............., fennel, .........
pHearst 260
........ wbn in all body parts ...... , [honey], fresh oil, wax, sfT oil, flour of the DAr.t fruit, ............., loaves of bread crushed with refuse from the tjSps tree, 1 heron's egg, ........ (?), incense. Apply to the wbn.
Remedies for bones
pHearst 13
Setting a bone which is broken, in all limbs of a male or female patient. HsA of [awAj.t], ///// plants, fruit of the nSA plant, mix, sift with honey. Bandage with it.
pHearst 14
Joining ///// ///// 5 ro, gum 5 ro, jSd fruit of the sycamore 5 ro, jSd fruit of the (Zizyphus) napeca 5 ro, jSd fruit from the jmA tree [5 ro], //////, add 3 fingers full of honey. Bandage with it. For 4 days.
pHearst 15
Remedy for broken ribs on the first day White cream /////, wrap in fine cloth of HAwtj. Bandage with it. For 4 days.
pHearst 217
(Ebers 636f.) Remedy for setting a broken bone on the first day Flour of the DAr.t plant 5 ro, flour of beans 5 ro, mstj water 5 ro. Mix. Bandage with it for 4 days.
pHearst 218
2nd remedy Flour of DAr.t fruit 5 ro, flour of aam 5 ro, HsA from the psn pastry 5 ro. Cook together. Bandage with it.
pHearst 219
3rd remedy Cow milk 5 ro, flour from green barley 5 ro. Mix. Bandage with it for 4 days.
pHearst 220
Another remedy Fruit of the SAw plant 5 ro, fruit of the twn plant 5 ro, honey 5 ro, HsA of the psn pastry 5 ro. Mix. Bandage for 4 days.
pHearst 221
Another remedy Potter's material 5 ro, sycamore seeds 5 ro, napeca seeds 5 ro, seeds of the jmA tree 5 ro, acacia seeds 5 ro, honey, acacia gum [5 ro]. Mix. Bandage with it.
pHearst 222
Another remedy Honey 5 ro, sam plant 5 ro, fruit of the Sn plant 5 ro. Cook together. Bandage for 4 days.
pHearst 223
Another remedy Acacia seeds 5 ro, gum solution 5 ro, water 5 ro. Mix. Bandage with it for 4 days.
pHearst 224
Another remedy Gum solution 5 ro, goose lard 5 ro, wax 5 ro. Cook together. Bandage with it for 4 days.
pHearst 225
Another remedy pqr worm from the lard. Expose to the dew over night. Bandage with it.
pHearst 226
Remedy for cooling a bone after it has been set, in all limbs of the patient Flour of the DAr.t fruit 5 ro, oil tree seeds 5 ro, napeca seeds 5 ro, sycamore seeds 5 ro, doum palm kernels 5 ro, water 5 ro. Bandage with it.
pHearst 227
Another remedy Flesh from a living cow 5 ro, sskA grains from Upper Egypt (?) [5 ro], ibex tallow 5 ro, salt of the North 5 ro, sxp.t beverage 5 ro, lard 5 ro, wax 5 ro, greenstone 5 ro. Mix. Bandage for 4 days.
pHearst 233
(= Ebers No.636) [Another] remedy for cooling a bone after it has been set, in all body parts of the patient Natron of the field, Sb.t liquid, jnj.t of dates, honey. Bandage with it for 4 days.
pHearst 234
Another remedy Acacia seeds, willow seeds, sycamore seeds, doum palm kernels, gum solution. Bandage with it for 4 days.
Driving out spirits, magical spells
pHearst 16
(= Ebers No. 182) Really expelling the spirit THwj fruit 5 ro, [safflower] fruit 5 ro, nuts from the arw tree 5 ro, the contents of the wDaj.t pod 5 ro, SASA fruit 5 ro, grind to a fine powder. To be taken by the patient with honey.
pHearst 36
(= Ebers No.165) Expelling magic from the body Mix the interior of a wDaj.t, incense, fruit of the Sn plant. To be eaten by the patient.
pHearst 54
(= Ebers No.165) Remedy to expel magic from the body Marrow of the Hmm plant 5 ro, wDaj.t of dates 5 ro, fruit of the Sn plant 5 ro, incense 5 ro. Eat, wash down with beer.
pHearst 78
(= Ebers No.1) Spell to accompany the applying of the remedy to any body parts which are ill I have left Heliopolis with the great ones of the sanctuary, lords of protection, rulers of eternity; they protect me. I have left Sais with the mother of the gods, and they have granted me their protection. I possess spells composed by the ruler of the universe, to dispel the influences of the god, the goddess, the male and the female spirit etc., which are in this head of mine, in this arm of mine, in these limbs of mine, in these body parts of mine, to punish the srxj, chief of those who introduce the illness and bjbj into these limbs of mine. For Re has said: "I protect him from his enemies! He is like Thoth. He has caused the writings to talk by composing a book in order to pass on knowledge to the learned ones and the physicians who gollow him in order to practise. He who is loved by his god is kept alive by him. I am one who is loved by his god, that is why he keeps me alive. To be spoken when applying the remedy to any ill body part. Really proven innumerable times.
pHearst 212
Spell for the measure when one takes it in order to measure a medicine This dbH (measure) in which I measure this remedy is the measure in which Horus has measured his eye, and it was [measured] correctly and life, well-being and happiness was found [again by it] . This remedy is being measured in this measure in order to drive away all diseases with it which are in this body
pHearst 213
Spell for barley This barley is the eye of Horus, measured and correct, which Isis has brought to her son Horus, in order to cause him to pass the stool in order to purge the badness which was in his body.
pHearst 214
Spell for the lard in every medicine Praise to you, Eye of Horus, you rnn.wtt (Renenutet) on top of the HD Htp, which gave Re radiance before the Ennead. The divine Isis came forth and praised [.. ?] before Gebeb and there she (Renenutet ?) did battle for her (Isis ?) etc. Save him from the shadow, the male and female ghost! For I am this [famous] Thoth, this [famous] physician of the Eye of Horus which has fought for his father Osiris before Neith, Mistress of Life and her ladies in waiting. We have (?) saved etc.
pHearst 215
Spell for the honey Come, honey, come to the passage of the locusts, the ship's passage! Honey is healthy!- Tell the gods in whose hearts is fear: [Your ?] right horn against the right, the left one against the left against the nnj ghosts, against the xnj ghosts, so they may be destroyed etc. O you who belong to the heavens [face towards / more than] the stars! O you who belong to the earth, [face towards /more than] the gods, O you who belong ..... , [face towards] the cloud, O you who belong to the heavens [ face towards] the nnj ghosts and xmj.t ghosts so that they may be destroyed etc. Protection, behind me, protection, come, protection!
pHearst 216
Spell for the beer This Dsr.t beer is [Horus of Chemmis (?)], strained in P, mixed in Dp. You shall drink it .... while the sm priest attends with his utensils (?), statue, ....., kjs, jns.t, jbr-salve, sAp.t. Drink the beer which I have brought in order to dispel the influences of the god, the male and female ghosts which are in this body etc.
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****pHearst 18
(= Ebers No.49) Remedy to drive out strong haema[turia] [too] Fresh AH bread 4 ro, crushed waH grains 5 ro, lard 4 ro, honey 4 ro, pass through a sieve. Take for 4 days. One dose like the other.
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Remedies against bites
pHearst 21
(= Ebers 432) Remedy to be applied against a human bite Small fragments from a sherd of an anD vessel. jAq.t plant, crush, mix. Bandage with it.
pHearst 239
(= Ebers No.436) [Another] remedy against crocodile bites on [all] body parts of the patient. You shall bandage him with fresh meat on the first day.
pHearst 240
(= Ebers No.432) [Pot sherds] and jAq.t plant. Bandage with it for 4 days.
pHearst 241
[Another remedy against the bite] of a pig Bandage him with fresh meat [on the first day]
pHearst 242
Another remedy Fresh minium 5 ro, jbs grains 5 ro, ...., tallow 5 ro, lard 5 ro. Cook. Bandage with it.
pHearst 243
[Another remedy against] the bite of a hippo Sycamore seeds, ..... [HsA ?] of sweet beer. Bandage with it for 4 days.
pHearst 244
[Another remedy against] the bite of a lion ... fruit. Mix. Bandage for 4 days.
Remedies for the arms, legs, fingers and toes
pHearst 27
Remedy for driving out the Hna of the legs Dried jH.w seeds 5 ro, wheat bread 8 ro, crushed waH seeds 5 ro, grease 4 ro, honey 4 ro, water 80 ro, grind, filter. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 173
Remedy for treating a finger or a toe Minium, a sherd from a new pot, pulverize finely with the excretion product of honey. Bandage the finger or toe with it. Afterwards, prepare a remedy for cooling for him: acacia seeds 8 ro, napeca seeds 8 ro, xntj earth 1 ro, Ssj.t of greenstone 1 ro, the inner part of wDaj.t 4 ro. Pulverize. Bandage with it.
pHearst 174
(Ebers No.617) If you find a finger [or] toe which is ill, while a liquid inside it moves to and fro, it has a bad smell which is caused by a worm, then say about it: "He is ill, I shall treat him." Apply the remedy to him in order to kill the spd worm: sjA plant of the South 1 ro, sjA plant of the North 1 ro, sfT fat 4 ro. Pulverize. Bandage with it.
pHearst 175
(= Ebers No.620) Treating a toe when it is ill xntj earth, natron, [?] minium, Xnw of the [?], dSr grains, nxtjw plant. Mix. Bandage with it. But after you have applied this remedy, prepare a salve for him of fat, tallow, lard, honey, mix by stirring. Apply.
pHearst 176
Another remedy Tallow, incense, lard, honey. As above.
pHearst 177
(= Ebers No.618) Remedy for the nail of the toe Honey 5 ro, xntj earth 1/2 ro, SmSm.t plant (hemp) 1 ro, HD.t grains 1 ro, lettuce 1 ro. Pulverize. Bandage with it.
pHearst 178
(= Ebers No.619) Another remedy Honey 4 ro, xntj earth 1/2 ro, lard 1 ro. As above.
pHearst 179
(= Ebers No.622) Remedy for treating a toe nail which is about to fall off Treat it with natron, incense, lard, honey, xntj earth. Apply and prevent his bandage from squeezing.
pHearst 180
What is done for the toe Tallow, acacia seeds. Cook together. Apply.
pHearst 181
Remedy used for the finger Meal of the twn plant, cook with lard. Bandage with it.
pHearst 182
Remedy for driving out the blood from the toe agj.t from acacia trees. Pulverize finely. Bandage with it.
pHearst 183
Another remedy Cook a small globule of incense in tallow, make into a paste. Bandage with it.
pHearst 184
What is done against the tips (?) of the toes which are afflicted by open wounds Acacia seeds, fruit of the DAr.t plant, minium, salt of the North, HsA of the awAj.t liquid. Cook. Bandage with it. But afterwards apply: sfT fat, tallow, incense, seeds of bsbs (fennel), meal of the DAr.t fruit, wax. Mix. Bandage with it.
pHearst 185
Treating the nails of toe and finger Tallow of ibex, mandrake, burned copper (?), redwood, xntj earth, wax. Bandage with it.
pHearst 186
Another remedy Tallow, incense, xntj earth, honey. As above.
pHearst 187
Another remedy xntj earth, jnj.t seeds of flax, wtj.t of the sycamore, honey, lard. As above.
pHearst 188
Remedy for a toenail Honey 4 ro, SmSm.t plant 1 ro, xntj earth 1 ro, HD.t 1 ro, lettuce 1 ro. Bandage the toenail with it.
pHearst 189
(= Ebers 619) Another remedy xntj earth 1/2 ro, lard 1 ro. Bandage with it.
pHearst 190
Another remedy Minium 4 ro, honey 4 ro. As above.
pHearst 191
The same Freash barley flour ...., honey 2 ro, xntj earth 1 ro, fruit of the DAr.t plant 4 ro, incense 1/2 ro, acacia seeds 4 ro, napeca seeds 4 ro, myrrh 5 ro. Cook. Bandage with it.
(= Ebers No.621) Treating the nails of the toe Minium, a sherd of a new pot, honey, lard. Bandage with it.
pHearst 194
Remedy for the finger and the toe. Refreshing the finger. What is used against a nail HD.t grains, jbr salve, gum, lard, bd.t resin, peas, acacia seeds. Apply.
pHearst 195
Treating the toe Cook hair of the qAA plant with lard. Bandage with it.
pHearst 196
Eradicate the fnT worm from the finger and the toe Minium, fruit of the DAr.t plant, hnj.t grains. Bandage the finger or toe with it.
pHearst 197
Remedy for the toe A apnn.t worm which has been cut up and the body of which has been rubbed with salt. Bandage the patient (?) with it.
pHearst 198
Another remedy sfT oil, amm (brain ?) of the pgg.t (frog ?). As above.
pHearst 199
Remedy for the str.t of the jwH (drying a moist spot ?) in the toenails Fruit of the THwj plant, fruit of the DAr.t plant, pulverize with honey. Bandage with it.
pHearst 200
Drive away the Sf.t (swelling ?) of the toe Fruit of the twn plant. Pulverize with honey. Bandage with it.
pHearst 201
Another remedy Fruit of the SAms plant, fruit of the THwj plant, fruit of the twn plant, fruit of the Sn plant. Pulverize, mix with honey. Bandage with it.
pHearst 202
Another remedy Fruit of the DAr.t plant, SASA seeds, minium, honey. As above.
pHearst 203
Another remedy Brain of catfish with honey. Bandage the toe with it.
pHearst 204
To drive out the swt from the finger sskA grains, psD grains, salt of the North, fruit form the xt-ws.t tree, honey. Bandage with it.
pHearst 205
(Ebers No.623f.) Remedy for preventing the tremor in the fingers Smear the fingers with lard. Bandage with watermelon.
pHearst 252
........ the leg when it is ill. Blossoms of ....
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Remedies for the skin
pHearst 30
(= Ebers No.183) Expel wxd from the skin THwj fruit 2 ro, jSd fruit 4 ro, milk 2 1/2 ro, incense 1/2 ro, waH seeds 4 ro, figs 4 ro, Snf.t seeds 1/2 ro, sweet beer 5 ro, as before, make doses of 5 ro minus 1/30.
pHearst 153
(= Ebers No.714) Renewing the skin Honey, red natron, salt of the North. Pulverize together. Rub the limbs with it.
pHearst 154
(= Ebers 715) Making the skin more beautiful Alabaster powder, natron powder, salt of the North, honey. Stir together with this honey. Rub the skin with it.
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Remedies for body odour
pHearst 31
(= Ebers No.708) Dispel bad odour in summer Incense 5 ro, jbnw grains 5 ro, fruit of the Sn plant 5 ro, myrrh 5 ro. Compound with each other. Rub in.
pHearst 32
(= Ebers No.711) Dispel bad odour from the limbs Mix AH.t bread with incense by kneading, make into pills. Place one on the spot where one limb touches the other. For 4 days.
pHearst 150
(= Ebers 708) Drive the odour of sweat from the body of a person in summer Incense, lettuce, fruit of the n plant, myrrh. Mix. Rub the patient with it.
pHearst 151
Drive the odour of sweat from a male or female patient AH bread and incense, knead well, turn into pills. Put one on the spot where one limb connects to another. For 4 days.
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Remedies for driving out wxd, pain
pHearst 29
(= Ebers No.97) Remedy for expelling the wxd from the body. Figs 4 ro, jSd fruit 4 ro, Sn-tA plant 4 ro, grease 4 ro, sam plant 8 ro, fruit of the DAr.t plant 2 ro, fruit of the wan tree 8 ro, sweet beer 20 ro, boil, expose to the dew over night, filter, make doses of 2 1/2 ro. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 33
(= Ebers No.301) Expel pain from the limbs HsA of the Sbb liquid, grind fine, mix with HsA of the awAj.t liquid. Apply.
pHearst 41
(= Ebers No.584) Remedy for expelling wxd, the nhp are in any body part of the patient. Waste products of the Smj drink, cat's feces, feces of greyhound, jSd fruit from the xt-ws.t tree. Bandage with it. This expels the Sf.t.
pHearst 42
(= Berlin No.162) Remedy for destroying the wxd in all body parts Greasy meat 10 ro, [(?)] of psD 7 1/2 ro, afA plant 5 ro, jnnk plant 2 ro, fruit from the wan tree 2 ro, incense 2 ro, Dsr.t beer 15 ro, sweet beer 25 ro. Cook, filter. Take for 4 days, divide into doses of 10 ro.
pHearst 43
The same Incense 1/2 ro, cumin 1/2 ro, fresh bread 4 ro, goose lard 2 ro, honey 2 ro, sweet beer 20 ro. Cook, filter. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 44
The same Dill 1 ro, date flour 4 ro, jwnSj plant 4 ro, wine 5 ro. Cook, filter. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 45
The same Cooked jHmAr.t 20 ro, juice of the DAr.t plant 20 ro, tallow 8 ro, honey 8 ro. Mix stirring, put in cloth, filter. Take for 4 days. Add the honey only shortly before stirring.
pHearst 46
Remedy for the destruction of wxd in any body part sSS of crushed barley 2 1/2 ro, [(?)] of psD-w 5 ro, Tjam plant 4 ro, Yellow Nutsedge 4 ro, fruit of the wan tree 2 ro, water 120 ro. Cook, expose to the dew during the night, filter. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 47
Remedy for the destruction of the wxd in the body Flour of dates 2 1/2 ro, acacia seeds 4 ro, waH grains 5 ro, goose lard 5 ro. As previously.
pHearst 138
Drive away the rq.t and remove the wxd from all body parts of the patient. Acacia fruit 20 ro, meal of cedar wood 8 ro. Bandage with it often.
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Remedies for ulcers
pHearst 35
(= Ebers No.294) Remedy for removing st.t ulcers from the nipples The weed called snwt.t, which grows on its belly like the qAd.t plant and grows blossoms like the srD plant, when its stalks are like those of the xt-HD plant, then it shall be brought and its roots shall be applied to the nipples. Then they (i.e. the ulcers) will disappear immediately.
Remedies for the heart
pHearst 51
(berlin No.77,117, Ebers No.220, 230, 233) Remedy for treating the heart Black spelt 20 ro, water 160 ro. Cook, filter. Take for 4 days. Divide into doses of 30 ro.
pHearst 52
The same Fruit of the wan tree 2 ro, waH grains 5 ro, milk 4 ro, goose lard 2 ro, water 20 ro. Same as above.
Remedies for the lungs
pHearst 57
Remedy for treating the lung, immediately effective xntj earth 1 ro, gum 1 ro, honey 4 ro, figs 4 ro, water 25 ro. Expose to the dew during the night. Take for 4 days.
Remedies against the aAa illness
pHearst 79
(= Ebers No.221) To expel aAa from the the body and the heart SAms plant 2 ro, SASA grains 4 ro, xntj earth 1/2 ro, honey 2 (parts), mix. Eat before going to bed.
pHearst 80
Remedy to expel the aAa from the body and the heart Tigernut 4 ro, SASA grains 4 ro, fruit of the Sn plant 2 ro, green stone 1/2 ro, shw.t (?) 1 ro, psD 2 ro, honey 2 (parts), mix. Eat before going to sleep.
pHearst 81
(= Ebers No.222) Another remedy for expelling the aAa from the body or the heart Gum 1 ro, raisins 2 ro, SASA grains 4 ro, SAms plant 2 ro, honey 2 (parts), mix. Eat before going to sleep.
pHearst 82
(= Ebers No.224) Another remedy Castor plant leaves 4 ro, xs fruit of the sycamore 4 ro, fresh dates 4 ro, lotus blossoms 4 ro, fresh bread 4 ro, water 10 ro. Filter. Take immediately.
pHearst 83
(= Ebers No.225) Expel the aAa of the god or a spirit from the body of a male or female patient Acacia seeds 1 ro, seeds of the arw tree 1 ro, qAA fruit of the arw tree 1 ro, fruit of the DAr.t plant 4 ro, raisins 4 ro, salt of the North 1 ro, core of a wDaj.t 1 ro, THwj fruit 4 ro, antimony 1/2 ro, SASA grains 8 ro, SwtA plant 4 ro, honey 1 ro, HsA 25 ro. Cook, filter. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 84
(= Ebers No.226) Another remedy jns.t grains 4 ro, figs 4 ro, salt 1 ro, xntj earth 1 ro, honey 1 ro, water 10 ro, raisins 2 ro, waH grains 2 ro, bread fruit of the napeca 2 ro, lettuce 1 ro, SAw plant 2 ro. Expose to the dew over night. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 85
(= Berlin No.115; Ebers No.221f.) Another remedy 1 AbD.w fish, its mouth filled with incense; cook. Eat before going to bed. What is to be said as a spell: "O male spirit, female spirit, hidden one concealed one, who is in this flesh of mine, in these limbs of mine, leave this flesh of mine, these limbs of mine! Behold, I have brought you excrement to eat! Beware, hidden one, beware, concealed one, flee!"
pHearst 86
Another remedy SAms plant 2 ro, fruit of the Sn plant 1 ro, tigernut 1 ro, SASA grains 1 ro, fruit of the SAw plant 1 ro, fruit of the xsj.t plant 1/2 ro, sam plant 1 ro, honey 4 ro, THwj fruit 1 ro, xntj earth 1/2 ro. Mix. Take before going to bed.
pHearst 87
(Ebers No.236-238) Another remedy Lettuce seed 4 ro, fruit of the SAw plant 1 ro, THwj fruit 1/2 ro, sweet beer 10 ro. Take before going to bed.
Remedies for the urinary tract
pHearst 59
(= Ebers No.9) Remedy for letting urine flow Fruit of the wan tree 5 ro, honey 5 ro, sweet beer 5 ro. Filter. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 60
The same Fresh xrS 5 ro, sweet beer ..... Cook, filter. Swallow.
pHearst 62
(= Ebers No.271) Remedy which is immediately effective for treating the bladder and restoration of urine Hmw of castor plant 4 ro, dates which are still growing 4 ro, fruit of the Sn plant 1 ro, Sb.t drink 2 ro, xsj.t plant 1 ro, cucumber blossoms 1 ro, crushed waH seeds 8 ro, jaj.t liquid 25 ro. Expose to the dew during the night. Take for 4 days.
pHearst 63
(= Ebers No.277) Remedy to treat urine which is too frequent Gum 8 ro, wheat dough 8 ro, fresh bread 8 ro, xntj earth 1 ro, water 25 ro. As above.
pHearst 64
(= Ebers No.278) The same wAb of the qAd.t plant 8 ro, grapes 4 ro, honey 8 ro, fruit of the wan tree 1 ro, sweet beer 7 1/2 ro. Cook, filter. Take one day.
pHearst 65
(= Ebers No.280) The same Gum 4 ro, honey 1 ro, water 5 ro. Cook, filter. Take one day.
pHearst 66
(= Ebers No.279) The same jSd fruit 4 ro, wheat dough 4 ro, xntj earth 1 ro, gum 1 ro, water 10 ro. As above.
pHearst 67
To cause the urine to flow again Milk 8 ro, honey 8 ro, fruit of the wan tree 8 ro, qAd.t plant 4 ro, sweet beer 200 ro. Filter. Take 4 days.
pHearst 68
(= Ebers No.282) Remedy for diminishing the urine Desert safflower 160 ro, safflower of the north 4 ro, lettuce of the south 2 ro, fruit of the wan tree 2 ro, fresh bread 4 ro, lettuce of the north 2 ro, Spm.t 2 ro, wAm plant 2 ro, dwA.t plant 2 ro, water 2 ro. Expose to the dew at night, filter. Take 4 days.
pHearst 70
For expelling the hb-n-tA from the bladder Roasted wheat flour 5 ro, roasted barley flour 5 ro, nuts of the doum palm 5 ro, figs 5 ro, fruit of the wan tree 8 ro, fruit of the Sn plant 8 ro, incense 1/2 ro, cumin 1/2 ro goose lard 8 ro, honey 8 ro, waH seeds 8 ro, water 120 ro. Expose to the dew over night. Take 4 days. Divide into doses of 15 ro.
Remedies against nausea
pHearst 61
(Berlin No.29f, Ebers No.305f) Remedy for driving away nausea Milk 25 ro, rkrk seeds 2 ro, sam plant 2 ro, incense 1/2 ro, xntj earth 2 ro, tallow 4 ro. Cook. Take for 4 days.
