PAY ATTENTION

The Mesopotamian Emperor  
acted out Marduk. 

He was ALLOWED to be Emperor 
insofar as he was 
A Good Marduk. 

That meant that,
He had eyes all the way around his head, 
and
He could speak magick.

He could speak properly.

Conan: 
What gods do you pray to?

Subotai:
I pray to the four winds... and you?

Conan: 
To Crom...
but I seldom pray to Him -- 

He doesn't listen.

Subotai: 
[chuckles] 
What good is he then?
Ah, it's just as I've always said.

Conan:
He is strong!
If I die, I have to go before him, and he will ask me,
   "What is the riddle of steel?"
If I don't know it, he will cast me out of Valhalla and laugh at me.

That's Crom — 

Strong on his mountain!

Subotai:
Ah, my god is greater.

Conan: 
[chuckles]
Crom laughs at your Four Winds.
He laughs from his mountain.

Subotai:
My God is Stronger.
He is  
The Everlasting Sky!
Your god lives underneath him.

[Conan shoots Subotai a skeptical look. Subotai laughs]

" The ancient Mesopotamians and the ancient Egyptians had some very interesting, dramatic ideas about that. 

For example
—Very Briefly—
There was a deity known as Marduk. 

Marduk was a Mesopotamian deity, and imagine this is sort of what happened. 
As an empire grew out of the post-ice age

—15,000 years ago, 10,000 years ago—

All these tribes came together. 

These tribes each had their own deity—their own image of the ideal. 
But then they started to occupy the same territory.

!! THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE !!

 One tribe had God A, and one tribe had God B,
and one could wipe the other one out, 
and then it would just be God A, who wins. 

That’s not so good, because maybe you want to trade with those people, or maybe you don’t want to lose half your population in a war. 

So then you have to have an argument about whose God is going to take priority—which ideal is going to take priority. 

What seems to happen is represented in mythology as a battle of the gods in celestial space. 

From a practical perspective, it’s more like an ongoing dialog :

' You believe this; I believe this. 
You believe that; I believe this. 
How are we going to meld that together? '

You take God A, and you take God B, and maybe what you do is extract God C from them, and you say,
 ‘God C now has the attributes of A and B.’ 

And then some other tribes come in, and C takes them over, too. 

Take Marduk, for example. 

He has 50 different names, at least in part, of the subordinate gods—that represented the tribes that came together to make the civilization. 

That’s part of the process by which that abstracted ideal is abstracted. 

You think, 
‘This is important, and it works, because your tribe is alive -

And so we’ll take the best of both, if we can manage it, 
and extract out something, that’s even more abstract, 
that covers both of us.’ 

I’ll give you a couple of Marduk’s interesting features. 

He has eyes all the way around his head. 

He’s elected by all the other gods to be King God. 

That’s the first thing. 
That’s quite cool. 

They elect him because they’re facing a terrible threat—sort of like a flood and a monster combined. 

Marduk basically says that, 

if they elect him top God,
he’ll go out and stop the flood monster, 
and they won’t all get wiped out. 

It’s a serious threat. 

It’s Chaos itself making its comeback. 

SALTWATER 

All the gods agree, 
and Marduk is the new manifestation. 

He’s got eyes all the way around His head, 
and
He speaks magic words. 

When he fights, he fights this deity called Tiamat. 

We need to know that, because the word 
‘Tiamat’ is associated with the word 'tehom.' 

Tehom is the Chaos that God makes Order out of at The Beginning of Time in Genesis, 
so it’s linked very tightly to this story. 

Marduk, with His eyes 
and 
His capacity to speak magic words, 
goes out and confronts Tiamat, 
who’s like this watery sea dragon. 

It’s a classic Saint George story: 
Go out and Wreak Havoc on The Dragon. 

He cuts Her into pieces, 
and 
He makes The World out of Her pieces. 

That’s The World that human beings live in. 

The Mesopotamian Emperor acted out Marduk. 

He was ALLOWED to be Emperor 
insofar as he was 
A Good Marduk. 

That meant that he had eyes all the way around his head, and he could speak magick; 
He could speak properly. 

