Ištar and the Zombies

[sovay]

atû mê pita bābka
pita bābkama lūruba anāku
šumma lā tapatta bābu lā erruba anāku
amahhas daltum sikkūru ašabbir
amahhas sippuma ušabalakkat dalāti
ušella mītūti ikkalū baltuti
eli baltuti ima'idū mītūti

Gatekeeper, hey! Open your gate,
open your gate, I would come in.
If you do not open your gate and I do not come in,
I will strike the door, I will break the bolt,
I will strike the doorjamb, I will overthrow the doors.
I will raise up the dead, they will eat the living,
the dead will outnumber the living.

(Lines 14—20 of Ištar's Descent to the Underworld, Akkadian version; manuscript from the library of Aššurbanipal in Nineveh.)

You have no idea how happy I am right now.

Comments

[asakiyume]

I came hunting for some of this after reading your today's entry (which I have yet to comment on). All this was before I knew you, another world that I can only see through glass and can't enter, but wow, I love the translation, love that the dead eating the living has been around since Akkadian times, love your joy.

[sovay]

All this was before I knew you, another world that I can only see through glass and can't enter, but wow, I love the translation, love that the dead eating the living has been around since Akkadian times, love your joy.

Thank you.