Gilgamesh, the King of Uruk, is born of a mortal father and an immortal
mother (a goddess). During the course of the story, Gilgamesh is forced to face
his own mortality, knowing that it was his mother's chance affair that caused
him to miss his claim to eternal life. That thought plagues him all during his
life, making him a poor ruler.
A Harsh King
Embittered and angry that he was mortal, Gilgamesh sleeps with every woman he
can seduce and takes children away from their families. His subjects soon grow
to hate and fear him. Finally the people plead with the gods for help, and the
gods respond by having the goddess Aruru create a man, Enkidu, who will be an
almost equal match for Gilgamesh.
Enkidu is a wild man, covered with shaggy hair, and as wild as the wilderness
in which he was raised. He eats grass with the gazelles and drinks with the
animals at the watering hole.
At one point, a trapper discovers that Enkidu is freeing all the animals from
his traps. He asks his father what he should do. His father advises him to go to
Uruk, find King Gilgamesh, and tell him of the wild man. His father then tells
his son how he should go about enticing Enkidu to go into the city, where the
wild man will meet Gilgamesh.
He tells his son to hire a temple harlot to come with him to the wilderness
where she can seduce Enkidu. That will make the animals reject Enkidu and he'll
be forced to go to the city.
Enkidu Wrestles Gilgamesh
The harlot does seduce Enkidu, and like the trapper's father had said, the
animals reject Enkidu. The harlot then teaches Enkidu how to live in
civilization. Things like wearing clothing, eating bread, and drinking wine.
Then she tells him about the strength of Gilgamesh, knowing that Enkidu will
want to challenge Gilgamesh.
Enkidu hears about how Gilgamesh is a blatant womanizer, sleeping with all
the women of Uruk and decides to challenge Gilgamesh, conquer him, and force him
to behave properly. Gilgamesh accepts Enkidu's challenge. They struggle
together, wrestling as near equals, but finally Gilgamesh defeats Enkidu.
Instead of being angry for being beaten, and much to the dismay of the gods,
Enkidu develops great respect for Gilgamesh. They embrace and become best
friends. They are opposites, but provide a sense of balance for each other.
Slaying of Humbaba
Gilgamesh longs for fame and decides that one way to gain it is to go into
the cedar forest and slay its guardian, a monster named Humbaba. Now Enkidu
knows Humbaba personally from when he lived in the wilderness, and he fears the
monster. But Gilgamesh is insistant, so the two men prepare for their
adventure.
As soon as Enkidu touches the ceder forest gate, his hand becomes paralyzed,
but Gilgamesh helps him and they continue on. Despite having nightmares about
it, they cut down a cedar tree. Of course, when Humbaba hears that they've cut
down the tree, he challenges them. They fight, but Gilgamesh and Enkidu win the
battle and cut off Humbaba's head.
Bull of Heaven (Drought)
Gilgamesh then bathes and puts on clean clothes and his crown. He is so
handsome that he catches the eye of Ishtar, the goddess of love, who wants
desperately to marry him. Gilgamesh spurns her, pointing out how she had ruined
the lives of her previous husbands.
This episode might have been the beginning of the saying about "hell hath no
fury like a woman scorned." Ishtar goes to her father, Anu, demanding that he
send the Bull of Heaven (a drought) to punish Gilgamesh. She is so adamant that
she threatens to smash down the gates to the god's underworld if her father
doesn't do as she asks.
Anu does send the Bull of Heaven, but Enkidu manages to grab it by the horns
while Gilgamesh kills it.
Enkidu Dies
The gods are angry and hold a council to determine who should die for killing
the Bull of Heaven. Should it be Gilgamesh or Enkidu? But Gilgamesh discovers
their plot in a dream, but can do nothing to alter their plan. They decide that
since Gilgamesh is part divine, while Enkidu is part animal, that Enkidu should
die.
Enkidu curses the harlot who led him to civilization and to death, but he
then blesses her for the joy of his friendship with Gilgamesh. Soon he gets sick
and dies.
Distraught with grief, Gilgamesh keeps the body of his friend for a full
week, until the body crawls with worms. After burying Enkidu, Gilgamesh leaves
Uruk to live in the wilderness as a hunter, and dresses in animal skins. While
in the wilderness, faced with the recent death of his friend, Gilgamesh
contemplates his own mortality.
Gilgamesh Seeks Utnapishtim
Not wanting to die, Gilgamesh decides to seek out a man by the name of
Utnapishtim, who is the only human being (who is not partly a god) who had ever
been granted eternal life by the gods. Gilgamesh hopes to learn the secret of
how he too can avoid death.
Eventually, Gilgamesh's quest takes him to the entrance into the land of the
gods. The god-world is under a mountain, guarded by a man-scorpion and his mate.
Gilgamesh gains entrance to the mountain and has to travel in the darkness until
he arrives at the jeweled garden of the gods.
In the land of the gods, Gilgamesh meets Siduri, a divine wine-maker. She
gives him shelter and advises him to accept his human side and to enjoy life
while he's alive. But he insists he has to find Utnapishtim, so Siduri tells him
about Urshanabi, a boatman who can ferry him across the Sea of Death to the
island where Utnapishtim lives alone with his wife.
Urshanabi agrees to take Gilgamesh to the island. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh
his story of how he and his family became immortal after surviving a great,
global Flood (the details of which are remarkably similar to the Noah story in
the Bible). Utnapishtim says he cannot help Gilgamesh because the Flood was a
one-time event and one which the gods had assured him would never occur
again.
Gilgamesh falls into a deep sleep and sleeps for seven days. When he awakens,
Utnapishtim asks him how he can expect to live forever when he can't even stay
awake for seven days.
However, Utnapishtim's wife takes pity on Gilgamesh and pleads with her
husband to share the knowledge of a sacred plant that will make Gilgamesh young
again, though not immortal. Gilgamesh dives into the sea to retrieve the plant.
Unfortunately, while Gilgamesh was later bathing, a snake shows up and steals
the sacred plant.
Gilgamesh Returns to Uruk
After losing his last chance at immortality, Gilgamesh returns to Uruk with
the boatman, Urshanabi, and points to the mighty walls of the city. Gilgamesh
confesses that the walls are the proper legacy of a human being, not the search
for eternal life.
In the final segment of the story, Gilgamesh dies and all the people of Uruk
mourn is death.
Information Reference:
Crowley, R. (2012). Gilgamesh Epic. Retrieved
from www.romerica.com: http://romerica.com/myth/meso_gilgamesh.htm