We are starting to understand, at that point, 
The Essence of Leadership.

Because what’s Leadership? 
It’s the capacity to see what the hell’s in front of your face, and maybe in every direction, and maybe 

The Capacity to Use Your Language Properly to Transform Chaos into Order. 

God only knows how long it took the Mesopotamians to figure that out....

The best they could do was dramatize it, but it’s staggeringly brilliant. 

It’s by no means obvious, 
and this Chaos is a very strange thing. 

This is a Chaos that God wrestled with 
at The Beginning of Time. 

Chaos is Half-Psychological 
and 
Half-Real. 

There’s no other way to really describe it. 

Chaos is what you encounter when you’re blown into pieces and thrown into deep confusion—when your world falls apart, when your dreams die, when you’re betrayed. 

It’s The Chaos that emerges, 
and 
The Chaos is everything it wants, 
and 
It’s too much for you. 

That’s for sure. 

It pulls you down into 
The Underworld, 
and 
That’s Where The Dragons Are. 

All you’ve got at that point is your capacity to bloody well keep your eyes open, 
and 
To speak as carefully and as clearly as you can. 

Maybe, if you’re lucky, 
You’ll get through it that way 
and 
Come Out The Other Side. 

It’s taken people a very long time to figure that out, and it looks, to me, that the idea is erected on the platform of our ancient ancestors, maybe tens of millions of years ago, because we seem to represent that which disturbs us deeply  
using the same system that we used to represent  
Serpentile, or other, Carnivorous Predators. 

We’re biological creatures. 

When we formulated our strange capacity to abstract and use language, we still had all those underlying systems that were there when we were only animals. 

We have to use those systems that are there. 

Part of the emotional and motivational architecture of our thinking, part of the reason why we can
Demonize our Enemies 
who upset our axioms, 

Is Because We Perceive Them as if They’re Carnivorous Predators. 

We do it with the same system. 

That’s Chaos itself, 
The Thing That Always Threatens Us—

The Snakes That Came to The Trees 
 when we lived in them, like 60 million years ago. 

It’s the same damned systems. 

The Marduk Story 
is partly 
The Story of Using Attention and Language to Confront Those Things That Most Threaten Us. 

Some of those things are Real World threats, but some of them are Psychological Threats, 
which are just as profound but far more abstract. 

But we use the same system to represent them.

 That’s why you freeze, if you're frightened. 

You’re a prey animal. 
You’re like a rabbit, and you’ve seen something that's going to eat you. 

You freeze, and you’re paralyzed. 

You’re turned to stone, which is what you do when you see a Medusa with a head full of snakes. 

You turn to stone. 
You’re paralyzed, and the reason you do that is because you’re using the predator detector system to protect yourself. 

Your Heart Rate Goes Way Up, 
and 
You Get Ready to Move. 

Things that upset us rely on that system. 

The Marduk Story, 
for example, is the idea that, 
 If there are 
 Things That Upset You

 —chaotic, terrible, serpentine, monstrous, underworld things that threaten you—

The Best Thing to Do 
is 
Open Your Eyes, 
Keep Your Speech Organized, 
and go out, 
Confront The Thing, 
and 
Make The World Out of It. 

It’s staggering. 
When I read that story and started to understand it, it just blew me away. 

It’s such a profound idea, and we know it’s true, too, because we know, in psychotherapy, that 
you’re much better off to confront your fears head-on than you are to wait and let them find you.

Partly what you do, 
if you’re a psychotherapist, 
is you help people 
Break Their Fears into Little Pieces
—The Things That Upset Them—
and then 
To Encounter Them One by One 
and Master Them. 

You’re teaching this process of 
Internal Mastery Over The Strange 
and 
Chaotic World.

Conan's Father:

Fire and Wind come from The Sky, 

from The Gods of The Sky. 

But Crom is Your God - 

Crom and he lives in The Earth. 

Once, Giants lived in The Earth, Conan. 

And in The Darkness of Chaos, They fooled Crom,

and They took from Him The Enigma of Steel.

Crom was angered. And The Earth shook. 

