Humbaba (Ḫumbaba; 𒄷𒌝𒁀𒁀 , Ḫûmbaba , with an optional determinative 𒀭 ), originally known as Ḫuwawa in Sumerian ( 𒄷𒉿𒉿 , Ḫuwawa ), was a figure in Mesopotamian mythology . The origin and meaning of his name are unknown. He was portrayed as an anthropomorphic figure comparable to an ogre or giant . He is best known from Sumerian and Akkadian narratives focused on the hero Gilgamesh , including short compositions belonging to the curriculum of scribal schools , various versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh , and several Hurrian and Hittite adaptations. He is invariably portrayed as the inhabitant or guardian of the cedar forest , to which Gilgamesh ventures with his companion Enkidu. The subsequent encounter leads to the death of Humbaba, which provokes the anger of the gods. Humbaba is also attested in other works of Mesopotamian literature. Multiple depictions of him have also been identified, including combat scenes and apotropaic clay heads.
149-497: It has been suggested that the iconography of Humbaba influenced depictions of the gorgons in Greece , in particular scenes of Perseus slaying Medusa with the help of Athena . A late derivative of Humbaba also seems to be found in both Jewish and Manichaean versions of the Book of Giants , where one of the eponymous beings is referred to as Ḥôbabiš, Ḥôbabis or Ḥōbāīš. While it is agreed
298-619: A Hurrian literary text using it is also known. However, no sources indicate that Humbaba was necessarily regarded as a god. In modern literature, he is variously described as an " ogre ", "demon" or "giant". In a passage from one of the Old Babylonian copies of the Epic of Gilgamesh , he is described as ḫarḫaru , based on context presumably "ogre", "monster" or "freak". He is generally portrayed as anthropomorphic . Humbaba’s name shows no obvious signs of specific linguistic affiliation and its meaning
447-502: A "snap, crackle, pop" when one pours on milk. During the 1930s, the illustrator Vernon Grant developed Snap, Crackle and Pop as gnome-like mascots for the Kellogg Company . Sounds appear in road safety advertisements: "clunk click, every trip" (click the seatbelt on after clunking the car door closed; UK campaign) or "click, clack, front and back" (click, clack of connecting the seat belts ; AU campaign) or "make it click" (click of
596-460: A Babylonian king would, though the musicians entertaining him are animals rather than humans, reflecting a motif well attested in Mesopotamian art : Through all the forest a bird began to sing: [...] were answering one another, a constant din was the noise, A solitary(?) tree-cricket set off a noisy chorus, [...] were singing a song, making the [...] pipe loud. A wood pigeon was moaning,
745-640: A concept mimetically and performatively rather than referentially, but different from onomatopoeia in that they aren't just imitative of sounds. For example, shiinto represents something being silent, just as how an anglophone might say "clatter, crash, bang!" to represent something being noisy. That "representative" or "performative" aspect is the similarity to onomatopoeia. Sometimes Japanese onomatopoeia produces reduplicated words. As in Japanese, onomatopoeia in Hebrew sometimes produces reduplicated verbs: There
894-475: A curse. Onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism ) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as oink , meow , roar , and chirp . Onomatopoeia can differ by language: it conforms to some extent to the broader linguistic system. Hence,
1043-447: A dagger and stabs Humbaba in the neck. Enkidu then eviscerates him and pulls out his teeth; it has been suggested that the passage draws inspiration from imagery associated with elephant hunts, historically performed in Syria by both Mesopotamian and Egyptian rulers, and that the teeth might specifically be elephant-like tusks . Al-Rawi and George note that while it was already known before
1192-455: A device (an apotropaion ) to ward away unwanted things, and which was in origin a dancer-worn mask. The classic formulation of this view is that of Jane Ellen Harrison , the gorgoneion as a "ritual mask misunderstood": ... in her essence Medusa is a head and nothing more; her potency only begins when her head is severed, and that potency resides in the head; she is in a word a mask with a body later appended. The primitive Greek knew that there
1341-584: A different geopolitical situation, with closer links developing between Mesopotamia and western peoples and states in the Middle Euphrates and Khabur areas. Another possibility is that the change was influenced by the traditions focused on legendary deeds of the kings of the Akkadian Empire , as Naram-Sin was famed for seeking cedars in the Amanus Mountains in the west. According to Andrew R. George
1490-559: A fight follows. It contains elements absent from the Akkadian original, namely Gilgamesh and Enkidu dragging Humbaba by the hair, as well as apparent involvement of animals referred to simply as unidentified “ equids ” by Mary R. Bachvarova but as “posted horses” by Beckman in a more recent treatment of the text. Gilgamesh is then temporarily incapacitated by a dust cloud and asks the Sun god of Heaven for help, receiving nine (rather than thirteen, like in
1639-465: A figure directly identified with Humbaba in this context instead. The elders of Uruk also warn Gilgamesh about Humbaba, but he rejects the pleas and embarks on the journey to the cedar forest alongside Enkidu. The surviving copy of this section on the Yale tablet breaks off before the confrontation with Humbaba occurs. However, further details are provided by other, shorter fragments, which indicate that during
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#17328517936291788-601: A full-bodied Gorgon) depicted in relief being displayed at the Temple of Zeus at Olympia . There has been considerable and wide-ranging speculation concerning the possible origins of the story of Perseus and the Gorgons, as well as gorgoneia, the representations of Gorgon faces. The origins of the Perseus-Gorgon story, and gorgoneia, even with respect to each other, are uncertain. The Perseus-Gorgon story might have come first inspiring
1937-502: A group of soldiers, seemingly serving as a replacement for the assembly of elders from the Mesopotamian original. The heroes similarly embark on the journey, cross the Mala river ( Euphrates ), and after sixteen days reach Humbaba’s dwelling. For unknown reasons the section of the narrative focused on Gilgamesh’s dreams about Humbaba was omitted, despite being preserved in the Akkadian version of
2086-615: A group of wearable helmet masks from Tiryns , and another group of non-wearable votive masks from the Sanctuary of Orthia at Sparta , which share some features with the typical earliest representations of Gorgon faces. If such masks were in fact intended to represent the face of a Gorgon, then they would show that Gorgons or gorgoneia played a role in some kind of ritualistic or dramatic practice or performance. The gorgonesque votive masks from Sparta have deep S-shaped furrows on either side of wide-mouthed grimaces. Such features resemble those on
2235-431: A leather bag. The protagonists take their trophy to the god Enlil , angering him, possibly because he finds the abuse of Humbaba’s trust unacceptable. He states that Gilgamesh should have treated him with respect, and that they both deserved to be similarly honored. However, neither Gilgamesh or Enkidu are punished for their actions in the end. Enlil subsequently redistributes Humbaba’s auras: He gave Ḫuwawa’s first aura to
2384-724: A mythological lake set somewhere in westernmost North Africa. And the fifth-century BC poet Pindar has Perseus, apparently on his quest for the Gorgon head, visit the Hyperboreans (usually considered to dwell in the far north). However, whether Pindar means to imply that the Gorgons lived near the Hyperboreans is unclear. Pherecydes notes that Medusa's face turned men to stone, and Pindar describes Medusa's severed head as "stony death". In Prometheus Bound , it says that no mortal can look at them and live. According to Apollodorus, all three of
2533-435: A new word, up to the point that the process is no longer recognized as onomatopoeia. One example is the English word bleat for sheep noise: in medieval times it was pronounced approximately as blairt (but without an R-component), or blet with the vowel drawled, which more closely resembles a sheep noise than the modern pronunciation. An example of the opposite case is cuckoo , which, due to continuous familiarity with
