extraction.gilgamesh.sabitum_mortality_quest
---
record_id: extraction.gilgamesh.sabitum_mortality_quest
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/mesopotamian/project-gutenberg/old-babylonian-gilgamesh-jastrow-clay.md
passage_locator:
label: INTRODUCTION I, Meissner fragment / Sabitum address
start: Why, O Gish, does thou run about?
end: Let the wife rejoice in thy bosom!
translation: Morris Jastrow Jr. and Albert T. Clay, An Old Babylonian Version of
the Gilgamesh Epic
notes: The source introduces this as the answer of Sabitum in the old Babylonian
fragment; no tablet line numbers are printed for the quoted address.
canonical_text:
quote: The life that thou seekest, thou wilt not find. / When the gods created mankind,
/ Death they imposed on mankind; / Life they kept in their power.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The speaker asks Gish why he runs about.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The speaker says that Gish will not find the life he seeks.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The speech says that when the gods created mankind, they imposed death on
mankind.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The speech says that life was kept in the power of the gods.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: Gish is told to fill his belly and rejoice day and night.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: Gish is told to keep his clothes clean, wash his head, care for a little one,
and let his wife rejoice.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Gish
description: Hero addressed during his wanderings and search for life.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Sabitum
description: Speaker identified in the surrounding source discussion as the woman
or maiden at the seaside who answers Gish.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: gods
description: Divine agents said to have created mankind, imposed death, and kept
life in their power.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: mankind
description: Human beings upon whom death is said to be imposed.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
roles:
- id: role:1
label: mortal_quester
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Gish is addressed as seeking life and running about.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: mortality_counselor
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Sabitum's speech denies that Gish will find the life he seeks and redirects
him toward ordinary human joys.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: role:3
label: holders_of_life
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The gods are said to keep life in their power after imposing death on mankind.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: life sought
literal_form: the life that Gish seeks
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: imposed death
literal_form: death imposed on mankind
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs:
- death_rebirth
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: eating and rejoicing
literal_form: filling the belly and rejoicing day and night
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:4
label: washing and clean clothes
literal_form: clean clothes, washed head, and water poured over the head
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:5
label: family care
literal_form: little one taking the hand and wife rejoicing in the bosom
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Sabitum answers Gish's search for life
summary: Sabitum tells Gish that the life he seeks will not be found, states that
the gods imposed death on mankind and kept life, and counsels food, rejoicing,
cleanliness, child care, and marital joy.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: impossible_immortality_quest
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
- death_rebirth
basis: The passage explicitly says the sought life will not be found because death
is imposed on mankind and life is kept by the gods.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: The speech denies human access to the sought life; it does not narrate
the full later quest sequence.
- id: motif:2
label: divine_monopoly_on_life
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The gods are said to have imposed death on humans while retaining life in
their own power.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: This is a theological statement within the speech, not a general claim
about every Mesopotamian text.
- id: motif:3
label: mortal_life_counsel
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: After denying the quest for life, the speech counsels food, rejoicing, washing,
care for a child, and marital joy.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The practical counsel is clear, but broader ethical interpretation needs
review.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage belongs to a mortality-and-wisdom pattern in which a quest for
life is checked by the statement that death is the human lot and life remains
with the gods.
claim_level: same_function
target: taxonomy/motifs.yml#wisdom
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: medium
limitations: This classifies the passage's function within the atlas only; it does
not assert borrowing or common inheritance with any other mortality text.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: INTRODUCTION I, Meissner fragment / Sabitum address
quote_or_summary: Why, O Gish, does thou run about? / The life that thou seekest,
thou wilt not find.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/mesopotamian/project-gutenberg/old-babylonian-gilgamesh-jastrow-clay.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: INTRODUCTION I, Meissner fragment / Sabitum address
quote_or_summary: When the gods created mankind, / Death they imposed on mankind;
/ Life they kept in their power.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/mesopotamian/project-gutenberg/old-babylonian-gilgamesh-jastrow-clay.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: INTRODUCTION I, Meissner fragment / Sabitum address
quote_or_summary: Gish is told to fill his belly, rejoice day and night, keep clean,
wash, care for a child, and let his wife rejoice.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/mesopotamian/project-gutenberg/old-babylonian-gilgamesh-jastrow-clay.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: low
notes: The mortality counsel is directly quoted in the source; broader comparison
is intentionally provisional.
reviewer_status:
status: draft
reviewer: ''
notes: Needs scholarly review before being treated as final.
extracted_by: Codex
extracted_at: '2026-04-27'
notes: Wave 2 Gilgamesh extraction seed. The source later summarizes the plant-and-serpent
episode as part of the broader Epic, but this record uses the directly quoted Old
Babylonian Sabitum mortality passage.