Remedies against headaches
pHearst 75
(= Ebers No.247) VI. Remedy, prepared by Isis for Re himself to expel the aches in his head Fruit of the SAw plant 5 ro, fruit of the SAms plant 5 ro, fruit of the xsj.t plant 5 ro, fruit of the Snw plant 5 ro, sam plant 5 ro, honey 5 ro. Mix by stirring it with this honey. Bandage the head with it so that it will be well immediately. When I apply this remedy to him when he suffers any pain, headache in font and behind, rush of blood, the influences of the god, the goddess, the male and the female spirit, in the head, all evil and illness in the head and all body parts, then he will be well immediately. Tried and proven.
pHearst 76
(= Ebers No.248) Remedy to dispel the "influences" from the head [and (?)] the illness sk.t The core of the DAr.t plant 5 ro, xs fruit of the jmA tree 5 ro, natron 5 ro, SfSf.t grains 5 ro, bones of the aHA fish, cooked 5 ro, [the same] of the dSr fish, cooked, 5 ro, skull of the wHa fish, cooked, 5 ro, honey 5 ro, lettuce 5 ro. Rub in the head for 4 days.
pHearst 77
(= Ebers No.249) Another remedy Dill grains 5 ro, fruit of the xsj.t plant 5 ro, fruit of the SAw plant 5 ro, jnnk plant 5 ro, fruit of the xt-ws.t 5 ro, donkey's tallow 5 ro. Rub the head with it for 4 days.
[Transcribed from the History of Science by George Sarton Edited and prepared by Prof. Hamed A. Ead at Heidelberg, Germany 10th, September 1998] Â Introduction It is not necessary to emphasize the antiquity of Egyptian medicine; in every culture medicine develops very early, for the need of it is too universal and too pressing ever to be overlooked. We may be sure that some kind of medicine was already practiced in Egypt in the earliest prehistoric days, many millennia before Christ. To quote an example, the use of malachite as an eye paint and an eye salve goes back to the Badarian age; the use of galena for similar purposes was introduced later, though still in predynastic times. Circumcision is a rite of immemorial age; bodies exhumed from prehistoric graves (as early as, say, 4000 B.c.) show traces of it. A very clear representation of the operation was sculptured on the wall of a tomb of the Sixth Dynasty (c. 2625-2475). Â Imhotep The earliest physician whose name has been recorded, Imhotep," was the wazir of Zoser, founder of the Third Dynasty, in the thirtieth century. Imhotep was a learned man, astronomer, physician, architect (he may have been the builder of the first pyramid, the step pyramid of Saqqara). In later times he was worshiped as a hero, as a blameless physician, and later still as the god of medicine, the prototype of Asclepios (even as the learned God Thoth was the prototype of Hermes and Mercury). We know precious little about Imhotep's medical knowledge but his apotheosis is significant and we may well take him at the Egyptian valuation as the first great man in medicine. The people who speak of Hippocrates as the father of medicine should bear in mind that Hippocrates comes about half way between Imhotep and us. That would improve their perspective of ancient science.
Egyptian Physicians Not only were there many physicians in the Pyramid Age, but there were very specialized ones. The skill of an early dentist is beautifully illustrated by a mandible found in a tomb of the Fourth Dynasty (2900-2750), in which an alveolar process was pierced to drain an abscess under the first molar. From the tombstone of Iry, chief physician to a pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty (2625-2475), we learn that he was also "palace eye physician" and "palace stomach bowel physician" and bore the titles "one understanding the internal fluids" and "guardian of the anus." '
Egyptian Papyri The medical papyri that have come to us, seven or more, are relatively late. They date from the Twelfth Dynasty to the Twentieth (2000 to 1090), but most of them reflect professedly earlier knowledge, going back to the Old Kingdom, as far back as the Fourth Dynasty. The two earliest papyri, the Kahun and the Gardiner fragments (c. 2000), deal with diseases of women, children, and cattle. The two Most important ones, the so-called Smith and Ebers papyri, date from the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries B.C.. The Smith one is of the same age as the Rhind mathematical papyrus. Roughly speaking, we may say that the outstanding, mathematical and medical treatises that have come to us are of the same period, the the Middle Kingdom and the beginning of the NewKingdom just prior the imperial age, when Egypt dominated the world.
Smith and Ebers Papyri Let us consider more carefully the two outstanding, the Smith and the Ebers, both of which are much larger than any others. On the basis of the figure given by Sarton, the seven medical papyri listed by him include 3746 lines, the Smith has 469 lines and the Ebers 2289, so that together they have 2758 lines, which is almost 74 percent of the total. As all the manuscripts are ultimately derived from similar Old Kingdom sources, we may safely assume that the study of the Ebers and the Smith papyri will give us a fair knowledge of ancient Egyptian medicine. We shall begin with the younger one, the Ebers papyrus, because it is by far the largest (almost five times as large as the Smith) and was the best known until very recent times. The difference in age is small anyhow, about a century, and negligible if one bears in mind that both texts represent older traditions. We are sure that the Ebers papyrus was written somewhat later than the Smith one, but it would be unwise to conclude that the contents of the former are of later date than the contents of the latter.
Ebers Papyrus The Ebers papyrus is a roll 20.23 m long and 30 cm high; the text is distributed in 108 columns of 20 to 22 lines each. It contains 877 recipes concerning a great variety of diseases or symptoms. Spells are recommended only in twelve cases and in other cases the therapeutics does not seem irrational, though we are seldom able to understand either the trouble or the remedy. The contents are arranged in the following order:
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Recitals before medical treatment, to increase the virtue of the remedy.
Internal medical diseases. Diseases of the eye.
Diseases of the skin (with an appendix of sundries).
Diseases of the extremities. Miscellinea (especially diseases of the head, for example, of the tongue, teeth, nose, and ears, and cosmetics).
Diseases of women (and matters concerning housekeeping).
Information of an anatomic, physiologic, and pathologic nature, and explanation of words.
Surgical diseases.
That order is open to many objections, but the author's intention is clear enough. He wanted to put together as well as possible all the information that a physician might need; he wrote a medical treatise, one of the earliest ever written (thirty-six centuries ago!).
Smith Papyru The Smith papyrus is much shorter. It is 33 cm high and was probably 5 m long, but the beginning has been lost and it now measures 4.70 m. lt is a copy of a much older text, dating back to the Pyramid Age, perhaps even early in that age, let us say the thirtieth century. After it had circulated for some generations it was found that its terms were antiquated. Toward the end of the Old Kingdom, say in the twenty-sixth century, a learned physician had the idea of rejuvenating it by the addition of glosses (69 in all), explaining obsolete terms and discussing dubious matters. (N.B. the Papyrus Ebers has also some glosses, 26 in all, but they have been badly messed up). These glosses constitute the most valuable part of the papyrus. The text as we have it now comprises two very distinct parts - 17 columns (377 lines) on the front and 4.5 columns (92 lines) on the back. The latter part contains only recipes and incantations and need not detain us. The main part is a surgical treatise, informed by a scientific spirit far superior to that of the Ebers papyrus. To be sure, the field of surgery is much less likely than that of internal medicine to be contaminated by irrational ideas, for in most surgical cases dealt with by ancient physicians the cause of the injury was too obvious to require the insertion of magical antecedents. On the contrary, an internal disease is always mysterious and likely to breed superstitious ideas in the patient's mind, even in the physician's mind. The Smith papyrus consists not of recipes but of definite cases. It was planned to deal with the ailments in the order of the bodily parts from head to foot, but unfortunately it stops a little below the shoulders, whether because the scribe was interrupted or because the end of the manuscript got 1ost. That order - eis podas ec cephales, a capite ad calces -remained the one throughout the Middle Ages, but it was so natural, as a first approximation, that we should not assume it was determined by the Egyptian example. The forty-eight cases dealt with in the papyrus, as it has come to us, are classified as follows:
The discussion begins with the head and skull, proceeding thence downward by way of the nose, face and ears, to the neck, clavicle, humerus, thorax, shoulders and spinal column, where the text is discontinued, leaving the document incomplete. Without any external indication of the arrangement of the text, the content of the treatise is nevertheless carefully disposed in groups of cases, each group being concerned with a certain region. These groups are as follows:
A. Head (27 cases, the first incomplete): Skull, overlying soft tissue and brain, Cases 1-10. Nose, Cases 11-14. Maxillary region, Cases 15-17. Temporal region, Cases 18-22. Ears, mandible, lips and chin, Cases 23-27. B. Throat and neck (cervical vertebrae), Cases 28-33 C. Clavicle, Cases 34-35. D. Humerus, Cases 36-38 E. Sternum, overlying soft tissue, and trueribs, Cases 39-46. F. Shoulders, Case 47. G. Spinal Column, Case 48.
The incompleteness of Case 48 confirms our suspicion that the rest of the treatise is lost. The discussion of each case is done systematically in the following way:
1. Title. 2. Examination. 3. Diagnosis. 4. Treatment (unless a fatal case, considered untreatable). 5. Glosses (a little dictionary of obscure terms, if any, employed in the discussion of the case
The title of Case 4 reads, "Instructions concerning a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone, and splitting his skull"; that of Case 6, "Instructions concerning a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone, smashing his skull, and rending open the brain of his skull." The examination regularly begins thus-. "If thou examinest a man having . . ." The form adopted is that of a teacher instructing a pupil that he shall do so and so. The methods of observation expressly stipulated or implied are answers elicited from the patient, ocular, olfactory, and tactile observations, movements of parts of the body by the patient as directed by the surgeon. Strange to say, eight out of eleven surgical operations are classified with the examination rather than with the treatment. This would suggest that the surgical work was considered a preparation to the medical treatment, independent of it. The diagnosis is always introduced by the words: "Thou should say concerning him [the patient] . . ." and ends with one of three statements:
1. An ailment which I will treat. 2. An ailment with which I will contend. 3. An ailment not to be treated.
Three diagnoses consist of this final hopeless verdict and nothing more; but in forty-nine diagnoses in our treatise the three verdicts are preceded by other observations on the case. In thirty-six of these forty-nine diagnoses the other observations are nothing more than a repetition of the title of the case, or of observations already made in the examination; but in the remaining thirteen, the diagnosis adds one or more conclusions based on the facts determined in the examination. These are the earliest surviving examples of observation and conclusion, the oldest known evidences of an inductive process in the history of the human mind.' Parallel with the systematic use of these three verdicts is a similar series of temporal  clauses bearing more directly on the condition of the Patient although not so regularly employed, and placed at the end of the treatment. These read:
A. "Until he recovers." B. "Until the period of his injury passes by." C. "Until thou knowest that he has reached decisive point."
The matter-of-factness and soberness of those early medical texts is very impressive. The doctor who wrote them down was not only an experienced man but a wise one, whose general point of view sometimes adumbrates that of the Hippocratic writings. For example, he recommends an expectant attitude, trusting in the healing power of nature, or he recommends waiting "until thou knowest that he [the patient] has reached a decisive point"; this reminds us of the Hippocratic notion of crisis.
Did the Egyptians study Anatomy? There is no reason to believe that the ancient Egyptians had studied anatomy, by means of deliberate dissections, but they had taken advantage of the accidental experiments falling under their eyes and had accumulated much knowledge. Of course, the mummification of dead bodies of men and animals, which had been practiced from time immemorial, might have taught them many things, but I am rather skeptical about that; the embalmers were too much concerned about their own difficult art to pay attention to irrelevant anatomic details. lt is possible that the practice of mummification made it easier later, much later, in Ptolemaic times, for Greek scientists to undertake systematic dissections, but that is another story. As far as ancient Egypt is concerned there is no evidence of the influence of mummification on anatomic knowledge. The author whose work is recorded in the Smith papyrus had meditated on anatomic and physiologic questions. He was aware of the importance of the pulse, and of a connection between pulse and heart. He had some vague idea of a cardiac system, though not of course of a circulation, which nobody clearly understood before Harvey (and before him the Muslim physiacin Ibn Al-Nafis). His knowledge of the vascular system was made hopelessly difficult by his inability to distinguish between blood vessels, tendons, and nerves. Yet consider these astounding observations of the brain : "If thou examines a man having a gaping wound in his head penetrating to the bone, smashing his skull, and rending open the brain of his skull, thou shouldst palpate his wound. Shouldst thou find that smash which in his skull like those corrugations which form in molten copper, and something therein throbbing and fluttering under thy fingers, like the weak place of an infant's crown before it becomes whole- when it has happened there is no throbbing and fluttering under thy fingers until the brain of his [the patient's] skull is rent open and he discharges blood from both his nostrils, and he suffers with stiffness in his neck."
He had observed the meninges, the cerebrospinal fluid, and the convolutions of the brain (compared in the previous quotation to the rippling surface of metallic slag). Moreover, he had realized that the brain was the seat of the control of the body, and that special kinds of control were localized in special parts of the brain.
Conclusion To conclude, the Smith papyrus, and to a lesser extent the Ebers one, give us a very favorable idea of the medicine, anatomy, and physiology of the Egyptians, and of the scientific outlook that they obtained at least two thousand years before Hippocrates.
Mummification in Ancient Egypt Preservation of human bodies after death is usually designated by two expressions, namely, "embalming" and "mummification". To embalm literally means "to place in balsam or resin". which is actually one of the last steps of the whole process of the preservation of the body. The word "mummification" is derived from the Latin word (perhaps of Persian origin) "mumia" which was mentioned by Dioscorides (first century A.D.) as a black bitumen found oozing from the earth in certain places. This word was applied at a late date to the embalmed bodies in Egypt, probably due to the fact that from the Twenty-sixth Dynasty onwards, bituminous materials were largely used in the presevation of the body. Mummification is undoubtedly the most distinctive technique or art which developed in Ancient Egypt. It greatly affected the habits and customs of the ancient Egyptians and, through it, much knowledge was gained in anatomy, chemistry, and many arts and industries.
Temple reveals secrets of the one God Archaeologists believe they have uncovered origins of monotheism in northern Jordan
Stephanie Saldana Daily Star, Lebanon 5 March 2002
AMMAN: In a remote corner of Jordan, archaeologists have uncovered a room that may transform the way we think about God.
Its massive stones still clinging to the damp hills of the Jordan River Valley, the Migdol Temple at first appears to be little more than an ancient network of fortified walls. Yet when Jordanian and Australian archaeologists working at the site of ancient Pella began piecing it together in 1997, it didn't take them long to realize that they were reconstructing something extraordinary: a 3,600-year-old textbook in stone.
The Migdol Temple charts within a single room one of the most important events in human history: the transition from polytheism to the belief in one God.
Measuring an impressive 29 by 22 meters, the Migdol Temple is the largest Bronze and Iron Age Temple known to man, an enormous structure justified in its size and emotional impact to the worship of a single God, and which may at one point have functioned as a four-storey temple to the Canaanite god El. These days, however, religious and historical scholars are far less excited about the temple's size than by the magnitude of its historical importance.
Continuously in use from 1650 BC to 850 BC , the Migdol Temple holds within it hundreds of religious artifacts that point to five very distinct phases of occupation and rebuilding.
Constructed, destroyed, and reconstructed time and time again, the Migdol Temple records changing cult practices during the Canaanite Hyksos ascendancy, then again during the Egyptian New Kingdom Empire, the Philistine Era, and the Age of the Local Kingdoms.
A stone spectator to a period of intense religious and political upheaval, every single one of the periods bruised, scarred, and left its mark on the temple, transforming the unassuming circular stones into a time capsule that is transforming the understanding of religious history.
Archaeologists have already found 250 artifacts from each of the periods of occupation, and that means that the Migdol Temple is no longer being seen as simply a temple.
Scholars are hoping that this simple stone room will help tell the story of God.
Today, a scholar with enough archeological and historical background can view the evolving layers like an epic film describing the birth of monotheism. Stephen Bourke, the University of Sydney archaeologist who has led the Pella excavations since 1992, explains that the temple allows historians to actually "read" religious history through the artifacts it left behind, such as idols and the remains of a "Holy of Holies."
"The Pella Midgol Temple, because of its many building and occupation phases, its richness in finds, effectively contains local religious history fossilized in stone," he told The Daily Star over e-mail.
Moreover, the "local religious history" in the Migdol Temple just so happens to have occurred at the same time  and in the same region  as the founding of religious monotheism recorded in the Old Testament. The Migdol Temple was in use during the arrival of the Israelites and the establishment of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah  an event that marked the foundation of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is in this respect that the excavations have had another bit of exciting  and somewhat shocking  religious history to reveal.
During the approximately 800 years of its occupation, those who used the Migdol Temple slowly changed their Bronze Age polytheistic beliefs into Iron Age "henotheistic" beliefs, a period during which officials allowed communities to believe in more than one god, but encouraged them to concentrate their veneration on one god over all others.
Known as "state monotheism," the most famous example of this change in belief is that of Yahweh in Israel. But according to Bourke, archaeological evidence is revealing that this new emphasis on one god was not reserved for the Israelites, but occurred simultaneously in several nation states throughout the Middle East, with Yahweh in Israel, Hadad in Damascus, Milkom in Amman, Chemos in Moab (in present-day Jordan) and Qos in Edom (in present-day Israel).
The newest finds at the Migdol Temple suggest that the region had its own distinct form of monotheism, and that monotheism arose in several areas of the Middle East at once in order to unify small nation-states.
"The Migdol Pella Temple evidence suggests that the pathway to national consciousness occurs in many different centers at around the same time in effectively the same way," said Bourke.
"There is nothing unique about the Israelite experience, as the same sort of development happened at the same time, all over the region. And the Pella Temple records this unfolding in northern Jordan."
And the excavations are only the beginning of Pella, a site that has slowly been transforming into an archaeological textbook of Middle Eastern history. Unlike other Roman cities that have become archaeological theme parks, excavation at Pella has continued methodically for over a century.
Described by Bourke as "Jordan's Jericho," today Pella is a contender for the title as one of the oldest inhabited cities on earth, with nearly 9,000 years of occupation, including thriving periods during the Decapolis and Byzantine eras. When excavators went to work on the Migdol Temple, they had to dig through, literally, 30 meters of ancient cities.
"The site of Pella is unique, not for its Roman columns or its Byzantine churches, but for the length of its occupation," Burke insists. With the longest sequence in Jordan, the Pella site allows archaeologists to study how human culture in a single place evolved over 10,000 years. "No other site can study history in such depth," Burke concludes. "That's why Pella matters."
The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, dating from the seventeenth century B.C., is one of the oldest of all known medical papyri. Its differs fundamentally from the others in the following ways:
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The seventeen columns on the recto comprise part of a surgical treatise, the first thus far discovered in the ancient Orient, whether in Egypt or Asia. It is therefore the oldest known surgical treatise.
This surgical treatise consists exclusively of cases, not recipes. The treatise is systematically organized in an arrangement of cases, which begin with injuries of the head and proceed downward through the body, like a modern treatise on anatomy.
The treatment of these injuries is rational and chiefly surgical; there is resort to magic in only one case out of the forty-eight cases preserved.
Each case is classified by one of three different verdicts: (1) favorable, (2) uncertain, or (3) unfavorable. The third verdict, expressed in the words, 'an ailment not to be treated,' is found in no other Egyptian medical treatise.
This unfavorable verdict occurring fourteen times in the Edwin Smith Papyrus marks a group of cases (besides one more case) which the surgeon cannot cure and which he is led to discuss by his scientific interest in the phenomena disclosed by his examination."
According to Breasted, the Edwin Smith Papyrus is a copy of an ancient composite manuscript which contained, in addition to the original author's text (3000-2500 B.C.), a commentary added a few hundred years later in the form of 69 explanatory notes (glosses). It contains 48 systematically arranged case histories, beginning with injuries of the head and proceeding downward to the thorax and spine, where the document unfortunately breaks off. These cases are typical rather than individual, and each presentation of a case is divided into title, examination, diagnosis, and treatment. There is a definite differentiation between rational surgical treatments and the much less employed medico-magical measures. Significantly, trepanation is not mentioned.
Of the 48 cases described in the Edwin Smith Papyrus, 27 concern head trauma and 6 deal with spine trauma.3 Of the 27 head injuries, 4 are deep scalp wounds exposing the skull, and 11 are skull fractures.
"The latter, according to our present day terminology would be classified as follows: two compound linear fractures; four compound depressed fractures; four compound comminuted fractures; and one comminuted fracture without external wound. The symptoms and signs of head injury are given in considerable detail. Feeble pulse and fever are associated with hopeless injuries and deafness as well as aphasia are recognized in fractures of the temporal region."
Index of Cases
1. A wound in his head penetrating to the bone of his skull 2. A gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone 3. A gaping wound in his head penetrating to the bone (and) perforating his skull 4. A gaping wound in his head penetrating to the bone (and) splitting his skull 5. A gaping wound in his head ,smashing his skull 6. A gaping wound in his head penetrating the bone of his skull , (and) rending open the brain of his skull 7. A gaping wound in his head penetrating to the bone (and) perforating the sutures of his skull 8. A smash in his skull under the skin of his head 9. A wound in his forehead , smashing the shell of his skull 10. A wound above his eyebrow 11. A break of the column of his nose 12. A break in the chamber of his nose 13. A smash in the nostril 14. A wound in his nostril 15. A perforation in his cheek 16. A split in his cheek 17. A smash in his cheek 18. A wound in his temple 19. A perforation in his temple 20. A perforation in his temple, penetrating to the bone, (and) perforating his temporal bone 21. A split in his temple 22. A smash in his temple 23. A wound in his ear 24. A fracture in his mandible 25. A dislocation in his mandible 26. A wound in his lip 27. A gaping wound in his chin 28. A wound in his throat 29. A gaping wound in a vertebra of his neck 30. A vertebra of his neck 31. A dislocation in a vertebra of his neck 32. A displacement in a vertebra of his neck 33. A crushed vertebra of his neck 34. A dislocation in his two collar-bones 35. A break in his collar-bone 36. A break in his upper arm 37. A break in his upper arm, with a wound on it 38. A split in his upper arm 39. Tumors with prominent head in his breast 40. A wound in his breast 41. A diseased wound in his breast 42. A sprain in the ribs of his breast 43. A dislocation of the ribs of his breast 44. A break in the ribs of his breast 45. Bulging tumors on his breast 46. An abscess with prominent head in his breast 47. A gaping wound in his shoulder 48. A sprain in a vertebra of his spinal column
Case One: Instructions concerning a wound in his head penetrating to the bone of his skull .
Examination: If thou examinest a man1 having a wound in his head, while his wound does not have two lips, penetrating to the bone of his skull , (but) not having a gash, thou shouldst palpate his wound (or, thou shouldst lay thy hand upon it); shouldst thou find his skull uninjured, not having a perforation; a split, or a smash in it.
Treatment: Thou shouldst bind it with fresh meat the first day (and) treat afterwards with grease, honey (and) lint every day until he recovers.
Gloss: "Thou examinest a man," : counting any one like counting things with a bushel . (For) examining (h’t , literally "measuring") is like one’s counting a certain quantity with a bushel, (or) counting something with the fingers , in order to know . It is measuring (h’t ) things with a bushel which -- one in whom an ailment is counted , like measuring (h’t ) the ailment of a man, in order to know the action of the heart . There are canals (or vessels , mt ) in it (the heart) to every member , Now if the priests of Sekhmet or any physician put his hands (or) his fingers upon the head , upon the back of the head upon the two hands , upon the pulse , upon the two feet , he measures (h’t ) the heart, because its vessels are in the back of the head and in the pulse ; and because its pulsation is in every vessel of every member. He says "measure" (h’.t ) regarding his wound because of the vessels (mt.w ) to his head and to the back of his head and to his two feet -- his heart in order to recognize the indications which have arisen therein ; meaning to measure it in order to know that is befalling therein .
"while his wound does not have two lips,": his wound is narrow , not wide ; without gaping of one (lip) from the other .
"penetrating to the bone of his skull , (but) not having a gash": there is a gaping of the flesh , although --------- over the bone of his skull , without gaping of one (lip) from the other, being narrow, not wide.
Case Two: Instructions concerning a [gaping] wound [in his head], penetrating to the bone.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a [gaping] wound [in] his [head], penetrating to the bone, thou shouldst lay thy hand upon it (and) [thou shouldst] pal[pate hi]s [wound]. If thou findest his skull [uninjured, not hav]ing a perforation in it...
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say regarding [him]: "One hav[ing a gaping wou]nd in his head. An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: [Thou] shouldst bind [fresh meat upon it the first day; thou shouldst apply for him two strips of linen, and treat afterward with grease, honey, (and) lin]t every day until he recovers.
Gloss: As for: "Two strips of linen," [it means] two bands [of linen which one applies upon the two lips of the gaping wound in order to cause that one join] to the other.
Case Three: [Instructions concerning] a gaping [wo]und in his head, penetrating to the bone (and) perforating his [skull].
Examination: [If thou examinest a man having a gaping wound in] his [head], penetrating to the bone, (and) perforating his skull; thou shouldst palpate his wound; [shouldst thou find him unable to look at his two shoulders] and his [br]east, (and) suffering with stiffness in his neck...
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say [regarding] him: "One having [a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone, (and) per]forating his skull, while he suffers with stiffness in his neck. An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Now [after thou has stitched it, thou shouldst lay] fresh [meat] upon his wound the first day. Thou shouldst not bind it. Moor (him) [at his mooring stakes until the period of his injury passes by]. Thou shouldst [tre]at it afterward with grease, honey, and lint every day, until he recovers...
Gloss: As for: "Moor (him) at his mooring stakes," it means putting him on his customary diet, without administering to him a prescription.