2682-702: A particular sound is heard similarly by people of different cultures, it is often expressed through the use of different phonetic strings in different languages. For example, the " snip "of a pair of scissors is cri-cri in Italian , riqui-riqui in Spanish , terre-terre or treque-treque in Portuguese , krits-krits in modern Greek , cëk-cëk in Albanian , and kaṭr-kaṭr in Hindi . Similarly,
2831-451: A reference to Athena's aegis . In the Iliad , the aegis is a device, usually associated with Athena , which was decorated with a Gorgon head. Athena wore it in battle as a shield which neither Apollo 's spear, or even Zeus ' thunderbolt could pierce. According to the Iliad , Hephaestus made the aegis for Zeus, while according to a Hesiod fragment, Metis made it for Athena, before Athena
2980-508: A representation of the sounds he was believed to make. He assumes the myths involving him served as an etiology meant to explain this custom. The phonetically similar names of a stone, ḫúb-be-be , and a lizard, ḫuwawītum , were both derived from Humbaba's own. While such a possibility has been suggested in older scholarship, the name Ḫumḫum does not refer to Humbaba, but to an unrelated minor god worshiped in Dūr-Šarrukku , as attested in
3129-449: A round or angular shape, has been tested to see how languages symbolize sounds. The Japanese language has a large inventory of ideophone words that are symbolic sounds. These are used in contexts ranging from day-to-day conversation to serious news. These words fall into four categories: The two former correspond directly to the concept of onomatopoeia, while the two latter are similar to onomatopoeia in that they are intended to represent
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#17328517936293278-466: A sound in a word, or a phoneme , is related to a sound in an environment, and are restricted in part by a language's own phonetic inventory, hence why many languages can have distinct onomatopoeia for the same natural sound. Depending on a language's connection to a sound's meaning, that language's onomatopoeia inventory can differ proportionally. For example, a language like English generally holds little symbolic representation when it comes to sounds, which
3427-415: A striking resemblance to a seal impression from Nuzi c. 1450 BC. This suggests the possibility that Greeks misinterpreted or reinterpreted these Mesopotamian images, giving rise, through a process that Burkert has described as a "creative misunderstanding", to the myth of the Gorgon's petrifying gaze. The consensus among classical scholars seems to be that the function of a gorgoneion was apotropaic , as
3576-528: A text from the reign of Esarhaddon mentioning the return of his statue. It has also been argued that Humbaba was derived from the Elamite god Humban , but according to Andrew R. George this proposal is not plausible in the light of available evidence, and the most recent attempt at justifying this connection, undertaken by John Hansman in the 1970s, rests on "unsafe historical conclusions". Humbaba appears in multiple works of Mesopotamian literature focused on
3725-463: A turtle dove calling in answer. At the call of the stork , the forest exults, at the cry of the francolin , the forest exults in plenty. Monkey mothers sing aloud, a youngster monkey shrieks: like a band(?) of musicians and drummers(?), daily they bash out a rhythm in the presence of Ḫumbaba. In a broken passage, Humbaba learns about the arrival of intruders in his forest, seemingly guesses that one of them must be Enkidu, who he already met in
3874-659: A villain named Onomatopoeia , an athlete, martial artist, and weapons expert, who is known to verbally speak sounds ( i.e. , to voice onomatopoeic words such as "crash" and "snap" out loud to accompany the applicable event). Advertising uses onomatopoeia for mnemonic purposes, so that consumers will remember their products, as in Alka-Seltzer 's "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz. Oh, what a relief it is!" jingle, recorded in two different versions (big band and rock) by Sammy Davis Jr. Rice Krispies (known as Rice Bubbles in Australia) make
4023-714: Is a documented correlation within the Malay language of onomatopoeia that begin with the sound bu- and the implication of something that is rounded, as well as with the sound of -lok within a word conveying curvature in such words like lok , kelok and telok ('locomotive', 'cove', and 'curve' respectively). The Qur'an, written in Arabic, documents instances of onomatopoeia. Of about 77,701 words, there are nine words that are onomatopoeic: three are animal sounds (e.g., mooing ), two are sounds of nature (e.g., thunder ), and four that are human sounds (e.g., whisper or groan ). There
4172-667: Is also guarded by the god Wer : How can we go, my friend, to the Forest of Cedar? The one who guards it is Wēr, he is mighty, never sleeping. Ḫuwawa was appointed by Wēr, Adad is the first, he the second! In order to safeguard the cedar, Enlil assigned him the Seven Terrors. Andrew R. George assumes that Wer was nominally the ruler of the forest, and appointed Humbaba as his second in command, with Enlil only being responsible for confirming this decision. Daniel Fleming and Sara J. Milstein instead argue that Wer should be interpreted as
4321-456: Is an English word from the Ancient Greek compound ὀνοματοποιία, onomatopoiía , meaning 'name-making', composed of ὄνομα, ónoma , meaning "name"; and ποιέω, poiéō , meaning "making". It is pronounced / ˌ ɒ n ə m æ t ə ˈ p iː ə , - m ɑː t -/ . Words that imitate sounds can thus be said to be onomatopoeic , onomatopoetic , imitiative , or echoic . In
4470-426: Is defined simply as the imitation of some kind of non-vocal sound using the vocal sounds of a language, like the hum of a bee being imitated with a "buzz" sound. In another sense, it is described as the phenomena of making a new word entirely. Onomatopoeia works in the sense of symbolizing an idea in a phonological context, not necessarily constituting a direct meaningful word in the process. The symbolic properties of
4619-567: Is named for the sound it makes: the zip (in the UK) or zipper (in the U.S.) Many birds are named after their calls, such as the bobwhite quail , the weero , the morepork , the killdeer , chickadees and jays , the cuckoo , the chiffchaff , the whooping crane , the whip-poor-will , and the kookaburra . In Tamil and Malayalam , the word for crow is kākā . This practice is especially common in certain languages such as Māori , and so in names of animals borrowed from these languages. Although
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4768-408: Is no indication that his appearance was distinct from that of a human, and he is chiefly set apart from mortals by his supernatural powers. The source of his invulnerability are his seven “auras” or “terrors”, Sumerian ni 2 or me 2 -lam . While a singular aura was a common attribute of deities, seven auras are for the most part exclusively attested in connection to Humbaba, though an exception,
4917-457: Is nonetheless mentioned again when Enkidu relays the dream he had in which the gods judged his actions and despite the pleas of Shamash declared he has to die because of the role he played in the deaths of the guardian of the cedar forest and the Bull of Heaven , apparently with nearly immediate effect. Humbaba’s curse thus comes true. His demise is also mentioned by Gilgamesh when he introduces himself to
5066-480: Is not one for the making, that man is not one for the seeing. He who guards the Forest of Cedar, his (...) are wide, Ḫumbaba, his voice is the Deluge, his speech is fire, his breath is death. He hears the forest’s murmur for sixty leagues; who is there that would venture into his forest? However, eventually the two heroes decide to embark together. While leaving, Gilgamesh mentions Humbaba announcing his plans to
5215-402: Is only a servant: O Enkidu, you use wicked words to him about me, a hired man is hired for rations, behind another such man he follows. Why use wicked words to him? In response, Enkidu cuts his throat. This constitutes a reversal, as through the earlier sections of the story he was meant to act as a voice of reason, advising Gilgamesh to act cautiously. He then cuts off his head and places it in
5364-501: Is possible that the mythology and/or the iconography of Gorgons were subject to Near-Eastern influence. In particular elements of full-bodied Gorgon iconography seem to have been borrowed from that of the Mesopotamian Lamashtu . Mesopotamian depictions of Gilgamesh slaying Humbaba , may have influenced the Perseus-Gorgon story, while gorgoneia may be connected to images of Humbaba. The Gorgon as Mistress of Animals , in
