Tablet III.

This tablet is far better preserved than the two previous ones; it gives the account of the successful mission to bring Hea-bani to Erech, opening with a broken account of the wisdom of Hea-bani.

Column I.

Column II.

Column III.

Column IV.

Column V.

There is one other mutilated fragment of this and the next column with part of a relation respecting beasts and a fragment of a conversation between Izdubar and his mother.

The whole of this tablet is curious, and it certainly gives the successful issue of the attempt to bring Hea-bani to Erech, and in very fragmentary condition the dream of the monarch.

It appears that the females Samkhat and Kharimtu prevailed upon Hea-bani to come to Erech and see the exploits of the giant Izdubar, and he declared that he would bring a Midannu, most probably a tiger, to Erech, in order to make trial of the strength of Izdubar, and to see if he could destroy it.

The Midannu is mentioned in the Assyrian texts as a fierce carnivorous animal allied to the lion and leopard; it is called Midannu, Mindinu, and Mandinu. In a list of animals it is associated with the dumamu or cat.

In the fifth column, after the description of the festivities which followed the arrival of Hea-bani, there appears a break between lines 15 and 16, some part of the original story being probably omitted here. The Assyrian copy probably is here defective, at least one line being lost. The portion here omitted seems to have stated that the following speech was made by the mother of Izdubar, who figures prominently in the earlier part of these legends.

Chapter XIII.
DESTRUCTION OF THE TYRANT KHUMBABA.

Mythical geography.—Forest region.—Khumbaba.—Conversation.—Petition to Samas.—Journey to forest.—Dwelling of Khumbaba.—Entrance to forest.—Meeting with Khumbaba.—Death of Khumbaba.—Izdubar king.

The wretchedly mutilated condition of the fragments that belong to the two next tablets or books of the Epic makes it impossible to ascertain their correct order and arrangement. The arrangement given here, accordingly, must be regarded as merely provisional. It may, however, be taken as certain that they all form part of the fourth and fifth tablets, and relate the contest between Izdubar and Khumbaba.

Khumbaba, the Kombabos of the Greeks, was the prototype of Geryon. He dwelt far away in the forest of pines and sherbin cedars, where the gods and spirits had their abode. It was, consequently, in the cold region of the Accadian Olympus, now Mount Elwend, that he was placed by the old mythology, and the similarity of his name to that of the Elamite god Khumba or Khumbume makes it possible that he was originally identical with the latter. In this case the antagonism between Khumbaba and Izdubar would have been merely a reflection of the antagonism that existed between the inhabitants of Babylonia and the subjects of the Elamite empire. Mr. Smith even thought that the overthrow of Khumbaba might have been an echo of the overthrow of some Elamite dynasty by a Chaldean one.

In the case of the fourth tablet Mr. Smith believed that he had found fragments of all six columns, but some of these fragments are useless until we have further fragments to complete them.