Fire and Wind struck down these Giants, 

and They threw Their bodies into The Waters, 

But in Their Rage, The Gods Forgot The Secret of Steel and left it on The Battlefield.

We who found it are just Men. 

Not Gods. Not Giants. Just Men.

The Secret of Steel has always carried with it a Mystery. 

You must learn its Riddle, Conan. 

You must learn its discipline. 

For No-One - No-One in This World can you trust. Not Men, Not Women, Not Beasts.

[Points to sword]

This You Can Trust.

Your Best Friend is Always Someone Somehow Fundamentally Different to You

When Anu had heard their lamentation the gods cried to Aruru, the goddess of creation,  

‘You made Him, O Aruru, 
now create His equal; 

Let it be as like Him as His own reflection, 
His Second Self, 
Stormy Heart for Stormy Heart. 

Let them Contend Together
 and leave Uruk in quiet.’

So The Goddess conceived an image in her mind, 
and it was Of The Stuff of Anu of The Firmament.

She dipped her hands in Water and pinched off clay [Earth], 
she let it fall in The Wilderness, 
and noble Enkidu was created. 

There was virtue in him of The God of War, 
of Ninurta himself. 

His body was rough, 
he had long hair like a woman’s; 

It waved like the hair of Nisaba, 
The Goddess of Corn. 

His body was covered with matted hair like Samuqan’s, 
The God of Cattle. 

He was Innocent of Mankind; 
He knew nothing of the cultivated land.

 
TUVOK:
Vulcans Do Not Dance.

NEELIX: 
I'm going to make it my personal mission to get you to dance at least once before we reach Earth. 

TUVOK: 
Then I suggest you find a more productive hobby.

TUVOK: 
You wanted to see me. 

NEELIX: 

I've detected five warp capable species within two light years of the planet where we're taking the Talaxians. 
I'm worried they might be vulnerable to attack. 

TUVOK: 
They would be vulnerable anywhere. 

NEELIX: 
I thought maybe you could help me devise some defence strategies for their new home. 

TUVOK: 
Frankly, Mister Neelix, they don't seem inclined to defend themselves. 

NEELIX: 

No, I suppose not. 

TUVOK: 
But if they were going to make a stand, their emotional attachment to their present home might be an asset. 

NEELIX: 

Are you saying they should stay? 

TUVOK: 

I'm speaking hypothetically. 

NEELIX: 

Hypothetically, if they wanted to defend the asteroid, 

How would they do it? 

TUVOK: 

To begin with they would need to establish some kind of perimeter. 

NEELIX: 
You mean shields? 

TUVOK: 

Yes. The miners are monitoring the asteroid. 
If they detected the Talaxians erecting a shield, they would attempt to stop them. 

NEELIX: 

I suppose so. 

TUVOK: 

Your people would need competent leadership to defend against a pre-emptive attack. 

NEELIX: 

If you had the captain's permission, 
would you be willing to provide that leadership? 

TUVOK: 

Certainly not. 

It would be a violation of the Prime Directive. 

And even if it weren't, 

I don't believe that I am the person most qualified to assume that role. 

NEELIX: 

You mean me? 

TUVOK: 

I am merely speaking hypothetically. 

NEELIX:

I couldn't lead those people, Mister Tuvok. 

I'm not a fighter. 

I'm just a cook who sometimes imagines himself to be a diplomat. 

TUVOK: 

On the contrary, Mister Neelix. 

You are much more than that. 

You are perhaps the most resourceful individual I have ever known. 

NEELIX: 

I always thought you just tolerated me...

TUVOK: 

You do have some annoying habits. 

However, during your time on Voyager you've developed many valuable skills. 

Skills that would serve you well if you ever decided to assume a leadership role. 

NEELIX: 

You really think so? 

TUVOK: 

Let me be clear. 

I'm not urging you to do anything. 

I'm simply telling you that I believe that you are more than capable.

The Sons of God

"The Owls Are Not What They Seem"

Genesis 6

King James Version (KJV)

6 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

² That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

³ And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

⁴ There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

VI-XI. The Fall of the Angels: the Demoralisation of Mankind: the Intercession of the Angels on behalf of Mankind. The Dooms pronounced by God on the Angels: the Messianic Kingdom (a Noah fragment).