5513-491: Is preserved on the Sulaymaniyah copy, and constitutes one of the only known passages in Mesopotamian literature focused on landscape. It highlights the beauty of the entangled trees and states that the entire area was scented with cedar resin. Al-Rawi and George note that in light of the following passage, Humbaba himself is portrayed not as a “barbarian ogre”, but rather as a foreign ruler enjoying music in his court much like how
5662-620: Is presumed that similar reading of the name, even when it was written as Ḫu-wa-wa , might have also been the norm elsewhere in Syria , for example in Alalakh , as well as in Hittite and Hurrian sources, which might indicate Ḫuppipi was the default form in both north and west of the Mesopotamian cultural sphere of influence. Unique forms showing inflection are attested in copies from Ugarit ( nominative Ḫu-ba-bu , genitive Ḫu-ba-bi ) and from Assyria from
5811-527: Is the phrase "furrow followed free" in Samuel Taylor Coleridge 's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner . The words "followed" and "free" are not onomatopoeic in themselves, but in conjunction with "furrow" they reproduce the sound of ripples following in the wake of a speeding ship. Similarly, alliteration has been used in the line "as the surf surged up the sun swept shore ..." to recreate
5960-410: Is the reason English tends to have a smaller representation of sound mimicry than a language like Japanese, which overall has a much higher amount of symbolism related to the sounds of the language. In ancient Greek philosophy, onomatopoeia was used as evidence for how natural a language was: it was theorized that language itself was derived from natural sounds in the world around us. Symbolism in sounds
6109-541: Is unknown. Similarly structured names are sometimes referred to as “banana names” in Assyriology . It is sometimes assumed that they belong to a linguistic substrate , but this view is not universally accepted, and it is not certain if all of them come from the same language. Frans Wiggermann instead suggests that Humbaba’s name might have originally been an onomatopoeia : he argues he was in origin an apotropaic grinning face hung on doors to ward off evil, with his name being
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6258-416: Is used to reflect an object's state of disarray or separation, and shiiin is the onomatopoetic form of absolute silence (used at the time an English speaker might expect to hear the sound of crickets chirping or a pin dropping in a silent room, or someone coughing). In Albanian, tartarec is used to describe someone who is hasty. It is used in English as well with terms like bling , which describes
6407-844: Is wide array of objects and animals in the Albanian language that have been named after the sound they produce. Such onomatopoeic words are shkrepse (matches), named after the distinct sound of friction and ignition of the match head; take-tuke (ashtray) mimicking the sound it makes when placed on a table; shi (rain) resembling the continuous sound of pouring rain; kukumjaçkë ( Little owl ) after its "cuckoo" hoot; furçë (brush) for its rustling sound; shapka (slippers and flip-flops); pordhë (loud flatulence) and fëndë (silent flatulence). In Hindi and Urdu , onomatopoeic words like bak-bak, cūr-cūr are used to indicate silly talk. Other examples of onomatopoeic words being used to represent actions are phaṭāphaṭ (to do something fast), dhak-dhak (to represent fear with
6556-663: The Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae ( LIMC ). In addition to the many examples found on vase paintings, Gorgons occur in a wide variety of other contexts, including architectural ornamentation, shield devices, and coins. Some representations show full-bodied Gorgons, while others, called gorgoneia , show only the face (or head) of a Gorgon, such as those described in the Iliad as appearing on Athena 's aegis , and Agamemnon 's shield. The earliest representations of both types are found from roughly
6705-506: The Ballad of Early Rulers itself is, as argued by Bendt Alster, a drinking song -like composition which brings up legendary ancient rulers as a pretext to explain the need to enjoy the present. It references other works in a seemingly humorous context, with the message possibly being comparable to the later carpe diem motif. In addition to Humbaba it also mentions Alulim , Etana , Gilgamesh , Ziusudra , Enkidu , Bazi and Zizi . Presumably
6854-472: The Epic of Gilgamesh and its forerunners. He is referenced in the so-called Ballad of Early Rulers . This text is known from Mesopotamia, as well as from Ugarit and Emar , and constitutes an example of so-called “ wisdom literature ”. The line mentioning him is preserved in multiple copies of the text: Where is Ḫuwawa, who was caught in submission? It seemingly reflects a tradition in which he did not die after his confrontation with Gilgamesh. The text of
7003-519: The Epic of Gilgamesh , which shows a degree of Hurrian influence and uses a number of Hurrianized names, is known as the Song of Gilgamesh , though despite the title it is written in prose . It has been noted that its author seemingly showed a particular interest in the Humbaba narrative. The guardian of the cedar forest is first referenced when Gilgamesh states he would like to see him while meeting with Enkidu and
7152-518: The Iliad , the Gorgon's "glaring" eyes were a notably fearsome feature. As Hector pursues the fleeing Achaeans, "exulting in his might" ... ever slaying the hindmost", Homer describes the Trojan hero as having eyes like "the eyes of the Gorgon". And in the Odyssey , Odysseus , although determined "steadfastly" to stay in the underworld , so as to meet other great men among the dead, is seized by such fear at
7301-629: The Middle Assyrian period ( accusative Ḫu-ba-ba and genitive Ḫu-be-be ). Additionally abbreviated forms, Ḫuwa and Ḫu, are known from an Old Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh presently belonging to the Schøyen Collection . Many of the variants of Humbaba's name are attested both with and without the so-called "divine determinative " ( dingir ). Examples of its use have been identified in texts from Kish , Ur , Nerebtum , Susa and possibly Larsa and Shaduppum . A fragment of
7450-643: The Sulaymaniyah Museum acquired another example, dated to the Neo-Babylonian period and identified as a fragment of Epic of Gilgamesh by Farouk Al-Rawi, who subsequently prepared a translation alongside Andrew R. George, with additional help from Kamal Rashid Rahim, the director of antiquities in Sulaymaniyah , Hashim Hama Abdullah, the director of the Sulaymaniyah Museum, and other staff members of
7599-550: The Temple of Apollo at Delphi (latter part of the sixth century BC). In Euripides 's Ion (c. 412–412 BC), the Chorus describes seeing, on the temple's stone walls, Athena "brandishing her gorgon shield" against Enceladus. Pausanias describes seeing a votive golden shield dedicated by the Spartans and their allies after the Battle of Tanagra (457 BC), with a gorgoneion (or possibly
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#17328517936297748-553: The Ur III period . The modern spelling reflects the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian copies of the Epic of Gilgamesh , where it is consistently written in cuneiform as Ḫum-ba-ba , but this variant is not attested before the first millennium BCE. The oldest attested form is conventionally rendered as Ḫuwawa, though multiple cuneiform spellings are attested: Ḫu-wa-wa , Ḫu-ba-ba and Ḫu -Ú-Ú,
7897-753: The " honk " of a car's horn is ba-ba ( Han : 叭叭 ) in Mandarin , tut-tut in French , pu-pu in Japanese , bbang-bbang in Korean , bært-bært in Norwegian , fom-fom in Portuguese and bim-bim in Vietnamese . An onomatopoeic effect can also be produced in a phrase or word string with the help of alliteration and consonance alone, without using any onomatopoeic words. The most famous example
8046-541: The Akkadian version provides him with a new power instead: his voice has supernatural properties, with the copy of the epic presently in the Yale Babylonian Collection stating that "his voice is the Deluge , his mouth is fire, his breath is death" and a fragment from Tell Ishchali attributing the formation of Sirion and Lebanon to his roar. Another new addition is a reference to the possibility of defeating him with
8195-421: The Akkadian version) winds as a result, which leads to the immobilization of Humbaba, who offers to become his slave: Huwawa said to Gilgamesh, “Release me, O Gilgamesh! You shall be my lord and I shall be your slave. Take(?) the cedars that I have raised for you. I will fell mighty beams(?) for you in [… ] And a palace […]” However, Enkidu advises him to show no mercy. Humbaba's death is not directly described in
