Isdi mati, The Foundations Of The Earth?

• Author: CASTILLO, JORGE SILVA
• Position: Term in recently found fragment of the Gilgamesh epic - Brief Article

The fragment Rm 956, recently identified as the opening eight lines of the Gilgamesh epic, restores only one word previously unknown: isdi in the second hemistich of the first verse. This term, taken in apposition to nagba in the first hemistich, and understood in the sense of "abyss," gives the prologue of the poem a broader mythical resonance.

In a recently found fragment of the epic of Gilgamesh, [1] only one word had been till now unknown: is-di in the second hemistich of the first verse. [2] The other readable signs just confirm what had already been known. This fact, however, does not reduce its relevance, since it seems to me that the presence of is-di may shed new light on the idea conveyed by the prologue. At first glance the term presents no problem, but its occurrence does raise matters that must be reckoned with. The most important is to determine its precise function, both from the grammatical and from the ideological point of view.

The term isdu may certainly be applied, in some specific contexts, to persons. It may refer to someone's social position or status: sa itti Bel kenu ikkuna isdassu(!), "he who is secure with Bel, his status will be secure" (VAB 4, 68:36). Used as the regens of the collective noun ummanu, it has the connotation of the "force" or the "discipline" of the army. As an appositive noun applied to individuals, isdu is attested only as part of personal names, where it must be understood as "the assurance of the continuation of a family," used in reference to a male child, as for instance in Isdu-kinum. Could Gilgamesh be considered the foundation of his country in the sense of being the basis of its force or the assurance of its continuation? This is not impossible. [3] Nevertheless, from a strictly morphological point of view, is-di must be considered an accusative-genitive plural or dual isdi, and cannot be either the subject of a relative clause or an appositive noun referring to the subject of the first hemistich , sa (i.e., Gilgamesh), since in the expected form we should find nominative isdu (plural) or isda (dual).

It is true that in Akkadian many endings of nouns and adjectives for various cases may be identical, and that therefore it might be misleading to base our analysis on purely morphological grounds. But beyond this argument from form, and taking into account the problem of explaining is-di as a nominative, let us try another alternative.

It seems to me that isdi interpreted as a dual form...