Case Four:Instructions concerning a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone, (and) splitting his skull.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone, (and) splitting his skull, thou shouldst palpate his wound. Shouldst thou find something disturbing therein under thy fingers, (and) he shudders exceedingly, while the swelling which is over it protrudes, he discharges blood from both his nostrils (and) from both his ears, he suffers with stiffness in his neck, so that he is unable to look at his two shoulders and his breast...
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say regarding him: "One having a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone, (and) splitting his skull; while he discharges blood from both his nostrils (and) from both his ears, (and) he suffers with stiffness in his neck. An ailment with which I will contend."
Treatment: Now when thou findest that the skull of that man is split, thou shouldst not bind him, (but) moor (him) at his mooring stakes until the period of his injury passes by. His treatment is sitting. Make for him two supports of brick, until thou knowest he has reached a decisive point. Thou shouldst apply grease to his head, (and) soften his neck therewith and both his shoulders. Thou shouldst do likewise for every man whom thou findest having a split skull...
Gloss: As for "(Until) thou knowest he has reached a decisive point," it means (until thou knowest whether he will die or he will live; for he is (a case of) "an ailment with which I will contend."
Case Five: Instructions concerning a gaping wound in his head, smashing his skull.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone, (and) smashing his skull; thou shouldst palpate his wound. Shouldst thou find that smash which is in his skull deep (and) sunken under thy fingers, while the swelling which is over it protrudes, he discharges blood from both his nostrils (and) both his ears, (and) he suffers with stiffness in his neck, so that he is unable to look at his two shoulders and his breast...
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say regarding him: "One having a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone, (and) smashing his skull, while he suffers with stiffness in his neck. An ailment not to be treated."
Treatment: Thou shalt not bind him (but) moor (him) at his mooring stakes, until the period of his injury passes by...
Case Six: Instructions concerning a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone, smashing his skull, (and) rending open the brain of his skull.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone, smashing his skull, (and) rending open the brain of his skull, thou shouldst palpate his wound. Shouldst thou find that smash which is in his skull [like] those corrugations which form in molten copper, (and) something therein throbbing (and) fluttering under thy fingers, like the weak place of an infant's crown before it becomes whole-when it has happened there is no throbbing (and) fluttering under thy fingers until the brain of his (the patient's) skull is rent open-(and) he discharges blood from both his nostrils, (and) he suffers with stiffness in his neck...
Diagnosis: [Thou shouldst say concerning him]: "An ailment not to be treated." Treatment: Thou shouldst anoint that wound with grease. Thou shalt not bind it; thou shalt not apply two strips upon it: until thou knowest that he has reached a decisive point.
Gloss: As for: "Smashing his skull, (and) rending open the brain of his skull," (it means) the smash is large, opening to the interior of his skull, (to) the membrane enveloping his brain, so that it breaks open his fluid in the interior of his head....
Case Seven: Instructions concerning a gaping wound in his head penetrating to the bone (and) perforating the sutures of his skull .
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone, (and) perforating the sutures of his skull, thou shouldst palpate his wound, (although) he shudders exceedingly. Thou shouldst cause him to lift ; if it is painful for him to open his mouth, (and) his heart beats feebly ; if thou observe his spittle hanging at his two lips and not falling off, while he discharges blood from both his nostrils (and) from both his ears; he suffers with stiffness in his neck, (and) is unable to look at his two shoulders and his breast .
First diagnosis: Thou shouldst say regarding him : "One having a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone, (and) perforating the sutures of his skull; the cord of his mandible is contracted; he discharges blood from both his nostrils (and) from both his ears, while he suffers with stiffness in his neck. An ailment with which I will contend."
First treatment: Now as soon as thou findest that the cord of that man’s mandible, his jaw, is contracted thou shouldst have made for him something hot until he is comfortable, so that his mouth opens. Thou shouldst bind it with grease, honey, (and) lint, until thou knowest that he has reached a decisive point.
Second examination: If then, thou findest that the flesh of that man has developed fever from wound which is in the sutures of his skull, while that man has developed ty’ from that wound, thou shouldst lay hand upon him . Shouldst find his countenance is clammy with sweat , the ligaments his neck are tense, his face ruddy , his teeth and his back, the odor of the chest of his head is like the bkn (urine) of sheep, his mouth is bound , (and) both his eyebrows are drawn , while his face is as if he wept.
Second diagnosis: Thou shouldst say regarding him: "One having a gaping wound in his head penetrating to the bone , perforating the sutures of his skull ; he has developed ty’, his mouth is bound, (and) he suffers with stiffness in his beck. An ailment not to be treated."
Third examination: If, however, thou findest that that man has become pale and has already shown exhaustion .
Third treatment: Thou shouldst have made for him a wooden brace with linen and put into his mouth. Thou shouldst have made for him a draught of w’h-fruit. His treatment is sitting, placed between two supports of brick, until thou knowest he has reached a decisive point.
Gloss: "Perforating the sutures of his skull," means what is between shell and shell of his skull; and that the sutures are (composed) of hide .
"The cord of his mandible is contracted," means a stiffening on the part of the ligament at the end of his ramus, which are fastened to his temporal bone , that is at the end of his jaw, without moving to and fro, so that it is not easy for him to open his mouth because of his pain.
"The cord of his mandible," means the ligaments which bind the end his jaw . as one says , "the cord" of a thing in (or as) a splint .
"His countenance clammy with sweat," means that his head is a little sweaty as (we say), "A thing is clammy."
"The ligaments of his neck are tense" means that the ligaments of his neck are stretched stiff by reason of his injury.
"His face is ruddy" (tms’), means that the color of his face is red, like the color of tms’ fruit .
"The odor of the chest of his head is like the bkn of sheep," means that the odor of his crown is like the urine of sheep. "The chest of his head," it means the middle of his crown next to his brain. The likening of it is to a chest .
"His mouth is bound, (and) both his eyebrows are drawn, while his face is as if he wept." means that he does not open his mouth that he may speak, both his eyebrows are distorted, one drawing upward the other drooping downward, like one who winks while . his face weeps.
"He has become pale has already shown exhaustion, means becoming pale, because he is (a case of) "Undertake him do not desert him," in view of the exhaustion.
Case Eight: Instructions concerning a smash in his skull under the skin of his head.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a smash of his skull, under the skin of his head, while there is nothing at all upon it, thou shouldst palpate his wound. Shouldst thou find that there is a swelling protruding on the out side of that smash which is in his skull, while his eye is askew because of it, on the side of him having that injury which is in his skull; (and) he walks shuffling with his sole, on the side of him having that injury which is in his skull...
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst account him one whom something entering from outside has smitten, as one who does not release the head of his shoul fork, and one who does not fall with his nails in the middle of his palm; while he discharges blood from both his nostrils (and) from both his ears, (and) he suffers with stiffness in his neck. An ailment not to be treated. Treatment: His treatment is sitting, until he [gains color], (and) until thou knowest he has reached the decisive point....
Gloss: As for: "He walks shuffling with his sole," he (the surgeon) is speaking about his walking with his sole dragging, so that it is not easy for him to walk, when it (the sole) is feeble and turned over, while the tips of his toes are contracted to the ball of his sole, and they (the toes) walk fumbling the ground. He (the surgeon) says: "He shuffles," concerning it.
Case Nine: Instructions concerning a wound in his forehead, smashing the shell of his skull.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a wound in his forehead, smashing the shell of his head.
Treatment: Thou shouldst prepare for him the egg of an ostrich , triturated with grease (and) placed in the mouth of his wound. Now afterwards thou shouldst prepare for him the egg of an ostrich , triturated and made into poultices for drying up that wound. Thou shouldst apply to it a covering for physician’s use; thou shouldst uncover it the third day, (and) find it knitting together the shell, the color being like the egg of an ostrich.
That which is to be said as a charm over this recipe:
Repelled is the enemy that is in the wound! Cast out is the evil that is in the blood, The adversary of Horus, on every side of the mouth of Isis. This temple does not fall down; There is no enemy of the vessel therein . I am under the protection of Isis; My rescue is the son of Osiris.
Now afterwards thou shouldst cool it for him with a compress of figs, grease, and honey, cooked and cooled, and applied to it.
Case Ten: Instructions concerning a wound above his eyebrow.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a wound above his eyebrow, penetrating to the bone, shouldst palpate his wound, (and) draw together for him the gash with stitching..
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a wound above his eyebrow. An aliment which I will treat."
Treatment: Now after thou hast stitched it, thou shouldst bind fresh meat upon it the first day . If thou findest that the stitching of this wound is loose, thou shouldst draw (it) together for him with two strips (of plaster), and thou shouldst treat it with grease and honey every day until he recovers.
Gloss: "Two strips of linen," it means two bands of linen, which one applies to two lips of the gaping wound, in order to cause one (lip) be joined to the other.
Case Eleven: Instructions concerning a break of the column of his nose.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a break of the column of his nose, his nose being disfigured, and a depression being in it, while the swelling that is on it protrudes, (and) he has discharged blood from both his nostrils.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a break of the column of his nose, an ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst cleanse (it) for him with two plugs of linen. Thou shouldst place two (other) plugs of linen saturated with grease inside his two nostrils. Thou shouldst put him at his mooring stakes until the swelling is reduced (lit. drawn out). Thou shouldst apply stiff rolls of linen by which his nose is held fast. Thou shouldst treat him afterward with grease, honey, (and) lint, every day until he recovers.
Gloss: "The column of his nose.": the outer edge of his nose as far as its side(s) on the top of his nose, being the inside of his nose between his two nostrils.
"His two nostrils,": the two sides of his nose extending to his two cheeks, as far as the back of his nose; the top of his nose is loosened.
Case Twelve: Instructions concerning a break in the chamber of his nose.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a break in the chamber of his nose, (and) thou findest his nose bent, while his face is disfigured, (and) the swelling which is over it is protruding.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a break in the chamber of his nose. An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst force it to fall in, so that it lies in its place, (and) clean out the interior of both his nostrils with two swabs of linen until every worm of blood which coagulates inside his two nostrils comes forth. Now afterwards thou shouldst take two plugs of linen saturated with grease and put them into his two nostrils. Thou shouldst place two stiff rolls of linen, bound on. Thou shouldst treat him afterwards with grease, honey, (and) lint every day until he recovers.
Gloss: "A break in the chamber of his nose,": the middle of his nose as far as the back, extending to the region between his two eyebrows.
"His nose bent, while his face is disfigured,": his nose is crooked and greatly swollen throughout; his two cheeks likewise, so that his face is disfigured by it. not being in its customary form, because all the depressions are filled with swelling, so that his face looks disfigured by it.
"Every worm of blood which coagulates in the inside of his two nostrils,": the clotting of blood in the inside of his two nostrils, likened to the n’r,t worm, which subsists in water.
Case Thirteen: Instructions concerning a smash in the nostril.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a smash in his nostril, thou shouldst place thy hand upon his nose at the point of this smash. Should it crepitate under thy fingers, while at the same time he discharges blood from his nostril (and) from his ear on the side of him having that smash; it is painful when he opens his mouth because of it; (and) he is speechless.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a a smash in the nostril. An ailment not to be treated."
Case Fourteen: Instructions concerning a wound in his nostril.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a wound in his nostril piercing through, shouldst thou find the two lips of that wound separated from each other, thou shouldst draw together that wound with stitching.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a wound in his nostril, piercing through. An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst make for him two swabs of linen, (and) thou shouldst clean out every worm of blood which has coagulated on the inside of his nostril. Thou shouldst bind (it) with fresh meat, the first day. when its stitching loosens, thou shouldst take off of him the fresh meat. (and) thou shouldst bind it with grease, honey (and) lint every day until he recovers.
Gloss: "A wound in his nostril, through," means, that the two lips of his wound are soft, opening on the inside of his nose, as one says: "pierced through" concerning soft things.
Case Fifteen: Instructions concerning a perforation in his cheek.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a perforation in his cheek, shouldst thou find there is a swelling, protruding and black, (and) diseased tissue upon his cheek.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a perforation in his cheek, an ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst bind it with ymrw and treat it afterward with grease (and) honey every day until he recovers.
Case Sixteen: Instructions concerning a split in his cheek.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a split in his cheek, shouldst thou find that there is a swelling, protruding and red, on the outside of that split.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a split in his cheek, an ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst bind it with fresh meat the first day. His treatment is sitting until its swelling is reduced (lit. drawn out). Thou shalt treat it afterward with grease, honey, (and) lint every day until he recovers.
Case Seventeen: Instructions concerning a smash in his cheek.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a smash in his cheek, thou shouldst place thy hand on his cheek at the point of that smash. Should it crepitate under thy fingers, while he discharges blood from his nostril, (and) from his ear on the side of him having that injury; (and) at the same time he discharges blood from his mouth, while it is painful when he opens his mouth because of it.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a smash in his cheek, while he discharges blood from his nostril, from his ear, (and) from his mouth, (and) he is speechless. An ailment not to be treated."
Treatment: Thou shouldst bind with fresh meat the first day. His relief is sitting until its swelling is reduced (lit. drawn out). Thou shalt treat it afterwards with grease, honey, (and) lint every day until he recovers.
Case Eighteen: Instructions concerning a wound in his temple.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a wound in his temple, it not having a gash while that wound penetrates to the bone, thou shouldst palpate his woun . Shouldst thou find his temporal bone uninjured, there being no split, (or) perforation, (or) smash in it.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning hi : "One having a wound in his temple. An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst bind it with fresh meat the first day, (and) thou shouldst treat afterward with grease, (and) honey every day until he recovers.
Gloss: "A wound , not having a gash, while it penetrates to the bone,": the wound is contracted, reaching as far as the bone, (though) there is no gash in it. He speaks of (its) narrowness, his wound not having two lips.
"His gm’ (temple),": the region thereof between the corner of his eye and the orifice of his ear, at the end of his eye and the orifice of his ear, at the end of his mandible.
Case Nineteen: Instructions concerning a perforation in his temple.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a perforation (thm) in his temple, a wound being upon it, thou shouldst inspect his wound, saying to him: "Look at thy two shoulders." Should his doing so be painful (even though) his neck turns around (only) a little for him, while his eye in the side of him having that injury is blood-shot.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a perforation in his temple --- while he suffers with stiffness in his neck, An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst put him at his mooring stakes until the period of his injury passes by, (and) thou shouldst treat with grease, honey, (and) lint every day until he recovers . Gloss: "His two eyes are blood-shot," means that the color of his two eyes is red like the color of s’s-flowers. The "Treatise on what pertains to the Embalmer" says concerning it: "His two eyes are red with disease like an eye at the end of its weakness."
Case Twenty: Instructions concerning a wound in his temple, penetrating to the bone, (and) perforating his temporal bone.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a wound in his temple, penetrating to the bone, (and) perforating his temporal bone, while his two eyes are blood shot, he discharges blood from both his nostrils, and a little drops; if thou puttest thy fingers on the mouth of that wound (and) he shudder exceedingly; if thou ask of him concerning his malady and he speak not to thee; while copious tears fall from both his eyes, so that he thrusts his hand often to his face that he may wipe both his eyes with the back of his hand as a child does, and knows not that he does so...
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a wound in his temple, penetrating to the bone, (and) perforating his temporal bone; while he discharges blood from both his nostrils, he suffers with stiffness in his neck, (and) he is speechless. An ailment not to be treated."
Treatment: Now when thou findest that man speechless, his [relief] shall be sitting; soften his head with grease, (and) pour [milk] into both his ears.
Case Twenty-One: Instructions concerning a split in his temple.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a split in his temple, shouldst thou find a swelling protruding on the outside of that split, while he discharges blood from his nostril and from his one ear having that split, (and) it is painful when he hears speech, because of it.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a split in his temple, while he discharges blood from his nostril and his ear having that injury. An ailment with which I will contend."
Treatment: Thou shouldst put him at his mooring stakes until thou knowest he has reached a decisive point. zzzzz
Case Twenty-Two: Instructions concerning a smash in his temple.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a smash in his temple, thou shouldst place thy thumb upon his chin (and) thy finger upon the end of his ramus, so that the blood will flow front his two nostrils (and) from the interior of his ear having that smash. Cleanse (it) for him with a swab of linen until thou seest its fragments (of bone) in the interior of his ear. If thou callest to him (and) he is speechless (and) cannot speak...
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a smash in his temple; he discharges blood from his two nostrils and from his ear; he is speechless; (and) he suffers with stiffness in his neck. An ailment not to be treated."...
Gloss: As for: "Thou seest its fragments in the interior of his ear," it means that some of the fragments of the bone come away to adhere to the swab which was introduced to cleanse the interior of his ear.
Case Twenty-Three: Instructions concerning a wound in his ear.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a wound in his ear, cutting through its flesh, the injury being in the lower part of his ear, (and) confined to the flesh, thou shouldst draw (it) together for him with stitching behind the hollow of his ear.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a wound in his ear, cutting through its flesh. An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: If thou findest, the stitching of that wound loosen (and) stick in the two lips of his wound, thou shouldst make for him stiff rolls of linen (and) pad the back of his ear therewith . Thou shouldst treat it afterwards with grease, honey, (and) lint every day until he recovers.
Case Twenty-Four: Instructions concerning a fracture in his mandible.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a fracture in his mandible, thou shouldst place thy hand upon it, Shouldst thou find that fracture crepitating under thy fingers.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a fracture in his mandible, over which a wound has been inflicted, ! -------! (and) he has fever from it. An ailment not to be treated."
Case Twenty-Five: Instructions concerning a dislocation in his mandible.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a dislocation in his mandible, shouldst thou find this mouth open (and) his mouth cannot close for him, thou shouldst put thy thumb(s) upon the ends of the two rami of the mandible in the inside of his mouth, (and) thy two claws (meaning two groups of fingers) under his chin, (and) thou shouldst cause them to fall back so that they rest in their places.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a dislocation in his mandible, An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst bind it with ymrw, (and) honey every day until he recovers.
Case Twenty-Six: Instructions concerning a wound in his lip
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a wound in his lip, piercing through to the inside of his mouth, thou shouldst examine his wound as far as the column, of his nose. Thou shouldst draw together that wound with stitching.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a wound in his lip, piercing through to the inside of his mouth. An ailment which I will treat .
Treatment: Now after thou hast stitched it thou shouldst bind it with fresh meat the first day. Thou shouldst treat it afterwards with grease (and) honey every day until he recovers.
Gloss: "A wound in his lip, piercing through to the inside of his mouth," means that the two lips of wound are soft, opening to the inside of his mouth. One says: "Pierced through" (ysdb ) concerning soft things.
Case Twenty-Seven: Instructions concerning a gaping wound in his chin.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a gaping wound in his chin, penetrating to the bone, thou shouldst palpate his wound. If thou shouldst find his bone uninjured, not having a split, (or) perforation in it.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a gaping wound in his chin, penetrating to the bone. An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst apply for him two strips on that gash. Thou shouldst bind it with fresh meat the first day, (and) thou shouldst treat it afterwards with grease, honey (and) lint every day until he recovers.
Case Twenty-Eight: Instructions concerning a wound in his throat.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a gaping wound in his piercing through to his gullet; if he drinks water he chokes (and) it come out of the mouth of his wound; it is greatly inflamed, so that he develops fever from it; thou shouldst draw together that wound with stitching.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a wound in his throat, piercing through to his gullet. An ailment with which I will contend." .
First treatment: Thou shouldst bind it with fresh meat the first day. Thou shouldst treat it afterwards with grease, honey, (and) lint every day, until he recovers.
Second examination: If, however, thou findst him continuing to have fever from that wound.
Second treatment: Thou shouldst apply dry lint in the mouth of his wound, (and) moor (him) at his mooring stakes until he recovers.
Case Twenty-Nine: Instructions concerning a gaping wound in a vertebra of his neck.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a gaping wound in a vertebra of his neck, penetrating to the bone, (and) perforating a vertebra of his neck; if thou examinest that wound, (and) he shudders exceedingly, (and) he is unable to look at his two shoulders and his breast...
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: " [One having] a wound in his neck, penetrating to the bone, perforating a vertebra of his neck, (and) he suffers with stiffness in his neck. An ailment with which I will contend."
Treatment: Thou shouldst bind it with fresh meat the first day. Now afterward moor (him) at his mooring stakes until the period of his injury passes by.
Case Thirty: Instructions concerning a sprain in a vertebra of his neck.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a sprain in a vertebra of his neck, thou shouldst say to him: "look at thy two shoulders and thy breast." When he does so, the seeing possible to him is painful.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a sprain in a vertebra of his neck. An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst bind it with fresh meat the first day. Now afterward thou shouldst treat [with] ywrw (and) honey every day until he recovers.
Gloss: As for: "A sprain" he is speaking of a rending of two members (although) it (=each) is (still) in its place.
Case Thirty-One: Instructions concerning a dislocation in a vertebra of [his] neck.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a dislocation in a vertebra of his neck, shouldst thou find him unconscious of his two arms (and) his two legs on account of it, while his phallus is erected on account of it, (and) urine drops from his member without his knowing it; his flesh has received wind; his two eyes are bloodshot; it is a dislocation of a vertebra of his neck extending to his backbone which causes him to be unconscious of his two arms (and) his two legs. If, however, the middle vertebra of his neck is dislocated, it is an emissio seminis which befalls his phallus.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a dislocation in a vertebra of his neck, while he is unconscious of his two legs and his two arms, and his urine dribbles. An ailment not to be treated."
Gloss: As for: "A dislocation in a vertebra of his neck," he is speaking of a separation of one vertebra of his neck from another, the flesh which is over it being uninjured; as one says, "It is wnh," concerning things which had been joined together, when one has been severed from another.
Case Thirty-Two: Instructions concerning a displacement in a vertebra of his neck.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a displacement in a vertebra of his neck, whose face is fixed, whose neck cannot turn for him, (and) thou shouldst say to him: "Look at thy breast (and) thy two shoulders," (and) he is unable to turn his face that he may look at his breast (and) his two shoulders.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a displacement in a vertebra of his neck. An aliment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst bind it with fresh meat the first day. Thou shouldst loose his bandages and apply grease to his head as far as his neck, (and) thou shouldst bind it with ymrw . Thou shouldst treat it afterwards with honey every day, (and) his relief is sitting until he recovers.
Gloss: "A displacement in a vertebra of his neck," he is speaking concerning a sinking of a vertebra of his neck to the interior of his neck, as foot settles into cultivated ground. It is a penetration downward.
Case Thirty-Three: Instructions concerning a crushed vertebra in his neck.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a crushed vertebra in his neck (and) thou findest that one vertebra has fallen into the next one, while he is voiceless and cannot speak; his falling head downward has caused that one verte bra crush into the next one; (and) shouldst thou find that he is unconscious of his two arms and his two legs because of it...
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a crushed vertebra in his neck; he is unconscious of his two arms (and) his two legs, (and) he is speechless. An ailment not to be treated."...
Gloss: As for: "His falling head downward has caused that one vertebra crush into the next," it means that he has fallen head downward upon his head, driving one vertebra of his neck into the next.
Case Thirty-Four: Instructions concerning a dislocation in his two collar-bones.
First examination: If thou examinest a man having a dislocation in his two collar-bones, shouldst thou find his two shoulders turned over (and) the head(s) of his two collar-bones turned toward his face.
First diagnosis: Thou shouldst cause (them) to fall back, so that they rest in their places . Thou shouldst bind it with stiff rolls of linen; thou shouldst treat it afterward with grease (and) honey every day, until he recovers.
Second examination: If, however, thou shouldst find his two collarbones having a rupture (or the tissue) over it, penetrating to the interior.
Second diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "An ailment which I will treat." (Scribal error )
Gloss: "A dislocation in his two collar-bones" means a displacement of the heads of his sickle-bone(s). Their heads are attached to the upper bone of his breast to his throat, over which is the flesh of his gorge, that is the flesh that is over his bosom. Two canals are under it: one on the right and (one) on the left of his throat (and) of his bosom; they lead to his lungs.
Case Thirty-Five: Instructions concerning a break in his collar-bone.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a break in his collar-bone (and) thou shouldst find his collar-bone short and separated from its fellow.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a break in his collar-bone. An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst place him prostrate on back, with something folded between his two shoulder-blades; thou shouldst spread out with his two shoulders in order to stretch apart his collar-bone until that break falls into its place. Thou shouldst make for him two splints of linen, (and) thou shouldst apply one of them both on the inside of his upper arm. Thou shouldst bind it with ymrw, (and) treat it afterward with honey every day, until he recovers.
Case Thirty-Six: Instructions concerning a break in his upper arm.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a break in his upper arm, (and) thou findest his upper arm hanging down, separated from its fellow.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a break in his upper arm . An ailment which I will treat." Treatment: Thou shouldst place him prostrate on his back, with something folded between his two shoulder-blades; thou shouldst spread out his shoulders, in order to stretch apart his upper arm until that break falls into its place. Thou shouldst make for him two splints of linen, (and) thou shouldst apply one of them to the inside of his arm, (and) the other of them to the underside of his arm. Thou shouldst bind it with ymrw, (and) treat afterward with honey every day until he recovers.
