proposed by Daniel E. Fleming and Sara J. Milstein. Old Babylonian version The incorporation of Humbaba into the Epic of Gilgamesh is already attested in the Old Babylonian period. Multiple known copies preserve the section focused on Gilgamesh’s journey to the cedar forest and on the encounter with its inhabitant. In contrast with the older Humbaba narratives, where he lives in the east, in the Old Babylonian version of the Epic he becomes a denizen of the west. Individual copies make references to the cedar forest being located in northern Syria or in its proximity, with direct references to Sirion and Lebanon, or alternatively Ebla and lands inhabited by Amorites. The change presumably reflected a different geopolitical situation, with closer links developing between Mesopotamia and western peoples and states in the Middle Euphrates and Khabur areas. Another possibility is that the change was influenced by the traditions focused on legendary deeds of the kings of the Akkadian Empire, as Naram-Sin was famed for seeking cedars in the Amanus Mountains in the west. According to Andrew R. George the mention of Ebla in particular supports the latter assumption, as this toponym also appears in literary texts about Naram-Sin and his predecessor Sargon. Humbaba is first mentioned when Gilgamesh proposes an expedition to his forest to brighten the mood of Enkidu. In contrast with older narratives, he is apparently well known to the inhabitants of Uruk, rather than an unexpected encountered in the forest without prior notice. He is described as a fearsome figure with a strange face by the elders of Uruk, while Enkidu states that “everything is altered” about his appearance. However, there is no indication that he was necessarily larger than a human, and his power similarly as in earlier texts derives from his auras, here designated by the Akkadian words melammū. In contrast with the Sumerian narratives, they do not render him invulnerable, but the Akkadian version provides him with a new power instead: his voice has supernatural properties, with the copy of the epic presently in the Yale Babylonian Collection stating that "his voice is the Deluge, his mouth is fire, his breath is death" and a fragment from Tell Ishchali attributing the formation of Sirion and Lebanon to his roar. Another new addition is a reference to the possibility of defeating him with the help of divine forces of Shamash and Lugalbanda. He is also explicitly