8344-601: The Ancient Greek adjective gorgós ( γοργός ), which, of an eye or look, means 'grim, fierce, awesome, dazzling', and is thought to derive from the Sanskrit stem garğ . The stem has connotations of noise, and Germanic and Romance languages have many derivatives from this stem referring to the throat (e.g. 'gorge') or the guttural sounds produced in the throat (e.g. 'gargle', 'gurgle'). It has been understood as meaning to growl, roar or howl, while Thalia Feldman suggests that
8493-559: The Gorgon being beheaded on the Boeotian pithos is depicted as a female centaur , with neither wings nor snakes present, and the Gorgons on the Eleusis Amphora, have wingless, wasp-shaped bodies with cauldron-like heads, by the end of the seventh century BC, humanoid bodies, with wings, and snakes around their head, necks, or waist, such as depicted on the Medusa pediment, become typical. Unlike
8642-516: The Gorgons chasing Perseus also had "horrible snaky hair", so too in Prometheus Bound where all three Gorgons are described as "winged" as well as "snake-haired". The Gorgon's reputation for ugliness was such that the Athenian comic playwright Aristophones could, in 405 BC, ridicule the women of the Athenian deme Teithras by referring to them as Gorgons. The mythographer Apollodorus gives
8791-545: The Gorgons could turn to stone anyone who saw them. Stheno and Euryale were immortal, whereas Medusa was mortal. According to Apollodorus' version of their story, Perseus was ordered by Polydectes (his enemy) to bring back the head of Medusa. So guided by Hermes and Athena , he sought out the sisters of the Gorgons, the Graeae who had only one eye and one tooth which they shared. Perseus managed to steal their eye and tooth, and refused to return them, unless they would show him
8940-478: The Gorgons, other than to say that the two Gorgons, Sthenno, and Euryale did not grow old. Homer mentions only "the Gorgon" (otherwise unnamed) giving brief descriptions of her, and her head. In the Iliad she is called a "dread monster" and the image of her head, which appears—along with several other terrifying images—on Athena 's aegis , and Agamemnon 's shield, is described as "dread and awful", and "grim of aspect, glaring terribly". Already in
9089-468: The Hittite fragments influenced by it. It is however possible that in another passage Gilgamesh recollects the confrontation with Humbaba to the latter character. While the ending is not preserved, Bachvarova speculates that Humbaba might have either survived his meeting with Gilgamesh or Enkidu, or that his death was presented as a tragic event. Humbaba is also attested in a number of textual sources other than
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#17328517936299238-562: The Kassite period. More precise dating is difficult due to small number of known fragments dated to the times between the Old Babylonian epic and the new canonical edition, though it can be assumed that it cannot be more recent than 1150 BCE due to the absence of references to either Marduk or Assur, the main Mesopotamian gods in the first millennium BCE. The Humbaba narrative occupies the fifth tablet, with copies recovered from Nineveh ( Neo-Assyrian ) and Uruk (Late Babylonian). Furthermore, in 2011
9387-628: The Medusa pediment from the temple of Artemis in Corfu (Fig. 6) shows affinities with images of Lamashtu. As Walter Burkert has noted, Lamashtu has several characteristic iconographic elements which include an animalistic head atop a humanoid body, often in the Knielauf (kneeling-running) position, with the presence of snakes, a horse or ass, animal offspring, and sometimes in the Mistress of Animals configuration. All of these elements are present, for example, in
9536-475: The Medusa pediment. Images which show Perseus, with head turned away, decapitating Medusa (Figs. 1, 7), resemble Mesopotamian depictions of Gilgamesh slaying the wild man Humbaba . Such depictions can show Gilgamesh with head turned away looking behind him for a goddess to pass him a weapon. In particular, a bronze shield strap from Olympia (mid-sixth century BC), which shows Perseus with his head turned away about to decapitate Medusa, assisted by Athena, bears
9685-580: The Perseus-Medusa story. The earliest representations (mid-seventh century BC) of such Gorgons are a Boeotian relief pithos (Fig. 1), which depicts Perseus, with head turned away, decapitating a Gorgon, and the Eleusis Amphora (Fig. 2), which shows two Gorgons chasing Perseus fleeing with a severed Gorgon head. That the Perseus on the pithos averts his gaze shows that already in these earliest images it
9834-499: The Sanskrit garğ , with its connotations of a growling beast—was also part of their mythology. The Hesiodic Shield of Heracles (c. late seventh–mid-sixth century BC), which describes Heracles' shield, has the Gorgons depicted on it chasing Perseus, with their shrill cry seemingly being heard emanating from the shield itself: The Gorgons, dreadful and unspeakable, were rushing after him, eager to catch him; as they ran on
9983-486: The accounts differ and the latter might instead describe the fate of an unidentified figure belonging to his household. The former indicates that his demise was accompanied by an earthquake. After the Old Babylonian period a new version of the epic referred to as “Standard Babylonian” or as the “Twelve Tablet Edition” emerged. Neo-Assyrian sources attribute this version of the Epic to the scribe Sin-leqa-unninni, who likely lived in
10132-530: The alewife Siduri . Myths about Gilgamesh were adopted by Hurrians and Hittites . Both Hurrian and Hittite adaptations and circulation of Akkadian texts are attested. However, according to Gary Beckman , at least in Hattusa they were only used as scribal exercises and possibly as courtly entertainment. In the Catalogue des Textes Hittites , all of them are classified under entry CTH 341. The Hittite adaptation of
10281-639: The appearance of both adult and newborn humans as well as newborn lambs, considered comparable to that of the mythical figure due to the presence of a bulbous nose and large eyes. Additionally, the entrails of sacrificial animals used in hepatoscopy could be compared to Humbaba’s face, and a depiction of him representing his face as resembling the intestines of a sheep is known. Gorgon The Gorgons ( / ˈ ɡ ɔːr ɡ ən z / GOR -gənz ; Ancient Greek : Γοργώνες ), in Greek mythology , are three monstrous sisters, Stheno, Euryale , and Medusa , said to be
10430-426: The battle begins, with the ferocity of the three participants splitting the mountain apart. It continues until Shamash sends thirteen winds to tilt the scales in favor of Gilgamesh. He earlier prepared them at the request of Gilgamesh's mother, Ninsun. Humbaba is immobilized and blinded, and starts to beg for his life. He praises Gilgamesh, highlighting his descent from Ninsun, and offers that if kept alive, he will guard
10579-464: The bird noise down the centuries, has kept approximately the same pronunciation as in Anglo-Saxon times and its vowels have not changed as they have in the word furrow . Verba dicendi ('words of saying') are a method of integrating onomatopoeic words and ideophones into grammar. Sometimes, things are named from the sounds they make. In English, for example, there is the universal fastener which
10728-625: The bottoms of bowls and cups. As with full-bodied Gorgons the earliest representations are found from the mid-sixth century BC. The earliest example of a "beautiful" gorgoneion is the Medusa Rondanini (Fig. 19), which is thought to be a Roman copy of a Greek original dated to either the fifth-century BC or the Hellenistic period. Athena's victory over the Giant Enceladus —with a gorgoneion on her shield—was apparently depicted on
10877-672: The case of a frog croaking, the spelling may vary because different frog species around the world make different sounds: Ancient Greek brekekekex koax koax (only in Aristophanes ' comic play The Frogs ) probably for marsh frogs ; English ribbit for species of frog found in North America; English verb croak for the common frog . Some other very common English-language examples are hiccup , zoom , bang , beep , moo , and splash . Machines and their sounds are also often described with onomatopoeia: honk or beep-beep for
11026-487: The closest meaning for the stem might be the onomatopoeic grrr of a growling beast. According to Hesiod and Apollodorus , the Gorgons were daughters of the primordial sea-god Phorcys and the sea-monster Ceto , and the sisters of three other daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, the Graeae . However, according to Hyginus , they were daughters of "the Gorgon", an offspring of Typhon and Echidna , and Ceto, while Euripides , in his tragedy Ion , has "the Gorgon" being