CHAPTER VI.

1. And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters.

2. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.'

3. And Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.'

4. And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.' 

5. Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.

6. And they were in all two hundred; who descended ⌈in the days⌉ of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.

7. And these are the names of their leaders: Sêmîazâz, their leader, Arâkîba, Râmêêl, Kôkabîêl, Tâmîêl, Râmîêl, Dânêl, Êzêqêêl, Barâqîjâl, Asâêl, Armârôs, Batârêl, Anânêl, Zaqîêl, Samsâpêêl, Satarêl, Tûrêl, Jômjâêl, Sariêl.

8. These are their chiefs of tens.

Numbers 13

King James Version (KJV)

13 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

² Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.

³ And Moses by the commandment of the Lord sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.

⁴ And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.
⁵ Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.

⁶ Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

⁷ Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.

⁸ Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun.

⁹ Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.

¹⁰ Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.

¹¹ Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.

¹² Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.

¹³ Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.

¹⁴ Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.

¹⁵ Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

¹⁶ These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.

¹⁷ And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:

¹⁸ And see the land, what it is, and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;

¹⁹ And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds;

²⁰ And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.

²¹ So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.

²² And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

²³ And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

²⁴ The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.

²⁵ And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.

²⁶ And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.

²⁷ And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

²⁸ Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

²⁹ The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.

³⁰ And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

³¹ But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.

³² And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.

³³ And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Genesis 14:5-6

King James Version (KJV)

⁵ And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emins in Shaveh Kiriathaim,
⁶ And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness.

Joshua 11

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁵ As the Lord commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses.

¹⁶ So Joshua took all that land, the hills, and all the south country, and all the land of Goshen, and the valley, and the plain, and the mountain of Israel, and the valley of the same;

¹⁷ Even from the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir, even unto Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon under mount Hermon: and all their kings he took, and smote them, and slew them.

¹⁸ Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.

¹⁹ There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle.

²⁰ For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the Lord commanded Moses.

²¹ And at that time came Joshua, and cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel: Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities.

²² There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained.

²³ So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that theLord said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.

¹⁵ And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died.
¹⁶ And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain theLord's anointed.
¹⁷ And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:
¹⁸ (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.)
¹⁹ The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!
²⁰ Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
²¹ Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil.
²² From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.

The Book of Giants Dead Sea Scrolls

Fragments from The Book of Giants 4Q203, 1Q23, 2Q26, 4Q530-532, 6Q8

It is fair to say that the patriarch Enoch was as well known to the ancients as he is obscure to modern Bible reaclers. Besides giving his age (365 years), the book of Genesis says of him only that he "walked with God," and afterward "he was not, because God had taken him" (Gen. 5:24). This exalted way of life and mysterious demise made Enoch into a figure of considerable fascination, and a cycle of legends grew up around him.

Many of the legends about Enoch were collected already in ancient times in several long anthologies. The most important such anthology, and the oldest, is known simply as The Book of Enoch, comprising over one hundred chapters. It still survives in its entirety (although only in the Ethiopic language) and forms an important source for the thought of Judaism in the last few centuries B.C.E. Significantly, the remnants of several almost complete copies of The Book of Enoch in Aramaic were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and it is clear that whoever collected the scrolls considered it a vitally important text. All but one of the five major components of the Ethiopic anthology have turned up among the scrolls. But even more intriguing is the fact that additional, previously unknown or little-known texts about Enoch were discovered at Qumran. The most important of these is The

Book of Giants.

Enoch lived before the Flood, during a time when the world, in ancient imagination, was very different. Human beings lived much longer, for one thing; Enoch's son Methuselah, for instance, attained the age of 969 years. Another difference was that angels and humans interacted freely -- so freely, in fact, that some of the angels begot children with human females. This fact is neutrally reported in Genesis (6:1-4), but other stories view this episode as the source of the corruption that made the punishing flood necessary.

According to The Book of Enoch, the mingling of angel and human was actually the idea of Shernihaza, the leader of the evil angels,

who lured 200 others to cohabit with women.

