Tale of Gudam

The Tale of Gudam is an ancient Mesopotamian epic poem about a conquering king, compared to a wild bull (Gudam), attacking the city of Uruk.

Quotes

• They filled the bronze vessels to the brim. He made the tilimda vessels shine like the holy barge. [...] Many followed Gudam on the streets of Unug. They sat armed before him.

• The Car-ur, my heroic weapon.
  • Gudam

• What you have eaten, what you have eaten -- it was not bread that you have eaten, it was your flesh that you have eaten!
  What you have drunk, what you have drunk -- it was not beer that you drank, it was your blood that you drank!
  Gudam, many followed you on the streets of Unug; they sat armed before you.
  • Inanna's singer to Gudam who with his army ate the food reserves stored in Uruk.

• He lopped off the crossbeams of E-ana as if they were branches. Gudam went out into the street. Gudam crushed many on the streets of Unug, and killed many with his mace. He hacked down the door of the city gate.

• A junior fisherman, a fisherman of Inana, turned the double-axe against him and struck Gudam down. Gudam began to weep, and turned pale: "Inana, spare my life! I will give you bulls of the mountains, I will make your cow-pen full! I will give you sheep of the mountains, I will make your sheepfold full!"

• Inana, I will speak of your heroism. It is pleasant to praise you!

See also

• Bull of Heaven
• Epic of Gilgamesh
• Kusarikku, Battle Bison beast and Lamassu

External links

• The Tale of Gudam, at The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.
• In the Garden of the Gods: Models of Kingship from the Sumerians to the Seleucids by Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides, p. 167, Routledge, 2016.