Translation Errors in the Gilgamesh
Flood Myth
by Robert M. Best
The eleventh tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh contains one version of the flood myth. Click here to see the numerous parallels between the Gilgamesh flood myth and the Genesis and other Ancient Near East flood myths. The Epic of Gilgamesh was written in Akkadian and the flood story in the eleventh tablet was adapted from an earlier Akkadian flood myth called the Epic of Atrahasis. This Atrahasis version was adapted from a still earlier (lost) version, written in Sumerian, that may be called the Epic of Ziusudra. During transmission and translation of the Sumerian and Akkadian flood myths, several errors occurred. Some of these errors were made by ancient scribes or story tellers who misunderstood their received story. A few additional errors were made by modern scholars. Where the Akkadian text is ambiguous, alternative translations are possible. Selected lines are given below in Akkadian followed by a literal word by word English translation and discussion. Line numbers may be different in different translations.
line 29 lu-ú mìn-du-da mi-na-tu-šá Let-be
measured its-dimensions.
This line is a complete sentence and does not include the word "equal"
line 30 lu-ú mit-hur ru-pu-us-sa ù mu-rak-šá
Let-be equal-size its-width and its-length.
The word mit-hur (equal-size) is singular and therefore does not agree with
"width and length." In the original Sumerian myth, line 30 may have been
separate clauses: "Let its width be equal and let its length be equal" meaning
that the barge had equal widths and also had equal lengths, i.e. the sides were straight
and parallel. Unlike sailboats and marsh boats, the barge did not have a variable
width. The barge was rectangular like modern barges.
line 31 [k]i-ma ap-si-i šá-a-ši 
u-ul-lil-ši As [usual
in the] apsû likewise roof-over-it [with awning].
The word 
u-ul-lil-ši
meant roof-over-it or cover-over-it. It did not necessarily mean a wooden roof. The apsû
was an arm of the Persian Gulf that was marshy near the shore. Marsh boats had awnings to
prevent direct sunlight from entering the hatches and overheating the livestock and other
cargo. The Epic of Attrahasis says "As [in] the apsû, likewise
roof/cover-over-it, so that the sun will not see inside it."
line 56 ina ha-an-ši UD-mi at-ta-di bu-na-šá
On fifth day I laid-out its shape/plan/appearance.
Conventional translation.
line 57a AŠ GÁN GAM-sa One acre
its-extent.
Although GÁN can be read as "acre," in Sumerian it could
mean "field." This meaning is rejected by modern scholars because the
case endings do not allow that, and GÁN could mean field only in
the third and early second millennia BC. But that was when the original Sumerian myth
started. The text here is probably corrupt. In my book I argue that the original
Sumerian was GÁN GAM MA and meant "On a curved field..."
i.e. the field where the barge was constructed was curved. This phrase was probably
not an area measurement.
line 57b U NINDA TA.ÀM ú-šaq-qa-a É.SIG4.MEŠ-šá.
Ten dozen-cubits each I-raised its-walls.
This sentence is ambiguous and could mean the walls were 120 cubits high or 120 cubits
long. There is no word for height or length in this line. Other texts that specify wall
measurements often omit whether length or height is meant, but length is implied. A boat
as high as its length would roll over in the water. This line should be translated "I
raised its walls 120 cubits [in length.]
line 58 U NINDA TA.ÀM im-ta-hir ki-bir
muh-hi-šá. Ten dozen-cubits each equal-size edges its-upper-part.
The "upper-part" was probably the superstructure. This is saying that the
left and right edges of the superstructure were equal to each other and were 120 cubits
long. In other words the superstructure was as long as the barge and it was
symmetrical.
line 59 ad-di la-an-ši šá-a-ši e-ir-ši
I-erected its-body[frame] to-it. I-marked-it.
In shell-first construction, the hull was built first and then framing was added inside.
Since line 59 comes after the hull was raised in line 57 and before the deck in
line 60, la-an-ši can only refer to the framing.
line 60 ur-tag-gi-ib-ši a-na 6-šú
I-provided-upper-deck with sixfold [rooms].
This is usually translated six decks, but that would be an impractically large boat, given
the technology in pre-dynastic Sumer. Just as building a house with six roofs implies that
the roofs are arranged horizontally in six different side-by-side positions, building an
upper deck six-fold implies that one upper deck was built in six horizontal sections.
line 61 ap-ta-ra-as-su a-na 7-šú I-divided [its
width?] into sevenfold [sections].
This is usually translated as 7 vertical levels, but there is no indication whether the 7
divisions were vertical or horizontal. Since vertical would be impractical and
horizontal would be practical, we should assume horizontal. The barge was divided
into 7 horizontal sections.
line 62 qer-bi-is-sú ap-ta-ra-as a-na 9-šú
Its-interior I-divided into ninefold [subsections].
Each section was divided into 9 horizontal sub-sections, a total of 63 sub-sections.
line 139 a-na 12 TA.ÀM i-te-la-a
na-gu-ú At twelve times emerged island.
Some scholars translate "12 times" as "12 leagues", but there is no
unit of distance given. 12 TA.ÀM means twelve each or twelve times
and therefore islands were seen twelve times, corresponding to Genesis 8:5b where the
"tops of the mountains were seen." Islands not mountains.
line 140 a-na KUR ni-ir i-te-mid GIŠ eleppu In country Nisir grounded
wooden boat.
KUR ni-ir is
usually translated "Mount Nisir" or "Mount Nimush" in imitation of the
pseudo-biblical "Mount Ararat." But in Sumerian, KUR did not mean
mountain, KUR meant hill or land or country. Nisir could be a placename, but it was not
necessarily mountainous or even hilly. It was probable a local name of a land area
or country. In my book I argue that the barge grounded on a sand bar or mound on a
flat estuary at the mouth of the Euphrates River.
line 141 KUR-ú KUR ni-ir GIŠ eleppu i-bat-ma a-na na-a-ši ul id-din
Mound
[in] country Nisir wooden boat held-tight that its-movement not allowed.
The suffix -ú at the end of KUR-ú indicates that the first KUR should be read as shadú
(hill or mountain) and not matu (country). This hill could be a small hill, even a
mound. The text is consistent with the boat grounding on a sand bar or mound of silt or
gravel in an estuary.
line 156 áš-kun sur-qin-nu ina UGU ziq-qur-rat
KUR-i I-placed [an] offering on top-of [a] hill-like ziggurat.
The word KUR is usually translated mountain and the word ziq-qur-rat is usually
omitted in translations of Gilgamesh because it made no sense to the translators for a
ziggurrat to be at the top of a mountain. They treated ziq-qur-rat as a metaphor
for peak. But UGU already means "top of" and there is no need to say it
twice. In Maureen Kovacs' translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh, she transliterates
ziggurat correctly. The phrase ziq-qur-rat KUR-i is a construct-genitive phrase
in which KUR-i can be interpreted as an adjective "hill-like" modifying
ziggurat. The flood hero sacrificed on the top of a ziggurat, a man-made hill-like
structure at the temple of Enki in the city of Eridu at the mouth of the Euphrates River.
For further information on my book on the Ziusudra Epic, click on book.