ot permit Gilgamesh to
pass across the sea. Gilgamesh pleads with Sabitum, tells of the loss of
his friend Eabani, 'who has become dust,'[923] and whose fate he does
not wish to share.

Gilgamesh speaks to Sabitum:
"[Now] Sabitum, which is the way to Parnapishtim?
If it is possible, let me cross the ocean.
If it is not possible, let me stretch myself on the ground."[924]
Sabitum speaks to Gilgamesh:
"O Gilgamesh! there has never been a ferry,
And no one has ever crossed the ocean.
Shamash, the hero, has crossed it, but except Shamash, who can cross
it?
Difficult is the passage, very difficult the path.
Impassible (?) the waters of death that are guarded by a bolt.
How canst thou, O Gilgamesh, traverse the ocean?
And after thou hast crossed the waters of death, what wilt thou do?"

Sabitum then tells Gilgamesh that there is one possibility of his
accomplishing his task. If Ardi-Ea,[925] the ferryman[926] of
Parnapishtim, will take Gilgamesh across, well and good; if not, he must
abandon all hope.

The ocean, though not expressly called _Apsu_, is evidently identical
with the great body of waters supposed to both surround the earth and to
flow beneath it.[927] The reference to 'the waters of death' thus
becomes clear. The gathering-place of the dead being under the earth,
near to the _Apsu_, the great 'Okeanos' forms a means of approach to the
nether world. It is into this ocean, forming part of the _Apsu_, that
the sun dips at evening and through which it passes during the night.
The scene between Gilgamesh and Sabitum accordingly is suggested, in
part, by the same cosmological conceptions that condition the
description of the mountain Mashu.

Sabitum herself is a figure that still awaits satisfactory explanation.
She is called the goddess Siduri.[928] The name of this goddess is found
as an element in proper names, but of her traits we know nothing.
Sabitum appears originally to have been a term descriptive of her, and
Hommel[929] may be right in explaining the name as 'the one from
Sabu,'[930] and in taking the latter as the name of a district in
Arabia. It is tempting to think of the famous Saba in Southern Arabia.
Obedient to the advice of Sabitum, Gilgamesh tells Ardi-Ea his story and
also his desire.

Now Ardi-Ea, which is the way to [Parnapishtim?].
If it is possible, let me cross the ocean,
And if not possible, let me lie outstretched on the ground.

Ardi-Ea consents,