Case Thirty-Seven: Instructions concerning a break in his upper arm, with a wound on it.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a break in his upper arm, on which a wound has been inflicted, (and) thou findest that break crepitates under thy fingers.
First diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a break in his upper arm, on which a wound has been infected. An ailment with which I will contend."
First treatment: Thou shouldst make him two splints of linen; thou shouldst bind it with ymrw; (and) thou shouldst treat it afterwards with grease, honey, (and) lint every day until thou knowest that he has reached a decisive point.
Second examination: If , however, thou findest that wound which is over the break, with blood issuing from it, and piercing through to the interior of his injury.
Second diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him; "One having a break in his upper arm, over which a wound has been inflicted, piercing through. An ailment not to be treated."
Case Thirty-Eight: Instructions concerning a split in his upper arm.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a split in his upper arm, (and) thou shouldst find the swelling protruding, on the outside of that split, which is in his upper arm.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a split in his upper arm. An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst bind it with ymrw; thou shouldst treat it afterwards with honey, every day until he recovers.
Case Thirty-Nine: Instructions concerning tumors with prominent head in his breast.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a tumour with prominent head in his breast, (and) thou findest that the swellings have spread with pus over his breast, (and) have produced redness, while it is very hot therein, when thy hand touches him.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having tumors with prominent head in his breast, (and) they produce cysts of pus. An ailment which I will treat with the fire-drill."
Treatment: Thou shouldst burn him over his breast (and) over those tumors which are on his breast. Thou shouldst treat him with wound treatment , Thou shouldst not prevent its opening of itself, that there may be no mnh-w in his wound (sore?). Every wound (sore?) that arises in his breast dries up as soon as it opens of itself.
Gloss: "Tumor with prominent head in his breast." means that there are swellings spreading over his breast because of his injury; they produce pus and redness on his breast; (as) it is said: "It is like parti-colored things whose product is pus.
Case Forty: Instructions concerning a wound in his breast.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a wound in his breast, penetrating to the bone, perforation the manubrium of his sternum, thou shouldst press the manubrium of his sternum with thy fingers, (although) he shudders exceedingly.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a wound in his breast, penetrating to the bone, perforating the manubrium of his sternum. An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst bind it with fresh meat the first day; thou shouldst treat it afterward with grease, honey, (and) lint every day, until he recovers.
Gloss: "The manubrium of his sternum," ( means) the upper head of his sternum; it is like it were a porcupine.
Case Forty-One: Instructions concerning a diseased wound in his breast.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a diseased wound in his breast, while that wound is inflamed and a whirl of inflammation continually issues from the mouth of that wound at thy touch; the two lips of that wound are ruddy, while that man continues to be feverish from it; his flesh cannot receive a bandage, that wound cannot take a margin of skin; the granulation which is in the mouth of that wound is watery, their surface is not and secretions drop therefrom in an oily state.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a diseased wound in his breast, it being inflamed, (and) he continues to have fever from it. An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shalt make for him cool applications for drawing out the inflammation from the mouth of the wound:
a. Leaves of willow, nbs’-tree ksnty. Apply to it. b. Leaves of ym’-tree, dung. hny-t’, ksnty, Apply to it.
Thou shalt make for him applications for drying up the wound:
a. Powder of green pigment wsb-t, thn.t, grease. Triturate bind upon it. b. Northern salt, ibex grease. Triturate; bind upon it:
Thou shalt make for him poultices: Red spnn, garden tongue, d’r.t, sycamore leaves. Bind upon it. If the like befalls in any member thou shalt treat him according to these instructions.
Gloss: "A diseased wound in his breast, inflamed," it means that the wound which is in his break is sluggish, without closing up; high fever comes forth from it, its two [lips] are red, (and) its mouth is open. The "Treatise on what pertains to a wound" says concerning it: "It means that there is very great swelling; (and) inflamed’ is said concerning the height" (of the fever).
"A whirl of inflammation in his wound," means a whirl of inflammation which circulates through the interior of his entire wound.
"Its two lips are ruddy," means that its two lips are red like the color of the tms’-tree.
"His flesh cannot receive a bandage," means that his flesh will not receive the remedies because of the inflammation which is in his flesh.
"While heat continually issues (new) from the mouth of his wound at thy touch" (means) that heat comes froth from his wound at thy touch; as it is said that a thing which has come forth entirely, has issued (nsw).
Case Forty-Two: Instructions concerning a sprain in the ribs of his breast.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a sprain in the ribs of his breast, (and) he suffers in the ribs of his breast, not having a dislocation, (and) it is not broken while that man continues to suffer with it and shudders exceedingly.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a pain in the ribs of his breast. An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst bind it with ymrw; thou shouldst treat it afterwards with honey every day until he recovers.
Gloss: "Ribs of his breast," means the bones of his sternum being spine(s) like as it were a spine-roast.
Instructions concerning a dislocation of the ribs of his breast.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a dislocation of the ribs of his breast, (and) thou findest that the ribs of his breast are projecting and their heads are ruddy, while that man suffers continually with swellings in his two sides.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a dislocation in the ribs of his breast. An ailment which I will treat."
Treatment: Thou shouldst bind it with ymrw; thou shouldst treat it afterwards with honey every day, until he recovers.
Gloss: "A dislocation in the ribs of his breast," means a displacement of the heads of the ribs of his breast (sternum), which are fastened to his breast (sternum).
"He suffers with swellings in his two sides," means that he suffers in the articulations thereof in his breast (sternum) spreading in his two sides.
"His two sides," means his two flanks.
Case Forty-Four: Instructions concerning a break in the ribs of his breast.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having a break in the ribs of his breast, over which a wound has been inflicted; (and) thou findest that the ribs of breast crepitate under thy fingers.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a break in the ribs of his breast, over which a wound has been inflicted. An ailment not to be treated."
Case Forty-Five: Instructions concerning bulging tumors on his breast.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having tumors on his breast, (and) thou findest that swelling have spread over his breast; if thou puttest thy hand upon his breast upon these tumors, (and) thou findest them very cool, there being no fever at all therein when thy hand touches him; they have no granulation, they form no fluid, they do not generate secretions of fluid, and they are bulging to thy hand.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having tumors. An ailment with which I will contend."
Treatment: There is no treatment. If thou findest tumors in any member of a man, thou shalt treat him according to these directions.
Gloss: "Bulging tumors on his breast." means the existence of swellings on his breast, large, spreading and hard; touching them is like touching a ball of wrappings; the comparison is to a green hemat fruit, which is hard and cool under thy hand, like touching those swellings which are on his breast.
Case Forty-Six: Instructions concerning an abscess with prominent head in his breast.
Examination: If thou examinest a man having an abscess with prominent head in his breast: (and) thou findest a very large swelling protruding on his breast, oily, like fluid under thy hand, while they produce some clamminess of the surface, (and) their faces have no ruddiness.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having an abscess with prominent head in his breast .An ailment which I will treat with cold applications to that abscess which is in his breast."
Treatment
a. Sh,t-fruit, ntr.t, ksnty, Triturate, bind upon it. b. Fruit of ss, ksnty, mason’s mortar, water Triturate, bind upon it.
If there is resistance to these cooling applications, thou shouldst avoid those remedies until all fluid which is in the abscess with a head exudes. Thou shouldst treat him with wound-treatment, with applications for drawing out the inflammation from the mouth of the wound (sore?) in his breast:
Leaves of acacia, sycamore, juice of ym’-leaves, ox dung, hny-t’, Bind upon it.
Thou shouldst make for him astringents, in his breast:
a. powder of green pigment, drt of cedar, ointement fat, northern salt, ibex grease, Bind upon it.
Thou shouldst make for him poultices: Red spnn, sycamore. Triturate, apply to it.
Gloss: "An abscess with prominent head in his breast," means that there is a large swelling due to the injury which is in his breast, soft like fluids under the hand .
"Clamminess of their surface", means their skin is not hot.
"There is no ruddiness upon it," means that there is no redness upon it.
Case Forty-Seven: Instructions concerning a gaping wound in his shoulder.
First examination: If thou examinest a man having a gaping wound in his shoulder its flesh being laid back and its sides separated, while he suffers with swelling (in) his shoulder blade, thou shouldst palpate his wound, shouldst thou find its gash separated from its sides in his wound, as a roll of linen is unrolled, (and) it is painful when he raises his arm on account of it, thou shouldst draw together for him his gash with stitching.
First diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a gaping wound in his shoulder, its flesh being laid back and its sides separated while he suffers with swelling in his shoulder blade. An ailment which I will treat."
First treatment: Thou shouldst bind it with fresh meat the first day.
Second examination and treatment: If thou findest that wound open and its stitching loose, thou shouldst draw together for him its gash with two strips of linen over that gash; thou shouldst treat it afterwards with grease, honey, (and) lint every day until he recovers. If thou findest a wound, its flesh laid back, it sides separated, in any member of a man, thou shouldst treat it according to these directions.
Third examination: If however, thou findest that his flesh has developed inflammation form that wound which is in his shoulder, while that wound is inflamed, open, and its stitching loose, thou shouldst lay thy hand upon it. Shouldst thou find inflammation issuing from the mouth of his wound at thy touch, and secretions discharging therefrom are cool like wenesh-juice.
Third diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a wound in his shoulder, it being inflamed, and he continues to have fever from it. An ailment with which I will contend."
Fourth examination: If then thou findest that man continuing to have fever, while that wound is inflamed.
Fourth treatment: Thou shalt not bind it; thou shalt moor (him) at his mooring stakes, until the period of his injury passes by.
Fifth examination: If however, his fever abates and the inflammation in the mouth of his wound dissipates entirely.
Fifth treatment: Thou shouldst treat him afterward with grease, honey, (and) lint every day, until he recovers.
Case Forty-Eight: Instructions concerning a sprain of a vertebra [in] his spinal column.
Examination: If thou examinest [a man having] a sprain in a vertebra of his spinal column, thou shouldst say to him: "Extend now thy two legs (and) contract them both (again)." When he extends them both he contracts them both immediately because of the pain he causes in the vertebra of his spinal column in which he suffers.
Diagnosis: Thou shouldst say concerning him: "One having a sprain in a vertebra of his spinal column. An ailment which I will treat." Treatment: Thou shouldst place him prostrate on his back; thou shouldst make for him....
       The Epic of Gilgamesh is, perhaps, the oldest written story on Earth. It comes to us from Ancient Sumeria, and was originally written on 12 clay tablets in cunieform script. It is about the adventures of the historical King of Uruk (somewhere between 2750 and 2500 BCE). The translator chose to eliminate Tablet XII for personal reasons, with support from many literary, archaeological, and linguistic experts because it appears to be more of a sequel to the first 11 tablets, containing a story about Enkidu volunteering to retrieve some objects that Gilgamesh dropped into the Netherworld.This translation is based on the "standard" Akkadian "edition", but is filled in with excerpts from the Old Babylonian where necessary.
The Epic of Gilgamesh Translated by Maureen Gallery Kovacs
       Tablet I
       He who has seen everything, I will make known (?) to the lands.        I will teach (?) about him who experienced all things,        ... alike,        Anu granted him the totality of knowledge of all.        He saw the Secret, discovered the Hidden,        he brought information of (the time) before the Flood.        He went on a distant journey, pushing himself to exhaustion,        but then was brought to peace.        He carved on a stone stela all of his toils,        and built the wall of Uruk-Haven,        the wall of the sacred Eanna Temple, the holy sanctuary.        Look at its wall which gleams like copper(?),        inspect its inner wall, the likes of which no one can equal!        Take hold of the threshold stone--it dates from ancient times!        Go close to the Eanna Temple, the residence of Ishtar,        such as no later king or man ever equaled!        Go up on the wall of Uruk and walk around,        examine its foundation, inspect its brickwork thoroughly.        Is not (even the core of) the brick structure made of kiln-fired brick,        and did not the Seven Sages themselves lay out its plans?        One league city, one league palm gardens, one league lowlands, the open area(?) of the Ishtar Temple,        three leagues and the open area(?) of Uruk it (the wall) encloses.        Find the copper tablet box,        open the ... of its lock of bronze,        undo the fastening of its secret opening.        Take and read out from the lapis lazuli tablet        how Gilgamesh went through every hardship.
       Supreme over other kings, lordly in appearance,        he is the hero, born of Uruk, the goring wild bull.        He walks our in front, the leader,        and walks at the rear, trusted by his companions.        Mighty net, protector of his people,        raging flood-wave who destroys even walls of stone!        Offspring of Lugalbanda, Gilgamesh is strong to perfection,        son of the august cow, Rimat-Ninsun;... Gilgamesh is awesome to perfection.        It was he who opened the mountain passes,        who dug wells on the flank of the mountain.        It was he who crossed the ocean, the vast seas, to the rising sun,        who explored the world regions, seeking life.        It was he who reached by his own sheer strength Utanapishtim, the Faraway,        who restored the sanctuaries (or: cities) that the Flood had destroyed!        ... for teeming mankind.        Who can compare with him in kingliness?        Who can say like Gilgamesh: "I am King!"?        Whose name, from the day of his birth, was called "Gilgamesh"?        Two-thirds of him is god, one-third of him is human.        The Great Goddess [Aruru] designed(?) the model for his body,        she prepared his form ...        ... beautiful, handsomest of men,        ... perfect        ...        He walks around in the enclosure of Uruk,        Like a wild bull he makes himself mighty, head raised (over others).        There is no rival who can raise his weapon against him.        His fellows stand (at the alert), attentive to his (orders ?),        and the men of Uruk become anxious in ...        Gilgamesh does not leave a son to his father,        day and night he arrogant[y(?) ...
       [The following lines are interpreted as rhetorical, perhaps spoken by me oppressed citizens of Urnk.l
       Is Gilgamesh the shepherd of Uruk-Haven,        is he the shepherd. ...        bold, eminent, knowing, and wise!        Gilgamesh does not leave a girl to her mother(?)        The daughter of the warrior, the bride of the young man,        the gods kept hearing their complaints, so        the gods of the heavens implored the Lord of Uruk [Anu]
              "You have indeed brought into being a mighty wild bull, head raised!               "There is no rival who can raise a weapon against him.               "His fellows stand (at the alert), attentive to his (orders !),               "Gilgamesh does not leave a son to his father,               "day and night he arrogantly ...               "Is he the shepherd of Uruk-Haven,               "is he their shepherd...               "bold, eminent, knowing, and wise,               "Gilgamesh does not leave a girl to her mother(?)!"
       The daughter of the warrior, the bride of the young man,        Anu listened to their complaints,        and (the gods) called out to Aruru:              "it was you, Aruru, who created mankind(?),              now create a zikru to it/him.              Let him be equal to his (Gilgamesh's) stormy heart,              let them be a match for each other so that Uruk may find peace!"        When Aruru heard this she created within herself the zikrtt of Anu.        Aruru washed her hands, she pinched off some clay, and threw it into the wilderness.        In the wildness(?) she created valiant Enkidu,        born of Silence, endowed with strength by Ninurta.        His whole body was shaggy with hair,        he had a full head of hair like a woman,        his locks billowed in profusion like Ashnan.        He knew neither people nor settled living,        but wore a garment like Sumukan."        He ate grasses with the gazelles,        and jostled at the watering hole with the animals;        as with animals, his thirst was slaked with (mere) water.
       A notorious trapper came face-to-face with him opposite the watering hole.        A first, a second, and a third day        he came face-to-face with him opposite the watering hole.        On seeing him the trapper's face went stark with fear,        and he (Enkidu?) and his animals drew back home.        He was rigid with fear; though stock-still        his heart pounded and his Lace drained of color.        He was miserable to the core,        and his face looked like one who had made a long journey.        The trapper addressed his father saying:"
             "Father, a certain fellow has come from the mountains.              He is the mightiest in the land,              his strength is as mighty as the meteorite(?) of Anu!              He continually goes over the mountains,              he continually jostles at the watering place with the animals,              he continually plants his feet opposite the watering place.              I was afraid, so I did not go up to him.              He filled in the pits that I had dug,              wrenched out my traps that I had spread,              released from my grasp the wild animals.              He does not let me make my rounds in the wilderness!"
       The trapper's father spoke to him saying:              "My son, there lives in Uruk a certain Gilgamesh.              There is no one stronger than he,              he is as strong as the meteorite(?) of Anu.              Go, set off to Uruk,              tell Gilgamesh of this Man of Might.              He will give you the harlot Shamhat, take her with you.              The woman will overcome the fellow (?) as if she were strong.              When the animals are drinking at the watering place              have her take off her robe and expose her sex.              When he sees her he will draw near to her,              and his animals, who grew up in his wilderness, will be alien to him."
       He heeded his father's advice.        The trapper went off to Uruk,        he made the journey, stood inside of Uruk,        and declared to ... Gilgamesh:              "There is a certain fellow who has come from the mountains--              he is the mightiest in the land,              his strength is as mighty as the meteorite(?) of Anu!              He continually goes over the mountains,              he continually jostles at the watering place with the animals,              he continually plants his feet opposite the watering place.              I was afraid, so I did not go up to him.              He filled in the pits that I had dug,              wrenched out my traps that I had spread,              released from my grasp the wild animals.              He does not let me make my rounds in the wilderness!"        Gilgamesh said to the trapper:              "Go, trapper, bring the harlot, Shamhat, with you.              When the animals are drinking at the watering place              have her take off her robe and expose her sex.              When he sees her he will draw near to her,              and his animals, who grew up in his wilderness, will be alien to him."
       The trapper went, bringing the harlot, Shamhat, with him.        They set off on the journey, making direct way.        On the third day they arrived at the appointed place,        and the trapper and the harlot sat down at their posts(?).        A first day and a second they sat opposite the watering hole.        The animals arrived and drank at the watering hole,        the wild beasts arrived and slaked their thirst with water.        Then he, Enkidu, offspring of the mountains,        who eats grasses with the gazelles,        came to drink at the watering hole with the animals,        with the wild beasts he slaked his thirst with water.        Then Shamhat saw him--a primitive,        a savage fellow from the depths of the wilderness!              "That is he, Shamhat! Release your clenched arms,              expose your sex so he can take in your voluptuousness.              Do not be restrained--take his energy!              When he sees you he will draw near to you.              Spread out your robe so he can lie upon you,              and perform for this primitive the task of womankind!              His animals, who grew up in his wilderness, will become alien to him,              and his lust will groan over you."        Shamhat unclutched her bosom, exposed her sex, and he took in her voluptuousness.        She was not restrained, but took his energy.        She spread out her robe and he lay upon her,        she performed for the primitive the task of womankind.        His lust groaned over her;        for six days and seven nights Enkidu stayed aroused,        and had intercourse with the harlot        until he was sated with her charms.        But when he turned his attention to his animals,        the gazelles saw Enkidu and darted off,        the wild animals distanced themselves from his body.        Enkidu ... his utterly depleted(?) body,        his knees that wanted to go off with his animals went rigid;        Enkidu was diminished, his running was not as before.        But then he drew himself up, for his understanding had broadened.        Turning around, he sat down at the harlot's feet,        gazing into her face, his ears attentive as the harlot spoke.        The harlot said to Enkidu:              "You are beautiful," Enkidu, you are become like a god.              Why do you gallop around the wilderness with the wild beasts?              Come, let me bring you into Uruk-Haven,              to the Holy Temple, the residence of Anu and Ishtar,              the place of Gilgamesh, who is wise to perfection,              but who struts his power over the people like a wild bull."        What she kept saying found favor with him.        Becoming aware of himself, he sought a friend.        Enkidu spoke to the harlot:              "Come, Shamhat, take me away with you              to the sacred Holy Temple, the residence of Anu and Ishtar,              the place of Gilgamesh, who is wise to perfection,              but who struts his power over the people like a wild bull.              I will challenge him ...              Let me shout out in Uruk: I am the mighty one!'              Lead me in and I will change the order of things;              he whose strength is mightiest is the one born in the wilderness!"        [Shamhat to Enkidu:]              "Come, let us go, so he may see your face.              I will lead you to Gilgamesh--I know where he will be.              Look about, Enkidu, inside Uruk-Haven,              where the people show off in skirted finery,              where every day is a day for some festival,              where the lyre(?) and drum play continually,              where harlots stand about prettily,              exuding voluptuousness, full of laughter              and on the couch of night the sheets are spread (!)."              Enkidu, you who do not know, how to live,              I will show you Gilgamesh, a man of extreme feelings (!).              Look at him, gaze at his face--              he is a handsome youth, with freshness(!),              his entire body exudes voluptuousness              He has mightier strength than you,              without sleeping day or night!              Enkidu, it is your wrong thoughts you must change!              It is Gilgamesh whom Shamhat loves,              and Anu, Enlil, and La have enlarged his mind."              Even before you came from the mountain              Gilgamesh in Uruk had dreams about you.""
       Gilgamesh got up and revealed the dream, saying to his mother:              "Mother, I had a dream last night.              Stars of the sky appeared,              and some kind of meteorite(?) of Anu fell next to me.              I tried to lift it but it was too mighty for me,              I tried to turn it over but I could not budge it.              The Land of Uruk was standing around it,              the whole land had assembled about it,              the populace was thronging around it,              the Men clustered about it,              and kissed its feet as if it were a little baby (!).              I loved it and embraced it as a wife.              I laid it down at your feet,              and you made it compete with me."        The mother of Gilgamesh, the wise, all-knowing, said to her Lord;        Rimat-Ninsun, the wise, all-knowing, said to Gilgamesh:              "As for the stars of the sky that appeared              and the meteorite(?) of Anu which fell next to you,              you tried to lift but it was too mighty for you,              you tried to turn it over but were unable to budge it,              you laid it down at my feet,              and I made it compete with you,              and you loved and embraced it as a wife."              "There will come to you a mighty man, a comrade who saves his friend--              he is the mightiest in the land, he is strongest,              his strength is mighty as the meteorite(!) of Anu!              You loved him and embraced him as a wife;              and it is he who will repeatedly save you.              Your dream is good and propitious!"        A second time Gilgamesh said to his mother:      "Mother, I have had another dream:              "At the gate of my marital chamber there lay an axe,              "and people had collected about it.              "The Land of Uruk was standing around it,              "the whole land had assembled about it,              "the populace was thronging around it.              "I laid it down at your feet,              "I loved it and embraced it as a wife,              "and you made it compete with me."        The mother of Gilgamesh, the wise, all-knowing, said to her son;        Rimat-Ninsun, the wise, all-knowing, said to Gilgamesh:              ""The axe that you saw (is) a man.              "... (that) you love him and embrace as a wife,              "but (that) I have compete with you."              "" There will come to you a mighty man,              "" a comrade who saves his friend--              "he is the mightiest in the land, he is strongest,              "he is as mighty as the meteorite(!) of Anu!"        Gilgamesh spoke to his mother saying:              ""By the command of Enlil, the Great Counselor, so may it to pass!              "May I have a friend and adviser, a friend and adviser may I have!              "You have interpreted for me the dreams about him!"        After the harlot recounted the dreams of Gilgamesh to Enkidu        the two of them made love.
               Tablet II
       Enkidu sits in front of her.
       [The next 30 lines are missing; some of the fragmentary lines from 35 on are restored from parallels in the Old Babylonian.]
       "Why ..."(?)        His own counsel ...        At his instruction ...        Who knows his heart...        Shamhat pulled off her clothing,        and clothed him with one piece        while she clothed herself with a second.        She took hold of him as the gods do'        and brought him to the hut of the shepherds.        The shepherds gathered all around about him,        they marveled to themselves:        "How the youth resembles Gilgamesh--        tall in stature, towering up to the battlements over the wall!        Surely he was born in the mountains;        his strength is as mighty as the meteorite(!) of Anu!"        They placed food in front of him,        they placed beer in front of him;        Enkidu knew nothing about eating bread for food,        and of drinking beer he had not been taught.        The harlot spoke to Enkidu, saying:        "Eat the food, Enkidu, it ii the way one lives.        Drink the beer, as is the custom of the land."        Enkidu are the food until he was sated,        he drank the beer-seven jugs!-- and became expansive and sang with joy!        He was elated and his face glowed.        He splashed his shaggy body with water,        and rubbed himself with oil, and turned into a human.        He put on some clothing and became like a warrior(!).        He took up his weapon and chased lions so that the shepherds could eat        He routed the wolves, and chased the lions.        With Enkidu as their guard, the herders could lie down.        A wakeful man, a singular youth, he was twice as tall (?) (as normal men
       [The next 33 lines are missing in the Standard Version; lines 57-86 are taken from the Old Babylonian.]
       Then he raised his eyes and saw a man.        He said to the harlot:        "Shamhat, have that man go away!        Why has he come'? I will call out his name!"        The harlot called out to the man        and went over to him and spoke with him.        "Young man, where are you hurrying!        Why this arduous pace!"        The young man spoke, saying to Enkidu:        "They have invited me to a wedding,        as is the custom of the people.        ... the selection(!) of brides(!) ..        I have heaped up tasty delights for the wedding on the ceremonial(!) platter.        For the King of Broad-Marted Uruk,        open is the veil(!) of the people for choosing (a girl).        For Gilgamesh, the King of Broad-Marted Uruk,        open is the veil(?) of the people for choosing.        He will have intercourse with the 'destined wife,'        he first, the husband afterward.        This is ordered by the counsel of Anu,        from the severing of his umbilical cord it has been destined        for him."        At the young man's speech his (Enkidu's) face flushed (with anger).
