Gilgamesh Paean

from From the Fountain of Lethe by Panthea

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about

The ambitious Gilgamesh project is a work in progress. The recording found here is simply a working draft, and the song itself will be the very first track on an upcoming Epic of Gilgamesh CD collection.

Sin-liqe-unninni was a mashmashshu (incantation/exorcist priest) who lived in Mesopotamia in the period between 1300 BCE and 1000 BCE. He is the compiler of the best preserved version of the Epic of Gilgamesh. It is unknown how different his version is from the earlier texts, and may have been a contemporary of Homer.

In honour of this "bard" of the ancient world, the greater composition, to which this Gilgamesh Paean is an introduction, is designed to be approximately an hour and a half, to two hours long. This may be quite short, compared to the epics that the ancients used to perform!

lyrics

Gilgamesh Paean

Gilgamesh
Lord of Kullab
He was the king of Uruk in Sumeria
He saw the deep, and many other things he saw
Surpassing all other kings, he was called
Gilgamesh
Learned and wise
He returned from a journey with tales that predated the Flood
And he wrote on great tablets his story of bliss and of blood
Of bliss and of blood.

Gilgamesh
Built the great walls
And the ramparts and parapets no later king could compare
And the Temple of Ishtar is measured at half a mile square
It's the land of the rampaging bull who is
Gilgamesh
Scion of Uruk
And his strength was as swift as a floodwave, as violent and hard
And in battle he pushed through the forefront as fearless vanguard
As fearless vanguard.

Gilgamesh
Mighty and tall
He was two-thirds the stuff of the gods and was one-third a man
It was Aruru and Ea who fashioned him with their hands
He was divinely handsome was the great king
Gilgamesh
Who else is like him?
His stride was six cubits and thick as barley was his beard
There were none who could best him in contests of sword nor of spear
His folk cowered in fear.

His very own folk avoided going near.