11175-469: The compilers of the epic. While no known sources describe the battle between Humbaba and Gilgamesh, a fragment from Tell Harmal seemingly does detail his submission, and might indicate that in this version he knew about his incoming defeat due to a dream vision sent by Shamash. A reference to his death occurs on a tablet from Tell Ishchali, and possibly on an unprovenanced one presently held in Baghdad , though
11324-427: The confrontation between the heroes and Humbaba takes place after Enkidu already became close to Gilgamesh and has been adopted by Ninsun , the insults in addition to targeting what can be assumed to be his vulnerable spot also undermine his newly acquired status as a member of Gilgamesh's family. After Humbaba's speech, Gilgamesh loses his bravado and doubts if he can succeed, but Enkidu encourages him to not give up and
11473-400: The creation of circumstances favorable to mankind. This scene seemingly reflects the perception of Humbaba as an evil force who had to be vanquished, present elsewhere in the epic, rather than the speech directly preceding it, which the translators compare to the actions a murderer rapidly coming up with a justification for the act by blaming the victim, which according to their judgment adds “to
11622-441: The daughters of Phorcys and Ceto . They lived near their sisters the Graeae , and were able to turn anyone who looked at them to stone. Euryale and Stheno were immortal, but Medusa was not and was slain by the hero Perseus . Gorgons were dread monsters with terrifying eyes. A Gorgon head was displayed on Athena 's aegis , giving it the power both to protect her from any weapon, and instill great fear in any enemy. Gorgon blood
11771-623: The depictions of gods and heroes, which are usually shown in profile, Archaic Gorgons, even when their bodies are presented in profile (usually running), their heads are (as noted above) always turned frontally displaying their full face, directly gazing at the viewer. Of the depictions of ancient Greek demons, the gorgoneion is, by far, the most frequently occurring. Thought to have had an apotropaic (protective) function, gorgoneia are often found on architectural elements such as temple pediments, and ornamental antefixes and acroteria , or decorating various round objects, such as shields, coins, and
11920-547: The development of gorgoneia, or gorgoneia might have come first, in which case the Perseus story might have served an etiological function, as an origin myth , developed as a way to explain where gorgoneia had come from. It is also possible that the Perseus story and gorgoneia developed independently, but later converged. Since the earliest literary and iconographic evidence of both the Perseus story and gorgoneia are roughly contemporaneous, such evidence seems unable to definitively distinguish between any of these three scenarios. It
12069-475: The discovery of the Sulaymaniyah copy that the heroes are aware that the slaying of Humbaba would be an affront of the gods, which presumably indicates it was immoral from the point of view of the compilers, the passage highlighting this is better preserved in it, revealing that after Humbaba’s death Enkidu suddenly laments that their actions “have reduced the forest to a wasteland” and fearfully imagines Enlil questioning them. The same tablet indicates that afterwards
12218-528: The early standalone Gilgamesh narratives. A number of the early compositions about Gilgamesh were eventually adapted into the form of a singular epic , possibly either during the reign of Rim-Sîn I of Larsa or Hammurabi and Samsu-iluna of Babylon . The Humbaba narrative was among them, though the version known from the Epic of Gilgamesh is not a direct translation of the Sumerian texts, but rather an original composition influenced by them. As an explanation
12367-615: The edge of night where the Hesperides (and the Graeae?) live. The Cypria apparently had the Gorgons living in Oceanus on a rocky island named Sarpedon. Aeschylus 's Prometheus Bound places them in the far east "across the surging sea" on the "Gorgonean plains of Cisthene", where the Graeae live, while his lost play Phorkides (another name for the Graeae) apparently placed them at "Lake Tritonis",
12516-437: The encounter with its inhabitant. In contrast with the older Humbaba narratives, where he lives in the east, in the Old Babylonian version of the Epic he becomes a denizen of the west. Individual copies make references to the cedar forest being located in northern Syria or in its proximity, with direct references to Sirion and Lebanon , or alternatively Ebla and lands inhabited by Amorites . The change presumably reflected
12665-532: The epic known to the Hittites. Humbaba notices Gilgamesh and Enkidu immediately after their arrival, and wonders why did they enter the forest. It is possible that the subsequent passage contains a reference to his musicians, best known from the Sulaymaniyah Museum copy of the Standard Babylonian version, which might indicate the events of tablet V of the latter version reflect an older tradition. Humbaba spots
12814-464: The existence of an independent Akkadian account of the battle between Humbaba and the heroes, later incorporated into the Epic , has been proposed by Daniel E. Fleming and Sara J. Milstein. The incorporation of Humbaba into the Epic of Gilgamesh is already attested in the Old Babylonian period . Multiple known copies preserve the section focused on Gilgamesh’s journey to the cedar forest and on
12963-496: The existence of hitherto unknown western Humbaba-centric narratives as a possibility. The presumed existence of a standalone Hurrian Humbaba narrative might also support the proposal that a now lost Akkadian epic focused on the confrontation between him and Gilgamesh existed, as originally proposed by Daniel E. Fleming and Sara J. Milstein. The surviving fragments presumably do not constitute a direct adaptation of any Mesopotamian work, and according to Beckman can instead be compared to
13112-423: The fields. He gave his second aura to the rivers. He gave his third aura to the reed-beds. He gave his fourth aura to the lions. He gave his fifth aura to the palace. He gave his sixth aura to the forests. He gave his seventh aura to Nungal . One of the copies might mention Humbaba in the closing formulaic doxology alongside Gilgamesh and Enkidu, which would indicate a degree of veneration, though
13261-404: The forest on his behalf. However, Enkidu urges him to ignore his pleas. Wasserman argues that while he did not respond to Humbaba's insults in the earlier section of the text, it can be assumed that his choice in this passage was likely triggered by them. Humbaba tries to ask him to change his mind, but he is ignored once again. Enkidu instead urges Gilgamesh to kill him quickly to avoid the anger of
13410-460: The forest without prior notice. He is described as a fearsome figure with a strange face by the elders of Uruk, while Enkidu states that “everything is altered” about his appearance. However, there is no indication that he was necessarily larger than a human, and his power similarly as in earlier texts derives from his auras, here designated by the Akkadian words melammū . In contrast with the Sumerian narratives, they do not render him invulnerable, but
13559-414: The fourth century BC. One of the earliest such "beautiful" Gorgons (mid-fifth century BC) is a red-figure pelike (Fig. 11), which shows Perseus, with head turned away, about to behead a sleeping Medusa. While gorgoneia continue to be ubiquitous through the end of antiquity, after the fourth century BC full-bodied Gorgons ceased to be represented. Full-bodied Gorgons are usually shown in connection with
13708-526: The glinting of light on things like gold, chrome or precious stones. In Japanese, kirakira is used for glittery things. A key component of language is its arbitrariness and what a word can represent, as a word is a sound created by humans with attached meaning to said sound. It is not possible to determine the meaning of a word purely by how it sounds. However, in onomatopoeic words, these sounds are much less arbitrary; they are connected in their imitation of other objects or sounds in nature. Vocal sounds in
13857-517: The god Enki to help him, which the latter does by apparently providing the instructions for tricking Humbaba through Enkidu, enabling the rest of the events to unfold similarly. However, only the footwear is mentioned among the offered gifts. The ending of version B is not preserved, but it is sometimes argued that Humbaba was spared in it. The defeat of Humbaba is also mentioned as one of the great deeds of Gilgamesh in Bilgames’ Death , another of
