The punishment of a female devotee
who enters the "house of a wine woman" (b?t Sal Gestinna ยง110) is
death. It was not "prohibition" that prompted so severe a punishment,
but the recognition of the purpose for which a devotee would enter
such a house of ill repute. The speech of the _sabitum_ or innkeeper
to Gilgamesh (above, p. 12) was, therefore, an invitation to stay with
her, instead of seeking for life elsewhere. Viewed as coming from a
"public woman" the address becomes significant. The invitation would
be parallel to the temptation offered by the _harimtu_ in the first
tablet of the Enkidu, and to which Enkidu succumbs. The incident
in the tablet would, therefore, form a parallel in the adventures
of Gilgamesh to the one that originally belonged to the Enkidu
cycle. Finally, it is quite possible that _sabitum_ is actually the
Akkadian equivalent of the Sumerian Sal Gestinna, though naturally
until this equation is confirmed by a syllabary or by other direct
evidence, it remains a conjecture. See now also Albright's remarks
on Sabitum in the A. J. S. L. 36, pp. 269 _seq._]
CORRECTIONS TO THE TEXT OF LANGDON'S EDITION OF THE PENNSYLVANIA
TABLET. [157]
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