History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 3 (of 12)Maspero, G. (Gaston)
History
History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 3 (of 12)
Maspero, G. (Gaston)
Civilization, Ancient; Egypt -- History -- To 640 A.D.; History, Ancient; Middle East -- History
triumphed over Gilgames if Shamash had not succeeded in attaching them
to one another by an indissoluble tie of friendship. The difficulty was
to draw these two future friends together, and to bring them face to
face without their coming to blows; the god sent his courier Saidu,
the hunter, to study the habits of the monster, and to find out the
necessary means to persuade him to come down peaceably to Uruk.
“Saidu, the hunter, proceeded to meet Eabani near the entrance of the
watering-place. One day, two days, three days, Eabani met him at the
entrance of the watering-place. He perceived Saidu, and his countenance
darkened: he entered the enclosure, he became sad, he groaned, he cried
with a loud voice, his heart was heavy, his features were distorted,
sobs burst from his breast. The hunter saw from a distance that his face
was inflamed with anger,” and judging it more prudent not to persevere
farther in his enterprise, returned to impart to the god what he had
observed.
* Smith was the first, I believe, to compare his form to
that of a satyr or faun; this comparison is rendered more
probable by the fact that the modern inhabitants of Chaldaea
believe in the existence of similar monsters. A. Jeremias
places Eabani alongside Priapus, who is generally a god of
the fields, and a clever soothsayer. Following out these
ideas, we might compare our Eabani with the Graico-Roman
Proteus, who pastures the flocks of the sea, and whom it was
necessary to pursue and seize by force or cunning words to
compel him to give oracular predictions.
[Illustration: 060.jpg GILGAMES FIGHTS, ON THE LEFT WITH A BULL, ON THE
RIGHT WITH EABANI.]
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a Chaldaean intaglio in the
Museum at the Hague. The original measures about 1 7/10 inch
in height.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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