The offspring of these unnatural unions were giants 450 feet high. The wicked angels and the giants began to oppress the human population

and to teach them to do evil. For this reason God determined to imprison the angels until the final judgment and to destroy the earth with a flood. Enoch's efforts to intercede with heaven for the fallen angels were unsuccessful (1 Enoch 6-16).

The Book of Giants retells part of this story and elaborates on the exploits of the giants, especially the two children ofShemihaza, Ohya and Hahya. Since no complete manuscript exists of Giants, its exact contents and their order remain a matter of guesswork. Most of the content of the present fragments concerns the giants' ominous dreams and Enoch's efforts to interpret them and to intercede with God on the giants' behalf. Unfortunately, little remains of the independent adventures of the giants, but it is likely that these tales were at least partially derived from ancient Near Eastern mythology. Thus the name of one of the giants is Gilgamesh, the Babylonian hero and subject of a great epic written in the third millennium B.C.E.

This story is better told in The Book of Enoch Beginning Here

A summary statement of the descent of the wicked angels, bringing both knowledge and havoc. Compare Genesis 6:1-2, 4.

1Q23 Frag. 9 + 14 + 15 2 [ . . . ] they knew the secrets of [ . . . ] 3 [ . . . si]n was great in the earth [ . . . ] 4 [ . . . ] and theykilled many [ . . ] 5 [ . . . they begat] giants [ . . . ]

The angels exploit the fruifulness of the earth.

4Q531 Frag. 3 2 [ . . . everything that the] earth produced [ . . . ] [ . . . ] the great fish [ . . . ] 14 [ . . . ] the sky with all that grew [ . . . ] 15 [ . . . fruit of] the earth and all kinds of grain and all the trees [ . . . ] 16 [ . . . ] beasts and reptiles . . . [al]l creeping things of the earth and they observed all [ . . . ] |8 [ . . . eve]ry harsh deed and [ . . . ] utterance [ . . . ] l9 [ . . . ] male and female, and among humans [ . . . ]

The two hundred angels choose animals on which to perform unnatural acts, including, presumably, humans.

1Q23 Frag. 1 + 6 [ . . . two hundred] 2 donkeys, two hundred asses, two hundred . . . rams of the] 3 flock, two hundred goats, two hundred [ . . . beast of the] 4 field from every animal, from every [bird . . . ] 5 [ . . . ] for miscegenation [ . . . ]

The outcome of the demonic corruption was violence, perversion, and a brood of monstrous beings. Compare Genesis 6:4.

4Q531 Frag. 2 [ . . . ] they defiled [ . . . ] 2 [ . . . they begot] giants and monsters [ . . . ] 3 [ . . . ] they begot, and, behold, all [the earth was corrupted . . . ] 4 [ . . . ] with its blood and by the hand of [ . . . ] 5 [giant's] which did not suffice for them and [ . . . ] 6 [ . . . ] and they were seeking to devour many [ . . . ] 7 [ . . . ] 8 [ . . . ] the monsters attacked it.

4Q532 Col. 2 Frags. 1 - 6 2 [ . . . ] flesh [ . . . ] 3al [l . . . ] monsters [ . . . ] will be [ . . . ] 4 [ . . . ] they would arise [ . . . ] lacking in true knowledge [ . . . ] because [ . . . ] 5 [ . . . ] the earth [grew corrupt . . . ] mighty [ . . . ] 6 [ . . . ] they were considering [ . . . ] 7 [ . . . ] from the angels upon [ . . . ] 8 [ . . . ] in the end it will perish and die [ . . . ] 9 [ . . . ] they caused great corruption in the [earth . . . ] [ . . . this did not] suffice to [ . . . ] "they will be [ . . . ]

The giants begin to be troubled by a series of dreams and visions. Mahway, the titan son of the angel Barakel, reports the first of these dreams to his fellow giants. He sees a tablet being immersed in water. When it emerges, all but three names have been washed away. The dream evidently symbolizes the destruction of all but Noah and his sons by the Flood.