14006-482: The gods who might hear about their actions, singling out Enlil and Shamash in particular. Humbaba's reaction is not fully preserved, but it apparently angers Enkidu, who once again tells Gilgamesh to kill him. Humbaba curses his captors in response: May they not [...] May the pair of them never grow old, apart from his friend Gilgameš, may Enkidu have nobody to bury him! This prompts Enkidu to urge Gilgamesh to act yet again, this time successfully. Gilgamesh pulls out
14155-420: The help of divine forces of Shamash and Lugalbanda . He is also explicitly identified as a guardian of the forest, and his presence requires specific precautions. Enkidu also already encountered him in the past, and tells Gilgamesh that he familiarized himself with him while still roaming the wilderness. He highlights that he is a dangerous adversary, and additionally states that the cedar forest where he resides
14304-504: The hero Gilgamesh , in which he invariably acts as his adversary during a quest to obtain cedar wood from a distant forest . The oldest composition describing the confrontation between Gilgamesh and Humbaba has two versions, the Sumerian Gilgamesh and Huwawa A and Gilgamesh and Huwawa B (Gilgamesh was previously read as Bilgames A and Bilgames and Ḫuwawa B). Copies of version A are more common. Of all known Gilgamesh texts it
14453-420: The heroes decide to get rid of the only witnesses of the battle, the seven sons of Humbaba, apparently an otherwise unattested personification of his auras, partially tree-like and partially comparable to demons. Al-Rawi and George point out the similarity between this passage and references to the seven sons of Enmesharra , a primordial deity similarly killed alongside his offspring, possibly in order to guarantee
14602-457: The heroes for the second time when they start to cut down the cedars, and in anger confronts them, questioning their actions. They are then urged to kill him by the Sun god of Heaven , who unlike his Mesopotamian counterpart interacts with them directly. Humbaba then formally challenges Gilgamesh and Enkidu: [Ḫuwawa] said to them: “I will […] you up, and I will carry you to the heaven! I will smash you on
14751-690: The horn of an automobile, and vroom or brum for the engine. In speaking of a mishap involving an audible arcing of electricity, the word zap is often used (and its use has been extended to describe non-auditory effects of interference). Human sounds sometimes provide instances of onomatopoeia, as when mwah is used to represent a kiss. For animal sounds, words like quack (duck), moo (cow), bark or woof (dog), roar (lion), meow / miaow or purr (cat), cluck (chicken) and baa (sheep) are typically used in English (both as nouns and as verbs). Some languages flexibly integrate onomatopoeic words into their structure. This may evolve into
14900-426: The imitation of natural sounds does not necessarily gain meaning, but can gain symbolic meaning. An example of this sound symbolism in the English language is the use of words starting with sn- . Some of these words symbolize concepts related to the nose ( sneeze , snot , snore ). This does not mean that all words with that sound relate to the nose, but at some level we recognize a sort of symbolism associated with
15049-475: The incorporation of Mesopotamian motifs into the myths of Hurrian origin focused on Kumarbi. One of the fragments involves a woman pleading for the life of another, unnamed character, possibly Humbaba; while she is designated by the word šiduri , meaning “young woman” in Hurrian, it is assumed that she does not correspond to the barmaid Siduri , who instead bears the name Nahmizule in the Hurrian adaptation and some of
15198-479: The inhabitants of Uruk: During the days we travel there and back, until we reach the Forest of Cedar, until we slay ferocious Ḫumbaba, and annihilate from the land the Evil Thing that Šamaš hates After a long journey Gilgamesh and Enkidu reach the cedar forest. After entering it, they hear Humbaba’s roar, which compared to the voice of Adad, the Mesopotamian weather god. A detailed description of his dwelling
15347-474: The journey Gilgamesh had a number of dreams foretelling his confrontation with Humbaba, in which the guardian of the cedar forest appears in various symbolic non-anthropomorphic guises meant to highlight his power: as an avalanche , a thunderstorm , an Anzû bird and a wild bull . The dreams differ slightly between known copies. They might either originate in an earlier textual source which has yet to be discovered or oral tradition , or constitute an invention of
15496-436: The large number of literary allusions was meant to make the composition entertaining for its expected audience, namely scribes well versed in the canon of Mesopotamian literature. Multiple omens alluding to Humbaba are known from Mesopotamian omen compendiums, and based on the frequent use of the spelling Ḫuwawa in this context it assumed they reflect a tradition originating in the Old Babylonian period. They typically pertain to
15645-515: The last of which has two possible readings due to the sign Ú standing for both ba 6 and wa x . In texts from Mari and Tell Harmal , in which the scribal conventions reflect the closely related traditions of the Middle Euphrates and the Eshnunna -influenced Diyala area, the name is instead spelled as Ḫu-bi-bi , which seemingly reflects the pronunciation /Ḫuppipi/. On lexical grounds it
15794-408: The latter institution. In the Standard Babylonian edition, Humbaba is first mentioned when Gilgamesh proposes a journey to the cedar forest to Enkidu, similarly as in older narratives. Enkidu is initially reluctant, and describes Humbaba as a fearsome being assigned to his position by Enlil: In order to keep the cedars safe, Enlil made it his destiny to be the terror of the people. That journey
15943-625: The maidens ... she created the many-voiced song of flutes so that she could imitate with musical instruments the shrill cry that reached her ears from the fast-moving jaws of Euryale. Nonnus , in his Dionysiaca , also has the fleeing Perseus "listening for no trumpet but Euryale's bellowing". The desire to evoke this Gorgon cry may account for the typical distended mouth seen in Archaic Gorgon iconography. The earliest literary accounts of Gorgons occur in works by Hesiod and Homer (c. 700–650 BC). Hesiod provides no physical description of
16092-405: The mention of Ebla in particular supports the latter assumption, as this toponym also appears in literary texts about Naram-Sin and his predecessor Sargon . Humbaba is first mentioned when Gilgamesh proposes an expedition to his forest to brighten the mood of Enkidu. In contrast with older narratives, he is apparently well known to the inhabitants of Uruk , rather than an unexpected encountered in
16241-509: The mere thought that he might encounter there the "head of the Gorgon, that awful monster", leaves "straightway". The Hesiodic Shield describes the Gorgons chasing Perseus as being "dreadful and unspeakable" with two snakes wrapped around their waists, and that "upon the terrible heads of the Gorgons rioted great Fear", perhaps a reference to snakes writhing about their heads. Pindar makes snakes for hair explicit, saying that Perseus' Gorgon head "shimmered with hair made of serpents", and that
16390-469: The middle". He also mentions Athena's "Gorgon-faced shield" in his tragedy Electra . In vase-painting, Athena is often shown wearing her aegis, fringed with snake-heads. In some accounts, the blood of "the Gorgon" (any Gorgon?) was said to have both the power to heal and harm. According to Euripides' Ion , Athena gave two drops of blood from the Gorgon she slew for her aegis to Erichthonius , one of which "wards off diseases and nourishes life", while
16539-490: The monster is begotten to account for it; then the hero is supplied to account for the slaying of the monster. That gorgoneia were used as apotropaic shield devices, at least, seems evident from Agamemnon's gorgoneion-shield, which Homer describes in the Iliad as displaying "the Gorgon, grim of aspect, glaring terribly, and about her were Terror and Rout". Supporting the view that gorgoneia originated as masks, are two groups of seventh-century BC terracotta gorgonion-like masks:
16688-411: The more wild-speech features to which they are exposed, compared to more tame and familiar speech features. But the results of such tests are inconclusive. In the context of language acquisition, sound symbolism has been shown to play an important role. The association of foreign words to subjects and how they relate to general objects, such as the association of the words takete and baluma with either
