"The world of Gilgamesh was hemmed in by the mighty mountains of Mashu that were the edge between day and night. It was circled by the Bitter River that flowed round and round it unceasingly... No one knew what lay beyond the river, since the very touch of its waters was death." Chapter 1, pg. 11

"The city of Gilgamesh was Uruk-of-the-Walls. This was the most splendid of all the seven cities of Sumer and Gilgamesh was its king. Uruk was a city of many-colored temples, of brick houses, marketplaces, and open groves of trees. Its towering walls protected it from all sorts of evil... but most of all they protected it from the monster Humbaba who lived on a nearby mountain and who constantly breathed fire and smoke and soot into the sky." Chapter 1, pg. 12

"It was with the walls of Uruk that our story begins." Chapter 1, pg. 12

"Mothers...