       [Several lines are missing.]
       Enkidu walked in front, and Shamhat after him.
       [The Standard Version resumes.]
       He (Enkidu) walked down the street of Uruk-Haven,        ... mighty...        He blocked the way through Uruk the Sheepfold.        The land of Uruk stood around him,        the whole land assembled about him,        the populace was thronging around him,        the men were clustered about him,        and kissed his feet as if he were a little baby(!).        Suddenly a handsome young man ...        For Ishara the bed of night(?)/marriage(?) is ready,        for Gilgamesh as for a god a counterpart(!) is set up.        Enkidu blocked the entry to the marital chamber,        and would not allow Gilgamreh to be brought in.        They grappled with each other at the entry to the marital chamber,        in the street they attacked each other, the public square of the land.        The doorposts trembled and the wall shook,
       [About 42 lines are missing from the Standard Version; lines 103-129 are taken from the Old Babylonian version.]
       Gilgamesh bent his knees, with his other foot on the ground,        his anger abated and he turned his chest away.        After he turned his chest Enkidu said to Gilgamesh:        "Your mother bore you ever unique(!),        the Wild Cow of the Enclosure, Ninsun,        your head is elevated over (other) men,        Enlil has destined for you the kingship over the people."
       [19 lines are missing here.]
       They kissed each other and became friends.
       [The Old Babylonian becomes fragmentary. The Standard Version resumes]
       "His strength is the mightiest in the land!        His strength is as mighty as the meteorite(?) of Anu,        The mother of Gilgamesh spoke to Gilgamesh, saying;        Rimat-Ninsun said to her son:        "(I!), Rimar-Ninsun...        My son...        Plaintively ...        She went up into his (Shamash's) gateway,        plaintively she implored ...:        "Enkidu has no father or mother,        his shaggy hair no one cuts.        He was horn in the wilderness, no one raised him."        Enkidu was standing there, and heard the speech.        He ... and sat down and wept,        his eyes filled with tears,        his arms felt limp, his strength weakened.        They took each other by the hand,        and.., their hands like ...        Enkidu made a declaration to (Gilgamesh').        [32 lines are missing here.]        "in order to protect the Cedar Forest        Enlil assigned (Humbaba) as a terror to human beings,        Humbaba's roar is a Flood, his mouth is Fire, and his breath is Death!        He can hear 100 leagues away any rustling(?) in his forest!        Who would go down into his forest!        Enlil assigned him as a terror to human beings,        and whoever goes down into his forest paralysis(?) will strike!"        Gilgamesh spoke to Enkidu saying:        "What you say .. ."
       [About 42 lines are missing here in the Standard Version; lines 228-249 are taken from the Old Babylonian.]
       "Who, my Friend, can ascend to the heavens!"        (Only) the gods can dwell forever with Shamash.        As for human beings, their days are numbered,        and whatever they keep trying to achieve is but wind!        Now you are afraid of death--        what has become of your bold strength!        I will go in front of you,        and your mouth can call out: 'Go on closer, do not be afraid!'        Should I fall, I will have established my fame.        (They will say:)'It was Gilgamesh who locked in battle with Humbaba the Terrible!'        You were born and raised in the wilderness,        a lion leaped up on you, so you have experienced it all!'
       [5 lines are fragmentary]
       I will undertake it and I will cut down the Cedar.        It is I who will establish fame for eternity!        Come, my friend, I will go over to the forge        and have them cast the weapons in our presence!"        Holding each other by the hand they went over to the forge.        [The Standard Version resumes at this point.]        The craftsmen sat and discussed with one another.        "We should fashion the axe...        The hatchet should he one talent in weight ...        Their swords should be one talent...        Their armor one talent, their armor ..."        Gilgamesh said to the men of Uruk:        "Listen to me, men...
       [5 lines are missing here.]
       You, men of Uruk, who know ...        I want to make myself more mighty, and will go on a distant(!) journey!        I will face fighting such as I have never known,        I will set out on a road I have never traveled!        Give me your blessings! ...        I will enter the city gate of Uruk ...        I will devote(?) myself to the New Year's Festival.        I will perform the New Year's (ceremonies) in...        The New Year's Festival will take place, celebrations ...        They will keep shouting 'Hurrah!' in...""        Enkidu spoke to the Elders:        "What the men of Uruk...        Say to him that he must nor go to the Cedar Forest--        the journey is not to be made!        A man who...        The Guardian of the Cedar Forest ...        The Noble Counselors of Uruk arose and        delivered their advice toGilgamesh:        "You are young, Gilgamesh, your heart carries you off        you do not know what you are talking about!        ...gave birth to you.        Humbaba's roar is a Flood,        his mouth is Fire, his breath Death!        He can hear any rustling(!) in his forest 100 leagues away!        Who would go down into his forest!        Who among (even!) the Igigi gods can confront him?        In order to keep the Cedar safe, Enlil assigned him as a terror        to human beings."        Gilgamesh listened to the statement of his Noble Counselors.
       [About 5 lines are missing to the end of Tablet II.]        Tablet III
       The Elders spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:        "Gilgamesh, do nor put your trust in (just) your vast strength,        but keep a sharp eye out, make each blow strike in mark!        'The one who goes on ahead saves the comrade."        'The one who knows the route protects his friend.'        Let Enkidu go ahead of you;        he knows the road to the Cedar Forest,        he has seen fighting, has experienced battle.        Enkidu will protect the friend, will keep the comrade safe.        Let his body urge him back to the wives ())."        "in our Assembly we have entrusted the King to you (Enkidu),        and on your return you must entrust the King back to us!"        Gilgamesh spoke to Enkidu, raying:        "Come on, my friend, let us go to the Egalmah Temple,        to Ninsun, the Great Queen;        Ninsun is wise, all-knowing.        She will put the advisable path at our feet."        Taking each other by the hand,        Gilgamesh and Enkidu walked to the Egalmah ("Great Palace"),        to Ninsun, the Great Queen.        Gilgamesh arose and went to her.        "Ninsun, (even though) I am extraordinarily strong (!)...        I must now travel a long way to where Humbaba is,        I must face fighting such as I have not known,        and I must travel on a road that I do not know!        Until the time that I go and return,        until I reach the Cedar Forest,        until I kill Humbaba the Terrible,        and eradicate from the land something baneful that Shamash hates,        intercede with Shamash on my behalf' (!)        If I kill Humbaba and cut his Cedar        let there be rejoicing all over the land ,        and I will erect a monument of the victory (?) before you!"        The... words of Gilgamesh, her son,        grieving, Queen Ninsun heard over and over.        Ninsun went into her living quarters.        She washed herself with the purity plant,        she donned a robe worthy of her body,        she donned jewels worthy of her chest,        she donned her sash, and put on her crown.        She sprinkled water from a bowl onto the ground.        She... and went up to the roof.        She went up to the roof and set incense in front of Shamash,        .I she offered fragrant cuttings, and raised her arms to Shamash.        "Why have you imposed--nay, inflicted!--a restless heart on        my son, Gilgamesh!        Now you have touched him so that he wants to travel        a long way to where Humbaba is!        He will face fighting such as he has not known,        and will travel on a road that he does not know!        Until he goes away and returns,        until he reaches the Cedar Forest,        until he kills Humbaba the Terrible,        and eradicates from the land something baneful that you hate,        on the day that you see him on the road(?)        may Aja, the Bride, without fear remind you,        and command also the Watchmen of the Night,        the stars, and at night your father, Sin."        _________________        She banked up the incense and uttered the ritual words.'        She called to Enkidu and would give him instructions:        "Enkidu the Mighty, you are not of my womb,        but now I speak to you along with the sacred votaries of Gilgamesh,        the high priestesses, the holy women, the temple servers."        She laid a pendant(?) on Enkidu's neck,        the high-priestesses took...        and the "daughters-of-the-gods" ...        "I have taken ... Enkidu...        Enkidu to... Gilgamesh I have taken."        "Until he goes and returns,        until he reaches the Cedar Forest,        be it a month ...        be it a year.. ."
       [About 11 lines are missing here, and the placement of the following fragment is uncertain.]
       ... the gate of cedar...        Enkidu ... in the Temple of Shamash,        (and) Gilgamesh in the Egalmah.        He made an offering of cuttings ...        ... the sons of the king(!) ...        [Perhaps some 60 lines are missing here.]        "Enkidu will protect the friend, will keep the comrade safe,        Let his body urge him back to the wives (?).        In our Assembly we have entrusted the King to you,        and on your return you must entrust the King back to us!"        Enkidu spoke to Gilgamesh saying:        "My Friend, turn back!...        The road..."
       [The last lines are missing.]
               Tablet IV
       At twenty leagues they broke for some food,        at thirty leagues they stopped for the night,        walking Fifty leagues in a whole day,        a walk of a month and a half.        On the third day they drew near to the Lebanon.        They dug a well facing Shamash (the setting sun),        Gilgamesh climbed up a mountain peak,        made a libation of flour, and said:        "Mountain, bring me a dream, a favorable message from        Shamash."        Enkidu prepared a sleeping place for him for the night;        a violent wind passed through so he attached a covering.        He made him lie down, and... in a circle.        they... like grain from the mountain...        While Gilgamesh rested his chin on his knees,        sleep that pours over mankind overtook him.        in the middle of the night his sleep came to an end,        so he got up and said to his friend:        "My friend, did you not call out to me? Why did I wake up?        Did you not touch me? Why am I so disturbed?        Did a god pass by? Why are my muscles trembling?        Enkidu, my friend, I have had a dream--        and the dream I had was deeply disturbing(?)        in the mountain gorges...        the mountain fell down on me (us?) ...        Wet(?)... like flies(?)...        He who was born in the wilderness,
       Enkidu, interpreted the dream for his friend:        "My friend, your dream is favorable.        The dream is extremely important.        My friend, the mountain which you saw in the dream is        Humbaba.        "It means we will capture Humbaba, and kill him        and throw his corpse into the wasteland.        In the morning there will be a favorable message from Shamash.        At twenty leagues they broke for some food,        at thirty leagues they stopped for the night,        walking fifty leagues in a whole day,        a walk of a month and a half.        They dug a well facing Shamash        Gilgamesh climbed up a mountain peak,        made a libation of flour, and said,        "Mountain, bring me a dream, a favorable message from        Shamash."        Enkidu prepared a sleeping place for him for the night;        a violent wind passed through so he attached a covering.        He made him lie down, and... in a circle.        They ... like grain from the mountain...        While Gilgamesh rested his chin on his knees,        sleep that pours over mankind overtook him.        ,, in the middle of the night his sleep came to an end,        so he got up and said to his friend:        My friend, did you not call out to me? Why did I wake up?        Did you not touch me? Why am I so disturbed?        Did a god pass by? Why are my muscles trembling?        Enkidu, my friend, I have had a dream,        besides my first dream, a second.        And the dream I had--so striking, so...,so disturbing!'
       I was grappling with a wild bull of the wilderness,        with his bellow he split the ground, a cloud of dust...to        the sky.        I sank to my knees in front of him.        He holds... that encircled(?) my arm.        (My?) tongue(?) hung out(?) ...        My temples throbbed(?) ...        He gave me water to drink from his waterskin."        "My friend, the god to whom we go        is not the wild bull? He is totally different?        The wild bull that you saw is Shamash, the protector,        in difficulties he holds our hand.        The one who gave you water to drink from his waterskin        is your personal) god, who brings honor to you, Lugalbanda.        We should join together and do one thing,        a deed such as has never (before) been done in the land."        At twenty leagues they broke for some food,        at thirty leagues they stopped for the night,        walking fifty leagues in a whole day,        a walk of a month and a half.        They dug a well facing Shamash,        Gilgamesh climbed up a mountain peak,        made a libation of flour, and said:        "Mountain, bring me a dream, a favorable message from        Shamash."
       Enkidu prepared a sleeping place for him for the night;        a violent wind passed through so he attached a covering.        He made him lie dawn, and... in a circle.        They... like grain from the mountain...        While Gilgamesh rested his chin on his knees,        sleep that pours over mankind overtook him.        In the middle of the night his sleep came to an end,        so he got up and said to his friend:        "My friend, did you nor call out to me? Why did I wake up?        Did you not touch me? Why am I so disturbed?        Did a god pass by) Why are my muscles trembling?        Enkidu, my friend, I have had a third dream,        and the dream I had was deeply disturbing.        ,,        The heavens roared and the earth rumbled;        (then) it became deathly still, and darkness loomed.        A bolt of lightning cracked and a fire broke out,        and where(?) it kept thickening, there rained death.        Then the white-hot name dimmed, and the fire went out,        and everything that had been falling around turned to ash.        Let us go down into the plain so we can talk it over."        ,,, Enkidu heard the dream that he had presented and said to Gilgamesh        (About 40 lines are missing here.)        At twenty leagues they broke for some food, at thirty leagues they stopped for the night,        walking fifty leagues in a whole day,        a walk of a month and a half.        They dug a well facing Shamash,        Gilgamesh climbed up a mountain peak, made a libation of flour, and said:        "Mountain, bring me a dream, a favorable message from        Shamash."
       Enkidu prepared a sleeping place for him for the night;        a violent wind passed through so he attached a covering.        He made him lie down, and... in a circle.        They... like grain from the mountain...        While Gilgamesh rested his chin on his knees,        sleep that pours over mankind overtook him.        in the middle of the night his sleep came to an end, so he got up and said to his friend:        "My friend, did you not call out to me? Why did I wake up?        Did you nor touch me? Why am I so disturbed?        Did a god pass by? Why are my muscles trembling)        Enkidu, my friend, I have had a fourthi(?) dream,        and the dream I had was deeply disturbing (?).        (About 11 lines are missing)        "He was... cubits tall...        ... Gilgamesh        Enkidu listened to his dream        "The dream that you had is favorable, it is extremely important? My friend, this...        Humbaba Eke...        Before it becomes light...        We will achieve (victory?) over him,        Humbaba, against whom we rage,        we will.., and triumph over him.        In the morning there will be a favorable message from Shamash.        At twenty leagues they broke for some food, at thirty leagues they stopped for the night,        walking fifty leagues in a whole day,        a walk of a month and a half.        They dug a well facing Shamash,        Gilgamesh climbed up a mountain peak, made a libation of flour, and said:        "Mountain, bring me a dream, a favorable message from        Shamash."        Enkidu prepared a sleepmg place for him for the night;        a violent wind passed through so he attached a covering.        He made him lie down, and... in a circle. They... like grain from the mountain ...        While Gilgamerh rested his chin on his knees,        sleep that pours over mankind overtook him.        ,, in the middle of the night his sleep came to an end,        so he got up and said to his friend:        "My friend, did you not call out to me? Why did I wake up? Did you not touch me? Why am I so dirrurbed?        Did a god pass by? Why are my muscles trembling?        Enkidu, my friend, I had a fifth(?) dream,        and the dream I had was deeply disturbing (?).        ...His tears were running in the presence of Shamash. 'What you said in Uruk...,        be mindful of it, stand by me... ?"        Gilgamesh, the offspring of Uruk-Hauen,        Shamash heard what issued from his mouth,        and suddenly there resounded a warning sound from the sky.        "Hurry, stand by him so that he (Humhaba) does nor enter        the forest,        and does not go down into the thickets and hide (?)        He has not put on his seven coats of armor(?)        he is wearing only one, but has taken off six."        ,,, They(Gilgamesh and Enkidu ')...        They lunge at each other like raging wild bulls...        One name he bellowed full of...        The Guardian of the Forest bellowed ...Humbaha like...        ..."'One alone cannot        'Strangers ...        'A slippery path is not feared by two people who help each        other.'        'Twice three times...        'A three-ply rope cannot be cut.'        'The mighty lioness cubs can roll him over."'        Enkrdu spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:        "As soon as we have gone down into the Cedar Forest,        let us split open the tree (?) and strip off its branches(?)."        Gilgamesh spoke to Enkidu, saying:        "Why, my friend, we...so wretchedly (?)        We have crossed over all the mountarns together,        in front of us, before we have cut down the Cedar.        My friend, you who are so experienced in battle,        who... fighting,        you...' and (need) not fear death.        Let your voice bellow forth like the kettledrum, let the stiffness in your arms depart,        let the paralysis in your legs go away.        Take my hand, my friend, we will go on together.        Your heart should burn to do battle        --pay no heed to death, do not lose heart!        The one who watches from the side is a careful man,        but the one who walks in front protects himself and saves his        comrade,        and through their fighting they establish fame'"        As the two of them reached the evergreen forest        they cut off their talk, and stood still.        Tablet V
       ... They stood at the forest's edge,        gazing at the top of the Cedar Tree,        gazing at the entrance to the forest.        Where Humbaba would walk there was a trail,        the roads led straight on, the path was excellent.        Then they saw the Cedar Mountain, the Dwelling of the Gods, the        throne dais of Imini.        Across the face of the mountain the Cedar brought forth luxurious        foliage,        its shade was good, extremely pleasant.        The thornbushes were matted together, the woods(?) were a thicket        ... among the Cedars,... the boxwood,        the forest was surrounded by a ravine two leagues long,        ... and again for two-thirds (of that distance),        ...Suddenly the swords...,        and after the sheaths ...,        the axes were smeared...        dagger and sword...        alone ...        Humbaba spoke to Gilgamesh saying:"He does not come (?) ...        ...
       Enlil.. ."        Enkidu spoke to Humbaba, saying:        "Humbaba...'One alone..        'Strangers ...        'A slippery path is not feared by two people who help each other.        'Twice three times...        'A three-ply rope cannot be cut.        'The mighty lion--two cubs can roll him over."'        ...        Humbaba spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:        ..An idiot' and a moron should give advice to each other,        but you, Gilgamesh, why have you come to me!        Give advice, Enkidu, you 'son of a fish,' who does not even        know his own father,        to the large and small turtles which do not suck their mother's milk!        When you were still young I saw you but did not go over to you;        ... you,... in my belly.        ...,you have brought Gilgamesh into my presence,        ... you stand.., an enemy, a stranger.        ... Gilgamesh, throat and neck,        I would feed your flesh to the screeching vulture, the eagle, and        the vulture!"        Gilgamerh spoke to Enkidu, saying: "My Friend, Humbaba's face keeps changing!·        Enkddu spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:'        "Why, my friend, are you whining so pitiably, hiding behind your whimpering?        Now there, my friend,...        in the cuppersmith's channel ...,        again to blow (the bellows) for an hour, the glowing (metal)(?)        ...for an hour.        To send the Flood, to crack the Whip."        Do not snatch your feet away, do not turn your back,        ... strike even harder!"        ... may they be expelled.... head fell ... and it/he confronted him...        The ground split open with the heels of their feet,        as they whirled around in circles Mt. Hermon and Lebanon split.        The white clouds darkened,        death rained down on them like fog.        Shamash raised up against Humbaba mighty tempests'--        Southwind, Northwind, Eastwind, Westwind, Whistling Wind, Piercing Wind, Blizzard, Bad Wind, Wind of Simurru,        Demon Wind, Ice Wind, Storm, Sandstorm--        thirteen winds rose up against him and covered Humbaba's face.        He could nor butt through the front, and could not scramble out        the back,        so that Gilgamesh'a weapons were in reach of Humbaba.        Humbaba begged for his life, saying to Gilgamesh:        "You are young yet, Gilgamesh, your mother gave birth to you,        and you are the offspring of Rimnt-Nlnsun (?) ...        (It was) at the word of Shamash, Lord of the Mountain,        that you were roused (to this expedition).        O scion of the heart of Uruk, King Gilgamesh!        ... Gilgamesh...        Gilgamesh, let me go (?), I will dwell with you as your servant (?)        As many trees as you command me I will cut down for you,        I will guard for you myrtle wood...,        wood fine enough for your palace!"        Enkidu addressed Gilgamesh, saying:        "My friend, do not listen to Humbaba,        [io lines are misring Apparently Humbaba sees thar Gilgamrsh is influenced by Enkidu, and moves to dissuade Enkidu.]        "You understand the rules of my forest, the rules...,        further, you are aware of all the things so ordered (by Enlil)."        I should have carried you up, and killed you        at the very entrance to the branches of my forest.        I should have fed your flesh to the screeching vulture, the eagle,        and the vulture.        So now, Enkidu, clemency is up to you.        Speak to Gilgamesh to spare my life!"        Enkidu addressed Gilgamesh, saying:        My friend, Humbaba, Guardian of the Cedar Forest,        grind up, kill, pulverize(?), and destroy him!        Humbaba, Guardian of the Forest, grind up, kill, pulverize(?),        and destroy him!        Before the Preeminent God Enlil hears...        and the ...gods be filled with rage against us.        Enlil is in Nippur, Shamash is in Sippar.        Erect an eternal monument proclaiming...        how Gilgamesh killed(?) Humbaba."        When Humbaba heard...        [Abour l0 linrs are misiing.]        ... the forest.        and denunciations(?) have been made.        But you are sitting there like a shepherd...        and like a 'hireling of his mouth.'        Now, Enkidu, clemency is up to you.        Speak to Gilgamesh that he spare my life!"        Enkidu spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:        "My friend, Humbaba, Guardian of the Forest,        grind up, kill, pulverize(?), and destroy him!        Before the Preeminent God Enlil hears,        and the ... gods are full of rage at us.        Enlil is in Nippur, Shamash is in Sippar.        Erect an eternal monument proclaiming...        how Gilgamesh killed(?) Humbaba."        Humbaba heard ...
       [About 10 lines are missing.]