2Q26 [ . . . ] they drenched the tablet in the wa [ter . . . ] 2 [ . . . ] the waters went up over the [tablet . . . ] 3 [ . . . ] they lifted out the tablet from the water of [ . . . ]

The giant goes to the others and they discuss the dream.

4Q530 Frag.7 [ . . . this vision] is for cursing and sorrow. I am the one who confessed 2 [ . . . ] the whole group of the castaways that I shall go to [ . . . ] 3 [ . . . the spirits of the sl]ain complaining about their killers and crying out 4 [ . . . ] that we shall die together and be made an end of [ . . . ] much and I will be sleeping, and bread 6 [ . . . ] for my dwelling; the vision and also [ . . . ] entered into the gathering of the giants 8 [ . . . ]

6Q8 [ . . . ] Ohya and he said to Mahway [ . . . ] 2 [ . . . ] without trembling. Who showed you all this vision, [my] brother? 3 [ . . . ] Barakel, my father, was with me. 4 [ . . . ] Before Mahway had finished telling what [he had seen . . . ] 5 [ . . . said] to him, Now I have heard wonders! If a barren woman gives birth [ . . . ]

4Q530 Frag. 4 3 [There]upon Ohya said to Ha [hya . . . ] 4 [ . . . to be destroyed] from upon the earth and [ . . . ] 5 [ . . . the ea]rth. When 6 [ . . . ] they wept before [the giants . . . ]

4Q530 Frag. 7 3 [ . . . ] your strength [ . . . ] 4 [ . . . ] 5 Thereupon Ohya [said] to Hahya [ . . . ] Then he answered, It is not for 6 us, but for Azaiel, for he did [ . . . the children of] angels 7 are the giants, and they would not let all their loved ones] be neglected [. . . we have] not been cast down; you have strength [ . . . ]

The giants realize the futility of fighting against the forces of heaven. The first speaker may be Gilgamesh.

4Q531 Frag. 1 3 [ . . . I am a] giant, and by the mighty strength of my arm and my own great strength 4 [ . . . any]one mortal, and I have made war against them; but I am not [ . . . ] able to stand against them, for my opponents 6 [ . . . ] reside in [Heav]en, and they dwell in the holy places. And not 7 [ . . . they] are stronger than I. 8 [ . . . ] of the wild beast has come, and the wild man they call [me].

9 [ . . . ] Then Ohya said to him, I have been forced to have a dream [ . . . ] the sleep of my eyes [vanished], to let me see a vision. Now I know that on [ . . . ] 11-12 [ . . . ] Gilgamesh [ . . . ]

Ohya's dream vision is of a tree that is uprooted except for three of its roots; the vision's import is the same as that of the first dream.

6Q8 Frag. 2 1 three of its roots [ . . . ] [while] I was [watching,] there came [ . . . they moved the roots into] 3 this garden, all of them, and not [ . . . ]

Ohya tries to avoid the implications of the visions. Above he stated that it referred only to the demon Azazel; here he suggests that the destruction isfor the earthly rulers alone.

4Q530 Col. 2 1 concerns the death of our souls [ . . . ] and all his comrades, [and Oh]ya told them what Gilgamesh said to him 2 [ . . . ] and it was said [ . . . ] "concerning [ . . . ] the leader has cursed the potentates" 3 and the giants were glad at his words. Then he turned and left [ . . . ]

More dreams afflict the giants. The details of this vision are obscure, but it bodes ill for the giants. The dreamers speak first to the monsters, then to the giants.

Thereupon two of them had dreams 4 and the sleep of their eye, fled from them, and they arose and came to [ . . . and told] their dreams, and said in the assembly of [their comrades] the monsters 6 [ . . . In] my dream I was watching this very night 7 [and there was a garden . . . ] gardeners and they were watering 8 [ . . . two hundred trees and] large shoots came out of their root 9 [ . . . ] all the water, and the fire burned all 10 [the garden . . . ] They found the giants to tell them 11 [the dream . . . ]

In Enoch, The Watchers, Chapter Seven, when they made the women acquainted with the plants and cutting roots the women became pregnant.