16837-453: The most detailed description: ... the Gorgons had heads twined about with the scales of dragons, and great tusks like swine's, and brazen hands, and golden wings, by which they flew". While such descriptions emphasize the hideous physical features of the Gorgon, by the fifth century BC, Pindar can also describe his snake-haired Medusa as "beautiful". And the Roman poet Ovid tells us that Medusa
16986-469: The most distinctive feature of archaic representations of Gorgons is that the head is always facing frontally (en face) with its large fierce eyes glaring directly at the viewer. Consistent with the change in literary descriptions seen in the works of Pindar and Ovid mentioned above, beginning in the fifth century BC, representations of Gorgons and gorgoneia transition from hideous monsters to beautiful young women, with such representations becoming typical in
17135-516: The mountains." Once again (Gilgamesh) spoke to him: (I swear) by the life of my mother Ninsumuna and of my father, holy Lugalbanda: Because no one knows your mountain dwelling, to make your mountain dwelling famous, I will bring you Peshtur, my little sister, to be your concubine in the mountains; So hand me your protective sheens; I want to become a member of your family! The scene is presumed to be humorous, and seems to portray Humbaba as lonely and gullible. Piotr Michalowski additionally notes
17284-423: The much earlier terracotta plaques depicting Humbaba . Medusa and the other Gorgon sisters, Stheno and Euryale , have been featured in art and culture spanning from the days of ancient Greece to present day. Medusa is the most well-known of the three mythological monsters, having been variously portrayed as a monster, a protective symbol, a rallying symbol for liberty, and a sympathetic victim of rape and/or
17433-518: The name is derived from his own, the context in which it appears shows no similarity to known myths involving him. Traces of Ḥôbabiš have also been identified in a number of later works belonging to Islamic tradition, such as religious polemics. A number of connections have also been proposed between Humbaba and figures such as Kombabos from the works of Lucian or biblical Hobab , but they are not regarded as plausible. The name Humbaba (Ḫumbaba) first occurs as an ordinary personal name in documents from
17582-575: The offspring of Gaia , spawned by Gaia to be an ally for her children the Giants in their war against the Olympian gods. Medusa had two offspring by Poseidon , the winged-horse Pegasus and the warrior Chrysaor . Where the Gorgons were supposed to live varies in the ancient sources. According to Hesiod, the Gorgons lived far to the west beyond Oceanus (the Titan, and world-circling river) near its springs, at
17731-501: The other "kills, as it is poison from the Gorgon serpents". While according to Apollodorus, Athena gave Asclepius some of the blood the Gorgon, "and while he used the blood that flowed from the veins on the left side for the bane of mankind, he used the blood that flowed from the right side for salvation, and by that means he raised the dead." The loud cry that came from the Gorgons—;perhaps related to 'Gorgon' being derived from
17880-411: The pallid adamant, the shield resounded sharply and piercingly with a loud noise. Pindar tells us that the cry of the Gorgons, lamenting the death of Medusa during their pursuit of Perseus, was the reason Athena invented the flute. According to Pindar, the goddess: wove into music the dire dirge of the reckless Gorgons which Perseus heard pouring in slow anguish from beneath the horrible snakey hair of
18029-461: The past, and possibly expresses joy about their reunion. After a lacuna, the story resumes after the confrontation between the protagonists and Humbaba has already begun. The latter criticizes Gilgamesh for coming to his forest, declaring that he was following the “advice of an idiot fellow”. He also insults Enkidu, calling him “spawn of a fish, who knew no father, hatchling of terrapin and turtle”, highlights that he “sucked no mother's milk”, referencing
18178-494: The phonetic range of the language(s) most heavily spoken in their environment, which may be called "tame" onomatopoeia, and the full range of sounds that the vocal tract can produce, or "wild" onomatopoeia. As one begins to acquire one's first language, the proportion of "wild" onomatopoeia reduces in favor of sounds which are congruent with those of the language they are acquiring. During the native language acquisition period, it has been documented that infants may react strongly to
18327-440: The poem’s reputation for insight into the human condition” and marks the poet behind it as a “shrewd observer of the human mind”. Subsequently Enkidu suggests to Gilgamesh that they should fashion a great door from the cedars to offer it to Enlil to avoid his wrath. They decide to transport it to Nippur to present it to this god in his temple Ekur . They also take the head of Humbaba with them. Frans Wiggermann suggests that it
18476-599: The quoted passage might be a satire targeting the well attested custom of marrying the daughters from the royal line to rulers of neighboring kingdoms in the Ur III period. Similar interpretation has also been proposed by Andrew R. George. The episode is absent from the later editions of the narrative. Humbaba accepts Gilgamesh’s proposal, and offers him his auras, which are described as cedar-like and possible to cut into logs for transport. According to George, their form might be an indication that while seemingly anthropomorphic, Humbaba
18625-427: The remote forest such as fine flour, water in leather containers, small and big sandals, gemstones and other similar gifts, as well as a promise that he will be able to marry his sisters: (I swear) by the life of my mother Ninsumuna and of my father, holy Lugalbanda: Because no one knows your mountain dwelling, to make your mountain dwelling famous, I will bring you Enmebaragesi, my elder sister, to be your wife in
18774-500: The restoration of the name is uncertain and it has been proposed that the goddess Nisaba was meant instead. The plot of version B is largely analogous. It is substantially shorter than version A, and it is often proposed that it is more archaic, though the available copies of both are contemporaneous with each other. A difference between the plots of the two versions occurs after the heroes wake up after being stunned by Humbaba’s aura: in version B Gilgamesh doubts his ability, and invokes
18923-525: The same time period, the mid-seventh century BC. Archaic Gorgons typically have snaky hair either with snake-like curls (Figs. 8, 9), or actual snakes protruding from their heads (Figs. 2, 5, 6, 10). The faces of Archaic Gorgons are particularly distinctive, typically with large menacing eyes, tripartite scroll-like ( volute ) noses, wide mouths with rictus-like grins or grimaces, lolling tongues, fangs and/or tusks (Figs. 4, 5, 6), and sometimes beards (Figs. 3, 4, 13, 15). Aside from its particular monstrousness,
19072-548: The seatbelt; McDonalds campaign) or "click it or ticket" (click of the connecting seat belt, with the implied penalty of a traffic ticket for not using a seat belt; US DOT (Department of Transportation) campaign). The sound of the container opening and closing gives Tic Tac its name. In many of the world's languages, onomatopoeic-like words are used to describe phenomena beyond the purely auditive. Japanese often uses such words to describe feelings or figurative expressions about objects or concepts. For instance, Japanese barabara
19221-514: The skull, and I will bring you down to the dark earth!” The passage finds no direct parallel in other versions, but Gary Beckman notes similar scenes are typical for myths known from Hittite archives dated to the imperial period, and compares it to the stone giant Ullikummi taunting his adversary, the Hurrian weather god Teshub , in one of the myths belonging to the Kumarbi Cycle . A description of
19370-470: The sound itself. Onomatopoeia, while a facet of language, is also in a sense outside of the confines of language. In linguistics, onomatopoeia is described as the connection, or symbolism, of a sound that is interpreted and reproduced within the context of a language, usually out of mimicry of a sound. It is a figure of speech, in a sense. Considered a vague term on its own, there are a few varying defining factors in classifying onomatopoeia. In one manner, it