       "May he not live the longer of the two,        may Enkidu not have any 'share'(?) more than his friend        Gilgamesh!"        Enkidu spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:        "My friend, 1 have been talking to you but you have not been        listening to me,"        You have been listening to the curse of Humbaba!"        ... his friend        ... by his side        .. they pulled out his insides including his tongue.        ... he jumped(?).        ...abundance fell over the mountain,        ...abundance fell over the mountain.        They cut through the Cedar,        While Gilgamesh cuts down the trees, Enkidu searches through        the urmazallu.        Enkidu addressed Gilgamesh, saying:        "My friend, we have cut down the towering Cedar whose top        scrapes the sky.        Make from it a door 72 cubits high, 24 cubits wide,        one cubit thick, its fixture, its lower and upper pivots will be out of one piece.        Let them carry it to Nippur, the Euphrates will carry it down, Nippur will rejoice.        ..."        They tied together a raft...        Enkidu steered it...        while Gilgamesh held the head of Humbaba.        Tablet VI
       He washed out his marred hair and cleaned up his equipment(?),        shaking out his locks down over his back,        throwing off his dirty clothes and putting on clean ones.        He wrapped himself in regal garments and fastened the sash.        When Gilgamesh placed his crown on his head,        a princess Ishtar raised her eyes to the beauty of Gilgamesh.        "Come along, Gilgamesh, be you my husband,        to me grant your lusciousness.'        Be you my husband, and I will be your wife.        I will have harnessed for you a chariot of lapis lazuli and gold,        with wheels of gold and 'horns' of electrum(?).        It will he harnessed with great storming mountain mules!        Come into our house, with the fragrance of cedar.        And when you come into our house the doorpost(?) and throne dais(?)'will kiss your feet.        Bowed down beneath you will be kings, lords, and princes.        The Lullubu people' will bring you the produce of the mountains and countryside as tribute.        Your she-goats will bear triplets, your ewes twins,        your donkey under burden will overtake the mule,        your steed at the chariot will be bristling to gallop,        your ax at the yoke will have no match."        Gilgamesh addressed Princess Ishtar saying:        "What would I have to give you if I married you!        Do you need oil or garments for your body! Do you lack anything for food or drink!        I would gladly feed you food fit far a god,        I would gladly give you wine fit for a king,        ... may the street(?) be your home(?), may you be clothed in a garment,        and may any lusting man (?) marry you!        ...an oven who... ice,        a half-door that keeps out neither breeze nor blast,        a palace that crushes down valiant warriors,        an elephant who devours its own covering,        pitch that blackens the hands of its bearer,        a waterskin that soaks its bearer through,        limestone that buckles out the stone wall,        a battering ram that attracts the enemy land,        a shoe that bites its owner's feet!        Where are your bridegrooms that you keep forever'        Where is your 'Little Shepherd' bird that went up over you!        See here now, I will recite the list of your lovers.        Of the shoulder (?) ... his hand,        Tammuz, the lover of your earliest youth,        for him you have ordained lamentations year upon year!        You loved the colorful 'Little Shepherd' bird        and then hit him, breaking his wing, so        now he stands in the forest crying 'My Wing'!        You loved the supremely mighty lion,        yet you dug for him seven and again seven pits.        You loved the stallion, famed in battle,        yet you ordained for him the whip, the goad, and the lash,        ordained for him to gallop for seven and seven hours,        ordained for him drinking from muddled waters,'        you ordained far his mother Silili to wail continually.        You loved the Shepherd, the Master Herder,        who continually presented you with bread baked in embers,        and who daily slaughtered for you a kid.        Yet you struck him, and turned him into a wolf,        so his own shepherds now chase him        and his own dogs snap at his shins.        You loved Ishullanu, your father's date gardener,        who continually brought you baskets of dates,        and brightened your table daily.        You raised your eyes to him, and you went to him:        'Oh my Ishullanu, let us taste of your strength,        stretch out your hand to me, and touch our vulva.        Ishullanu said to you:        'Me! What is it you want from me!        Has my mother not baked, and have I not eaten        that I should now eat food under contempt and curses        and that alfalfa grass should be my only cover against        the cold?        As you listened to these his words        you struck him, turning him into a dwarf(?),        and made him live in the middle of his (garden of) labors,        where the mihhu do not go up, nor the bucket of dates (?) down.        And now me! It is me you love, and you will ordain for me as        for them!"        When Ishtar heard this, in a fury she went up to the heavens,        going to Anu, her father, and crying,        going to Anrum, her mother, and weeping:        "Father, Gilgamesh has insulted me over and over,        Gilgamesh has recounted despicable deeds about me,        despicable deeds and curses!"        Anu addressed Princess Ishtar, saying: "What is the matter?        Was it not you who provoked King Gilgamesh?        So Gilgamesh recounted despicable deeds about you,        despicable deeds and curses!"        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!"        Anu addressed princess Ishtar, saying:        "If you demand the Bull of Heaven from me,        there will be seven years of empty husks for the land of Uruk.        Have you collected grain for the people!        Have you made grasses grow for the animals?"        Ishtar addressed Anu, her father, saying:        "I have heaped grain in the granaries for the people,        I made grasses grow for the animals,        in order that they might eat in the seven years of empty husks.        I have collected grain for the people,        I have made grasses grow for the animals."        When Anu heard her words, he placed the noserope of the Bull of Heaven in her hand.        Ishtar led the Bull of Heaven down to the earth.        When it reached Uruk It climbed down to the Euphrates...        At the snort of the Bull of Heaven a huge pit opened up,        and 100 Young Men of Uruk fell in.        At his second snort a huge pit opened up,        and 200 Young Men of Uruk fell in.        At his third snort a huge pit opened up,        and Enkidu fell in up to his waist.        Then Enkidu jumped out and seized the Bull of Heaven by its horns.        the Bull spewed his spittle in front of him,        with his thick tail he flung his dung behind him (?).        Enkidu addressed Gilgamesh, saying:        "My friend, we can be bold(?) ...        How shall we respond...        My friend, I saw...        And my strength...        I will rip out...        I and you, we must share (?)        I shall grasp the Bull        I will fill my hands (?) ..        In front...        ...        between the nape, the horns, and... thrust your sword."        Enkidu stalked and hunted down the Bull of Heaven.        He grasped it by the thick of its tail        and held onto it with both his hands (?),        while Gilgamesh, like an expert butcher,        boldly and surely approached the Bull of Heaven.        Between the nape, the horns, and... he thrust his sword.        After they had killed the Bull of Heaven,        they ripped out its heart and presented it to Shamash.        They withdrew bowing down humbly to Shamash.        Then the brothers sat down together.        Ishtar went up onto the top of the Wall of Uruk-Haven,        cast herself into the pose of mourning, and hurled her woeful curse:        "Woe unto Gilgamesh who slandered me and killed the Bull of        Heaven!"        When Enkidu heard this pronouncement of Ishtar,        he wrenched off the Bull's hindquarter and flung it in her face:        "If I could only get at you I would do the same to you!        I would drape his innards over your arms!"        Ishtar assembled the (cultic women) of lovely-locks, joy-girls, and harlots,        and set them to mourning over the hindquarter of the Bull.        Gilgamesh summoned all the artisans and craftsmen.        (All) the artisans admired the thickness of its horns,        each fashioned from 30 minas of lapis lazuli!        Two fingers thick is their casing(?).        Six vats of oil the contents of the two        he gave as ointment to his (personal) god Lugalbanda.        He brought the horns in and hung them in the bedroom of the family        head (Lugalbanda?).        They washed their hands in the Euphrates,        and proceeded hand in hand,        striding through the streets of Uruk.        The men of Uruk gathered together, staring at them.        Gilgamesh said to the palace retainers:        "Who is the bravest of the men)        Who is the boldest of the males!        Gilgamesh is the bravest of the men,        the boldest of the males!        She at whom we flung the hindquarter of the Bull of Heaven in        anger,        Ishtar has no one that pleases her... in the street (?)        Gilgamesh held a celebration in his palace.        The Young Men dozed off, sleeping on the couches of the night.        Enkidu was sleeping, and had a dream.        He woke up and revealed his dream to his friend.        Tablet VII
       "My friend, why are the Great Gods in conference?        (In my dream) Anu, Enlil, and Shamash held a council,        and Anu spoke to Enlil:        'Because they killed the Bull of Heaven and have also slain Humbaba,        the one of them who pulled up the Cedar of the Mountain        must die!'        Enlil said:'Let Enkidu die, but Gilgamesh must not die!'        Bur the Sun God of Heavenl replied to valiant Enlil:        'Was it not at my command that they killed the Bull of        Heaven and Humbaba!        Should now innocent Enkidu die!'        Then Enlil became angry at Shamash, saying:        'it is you who are responsible because you traveled daily        with them as their friend!"'        Enkidu was lying (sick) in front of Gilgamesh.        His tears flowing like canals, he (Gilgamesh) said:        "O brother, dear brother, why are they absolving me instead of        my brother)"        Then Enkidu said:) "So now must 1 become a ghost,        to sit with the ghosts of the dead, to see my dear brother        nevermore!"        In the Cedar Forest where the Great (Gods dwell, I did not kill the Cedar."        Enkidu addressed Gilgamesh,        saying to Gilgamesh, his Friend:        "Come, Friend,...        The door...        Enkidu raised his eyes,...and spoke to the door as if it were human:        "You stupid wooden door,        with no ability to understand... !        Already at 10 leagues I selected the wood for you,        until I saw the towering Cedar ...        Your wood was without compare in my eyes.        Seventy-two cubits was your height, 14 cubits your width, one        cubit your thickness,        your door post, pivot stone, and post cap ...        I fashioned you, and I carried you; to Nippur...        Had I known, O door, that this would he your gratitude        and this your gratitude...,        I would have taken an axe and chopped you up,        and lashed your planks into...        in its ... I erected the...        and in Uruk...they heard        But yet, O door, I fashioned you, and I carried you to Nippur!        May a king who comes after me reject you, may the god...        may he remove my name and set his own name there!"        He ripped out.., threw down.        He(Gilgamesh) kept listening to his words, and retorted quickly,        Gilgamcsh listened to the words of Enkidu, his Friend, and his tears flowed.        Gilgamesh addressed Enkidu, raying:        'Frend, the gods have given you a mind broad and ...        Though it behooves you to be sensible, you keep uttering        improper things!        Why, my Friend, does your mind utter improper things?        The dream is important but very frightening,        your lips are buzzing like flies.        Though there is much fear, the dream is very important.        To the living they (the gods) leave sorrow,        to the living the dream leaves pain.        I will pray, and beseech the Great Gods,        I will seek..., and appeal to your god.        ... Enlil, the Father of the Gods,        ...Enlil the Counselor...you.        I will fashion a statue of you of gold without measure,        do nor worry..., gold...        What Enlil says is not...        What he has said cannot go back, cannot ...,        What... he has laid down cannot go back, cannot...        My friend,... of fate goes to mankind."        a lust as dawn hegan to glow, Enkidu raised his head and cried out to Shamash,        at the (first) gleam of the sun his tears poured forth.        "I appeal to you, O Shamash, on behalf of my precious life (?),        because of that notorious trapper        who did not let me attain the same as my friend        May the trapper not get enough to feed himself .        May his profit be slashed, and his wages decrease,        may... be his share before you,        may he not enter ... but go our of it like vapor(?)!"        After he had cursed the trapper to his satisfaction,        his heart prompted him to curse the Harlot.        "Come now, Harlot, I am going to decree your fate,        a fate that will never come to an end for eternity!        I will curse you with a Great Curse,        may my curses overwhelm you suddenly, in an instant!        May you not be able to make a household,        and not be able to love a child of your own (?)!        May you not dwell in the ... of girls,        may dregs of beer (?) stain your beautiful lap,        may a drunk soil your festal robe with vomit(?),        ... the beautiful (?)        ... of the potter.        May you never acquire anything of bright alabaster,        may the judge. ..        may shining silver(?), man's delight, not be cast into your house,        may a gateway be where you rake your pleasure,'        may a crossroad be your home        may a wasteland be your sleeping place,        may the shadow of the city wall be your place to stand,        may the thorns and briars skin your feet,        may both the drunk and the dry slap you on the cheek,        ... in your city's streets (?),        may owls nest in the cracks of your walls!        may no parties take place...        ... present(?).        and your filthy "lap" ... may.., be his(?)        Because of me...        while I, blameless, you have... against me.        When Shamash heard what his mouth had uttered,        he suddenly called out to him from the sky:        "Enkidu, why are you cursing the harlot, Shamhat,        she who fed you bread fit for a god,        she who gave you wine fit for a king,        she who dressed you in grand garments,        and she who allowed you to make beautiful Gilgamesh your        comrade!
       Now Gilgamesh is your beloved brother-friend!        He will have you lie on a grand couch,        will have you lie on a couch of honor.        He will seat you in the seat of ease, the seat at his left,        so that the princes of the world kiss your feet.        He will have the people of Uruk go into mourning and moaning over you,        will fill the happy people with woe over you.        And after you he will let his body bear a filthy mat of hair,        will don the skin of a lion and roam the wilderness."        As soon as Enkidu heard the words of valiant Shamash,        his agitated heart grew calm, his anger abated.        Enkidu spoke to the harlot, saying:        "Come, Shamhat, I will decree your fate for you.        Let my mouth which has cursed you, now turn to bless you!        May governors and nobles love you,        May he who is one league away bite his lip (in anticipation of you),        may he who is two leagues away shake our his locks (in preparation)!        May the soldier not refuse you, but undo his buckle for you,        may he give you rock crystal(!), lapis lazuli, and gold,        may his gift to you be earrings of filigree(?).        May... his supplies be heaped up.        May he bring you into the ... of the gods.        May the wife, the mother of seven (children),        be abandoned because of you!"        Enkidu's innards were churning,        lying there so alone.        He spoke everything he felt, saying to his friend:        "Listen, my friend, to the dream that I had last night.        The heavens cried out and the earth replied,        and I was standing between them.        There appeared a man of dark visage--        his face resembled the Anzu,"        his hands were the paws of a lion,        his nails the talons of an eagle!--        he seized me by my hair and overpowered me.        I struck him a blow, but he skipped about like a jump rope,        and then he struck me and capsizcd me like a raft,        and trampled on me like a wild bull.        He encircled my whole body in a clamp.        'Help me, my friend" (I cried),        but you did not rescue me, you were afraid and did not.. ."        "Then he... and turned me into a dove,        so that my arms were feathered like a bird.        Seizing me, he led me down to the House of Darkness,        the dwelling of Irkalla,        to the house where those who enter do not come out,        along the road of no return,        to the house where those who dwell, do without light,        where dirt is their drink, their food is of clay,        where, like a bird, they wear garments of feathers,        and light cannot be seen, they dwell in the dark,        and upon the door and bolt, there lies dust.        On entering the House of Dust,        everywhere I looked there were royal crowns gathered in heaps,        everywhere I listened, it was the bearers of crowns,        who, in the past, had ruled the land,        but who now served Anu and Enlil cooked meats,        served confections, and poured cool water from waterskins.        In the house of Dust that I entered        there sat the high priest and acolyte,        there sat the purification priest and ecstatic,        there sat the anointed priests of the Great Gods.        There sat Etana, there sat Sumukan,        there sat Ereshkigal, the Queen of the Netherworld.        Beletseri, the Scribe of the Netherworld, knelt before her,        she was holding the tablet and was reading it out to her Ereshkigal.        She raised her head when she saw me----        'Who has taken this man?'
       [50 lines are missing here]
       ...I (?) who went through every difficulty,        remember me and forget(?) not all that I went through with you.        "My friend has had a dream that bodes ill?"        The day he had the dream ... came to an end.        Enkidu lies down a first day, a second day,        that Enkidu ... in his bed;        a third day and fourth day, that Enkidu ... in his bed;        a fifth, a sixth, and seventh, that Enkidu ... in his bed;        an eighth, a ninth, a tenth, that Enkidu ... in his bed.        Enkidu's illness grew ever worse.        Enkidu drew up from his bed,        and called out to Gilgamesh ...:        "My friend hates me ...        while he talked with me in Uruk        as I was afraid of the battle he encouraged me.        My friend who saved me in battle has now abandoned me!        I and you ...
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       At his noises Gilgamesh was roused ...        Like a dove he moaned ...        "May he not be held, in death ...        O preeminent among men ..."        To his friend ...        "I will mourn him (?)        I at his side ..."        Tablet VIII
       Just as day began to dawn        Gilgamesh addressed his friend, saying:           "Enkidu, your mother, the gazelle,           and your father, the wild donkey, engendered you,           four wild asses raised you on their milk,           and the herds taught you all the grazing lands.           May the Roads of Enkidu to the Cedar Forest        mourn you           and not fall silent night or day.           May the Elders of the broad city of Uruk-Haven        mourn you.           May the peoples who gave their blessing after us        mourn you.           May the men of the mountains and hills        mourn you.           May the...           May the pasture lands shriek in mourning as if it were your mother.           May the ..., the cypress, and the cedar which we destroyed (?) in our anger        mourn you.           May the bear, hyena, panther, tiger, water buffalo(?), jackal,           lion, wild bull, stag, ibex, all the creatures of the plains        mourn you.           May the holy River Ulaja, along whose banks we grandly used to stroll,        mourn you.           May the pure Euphrates, to which we would libate water from our waterskins,        mourn you.           May the men of Uruk-Haven, whom we saw in our battle when                     we killed the Bull of Heaven,        mourn you.           May the farmer ...,who extols your name in his sweet work song,        mourn you.           May the ... of the broad city, who ... exalted your name,                                        mourn you.            May the herder ..., who prepared butter and light beer for your mouth,        mourn you.            May ..., who put ointments on your back,        mourn you.            May ..., who prepared fine beer for your mouth,        mourn you.            May the harlot, ... you rubbed yourself with oil and felt good,                               mourn you.            May ...,... of the wife placed(!) a ring on you ...,        mourn you            May the brothers go into mourning over you like sisters;            ... the lamentation priests, may their hair be shorn off on                                        your behalf.            Enkidu, your mother and your father are in the wastelands,            I mourn you ..."            "Hear me, O Elders of Uruk, hear me, O men!            I mourn for Enkidu, my friend,            I shriek in anguish like a mourner.            You, axe at my side, so trusty at my hand--            you, sword at my waist, shield in front of me,            you, my festal garment, a sash over my loins--            an evil demon!) appeared and took him away from me!            My friend, the swift mule, fleet wild ass of the mountain,        panther of the wilderness,            Enkidu, my friend, the swift mule, fleet wild ass of the mountain,        panther of the wilderness,            after we joined together and went up into the mountain,            fought the Bull of Heaven and killed it,            and overwhelmed Humbaba, who lived in the Cedar Forest,            now what is this sleep which has seized you?            You have turned dark and do not hear me!"        But his (Enkidu's) eyes do not move,        he touched his heart, but it beat no longer.        He covered his friend's face like a bride,        swooping down over him like an eagle,        and like a lioness deprived of her cubs        he keeps pacing to and fro.        He shears off his curls and heaps them onto the ground,        ripping off his finery and casting it away as an abomination.        Just as day began to dawn, Gilgamesh ...        and issued a call to the land:            "You, blacksmith! You, lapidary! You, coppersmith!            You, goldsmith! You, jeweler!            Create 'My Friend,' fashion a statue of him.            ... he fashioned a statue of his friend.            His features ...            ...,your chest will be of lapis lazuli, your skin will be of gold."
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           "I had you recline on the great couch,            indeed, on the couch of honor I let you recline,            1 had you sit in the position of ease, the seat at the left, so the                        princes of the world kissed your feet.            I had the people of Uruk mourn and moan for you,            I filled happy people with woe over you,            and after you (died) I let a filthy mat of hair grow over my body,           and donned the skin of a lion and roamed the wilderness."        Just as day began to dawn,        he undid his straps ...        I... carnelian,
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       ...to my friend.        ... your dagger        to Bibbi ..."
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          " ... the judge of the Anunnaki."        When Gilgamesh heard this        the zikru of the river(!) he created'...        Just as day began to dawn Gilgamesh opened(!) ...        and brought out a big table of sissoo wood.        A carnelian bowl he filled with honey,        a lapis lazuli bowl he filled with butter.        He provided ... and displayed it before Shamash.
       [All of the last column, some 40-50 lines, is missing.]        Tablet IX
       Over his friend, Enkidu, Gilgamesh cried bitterly, roaming the wilderness.           "I am going to die!--am I not like Enkidu?!           Deep sadness penetrates my core,           I fear death, and now roam the wilderness--           I will set out to the region of Utanapishtim, son of Ubartutu,                         and will go with utmost dispatch!           When I arrived at mountain passes at nightfall,'           I saw lions, and I was terrified!           I raised my head in prayer to Sin,           to ... the Great Lady of the gods my supplications poured                             forth, 'Save me from... !"'        He was sleeping in the night, but awoke with a start with a dream:        A warrior(!) enjoyed his life--        he raised his axe in his hand,        drew the dagger from his sheath,        and fell into their midst like an arrow.        He struck ... and he scattered them,        The name of the former ...        The name of the second ...
       [26 lines are missing here, telling of the beginning of his quest.]
       The Scorpion-Beings        The mountain is called Mashu.        Then he reached Mount Mashu,        which daily guards the rising and setting of the Sun,        above which only the dome of the heavens reaches,        and whose flank reaches as far as the Netherworld below,        there were Scorpion-beings watching over its gate.        Trembling terror they inspire, the sight of them is death,        their frightening aura sweeps over the mountains.        At the rising and setting they watch over the Sun.        When Gilgamesh saw them, trembling terror blanketed his face,        but he pulled himself together and drew near to them.        The scorpion-being called out to his female:           "He who comes to us, his body is the flesh of gods!"        The scorpion-being, his female, answered him:           "(Only) two-thirds of him is a god, one-third is human."        The male scorpion-being called out,        saying to the offspring of the gods:           "Why have you traveled so distant a journey?           Why have you come here to me,           over rivers whose crossing is treacherous!           I want to learn your ...           I want to learn ..."
       [16 lines are missing here. When the text resumes Gilgamesh is speaking.]
          "I have come on account of my ancestor Utanapishtim,           who joined the Assembly of the Gods, and was given eternal life.           About Death and Life I must ask him!"        The scorpion-being spoke to Gilgamesh ..., saying:           "Never has there been, Gilgamesh, a mortal man who could do that(?).           No one has crossed through the mountains,           for twelve leagues it is darkness throughout--           dense is the darkness, and light there is none.        To the rising of the sun ...        To the setting of the sun ...        To the setting of the sun ...        They caused to go out..."
       [67 lines are missing, in which Gilgamesh convinces the scorpion-being to allow him passage.]
          "Though it be in deep sadness and pain,           in cold or heat ...           gasping after breath ... I will go on!           Now! Open the Gate!"        The scorpion-being spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:           "Go on, Gilgamesh, fear not!           The Mashu mountains I give to you freely (!),           the mountains, the ranges, you may traverse ...           In safety may your feet carry you.           The gate of the mountain ..."           To the rising of the sun ...        To the setting of the sun ...        To the setting of the sun ...        They caused to go out..."
       [67 lines are missing, in which Gilgamesh convinces the scorpion-being to allow him        passage.]
          "Though it be in deep sadness and pain,           in cold or heat ...           gasping after breath ... I will go on!           Now! Open the Gate!"        The scorpion-being spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:           "Go on, Gilgamesh, fear not!           The Mashu mountains I give to you freely (!),           the mountains, the ranges, you may traverse ...           In safety may your feet carry you.           The gate of the mountain ..."        As soon as Gilgamesh heard this        he heeded the utterances of the scorpion-being.        Along the Road of the Sun L he journeyed--        one league he traveled ...,        dense was the darkness, light there was none.        Neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow him to see.        Two leagues he traveled ...,        dense was the darkness, light there was none,        neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow him to see.
       [22 lines are missing here.]
       Four leagues he traveled ...,        dense was the darkness, light there was none,        neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow him to see.        Five leagues he traveled ...,        dense was the darkness, light there was none,        neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow him to see.        Six leagues he traveled ...,        dense was the darkness, light there was none,        neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow him to see.        Seven leagues he traveled ..        dense was the darkness, light there was none,        neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow him to see.        Eight leagues he traveled and cried out (!),        dense was the darkness, light there was none,        neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow him to see.        Nine leagues he traveled ... the North Wind.        It licked at his face,        dense was the darkness, light there was none,        neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow him to see.        Ten leagues he traveled ...        ... is near,        ... four leagues.        Eleven leagues he traveled and came out before the sun(rise).        Twelve leagues he traveled and it grew brilliant.        ...it bears lapis lazuli as foliage,          bearing fruit, a delight to look upon.
       [25 lines are missing here, describing the garden in detail.]