"In the Dead Sea text entitled the Book of Giants, the Nephilim sons of the fallen angel Shemyaza, named as 'AhyÄ and 'OhyÄ, experience dream-visions in which they visit a world-garden and see 200 trees being felled by heavenly angels. Not understanding the purpose of this allegory they put the subject to the Nephilim council who appoint one of their number, Mahawai, to go on their behalf to consult Enoch, who now resides in an earthly paradise. To this end Mahawai then:

[... rose up into the air] like the whirlwinds, and flew with the help of his hands like [winged] eagle [... over] the cultivated lands and crossed Solitude, the great desert, [...]. And he caught sight of Enoch and he called to him...

Enoch explains that the 200 trees represent the 200 Watchers, while the felling of their trunks signifies their destruction in a coming conflagration and deluge. More significant, however, is the means by which Mahawai attains astral flight, for he is said to have used `his hands like (a) [winged] eagle.' Elsewhere in the same Enochian text Mahawai is said to have adopted the guise of a bird to make another long journey. On this occasion he narrowly escapes being burnt up by the sun's heat and is only saved after heeding the celestial voice of Enoch, who convinces him to turn back and not die prematurely - a story that has close parallels with Icarus's fatal flight too near the sun in Greek mythology. Resource

Someone suggests that Enoch be found to interpret the vision.

[ . . . to Enoch] the noted scribe, and he will interpret for us 12 the dream. Thereupon his fellow Ohya declared and said to the giants, 13 I too had a dream this night, O giants, and, behold, the Ruler of Heaven came down to earth 14 [ . . . ] and such is the end of the dream. [Thereupon] all the giants [and monsters! grew afraid 15 and called Mahway. He came to them and the giants pleaded with him and sent him to Enoch 16 [the noted scribe]. They said to him, Go [ . . . ] to you that 17 [ . . . ] you have heard his voice. And he said to him, He wil1 [ . . . and] interpret the dreams [ . . . ] Col. 3 3 [ . . . ] how long the giants have to live. [ . . . ]

After a cosmic journey Mahway comes to Enoch and makes his request.

[ . . . he mounted up in the air] 4 1ike strong winds, and flew with his hands like a [gles . . . he left behind] 5 the inhabited world and passed over Desolation, the great desert [ . . . ] 6 and Enoch saw him and hailed him, and Mahway said to him [ . . . ] 7 hither and thither a second time to Mahway [ . . . The giants await 8 your words, and all the monsters of the earth. If [ . . . ] has been carried [ . . . ] 9 from the days of [ . . . ] their [ . . . ] and they will be added [ . . . ] 10 [ . . . ] we would know from you their meaning [ . . . ]

11 [ . . . two hundred tr]ees that from heaven [came down . . . ]

Enoch sends back a tablet with its grim message of judgment, but with hope for repentance.

4Q530 Frag. 2 The scribe [Enoch . . . ] 2 [ . . . ] 3 a copy of the second tablet that [Epoch] se [nt . . . ] 4in the very handwriting of Enoch the noted scribe [ . . . In the name of God the great] 5 and holy one, to Shemihaza and all [his companions . . . ] 6 1et it be known to you that not [ . . . ] 7 and the things you have done, and that your wives [ . . . ] 8 they and their sons and the wives of [their sons . . . ] 9 by your licentiousness on the earth, and there has been upon you [ . . . and the land iscrying out] 10 and complaining about you and the deeds of your children [ . . . ] 11 the harm that you have done to it. [ . . . ] 12 until Raphael arrives, behold, destruction [is coming, a great flood, and it will destroy all living things] 13 and whatever is in the deserts and the seas. And the meaning of the matter [ . . . ] 14 upon you for evil. But now, loosen the bonds bi [nding you to evil . . . ] l5 and pray.

A fragment apparently detailing a vision that Enoch saw.