19519-465: The sound of a clock may be expressed variously across languages: as tick tock in English , tic tac in Spanish and Italian (in both languages "tac" is pronounced like the English "tock"), see photo, dī dā in Mandarin , kachi kachi in Japanese , or ṭik-ṭik in Hindi , Urdu and Bengali . The word onomatopoeia , with rarer spelling variants like onomatopeia and onomatopœia ,
19668-504: The sound of breaking waves in the poem "I, She and the Sea". Comic strips and comic books make extensive use of onomatopoeia, often being visually integrated into the images, so that the drawing style emphasizes the sound. Popular culture historian Tim DeForest noted the impact of writer-artist Roy Crane (1901–1977), the creator of Captain Easy and Buz Sawyer : In 2002, DC Comics introduced
19817-435: The surviving fragments, but it is agreed that like in other versions of the narrative, he was killed, as the event is referenced later on. When the gods discuss the deeds of Gilgamesh and Enkidu and determine the latter should be killed, the Sun god of Heaven argues in favor of sparing him as he acted on his behalf during the confrontation with Humbaba, while Anu considers this act unforgivable. Due to state of preservation of
19966-644: The tablet CBS 7972 (STVC 40) + N 3718, a fragment of a hymn dedicated to Nergal , has been identified and subsequently published by Jeremiah Peterson in 2008. The location of the forest where Humbaba lives is not precisely defined outside of a reference to “seven ranges” which need to be crossed to reach it, but it is commonly assumed that the heroes’ destination was the Iranian highlands . Similar formulaic phrases are used to refer to this area in myths about Lugalbanda and Enmerkar known to partially take place in this area. It has been proposed that making an eastern location
20115-677: The tablets and the still imperfect understanding of the Hurrian language , the Hurrian versions of Gilgamesh myths are impossible to fully translate, though it is agreed that the colophon of one of the fragments refers to it as “the fourth tablet of Ḫuwawa; not finished”. Mary R. Bachvarova proposes that this composition might have reflected the perception of Humbaba as a “local hero”. She argues that due to being portrayed as an inhabitant of northern Syria , he might have been an appealing character to western audiences, which in turn lead to retellings emphasizing his role. Yoram Cohen considers this proposal difficult to evaluate, though he tentatively accepts
20264-435: The target of the expedition was meant to symbolically reflect the geopolitics of the Ur III period . However, a western location, specifically Lebanon , is also sometimes proposed. In version A, Gilgamesh encounters Humbaba after realizing the impermanence of life prompts him to embark on a quest to bring cedar wood to his city to acquire lasting fame. When Humbaba notices Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu cut down one of
20413-514: The trees, he uses one of his auras to stun them. After awakening Gilgamesh vows that he will not go back before he finds out whether the attacker is human or divine. Enkidu doubts if they can defeat him, but he is eventually convinced by Gilgamesh’s bravado. Due to the powers the auras grant to Humbaba, he cannot be defeated through conventional means, and Enkidu suggests tricking him into willfully casting them off. Gilgamesh accomplishes that by offering him various bribes, including goods not available in
20562-421: The unusual circumstances of his birth and early life; the second insult clarifies the purpose of the first, as the animals mentioned are not mammals and do not consume milk in infancy. He once again remarks that he already met Enkidu in the past, insinuates that bringing Gilgamesh to his forest constitutes treachery, and promises to kill the latter and feed him to carrion birds. Nathan Wasserman points out that since
20711-504: The way to the nymphs, which they did. Perseus got from the nymphs, winged sandals, which allowed him to fly, and the cap of Hades , which made him invisible. He also received an adamantine sickle ( harpē ) from Hermes. Perseus then flew to Oceanus, found the Gorgons asleep. And when Perseus managed to behead Medusa by looking at her reflection in his bronze shield, Pegasus and Chrysaor sprang from Medusa's neck, and Stheno and Euryale chased after him, but were unable to see him because he
20860-453: Was affixed somewhere in the Ekur as a trophy. Daniel Schwmer in a more recent publication notes that it is not impossible this interpretation is correct, but states that the traces of the passage which would have to allude to this event do not support such a restoration of the text of the epic, making the fate of Humbaba’s head impossible to ascertain. It plays no further role in the narrative. Humbaba
21009-463: Was born. However, Euripides , in his tragedy Ion , has a character say that Athena's aegis was made from the skin of the Gorgon, the offspring of Gaia , who Gaia had brought forth as an ally for her children the Giants and who Athena had killed during the Gigantomachy . In the same play, Euripides has Creusa describe a weaving she made "like an aegis, bordered with serpents" with a "Gorgon in
21158-568: Was himself envisioned as partially tree-like. As soon as he gives up on the last of the auras and loses his invulnerability, Gilgamesh strikes him. After being punched in the face, he pleads to be let go. He first addresses Utu , lamenting that he never knew his parents and was instead raised by the sun god himself and by the mountains, and then Gilgamesh, who at first takes pity on him. He asks Enkidu if he agrees to let Humbaba go, but he rejects this proposal. Humbaba turns towards him, and complains that he has no place to advise on such matters because he
21307-458: Was in his ritual a horrid thing called a Gorgoneion, a grinning mask with glaring eyes and protruding beast-like tusks and pendent tongue. How did this Gorgoneion come to be? A hero had slain a beast called the Gorgon, and this was its head. Though many other associations gathered round it, the basis of the Gorgoneion is a cultus object, a ritual mask misunderstood. The ritual object comes first; then
21456-582: Was originally a beautiful maiden, but because of a sexual encounter with Neptune (the Roman equivalent of the Greek Poseidon ) in Minerva 's temple (Minerva being the Roman equivalent of the Greek Athena ), Minerva punished Medusa by transforming her beautiful hair into horrible snakes. Gorgons were a popular subject in ancient Greek, Etruscan and Roman art, with over six hundred representations cataloged in
21605-403: Was said to have both the power to heal and harm. Representations of full-bodied Gorgons and the Gorgon face, called a gorgoneion (pl. gorgoneia), were popular subjects in Ancient Greek, Etruscan and Roman iconography. While Archaic Gorgons and gorgoneia are universally depicted as hideously ugly, over time they came to be portrayed as beautiful young women. The name 'Gorgon' is associated with
21754-408: Was seemingly the most often copied one, with between 85 and 92 examples identified by 2010. Their broad distribution reflects the use of the text in scribal training. It belonged to the so-called " decad ", a set of texts which formed the basis of scribal education in the early second millennium BCE. In the early poems, Humbaba is described as an intimidating "mountain man" of unknown origin, but there
21903-413: Was seen as deriving from this. Some linguists hold that onomatopoeia may have been the first form of human language. When first exposed to sound and communication, humans are biologically inclined to mimic the sounds they hear, whether they are actual pieces of language or other natural sounds. Early on in development, an infant will vary his/her utterances between sounds that are well established within
22052-467: Was understood that looking directly at the Gorgon's face was deadly. Of particular interest is the famous Medusa pediment (early sixth century BC) from the temple of Artemis in Corfu (Fig. 6), which shows a winged-Medusa in the characteristic Knielauf (kneeling-running) position, with two snakes wrapped around her waist, like the Gorgons described in the Hesiodic Shield of Heracles . Although
22201-428: Was wearing Hades' cap of invisibility. When Perseus brought back the Gorgon head, as ordered, with averted eyes he showed the head to Polydectes who was turned to stone. Perseus returned the things he had acquired from the nymphs and Hermes, but gave the Gorgon head to Athena. According to Apollodorus, after Perseus gave the Gorgon head to Athena, she "inserted the Gorgon's head in the middle of her shield", apparently
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