         ... cedar          ... agate          ... of the sea ... lapis lazuli,          like thorns and briars ... carnelian,        rubies, hematite,...          like... emeralds (!)          ... of the sea,          Gilgamesh ... on walking onward,        raised his eyes and saw ...        Tablet X
       The tavern-keeper Siduri who lives by the seashore,        she lives...        the pot-stand was made for her, the golden fermenting vat was made for her.        She is covered with a veil ...        Gilgamesh was roving about...        wearing a skin,...        having the flesh of the gods in his body,        but sadness deep within him,        looking like one who has been traveling a long distance.        The tavern-keeper was gazing off into the distance,        puzzling to herself, she said,        wondering to herself:           "That fellow is surely a murderer(!)!           Where is he heading! ..."        As soon as the tavern-keeper saw him, she bolted her door,        bolted her gate, bolted the lock.        But at her noise Gilgamesh pricked up his ears,        lifted his chin (to look about) and then laid his eyes on her.        Gilgamesh spoke to the tavern-keeper, saying:           "Tavern-keeper, what have you seen that made you bolt                                        your door,           bolt your gate, bolt the lock!           if you do not let me in I will break your door, and smash                                         the lock!           ... the wilderness."        ... Gilgamesh        The tavern-keeper Siduri who lives by the seashore,        she lives...        the pot-stand was made for her, the golden fermenting vat was made                                           for her.        She is covered with a veil ...        Gilgamesh was roving about...        wearing a skin,...        having the flesh of the gods in his body,        but sadness deep within him,        looking like one who has been traveling a long distance.        The tavern-keeper was gazing off into the distance,        puzzling to herself, she said,        wondering to herself:           "That fellow is surely a murderer(!)!           Where is he heading! ..."        As soon as the tavern-keeper saw him, she bolted her door,        bolted her gate, bolted the lock.        But at her noise Gilgamesh pricked up his ears,        lifted his chin (to look about) and then laid his eyes on her.        Gilgamesh spoke to the tavern-keeper, saying:           "Tavern-keeper, what have you seen that made you bolt                                        your door,           bolt your gate, bolt the lock!           if you do not let me in I will break your door, and smash                                         the lock!           ... the wilderness."        ... Gilgamesh        ... gate        Gilgamesh said to the tavern-keeper:           "I am Gilgamesh, I killed the Guardian!           I destroyed Humbaba who lived in the Cedar Forest,           I slew lions in the mountain passes!           I grappled with the Bull that came down from heaven, and                                        killed him."        The tavern-keeper spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:           "lf you are Gilgamesh, who killed the Guardian,           who destroyed Humbaba who lived in the Cedar Forest,           who slew lions in the mountain passes,           who grappled with the Bull that came down from heaven, and                                        killed him,           why are your cheeks emaciated, your expression desolate!           Why is your heart so wretched, your features so haggard!           Why is there such sadness deep within you!           Why do you look like one who has been traveling a long                                          distance           so that ice and heat have seared your face!           ... you roam the wilderness!"        Gilgamesh spoke to her, to the tavern-keeper he said:           "Tavern-keeper, should not my cheeks be emaciated?           Should my heart not be wretched, my features not haggard?           Should there not be sadness deep within me!           Should I not look like one who has been traveling a long                                         distance,           and should ice and heat not have seared my face!           ..., should I not roam the wilderness?           My friend, the wild ass who chased the wild donkey, panther of                                     the wilderness,           Enkidu, the wild ass who chased the wild donkey, panther of                                      the wilderness,           we joined together, and went up into the mountain.           We grappled with and killed the Bull of Heaven,        we destroyed Humbaba who lived in the Cedar Forest,        we slew lions in the mountain passes!        My friend, whom I love deeply, who went through every hard-                                   ship with me,        Enkidu, whom I love deeply, who went through every hardship                                      with me,        the fate of mankind has overtaken him.        Six days and seven nights I mourned over him        and would not allow him to be buried        until a maggot fell out of his nose.        I was terrified by his appearance(!),        I began to fear death, and so roam the wilderness.        The issue of my friend oppresses me,        so I have been roaming long trails through the wilderness.        The issue of Enkidu, my friend, oppresses me,        so I have been roaming long roads through the wilderness.        How can I stay silent, how can 1 be still!        My friend whom I love has turned to clay.        Am I not like him? Will I lie down, never to get up again?"'        Gilgamesh spoke to the tavern-keeper, saying:           "So now, tavern-keeper, what is the way to Utanapishtim!           What are its markers Give them to me! Give me the markers!           If possible, I will cross the sea;           if not, I will roam through the wilderness."        The tavern-keeper spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:           "There has never been, Gilgamesh, any passage whatever,           there has never been anyone since days of yore who crossed                                           the sea.           The (only) one who crosses the sea is valiant Shamash, except                                 for him who can cross!           The crossing is difficult, its ways are treacherous--           and in between are the Waters of Death that bar its approaches!           And even if, Gilgamesh, you should cross the sea,           when you reach the Waters of Death what would you do!           Gilgamesh, over there is Urshanabi, the ferryman of Utanapishtim.           'The stone things' L are with him, he is in the woods picking                                           mint( !).           Go on, let him see your face.           If possible, cross with him;           if not, you should turn back."        When Gilgamesh heard this        he raised the axe in his hand,        drew the dagger from his belt,        and slipped stealthily away after them.        Like an arrow he fell among them ("the stone things").        From the middle of the woods their noise could be heard.        Urshanabi, the sharp-eyed, saw...          When he heard the axe, he ran toward it.          He struck his head ... Gilgamesh.'          He clapped his hands and ... his chest,          while "the stone things" ... the boat          ... Waters of Death          ... broad sea          in the Waters of Death ...          ... to the river          ... the boat          ... on the shore.          Gilgamesh spoke to Urshanabi (?), the ferryman,              ... you."        Urshanabi spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:'              "Why are your cheeks emaciated, your expression desolate!              Why is your heart so wretched, your features so haggard?              Why is there such sadness deep within you!              Why do you look like one who has been traveling a long                                             distance              so that ice and heat have seared your face!              Why ... you roam the wilderness!"          Gilgamesh spoke to Urshanabi, saying:              "Urshanabi, should not my cheeks be emaciated, my expression                                            desolate!              Should my heart not be wretched, my features not haggard              Should there not be sadness deep within me?              Should I not look like one who has been traveling a long                                            distance,        and should ice and heat not have seared my face!              ... should I not roam the wilderness?              My friend who chased wild asses in the mountain, the panther                                       of the wilderness,              Enkidu, my friend, who chased wild asses in the mountain, the                                 panther of the wilderness,              we joined together, and went up into the mountain.              We grappled with and killed the Bull of Heaven,              we destroyed Humbaba who dwelled in the Cedar Forest,              we slew lions in the mountain passes!              My friend, whom I love deeply, who went through every hard-                                         ship with me,              Enkidu, my friend, whom I love deeply, who went through                                   every hardship with me,              the fate of mankind has overtaken him.            Six days and seven nights I mourned over him              and would not allow him to be buried              until a maggot fell out of his nose.              I was terrified by his appearance(!),              I began to fear death, and so roam the wilderness.              The issue of my friend oppresses me,              so I have been roaming long trails through the wilderness.              The issue of Enkidu, my friend, oppresses me,              so 1 have been roaming long roads through the wilderness.              How can I stay silent, how can I be still!              My friend whom I love has turned to clay;              Enkidu, my friend whom I love, has turned to clay!              Am I not like him! Will I lie down, never to get up again!"             Gilgamesh spoke to Urshanabi, saying:              "Now, Urshanabi! What is the way to Utanapishtim?              What are its markers! Give them to me! Give me the markers!              If possible, I will cross the sea;              if not, I will roam through the wilderness!"        Urshanabi spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:           "It is your hands, Gilgamesh, that prevent the crossing!           You have smashed the stone things,' you have pulled out their                                   retaining ropes (?).           'The stone things' have been smashed, their retaining ropes (!)                                     pulled out!        Gilgamesh, take the axe in your hand, go down into the woods,        and cut down 300 punting poles each 60 cubits in length.        Strip them, attach caps(?), and bring them to the boat!"        When Gilgamesh heard this        he took up the axe in his hand, drew the dagger from his belt,        and went down into the woods,        and cut 300 punting poles each 60 cubits in length.        He stripped them and attached caps(!), and brought them to                                          the boat.        Gilgamesh and Urshanabi bearded the boat,        Gilgamesh launched the magillu-boat' and they sailed away.        By the third day they had traveled a stretch of a month and a                                          half, and        Urshanabi arrived at the Waters of Death.        Urshanabi said to Gilgamesh:           "Hold back, Gilgamesh, take a punting pole,           but your hand must not pass over the Waters of Death ... !           Take a second, Gilgamesh, a third, and a fourth pole,           take a fifth, Gilgamesh, a sixth, and a seventh pole,           take an eighth, Gilgamesh, a ninth, and a tenth pole,           take an eleventh, Gilgamesh, and a twelfth pole!"        In twice 60 rods Gilgamesh had used up the punting poles.        Then he loosened his waist-cloth(?) for...        Gilgamesh stripped off his garment        and held it up on the mast(!) with his arms.        Utanapishtim was gazing off into the distance,        puzzling to himself he said, wondering to himself:           "Why are 'the stone things' of the boat smashed to pieces!           And why is someone not its master sailing on it?           The one who is coming is not a man of mine, ...           I keep looking but not...           I keep looking but not ...           I keep looking..."
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       Utanapishtim said to Gilgamesh:           "Why are your cheeks emaciated, your expression desolate!           Why is your heart so wretched, your features so haggard!           Why is there such sadness deep within you!           Why do you look like one who has been traveling a long distance           so that ice and heat have seared your face!           ... you roam the wilderness!"        Gilgamesh spoke to Utanapishtim saying:           "Should not my cheeks be emaciated, my expression desolate!           Should my heart not be wretched, my features not haggard!           Should there not be sadness deep within me!           Should I not look like one who has been traveling a long distance,           and should ice and heat not have seared my face!           ... should I not roam the wilderness)           My friend who chased wild asses in the mountain, the panther                                    of the wilderness,           Enkidu, my friend, who chased wild asses in the mountain, the                              panther of the wilderness,           we joined together, and went up into the mountain.           We grappled with and killed the Bull of Heaven,           we destroyed Humbaba who dwelled in the Cedar Forest,           we slew lions in the mountain passes!           My friend, whom I love deeply, who went through every hard-                                      shin with me        Enkidu, my friend, whom I love deeply, who went through                                every hardship with me,           the fate of mankind has overtaken him.           Six days and seven nights I mourned over him           and would not allow him to be buried           until a maggot fell out of his nose.           I was terrified by his appearance(!),           I began to fear death, and so roam the wilderness.           The issue of my friend oppresses me,           so I have been roaming long trails through the wilderness.           The issue of Enkidu, my friend, oppresses me,           so I have been roaming long roads through the wilderness.           How can I stay silent, how can I be still!           My friend whom I love has turned to clay;           Enkidu, my friend whom I love, has turned to clay!           Am I not like him! Will I lie down never to get up again!"        Gilgamesh spoke to Utanapishtim, saying:           "That is why (?) I must go on, to see Utanapishtim whom they                                   call 'The Faraway.'"           I went circling through all the mountains,           I traversed treacherous mountains, and crossed all the seas--           that is why (!) sweet sleep has not mellowed my face,           through sleepless striving I am strained,           my muscles are filled with pain.           I had not yet reached the tavern-keeper's area before my                                    clothing gave out.           I killed bear, hyena, lion, panther, tiger, stag, red-stag, and                                beasts of the wilderness;           I ate their meat and wrapped their skins around me.'        The gate of grief must be bolted shut, sealed with pitch and                                         bitumen !           As for me, dancing...           For me unfortunate(!) it(?) will root out..."
       Utanapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:           "Why, Gilgamesh, do you ... sadness?           You who were created (!) from the flesh of gods and mankind           who made ... like your father and mother?           Have you ever... Gilgamesh ... to the fool ...           They placed a chair in the Assembly, ...           But to the fool they gave beer dregs instead of butter,           bran and cheap flour which like ...           Clothed with a loincloth (!) like ...           And ... in place of a sash,           because he does not have ...           does not have words of counsel ...           Take care about it, Gilgamesh,           ... their master...           ... Sin...           ... eclipse of the moon ...           The gods are sleepless ...           They are troubled, restless(!) ...           Long ago it has been established...           You trouble yourself...           ... your help ...           If Gilgamesh ... the temple of the gods           ... the temple of the holy gods,           ... the gods ...           ... mankind,           they took ... for his fate.           You have toiled without cease, and what have you got!        Through toil you wear yourself out,        you fill your body with grief,        your long lifetime you are bringing near (to a premature end)!        Mankind, whose offshoot is snapped off like a reed in a                                     canebreak,        the fine youth and lovely girl        ... death.        No one can see death,        no one can see the face of death,        no one can hear the voice of death,        yet there is savage death that snaps off mankind.        For how long do we build a household?        For how long do we seal a document!        For how long do brothers share the inheritance?        For how long is there to be jealousy in the land(!)!        For how long has the river risen and brought the overflowing                                       waters,        so that dragonflies drift down the river!'        The face that could gaze upon the face of the Sun        has never existed ever.        How alike are the sleeping(!) and the dead.        The image of Death cannot be depicted.        (Yes, you are a) human being, a man (?)!        After Enlil had pronounced the blessing,'"        the Anunnaki, the Great Gods, assembled.        Mammetum, she who forms destiny, determined destiny with them.        They established Death and Life,        but they did not make known 'the days of death'".        Tablet XI        The Story of the Flood
       Gilgamesh spoke to Utanapishtim, the Faraway:           "I have been looking at you,           but your appearance is not strange--you are like me!           You yourself are not different--you are like me!           My mind was resolved to fight with you,           (but instead?) my arm lies useless over you.           Tell me, how is it that you stand in the Assembly of the Gods,                                  and have found life!"        Utanapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:           "I will reveal to you, Gilgamesh, a thing that is hidden,           a secret of the gods I will tell you!           Shuruppak, a city that you surely know,           situated on the banks of the Euphrates,           that city was very old, and there were gods inside it.           The hearts of the Great Gods moved them to inflict the Flood.           Their Father Anu uttered the oath (of secrecy),           Valiant Enlil was their Adviser,           Ninurta was their Chamberlain,           Ennugi was their Minister of Canals.           Ea, the Clever Prince(?), was under oath with them           so he repeated their talk to the reed house:             'Reed house, reed house! Wall, wall!        O man of Shuruppak, son of Ubartutu:          Tear down the house and build a boat!          Abandon wealth and seek living beings!          Spurn possessions and keep alive living beings!          Make all living beings go up into the boat.          The boat which you are to build,          its dimensions must measure equal to each other:          its length must correspond to its width.          Roof it over like the Apsu.        I understood and spoke to my lord, Ea:          'My lord, thus is the command which you have uttered          I will heed and will do it.          But what shall I answer the city, the populace, and the                                       Elders!'        Ea spoke, commanding me, his servant:          'You, well then, this is what you must say to them:           "It appears that Enlil is rejecting me           so I cannot reside in your city (?),           nor set foot on Enlil's earth.           I will go down to the Apsu to live with my lord, Ea,           and upon you he will rain down abundance,           a profusion of fowl, myriad(!) fishes.           He will bring to you a harvest of wealth,           in the morning he will let loaves of bread shower down,           and in the evening a rain of wheat!"'        Just as dawn began to glow        the land assembled around me-        the carpenter carried his hatchet,        the reed worker carried his (flattening) stone,        ... the men ...        The child carried the pitch,        the weak brought whatever else was needed.        On the fifth day I laid out her exterior.        It was a field in area,        its walls were each 10 times 12 cubits in height,        the sides of its top were of equal length, 10 times It cubits each.        I laid out its (interior) structure and drew a picture of it (?).        I provided it with six decks,        thus dividing it into seven (levels).        The inside of it I divided into nine (compartments).        I drove plugs (to keep out) water in its middle part.        I saw to the punting poles and laid in what was necessary.        Three times 3,600 (units) of raw bitumen I poured into the bitumen kiln,        three times 3,600 (units of) pitch ...into it,        there were three times 3,600 porters of casks who carried (vegetable) oil,        apart from the 3,600 (units of) oil which they consumed (!)        and two times 3,600 (units of) oil which the boatman stored away.        I butchered oxen for the meat(!),        and day upon day I slaughtered sheep.        I gave the workmen(?) ale, beer, oil, and wine, as if it were river water,        so they could make a party like the New Year's Festival.        ... and I set my hand to the oiling(!).        The boat was finished by sunset.        The launching was very difficult.        They had to keep carrying a runway of poles front to back,        until two-thirds of it had gone into the water(?).        Whatever I had I loaded on it:        whatever silver I had 1 loaded on it,        whatever gold I had I loaded on it.        All the living beings that I had I loaded on it,        I had all my kith and kin go up into the boat,        all the beasts and animals of the field and the craftsmen I                                     had go up.        Shamash had set a stated time:          'In the morning I will let loaves of bread shower down,          and in the evening a rain of wheat!          Go inside the boat, seal the entry!'        That stated time had arrived.        In the morning he let loaves of bread shower down,        and in the evening a rain of wheat.        I watched the appearance of the weather--        the weather was frightful to behold!        I went into the boat and sealed the entry.        For the caulking of the boat, to Puzuramurri, the boatman,        I gave the palace together with its contents.        Just as dawn began to glow        there arose from the horizon a black cloud.        Adad rumbled inside of it,        before him went Shullat and Hanish,        heralds going over mountain and land.        Erragal pulled out the mooring poles,        forth went Ninurta and made the dikes overflow.        The Anunnaki lifted up the torches,        setting the land ablaze with their flare.        Stunned shock over Adad's deeds overtook the heavens,        and turned to blackness all that had been light.        The... land shattered like a... pot.        All day long the South Wind blew ...,        blowing fast, submerging the mountain in water,        overwhelming the people like an attack.        No one could see his fellow,        they could not recognize each other in the torrent.        The gods were frightened by the Flood,        and retreated, ascending to the heaven of Anu.        The gods were cowering like dogs, crouching by the outer wall.        Ishtar shrieked like a woman in childbirth,        the sweet-voiced Mistress of the Gods wailed:        'The olden days have alas turned to clay,        because I said evil things in the Assembly of the Gods!        How could I say evil things in the Assembly of the Gods,        ordering a catastrophe to destroy my people!!        No sooner have I given birth to my dear people        than they fill the sea like so many fish!'        The gods--those of the Anunnaki--were weeping with her,        the gods humbly sat weeping, sobbing with grief(?),        their lips burning, parched with thirst.        Six days and seven nights        came the wind and flood, the storm flattening the land.        When the seventh day arrived, the storm was pounding,        the flood was a war--struggling with itself like a woman                               writhing (in labor).        The sea calmed, fell still, the whirlwind (and) flood stopped up.        I looked around all day long--quiet had set in        and all the human beings had turned to clay!        The terrain was as flat as a roof.        I opened a vent and fresh air (daylight!) fell upon the side of                                      my nose.        I fell to my knees and sat weeping,        tears streaming down the side of my nose.        I looked around for coastlines in the expanse of the sea,        and at twelve leagues there emerged a region (of land).        On Mt. Nimush the boat lodged firm,        Mt. Nimush held the boat, allowing no sway.        One day and a second Mt. Nimush held the boat, allowing                                      no sway.        A third day, a fourth, Mt. Nimush held the boat, allowing                                      no sway.        A fifth day, a sixth, Mt. Nimush held the boat, allowing                                       no sway.        When a seventh day arrived        I sent forth a dove and released it.        The dove went off, but came back to me;        no perch was visible so it circled back to me.        I sent forth a swallow and released it.        The swallow went off, but came back to me;        no perch was visible so it circled back to me.        I sent forth a raven and released it.        The raven went off, and saw the waters slither back.        It eats, it scratches, it bobs, but does not circle back to me.        Then I sent out everything in all directions and sacrificed                                      (a sheep).        I offered incense in front of the mountain-ziggurat.        Seven and seven cult vessels I put in place,        and (into the fire) underneath (or: into their bowls) I poured                            reeds, cedar, and myrtle.        The gods smelled the savor,        the gods smelled the sweet savor,        and collected like flies over a (sheep) sacrifice.        Just then Beletili arrived.        She lifted up the large flies (beads) which Anu had made for                                his enjoyment(!):        'You gods, as surely as I shall not forget this lapis lazuli                                around my neck,        may I be mindful of these days, and never forget them!        The gods may come to the incense offering,        but Enlil may not come to the incense offering,        because without considering he brought about the Flood        and consigned my people to annihilation.'        Just then Enlil arrived.        He saw the boat and became furious,        he was filled with rage at the Igigi gods:        'Where did a living being escape?        No man was to survive the annihilation!'        Ninurta spoke to Valiant Enlil, saying:        'Who else but Ea could devise such a thing?        It is Ea who knows every machination!'        La spoke to Valiant Enlil, saying:        'It is yours, O Valiant One, who is the Sage of the Gods.        How, how could you bring about a Flood without consideration        Charge the violation to the violator,        charge the offense to the offender,        but be compassionate lest (mankind) be cut off,        be patient lest they be killed.        Instead of your bringing on the Flood,        would that a lion had appeared to diminish the people!        Instead of your bringing on the Flood,        would that a wolf had appeared to diminish the people!        Instead of your bringing on the Flood,        would that famine had occurred to slay the land!        Instead of your bringing on the Flood,        would that (Pestilent) Erra had appeared to ravage the land!        It was not I who revealed the secret of the Great Gods,        I (only) made a dream appear to Atrahasis, and (thus) he                          heard the secret of the gods.        Now then! The deliberation should be about him!'        Enlil went up inside the boat        and, grasping my hand, made me go up.        He had my wife go up and kneel by my side.        He touched our forehead and, standing between us, he                                    blessed us:        'Previously Utanapishtim was a human being.        But now let Utanapishtim and his wife become like us,                                       the gods!        Let Utanapishtim reside far away, at the Mouth of the Rivers.'        They took us far away and settled us at the Mouth of the Rivers."        "Now then, who will convene the gods on your behalf,          that you may find the life that you are seeking!          Wait! You must not lie down for six days and seven nights."        soon as he sat down (with his head) between his legs        sleep, like a fog, blew upon him.        Utanapishtim said to his wife:          "Look there! The man, the youth who wanted (eternal) life!          Sleep, like a fog, blew over him."        his wife said to Utanapishtim the Faraway:          "Touch him, let the man awaken.          Let him return safely by the way he came.          Let him return to his land by the gate through which he left."        Utanapishtim said to his wife:          "Mankind is deceptive, and will deceive you.          Come, bake leaves for him and keep setting them by his head          and draw on the wall each day that he lay down."        She baked his leaves and placed them by his head        and marked on the wall the day that he lay down.        The first loaf was dessicated,        the second stale, the third moist(?), the fourth turned white,                                         its ...,        the fifth sprouted gray (mold), the sixth is still fresh.        the seventh--suddenly he touched him and the man awoke.        Gilgamesh said to Utanapishtim:          "The very moment sleep was pouring over me          you touched me and alerted me!"        Utanapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:          "Look over here, Gilgamesh, count your loaves!          You should be aware of what is marked on the wall!          Your first loaf is dessicated,          the second stale, the third moist, your fourth turned white,                                          its ...        the fifth sprouted gray (mold), the sixth is still fresh.        The seventh--suddenly he touched him and the man awoke.        Gilgamesh said to Utanapishtim:            "The very moment sleep was pouring over me            you touched me and alerted me!"        Utanapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:            "Look over here, Gilgamesh, count your leaves!            You should be aware of what is marked on the wall!            Your first loaf is dessicated,            the second stale, the third moist, your fourth turned white,                                            its ...        the fifth sprouted gray (mold), the sixth is still fresh.            The seventh--at that instant you awoke!"        Gilgamesh said to Utanapishtim the Faraway:            "O woe! What shall I do, Utanapishtim, where shall I go!            The Snatcher has taken hold of my flesh,            in my bedroom Death dwells,            and wherever I set foot there too is Death!"                      Home Empty-Handed        Utanapishtim said to Urshanabi, the ferryman:            "May the harbor reject you, may the ferry landing reject you!            May you who used to walk its shores be denied its shores!            The man in front of whom you walk, matted hair chains                                          his body,            animal skins have ruined his beautiful skin.            Take him away, Urshanabi, bring him to the washing place.            Let him wash his matted hair in water like ellu.            Let him cast away his animal skin and have the sea carry it off,            let his body be moistened with fine oil,            let the wrap around his head be made new,            let him wear royal robes worthy of him!            Until he goes off to his city,            until he sets off on his way,            let his royal robe not become spotted, let it be perfectly new!"        Urshanabi took him away and brought him to the washing place.        He washed his matted hair with water like ellu.        He cast off his animal skin and the sea carried it oh.        He moistened his body with fine oil,        and made a new wrap for his head.        He put on a royal robe worthy of him.        Until he went away to his city,        until he set off on his way,        his royal robe remained unspotted, it was perfectly clean.        Gilgamesh and Urshanabi bearded the boat,        they cast off the magillu-boat, and sailed away.        The wife of Utanapishtim the Faraway said to him:            "Gilgamesh came here exhausted and worn out.            What can you give him so that he can return to his land (with                                           honor) !"        Then Gilgamesh raised a punting pole        and drew the boat to shore.        Utanapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:            "Gilgamesh, you came here exhausted and worn out.            What can I give you so you can return to your land?            I will disclose to you a thing that is hidden, Gilgamesh,            a... I will tell you.            There is a plant... like a boxthorn,            whose thorns will prick your hand like a rose.            If your hands reach that plant you will become a young                                         man again."        Hearing this, Gilgamesh opened a conduit(!) (to the Apsu)        and attached heavy stones to his feet.        They dragged him down, to the Apsu they pulled him.        He took the plant, though it pricked his hand,        and cut the heavy stones from his feet,        letting the waves(?) throw him onto its shores.        Gilgamesh spoke to Urshanabi, the ferryman, saying:           "Urshanabi, this plant is a plant against decay(!)            by which a man can attain his survival(!).            I will bring it to Uruk-Haven,            and have an old man eat the plant to test it.            The plant's name is 'The Old Man Becomes a Young Man.'"           Then I will eat it and return to the condition of my youth."        At twenty leagues they broke for some food,        at thirty leagues they stopped for the night.        Seeing a spring and how cool its waters were,        Gilgamesh went down and was bathing in the water.        A snake smelled the fragrance of the plant,        silently came up and carried off the plant.        While going back it sloughed off its casing.'        At that point Gilgamesh sat down, weeping,        his tears streaming over the side of his nose.        "Counsel me, O ferryman Urshanabi!        For whom have my arms labored, Urshanabi!           For whom has my heart's blood roiled!           I have not secured any good deed for myself,           but done a good deed for the 'lion of the ground'!"           Now the high waters are coursing twenty leagues distant,'           as I was opening the conduit(?) I turned my equipment over                                        into it (!).           What can I find (to serve) as a marker(?) for me!           I will turn back (from the journey by sea) and leave the boat by                                        the shore!"           At twenty leagues they broke for some food,        at thirty leagues they stopped for the night.        They arrived in Uruk-Haven.        Gilgamesh said to Urshanabi, the ferryman:           "Go up, Urshanabi, onto the wall of Uruk and walk around.           Examine its foundation, inspect its brickwork thoroughly--           is not (even the core of) the brick structure of kiln-fired brick,           and did not the Seven Sages themselves lay out its plan!        One league city, one league palm gardens, one league lowlands, the open area(?) of the Ishtar Temple,        three leagues and the open area(?) of Uruk it encloses.
We mentioned in PART IV - THE FINAL COUNTDOWN, that these anomalous objects observed orbiting the sun, were in fact Plasma carriers, and possibly of Eridean origin. However, there seems to be an additional object/accompanied object, which may be of a different design. See Anomalous Solar Objects. The Final Countdown glossed on the thesis that our planet was made up of a number of races that inhabited earth many millions of years ago, of which the Pleiadan group was the main representative. Prior to, and long after the Pleiadians, other races were involved in the genetic integration of the inhabitants of earth, and the real make-up of our genetic ancestry may never be completely known. See Lifes true beginnings
As a starting point then, let us take a brief view of the origins and social structure of the Erideans to see where and what role they are playing out in this scenario.
