Prof. Scott B.

Noegel
Chair, Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization
University of Washington

"AJanus Parallelism in the Gilgamesh Flood Story."

First Published in:
Acta Sumerologica 13 (1991),419-421.

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A Janus Parallelism In Ihe, Gilgamesh Flood Sioryt

In 1978, C.H. Gordon coined the term "Janus parallelism" for a lilerary device
in which a middle stich of poelry parallels in a polysemous manner both Ihe line that
precedes it and Ihe line which follows it. Gordon's observalion suggesled a "new direelion" wilh which biblical scholars could approach Iheir lext.2 Several have conlinued
Ihe search and have been able to find addilional examples of Ihis mOSIhidden of lilerary
devices.'
Given the fact Ihal liler:\ry, and especially poetic techniques, orten lran/nd 'cultural boundaries, one should nOI be surprised 10 find Ihe device in olher ancient Neal'
Eastern sources. An excellenl example of Janus parallelism can be recognized in Ihe
Akkadian Flood Story of the "Epic of Gilgamesh." In Tablet XI, lines 2S-27,wc
read as follows:
2S. mumr mdrc Jc'i napUti
26. makkura zerma napiJta bu/li{
27. IJJulima zcr napJati kalama ana libbi ci~clippi
Translation:
2S. Abandon weallh! Seek life!
26. Property spurn (it)! Living beings keep alive!
27. Make all living beings go up into the boal!
While explaining the redaelion of these lines from Ihe texl's Vorlage, the "Alral]asis Epic," H.A. Hoffner poinled oullhe polysemy of Iwo words in line 26; Ihe noul1
nwkkurn mid Ihe verbal form zcrma.4 Allhough Hoffner was aware of the pun, he
did not recognize the presence of Janus parallelism. His firsl observation was that IIwk.
kurn, aside from ils more common meaning "property," also means "a kind of boal,"
(the word is borrowed from the Sumerian mll-gma).s Ahhough Ihe doubled k i~ 1101
the expected syllabic orthography for malk)kuru = "ark," it is not unattesled.A~
Hoffner slated:
Indeed a douhling of Ihe first consonant following ilia in the Akk. form of Ih,'
Sum. loanwords for boat types is nOI isolated: lIIilkkilll (nlO\.gid-da),uwkkli/U (1II:i,
gud4.da), nOlably all examples conlain the Sum., phoneme g.6
Thus, the word makkura signifies here both "property" and "ark."
Now we turn our attenlion 10 Ihe word zcrllla, usually Iranslaled "spurn, shun,"
. or Ihe like. The inilial sibilant in ze-e-er'lIIa may be either s, ~, or z, and as HoHncl
remarked, "neither Ihe spelling nor Ihe form indicates whelher Ihe verb used is cscru,
as/~/zaru or s/~/zera.'" While Ihis allows a cerlain nexibilily in rendering the line,
one possibility may be ruled out by context. Our word cannol dcrive from si'ru =

C/

120

Scott

)r

D. Noegel

A Janus Parallelism in the Gilgamesh Flood Story

"to coat, besmear, cover," for as Hoffner noted, its uses in Akkadian are limited
10 plating a surface with "a metal foil, liquid or paste, and not the construction of
a roof,"8 This leaves us with two possibilities, both equally plausible in light of the
polysemous

use of m.1(k)kuru.

The word in question

could be read as both zerma

"Spurn!," and !i~fII = "Duild, construct!".

Thus, the Janus effect is accomplished in the following manner:
25. mumr mcJrc Ic'i napIa/i
Abandon wealth! Seek life!

cd with line 25, "Abandon wealth!". With the understanding"Construct a boat!,"

the sentencealludes 10 the ana libbi gileJippiin the followingline.
As far as I am aware, this is the first example of Ja~us parallelism demonstrated
in Akkadian literature. The device now hitherto known only from the few examples
pointed out in the Dible, may now be placed in its ancient Near Eastern context. Ja.
IIUSparallelism was lIot necessarily a unique inventioll of Ihc biblical wriler(s), rathcr
it ma}' havc becn a technique common to Ihe Near Easl in general.9

Noles

J. I \\'ould like 10 Ihank my leachers, Prots. O.A. Rend.burg and D.I. Owen ror Iheir helprul com"'enll on Ihis nole.
'

2. C.II. Oordon. "Ne\\' Dircelions." /lul1<'ill of ",. Anlcrk.1n Society of r.1pr,.,loc;S/S IS (1918). S9-f>6.
,I, See G. l\e",hhlll8.

"Jalllll

I'arallelislll ill Gen. 49: 26." JIll. 99 (1980). 291-93;

lie lI.ppy'..~n

Idiom Idenlilied,"

VT 31 (1981). 92-S;

1:. 7.nrro. "Oi.e-

W.G. Walloll. "lIebrew

D.T. T.uonura, "Janu.

'To

Paralleli.m In Nah I: g,"

In/. 102 (1983), 109-11; W.G. Wauon; Cla,,;c.' lIebrew Poe,ry: A Guide /0 its Techniques, (JSOTSS
~6. 1984). p. IS9.
4. II.A. IloHn.r. "H"li'. Command 10 A"a')a.is," in n.l. Eichler, el al., Kra"", Ann;vers."y Va/lime
(,\OA T HI (Verla. Uullon &. Uercker Kevdaer, Neukirehener Verla. Neukir<hen.Vluyn, 1976). p. 244.
S. Ibid.
f,. Ibid.
7. Ibid. lIorr"er

ciles CAD E. 349.

Ihe Creal ion Epic's Version or Ihe Founding or nabylon," In ed. J.J. Finkelslein and M. Greenl
and Dib/ieal Sludies; Collteled IVorh of E.A. S~iscr, (philadelphia: UniversilY or Pennsylvania
pp. S3-61.

Seolt

26. m.1kkura zerrnll nllpiJ/1Ibullir

Properly spurn! (Construct a boat!) Keep living beings alive!
27. (Jlulima ier lIapJati kalamll ana libbi gilelippi
Make all living beings go up into the boat!
The significant feature of a Janus parallelism is that the middle line of a trisdeh
both echoes the line that precedes it and anticipates the line that follows it. This is
precisely the case here. With the reading "Spurn properlY!," line 26 is to be connect.

lIIi. de b,h y paraleli'lIIo birrollie <II Job 9. 2S. "ViI> 62 (1981). S46-47;

8. Ibid.
9. For addilionalln'lanee. or word play in Akkadian Illeralure, .ee E.A. Spei.er',. ""

D. Noegd

Dept. of Near East.

Cornell

University