The Epic of Gilgamesh is an Epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia surviving in one the first written languages, cuneiform. It is the earliest piece of literature that archeologists have found, it dates back to 2100 B.C.E. These stone and clay tablets survived centuries in rubble.            The epic is the story of Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk in 2700 B.C.E. The reader follows Gilgamesh through a humbling journey, he was known as an all powerful king and frequently took advantage of the citizens over which he ruled. To summarize, many citizens of Uruk complained to the gods about how they were being treated and so they summoned to creator god to form a person that is equal to Gilgamesh that would challenge him in many ways. And so Endiku was created, he was a man that roamed the bush and lived with animals, as an animal unexposed to civilization. Hunters caught wind of this man as he was protecting the animals from being hunted hindering their jobs, they went to Gilgamesh and told him of Endiku. Gilgamesh said for them to go back with a temple prostitute to tempt him into becoming “un-pure” and civilized, as the animals would deny him re-entry. Endiku fell into the temptress’s plan and was denied by the animals and so had to become civilized. When he had heard of Gilgamesh and saw what he was going to do to a bride-to-be he challenges Gilgamesh to a brawl. Though they fought they came out of the fight with much respect and admiration for each other. They went on to complete the journey to the cedar forest and defeat the terrible Humbaba, along the way Gilgamesh had troubling thoughts and wanted to give up before finishing as he was afraid to lose his life, Endiku was there to encourage and reassure him and they successfully defeated Humbaba, which got them favor with a god.

Together Endiku and Gilgamesh went on to face many fearful journeys, like killing the Bull of Heaven as it was sent to kill them when Gilgamesh refused the lust of a goddess known for being manipulative and mistreating her lovers. After these quests Endiku started having dreams of how he would die and surely they came true, as dreams in this story are like prophecies. When Endiku relayed this to Gilgamesh he was extremely distraught and cared for Endiku until his final breath. This sent Gilgamesh on a downward spiral, on a quest across the sea of death searching for the answer to becoming immortal. Gilgamesh was so afraid of dying and being forgotten that only once all of his efforts to become immortal were soiled did he realize the lesson Endiku taught him. That being immortal doesn’t make you great and that the way you can be sure not to be forgotten is to leave an incredible and admirable legacy that will be read and told for thousands of years. And here we are today, thousands of years later analyzing the tales of Gilgamesh and his life.