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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.
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, the ferryman of Parnapishtim, will take Gilgamesh across, well and good; if not, he must abandon all hope.
Obedient to the advice of Sabitum, Gilgamesh tells Ardi-Ea his story and also his desire. Ardi-Ea consents, and tells Gilgamesh to take his ax, to go into the woods, and to cut down a large pole that may serve as a rudder. Gilgamesh, upon hearing this, Takes an ax in his hand, ... Goes to the wood and makes a rudder five gar long. Gilgamesh and Ardi-Ea mount the ship.
If it is not possible, let me stretch myself on the ground." 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. How canst thou, O Gilgamesh, traverse the ocean?
Finally he reaches the sea, where the maiden Sabitum has her palace and throne. Upon seeing the hero, the maiden locks the gates of her palace and will not permit Gilgamesh to pass across the sea. Gilgamesh pleads with Sabitum, tells of the loss of his friend Eabani, 'who has become dust, and whose fate he does not wish to share. If it is possible, let me cross the ocean.
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 may be right in explaining the name as 'the one from Sabu, 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.
The sixth tablet marks an important division in the epic. The Ishtar and Sabitum episodes and the narrative of Parnapishtim itself a compound of two independent tales, one semi-historical, the other a nature-myth represent accretions that may refer to a time when Gilgamesh had become little more than a name, a type of mankind in general.
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