4Q531 Frag. 7 3 [ . . . great fear] seized me and I fell on my face; I heard his voice [ . . . ] 4 [ . . . ] he dwelt among human beings but he did not learn from them [ . . . ]  

Tablet nine

Tablet nine opens with Gilgamesh roaming the wild clothed in animal skins, grieving for Enkidu. Fearful of his own death, he decides to seek Utnapishtim ("the Faraway"), and learn the secret of eternal life. Among the few survivors of the Great Flood, Utnapishtim and his wife are the only humans to have been granted immortality by the gods. Gilgamesh crosses a mountain pass at night and encounters a pride of lions. Before sleeping he prays for protection to the moon god Sin. Then, waking from an encouraging dream, he kills the lions and uses their skins for clothing. After a long and perilous journey, Gilgamesh arrives at the twin peaks of Mount Mashu at the end of the earth. He comes across a tunnel, which no man has ever entered, guarded by two terrible scorpion-men. After questioning him and recognizing his semi-divine nature, they allow him to enter it, and he passes under the mountains along the Road of the Sun. In complete darkness he follows the road for 12 "double hours", managing to complete the trip before the Sun catches up with him. He arrives at the Garden of the gods, a paradise full of jewel-laden trees. 

Tablet ten

Meeting the ale wife Siduri, who assumes, because of his disheveled appearance, that he is a murderer or thief, Gilgamesh tells her about the purpose of his journey. She attempts to dissuade him from his quest, but sends him to Urshanabi the ferryman, who will help him cross the sea to Utnapishtim. Gilgamesh, out of spontaneous rage, destroys the stone-giants that live with Urshanabi. He tells him his story, but when he asks for his help, Urshanabi informs him that he has just destroyed the only creatures who can cross the Waters of Death, which are deadly to the touch. Urshanabi instructs Gilgamesh to cut down 300 trees, and fashion them into punting poles. When they reach the island where Utnapishtim lives, Gilgamesh recounts his story asking him for his help. Utnapishtim reprimands him, declaring that fighting the common fate of humans is futile and diminishes life's joys.

Tablet eleven

Gilgamesh observes that Utnapishtim seems no different from himself, and asks him how he obtained his immortality. Utnapishtim explains that the gods decided to send a great flood. To save Utnapishtim the god Ea told him to build a boat. He gave him precise dimensions, and it was sealed with pitch and bitumen. His entire family went aboard, together with his craftsmen and "all the animals of the field". A violent storm then arose which caused the terrified gods to retreat to the heavens. Ishtar lamented the wholesale destruction of humanity, and the other gods wept beside her. The storm lasted six days and nights, after which "all the human beings turned to clay". Utnapishtim weeps when he sees the destruction. His boat lodges on a mountain, and he releases a dove, a swallow, and a raven. When the raven fails to return, he opens the ark and frees its inhabitants. Utnapishtim offers a sacrifice to the gods, who smell the sweet savor and gather around. Ishtar vows that just as she will never forget the brilliant necklace that hangs around her neck, she will always remember this time. When Enlil arrives, angry that there are survivors, she condemns him for instigating the flood. Ea also castigates him for sending a disproportionate punishment. Enlil blesses Utnapishtim and his wife, and rewards them with eternal life. This account matches the flood story that concludes the Epic of Atrahasis (see also Gilgamesh flood myth).

The main point seems to be that when Enlil granted eternal life it was a unique gift. As if to demonstrate this point, Utnapishtim challenges Gilgamesh to stay awake for six days and seven nights. Gilgamesh falls asleep, and Utnapishtim instructs his wife to bake a loaf of bread on each of the days he is asleep, so that he cannot deny his failure to keep awake. Gilgamesh, who is seeking to overcome death, cannot even conquer sleep. After instructing Urshanabi the ferryman to wash Gilgamesh, and clothe him in royal robes, they depart for Uruk.

As they are leaving, Utnapishtim's wife asks her husband to offer a parting gift. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that at the bottom of the sea there lives a boxthorn-like plant that will make him young again. Gilgamesh, by binding stones to his feet so he can walk on the bottom, manages to obtain the plant. He intends to test it on an old man when he returns to Uruk. Unfortunately, when Gilgamesh stops to bathe, it is stolen by a serpent, who sheds its skin as it departs. Gilgamesh weeps at the futility of his efforts, because he has now lost all chance of immortality. He returns to Uruk, where the sight of its massive walls prompts him to praise this enduring work to Urshanabi.