Remember, there is a highly complex historical background as to the present scenario that is unfolding, and therefore in some circumstances complete details may not be available. However, for the benefit of those who wish to comprehend what is transpiring and to take on board an understanding in preparation, we submit the following below.
WHO ARE THE ERIDEANS?
Initial contact seems to portray them as Reptoid Klingons for want of a better description, but without the physical fighting qualities of that class! They appear to follow the Reptoid pattern of having little logical brain and are controlled by spirit (Viking.org) It is apparent (?) that this is the first time they have encountered man in its present form, and thus do not comprehend the human race. (Whats new I hear you ask!).
There is one common denominator between them and us, and that is the interest in an old enemy.... THE ANUNNAKI. They seem to be still looking for them. Perhaps this is their motive in orbiting our sun, to await the Anunnaki! If indeed this is the case, then we could witness to and even become drawn into a final conflict!
WHERE DO THE ERIDEANS ORIGINATE
The Erideans themselves are a completely telepathic race and seem to originate from the constellation of Eridanus. It is represented as... a very long, winding river that starts at the left foot of Orion in the north, sweeps south of Taurus, west to the edge of Cetus, then doubles back east to Caelum, and eventually ends far to the south, at the border with Hydrus Its difficult now to identify which river the constellation represents. Some writers claimed it was the Tigris or Euphrates, others the Nile
The constellation is situated approximately 10.7 to 12+ light years to the NEAR groups, which include Eridanus Delta and Epsilon.
Epsilon is very similar to our Earth and their SUN is in the SAME class. The DELTA planet is said to be a CARBONIFEROUS (Agricultural) Planet that possessed diamonds as ubiquitous as is Quartz. To them they are as decorative as are ROCKS on planet earth. It is inhabited by Reptoids that look fairly Human. Their sun, however is a variable STAR so they also employ COMPLETE Weather control, which enables them to live in Windowless STONE houses. Or possibly reinforced concrete as we know it.
The Erideans are also referred to as CETIANS, or Tau Cetians, a sort of human race of Mediterranean or South American and of tan skinned appearance. These are said to be in alliance with the Pleiadians, who have formed a kind of Cetian alliance with others in a desire to establish a common defence against their reptilian nemesis.
It is thought that the Erideans are very hypochondriac about making contact as the telepathic noise we create would upset them greatly. In addition our gravity is slightly too much for their comfort, and there is a risk of bacterial or virus contamination.
By our standards, they may perhaps appear slightly reptilian, and therefore any contact would have to be controlled contact If they do wish to make contact, it will be at a distance without a physical landing. Due to their complete telepathic abilities, they may not appreciate our normal methods of communication, including radio and television etc.
It is possible that these Eridean Plasma carriers then, are part of a fleet, which are involved in a galactic dispute beyond Jupiter. In summing up, therefore, it is conceivable that an alliance may be possible with this group, as they appear friendlier than the Anunnaki.
There are in fact a number of diverse reptilian races distributed throughout a number of equally diverse galaxies and universes, some are good and some BAD! The Draconians (OKA the draqs) originate from the constellation of Draconis and almost entered our solar system, from the companion to HALE BOPPE comet in 1997. It is believed, however, they were prevented from so doing by the Galactic Federation. Otherwise it would have been a case of Jurassic Park where earth would have provided the best restaurant in the Galaxy.
While from SIRIUS we have the red group, the Sirians, it is this group that is involved in the war beyond Jupiter. The Sirians once inhabited and ruled earth prior to 15,000 BCE (Before the Common Era, or BC) in Atlantis.
Apparently, Sirius seems to be the epicentre of the ASHTAR or ASTARTE collective, where humanoids of various types, Sasquatch, Reptiloids, Greys, and Reptilian hybrid species seem to have collated together in the past. The Sirians have waged war previously with the Orion Empire or the Unholy Six reptilian star systems in the ORION open cluster. The ancient dispute involves just who will serve as the landlords of a sector of space containing 21 star systems including the most strategic star system, SQL and particularly planet Earth, Terra or Shan -- which is a virtual cosmic oasis of water, mineral, plant, animal and genetic resources in incredible variety compared with most other worlds. This dispute between the Sirians and Orion reptiloids dates back to the ancient invasion of Orion by the Draconian EMPIRE, as a result of which many Nordic type humanoids escaped to Procyon, Sol, Sirius and elsewhere. This war in Sirius-B is gravitating towards the SoI System, in that the opposing agendas for this system is one of the major issues of dispute between the two [or three] warring factions sides (Evadamic- Draconian). However, as previously mentioned the Anunnaki are the race to be apprehensive of to say the least! Who are they? We on earth are said to be genetically and symbolically, part of an off-planet civilisation known as the Anunnaki. Thought to originate in the constellation of Lyra, these were the first creator gods who knew how to create matter, such as planets, stars, life forms for themselves, and eventually others.
The Lyrans physical lifetimes lasted for approximately one thousand years. In time, however, as their life span decreased, they sought out a substance that would enable them to live longer. They discovered that gold not only increased their longevity, but also provided them with a superconductivity, which gave them the ability to be highly telepathic and experience their multidimensionality. See STAR FIRE. Eventually, they spread out into the cosmos and created new civilisations, a few went to Vega, others the Pleiades, and others Sirius. However, their need for gold was paramount.
The Anunnaki were said to be tall, and have been called the Nordics or Blondes, emanating a golden glow aura. Their symbol is THE WINGED DISC which not only represents their starship Nibiru, but also symbolic of the ability of the spirit to fly free while remembering its wise, divine source.
These Anunnaki were later called the Elohim (gods) and Nefilim (those who descended).
Upon completion of a number of genetic experiments, in which they created other races, they eventually produced the hybrid Homo sapiens, us. The souls of those who became human came to Earth by their own free will to experience physicality. Several other extraterrestrial civilisations contributed their own input into human DNA and created many races of humans, some of which have now left earth.
Thus the Anunnaki could be said to be pattern-makers, the creators of archetypes and of the template for human life on Earth. One of the Anunnaki leaders was EnIiI (also known as Jehovah). Enkiand EnI1I were half brothers through the same father, Anu, who was the king of this Anunnaki group.
Enlil did not want human to be equal to them, while Enki was in favour of human freedom and equality. In order to ensure that humans would be able to benefit from their ancestry, Enki (the serpent of wisdom and healing) suggested those who came to be called Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. This subterfuge enraged EnliI who, from that point onward, continued to punish humanity whenever they were close to coming to an answer of life itself, thus seeking to reclaim their righfful heritage. See GENESIS CONNECTION. Civilisations and religions were created by Enki and Enlil (and later their offspring). Enki and his lineage developed Egypt. But, these civilisations rarely had long periods of peace.
It is thought that Enlil irradiated Sodom and Gomorrah off the face of the Earth and Atlantis sank due to the Anunnakis experiments with sound technology. The last great flood, approximately 13,000 years ago, became a legend when Enki went against the other Anunnaki and saved humans (the Noahs of Earth) when EnIiI wanted to destroy them. Mars also had a civilisation that was developed by the Anunnaki. Eventually and possibly after the Exodus, other Anunnaki left the earth, and their secrets of transforming gold into the powerful substance that allowed their longevity also vanished. In time, humans who remembered died or disappeared. The knowledge was lost, and yet, people kept trying to capture that special essence of gold in the form of statues mistakenly believing it was their key to immortality.
Whether today the Anunnaki would be able to adapt to our planets environment is debatable. However, the main advantage of the Anunnaki, like the Erideans, their telepathic ability, may also be their downfall, their Achilles heel if you will. In a telepathic society there can be little crime, but also little FREE WILL. In general, we, as humans at least do have this choice of free will corruption or enlightenment? You choose!
1. Aching eyes, lack of vision and neck pains 2. Hurting womb 3. Pain in the lower torso 4. Problems in the abdomen, vulva and kidneys 5. Teeth and jaws pains, inability to open the mouth 6. Aches in all limbs, with pain in the sockets of the eyes 7. Hurting feet (?) and legs after walking 8. Pains in the neck, abdomen and ears, inability to hear speech 9. Pains in the vulva, and all the limbs. 10. Urinary problems 11. Staying in bed 12. Lower leg pains 13. Problems in ..., the legs, and the side of ... 14. Thirsting .... 15. Swollen abdomen 16.kemtu of the uterus 17. Problems with blood .... womb, headache, pain in the mouth(?) and wrist 18. Exposing a woman to her man 19. Diagnosing the gender of the unborn 20. Remedy for getting pregnant 21. Prevention of ... 22. Another medicine 23. Another ... 24. Pains of the womb 25. A woman heated ... 26. To distinguish her who will conceive from her who will not 27. To distinguish her who will conceive from her who will not 28. To distinguish her who will conceive from her who will not 29. To distinguish her who will conceive from her who will not 30. To distinguish her who will conceive from her who will not 31. To distinguish her who will conceive from her who will not 32. To distinguish her who will conceive from her who will not 33. Prevention of biting the tongue 34. Urinary problem
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1. Treatment for a woman [whose eyes ache], who sees not (?); and (?) has pain in the neck.
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: it is dejectiones uteri in oculis suis 1
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): fumigate her on fresh incense and fresh fat; suffi his vulvam eius2: fumigate her eyes with the shanks of the legs of bee-eaters (Merops)3; thou shalt make her eat the liver of an ass, raw.
1 diarrhoea, discharges etc (or possibly prolapsus) of the uterus in her eyes. 2 fumigate her vulva 3 shanks of the legs of bee-eaters - Stephen Quirke: goose leg fat
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2. Treatment for a woman aegrotanti in utero suo in ambulando1
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: "What is the smell 2 that thou emittest (lit. causest to be perceived)?" If she says to thee: "I am emitting the smell of roast meat," thou shalt say as to it, it is nemsu uteri 3.
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): fumigate her with every sort of roast meat, the smell of which she emits.
1 suffer in (from) her womb wandering 2 This may be cancer (carcinoma uteri), which is characterized by a peculiar smell. 3nemsu uteri - Stephen Quirke: wrappings (?) of the womb
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3. Treatment for a woman pained in natibus suis, abdomine suo, radicibus coxarum suarum1
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: it is excrementa uteri2 that thou emittest (lit. causest to be perceived)?" If she says to thee: "I am emitting the smell of roast meat," thou shalt say as to it, it is nemsu uteri.
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): carob beans 1/64 hekt3: sasha fruit 1/64 hekt; cow's milk 1 henu; cook, cool, make into one mess, drink four mornings 4 .
1 her buttocks, her abdomen, the roots of her hips - Stephen Quirke: rear, her front, and the calves of her thighs 2 excretions (discharges) of the uterus 3 1 hekt = 10 senu = ca. 5 litres 4 or rather early in the morning.
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4. Treatment for a woman in abdomen suum, vulvam suam, partes quae vulvam ejus circumstant, intra renes (?) ejus1
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: it is the being made very big (?) of the foetus (?)2.
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): fresh fat 1 henu3: consperge in vulvam ejus in ... ejus4 .
1 her abdomen, her vulva, the parts surrounding her vulva, between her kidneys (?) - Stephen Quirke: her front, her womb, the circuit of her womb between her buttocks 2 Stephen Quirke: 'large birth swelling'. 3henu : ½ litre 4 sprinkle in her vulva ... her ... - Stephen Quirke: Pour over [her] womb and her [..]
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5. Treatment for a woman pained in her teeth and jaws (?)1; she knows not [how to open ?] her mouth
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: it is morsiones uteri2
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): when thou hast fumigated her with grease and incense in a frying-pan (?)3, pour on her [vulva ?] the urine of an ass that has begotten its like (i.e. is the sire of a male ass ?) (used on) the day that has passed it. If her abdomen is pained from her lap (?) or navel to her loins, it is colic4.
1 Stephen Quirke: her teeth and molars 2 (irritation ?) of the uterus - Stephen Quirke: 'it is toothache of the womb'. 3 Stephen Quirke: with incense and oil in 1 jar 4 Stephen Quirke: it is worm
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6. Treatment for a woman aching in all her limbs, with pain in the sockets of her eyes
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: it is starving1 of the uterus, it has not happened to it to drink; [it is] without food entirely (or likewise), as one who has recently given birth (or with recent bearing ?)2
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): a packet (?) of ah water3, drink [four ?] mornings.
1 Stephen Quirke: deprivation 2 Stephen Quirke: no beer-drinking (?) has been allowed it for the condition of a fresh birth (?)'. 3 Stephen Quirke: 1 portion (?) of dough (?) and water
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7. Treatment for a woman pained in her feet (?) and legs1 after walking
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: it is excrementa uteri2
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): rub (?) her feet and legs with amat3 until she is well.
1 Stephen Quirke: in her legs and her calves 2 excretions of her womb 3 Stephen Quirke: with mud
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8. Treatment for a woman pained in her neck, her abdomen1, and her ears, in that she does not hear speech
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: it is terrors (spasms, violence ?) of the uterus
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): like the medicine of curing sehau of the uterus2.
c.f. case XVII
1 Stephen Quirke: in her molars, her front, 2 Stephen Quirke: removing detritus of the womb
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9. Treatment for a woman pained in her vulva1, and all her limbs like one beaten.
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: it is sau (?) of the uterus.
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): (let her) eat fat2 until she is well.
1 Stephen Quirke: in her her front 2 Stephen Quirke: oil
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10. Treatment for a woman aegrotantis in urina sua velut .... urinae ardentis1
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: it is dejectiones (?) uteri2
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): beans, seeds of sheni, flowers of reed3; pound, grind fine, upon 1 henu4 of nezazat beer; cook and drink four mornings. Let her spend the day lying down fasting; next morning let her drink 1 henu of the same; let her spend the day fasting, until there comes the time of after (?) washing the mouth (? ablution)5.
1 being ill in her urine as ... of burning (?) urine 2 diarrhoea of the womb - Stephen Quirke: discharges of the womb 3 Stephen Quirke: beans, prt-Sny plant and mwt-parts of the gyw plant 4 1 henu: ca. ½ litre 5 Stephen Quirke: until the arrival of breakfast time
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11. Treatment for a woman who loves bed, she does not rise, and does not shake it (?)1
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: it is amemu (gripings, spasms ?) uteri2
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): let her drink 2 henu3 of khaui, let her spue it out immediately.
1 Stephen Quirke: bed-bound, not stretching when she shakes it 2amemu of the uterus - Stephen Quirke: 'it is clenches of the womb' 3 1 henu : almost ½ litre
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12. Treatment for a woman pained in her shanks
Diagnosis
Thou shalt give for it strips of rag (?) soaked in frankincense ........ [if] her movements (?) 1 are pleasant (?) in her doing everything, it is health; if [her] movements (?) [are painful]2 thou shalt say as to it: it is ..... [uteri]3.
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): mehui of fresh grease (or fresh grease melted ?)4, pour [upon her ....] put frankincense5 on her .... after doing this..
1 possibly referring to the results of the purging 2 Stephen Quirke: If the product [is foul?], 3 of the uterus 4 Stephen Quirke: with [..] cup of fresh oil, 5 Stephen Quirke: resin
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13. Treatment [for a woman in her ...], in her legs, in one side of her (?) ...
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: it is qahu (bending ?) of the uterus.1
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): ... seeds of sheni, absynthe (?), flowers of reed (?),2 [pound, grind fine etc ? .......] the side in which it pains her, [let] her lie upon it. If return ...3 two (?) ... let her eat two packets (?) of .... divided amongst ........... si purget4 .......... in her doing anything ......... [she will be well (?) if you find her .....] swollen, put thy finger upon it, and if thou find it hard .................. upon the vulva, it is colic5.
1 Stephen Quirke: '[it is] ejections [...]'. 2 Stephen Quirke: with ...], prt-Sny plant, saAmw plant, mwt-parts of gyw plant 3 Stephen Quirke: If [...] circulates 4 if purged - Stephen Quirke: If she passes 3 Stephen Quirke: it is worm
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14. Treatment for a woman thirsty ....
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: ......
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): shebe-gum 1/64 hekt1, auyt-gum .............. altogether (or likewise)2.
11/64 hekt: about 80 cm³ 2 Stephen Quirke: You should treat it with a measure of fermented hesa-liquid, and [...] of hesa-liquid of awyt [...] on form (?)
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15. Treatment for a woman whose abdomen is swollen
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: ......................
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): malachite (or other green material) 1/64 hekt, pound, grind fine, cook in mehui (?) (of) cow's milk1 ............ [drink it] four (?) [days ?] .
1 Stephen Quirke: You should treat it with a measure of wADw, grind and refine, boil with a cup (? of milk
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16. Treatment for a woman pained in all her limbs and the sockets of [her] eyes .... her .... is kemt
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: it is kemtu1 of the uterus
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): grease2, 1/64 heqt ..... figs (?)3, grapes, nekaut, auh, seeds of sheni4....... pound, grind fine, cook, drink three days.
1 Stephen Quirke: pains 2mrH.t - Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae: Fat (general), anointing oil - Stephen Quirke: oil 3 Stephen Quirke: ished-fruit 4 Stephen Quirke: notched sycamore fruit, beans, prt-Sny [...] The fruit of the sycamore (nekaut, nqa.wt) had to be notched for it to ripen. The Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae translates auh (jwH.w), Quirke's "beans", as "edible fruit (as drug)"
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17. Treatment for a woman [whose] blood .... womb 1, with ache of her head, her [mouth ?] and the end of her hand (wrist or extremity ?) 2.
Diagnosis
Thou shalt say as to it: ...............
Treatment
Thou shalt do for it (thus): clear the floor for her 3, place upon it the lees of sweet beer [covering so as ?] 4 not (to allow ?) anything to fall on to it, thou shalt lay benau mesesh upon the side of these lees [and .................] upon them, and let her sit upon it; if nothing enters it 5, thou shalt cause to be cooked .................. let [it] cool, let her drink (it); si autem inciderit ei sanguis ejus vel6sehau7, [it is ......................].
1 Stephen Quirke: bleeding [...] human mother 2 Stephen Quirke: the palm of her hand 3 Stephen Quirke: by smearing for her ground 4 Quirke begins a new sentence here: [If] nothing emerges for her,... 5 Stephen Quirke: [if] nothing emerges for her, 6 but when her blood be interrupted or - Quirke: [if], though, blood or bodily fluid emerges for her, 7sehau: pus (?), cf case VIII. The Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae gives for sHA.w: [symptom of illness affecting the uterus] which is not only moderately helpful.
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18. Another (sic). Ad nudandam (?) mulierem a viro ejus ?? 1
Half of a badt (?) 2 of milk (?) ............ of a badt (?) ........... contunde (?) 3, consperge in vulvam ejus4
1 In order to expose (?) a woman to her man - Stephen Quirke: Another (prescription? book?) for unveiling a woman from [..] 2 The Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae gives for bAd.t: [a (measuring) vessel] - Stephen Quirke: scoop 3 Stephen Quirke: Solidify (?) 4 grind (?), sprinkle into her vulva.
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19. Discernere eam quae pariet, in utero mulieris gravidae (?)1
Si revenerit mensis mensis, intrat ........2 of the evil 3
1 To distinguish that which will be born in the womb of a pregnant woman. 2 If it returns month after month, enters ... 2 Stephen Quirke: of the suckling woman (?)
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20. De (muliere) afflicta remediis ad efficiendum conceptum1
after ceases (?) the return .................. pound, grind fine, [strain] in cloth on gruel(?) 2auyt (?), pour mehuyu3 ............... Incense, fresh fat, dates, sweet beer, put inside a sheda4 (of wood) in the flame; thou shalt fumigate .......... as a sweetener of the mouth.
1 About the afflicted by the remedies for achieving conception - Stephen Quirke: As for a woman stricken by a prescription for pregnancy 2 Quirke does not translate HsA, The Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae gives for HsA-n-Sbb: [a dough-like vegetal substance (med.)] 3 Stephen Quirke: Submerge in the waters (?) 4 Stephen Quirke: Place inside a rack (?)
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21. To prevent ..........
... crocodile's dung cut up (?) on auyt-paste 1, sprinkled ..............
1 Stephen Quirke: chopped over HsA and awyt-liquid
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22. Another medicine
1 pint (henu) of honey, consperge in vulvam ejus1; this is to be done upon sehem (?) of natron 2.
1 sprinkle on her womb 2 Stephen Quirke: on natron bed
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23. Another ........
...... upon auyt - gum 1, consperge in vulvam ejus2
1 Stephen Quirke: over HsA and awyt-liquid, 1 sprinkle on her vulva
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24. Ad morsus (?) uteri dissipendos1
Stalks (?) of dates on ........ ; beat it fine on sweet beer, fac ut consideat super haec distrahens femora sua2
1 For removing the pain of the womb - Stephen Quirke: This is for removing tiAw-pain of the womb 2 Make her sit on it separating her thighs - Stephen Quirke: have her sit on it with her legs apart
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25. Treatment for a woman heated 1 ....
..... are her eyes bleared (?): kheper-ur (wood) grated (?) upon ab of mesta2; .......... sprinkle ....... four mornings, thou shalt cause her to sit upon the water of ......... of a pond, cause 3 ...........
1 Stephen Quirke: burning 2 Stephen Quirke: on the left side of the birth-brick (?) 3 Stephen Quirke: and (?) lake water, place
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26. Discernere eam quae concipiet ab ea quae non concipiet1
facies adipem recentem cum ................. [examinabis] tu eam: si inveneris musculos mammae (?) ejus khasha, dices, est mulier pariens: si inveneris eos kenken (molli, humidus ?), dices pariet tarde: si autem inveneris eam (sic) velut colorem (?) ............. [dices, non pariet unquam] 2
1 To distinguish her who will conceive from her who will not 2 ................ you will [examine] her: if you find the muscles of her breast khasha, you will say this is a woman giving birth; if you find them kenken soft (?), you say she will give birth late; but if you find them like the colour ... [you will say she will not ever give birth] - Stephen Quirke: You should [make] fresh oil and [...] You should [...] it. If the vessels of her innards are found distended, you should say of it 'it is the birth'. If you find it limp, you should say of it 'she will give birth late', but if you find her like ..[...]
27. Another time
fac ut consideat super terram abstersam faecibus (?) cervisiae dulcis: pone [................ si] dabit vomitum, pariet mulier: numerus quoque vomitum qui ex ore exibunt, erit numerus partuum ................. Si autem non vomuerit non pariet umquam.1
1 Make her sit on the ground wiped with lees of sweet beer: put [................ if] she vomits, the woman will give birth, the number of times vomit leaves her mouth, will be the number of births ........... But if she will not vomit, she will not ever give birth. - Stephen Quirke: You should have her sit on earth smeared with dregs of sweet beer, put fruit, [dates ...] [...] ejects, she will give birth and for every ejection which comes from her mouth, each is one birth (?) [...]. [If she] does not [eject] though, she will never give birth.
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28. Another time
Put thou one onion bulb 1 on [her] body 2 .......................... on which thou findest it, thou shalt say as to it, "she will bear a child"; if thou dost not find ....... her nose (?) 3 ................. she will not [bear a child, ever].
1 Stephen Quirke: a bundle of onions 2 Stephen Quirke: mouth on belly (?) 2 Stephen Quirke: her/its fore
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29. Another time 1
Strike (?) thou as to her 2 upon her lip (?), the tip (?) of thy finger upon the top of her menaa (shoulder ? or part of arm); [if she] twitches (?) 3 [she will bear a child] [but if she ? does] not twitch (?), she will not bear a child ever.
1 Stephen Quirke: Another instance. 2 Stephen Quirke: You should pummel for it 3 Stephen Quirke: [If .. ] hurts
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30. Another time
(Say) "O thou calf of Horus ........................... I am upon ................. Horus:" or "mayest thou enter the place to which thou art called (?) 1." Is said [this] incantation ............... if (anything) fall from her nostril she will bear a child, if (anything) fall from her vulva she will bear a child, but if ...................... she [will not bear a child] ever.
1 Stephen Quirke: Go down to the place from which you [...]
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31. Another time
If thou seest her face green 1, but in green (?) thou findest things upon her like ........... [she will bring forth a m]ale (child), but if thou seest things upon her eyes she will not bear ever.
1 Stephen Quirke: fresh with freshness
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32. Discernere eam quae concepit 1 ............
like that "finger upon her menaa ."
1 Stephen Quirke: Determining a woman who will conceive
cf case 29
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33. To prevent a woman from biting her tongue 1
beans, pound 2 .......... upon her jaws (?) 3 the day of birth; it is a cure of biting 4 excellent truly millions of times.
1 Stephen Quirke: Preventing acute pains of a woman 2 Stephen Quirke: grind with 3 Stephen Quirke: at her molars (?) 4 Stephen Quirke: [This is] an effective (way) to prevent acute pains
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34. [Si inveneris ?] mulierem cujus urina in loco (statu ?) tristi est 1
si venerit urina ................ she shall recognize this 2, that (?) she will be so always.
1 [If you find] a woman whose urine is in a bitter state - Stephen Quirke: [...] a woman waters in difficulty (?) 2 Stephen Quirke: if the waters come [...] [...] when she observes it,
