“The Epic of Gilgamesh” starts out by introducing the hero, Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was described as “two- thirds of him was divine and one third of him was human.” he was “uncannily perfect”. (NAWL A: 100) Now as I read this I thought how lucky the people of Uruk were to have such a perfect king as Gilgamesh. However, as I continued reading, I was astonished to see something much more different. The people of Uruk didn’t like Gilgamesh, they feared him. Gilgamesh “was harrying the young men of Uruk beyond reason…[he] would leave no girl to her mother”. (NAWL A: 101) Gilgamesh would fight the men whenever he felt like fighting and he would rape the women of Uruk. Gilgamesh did whatever he pleased and no one in Uruk could stop him. As I read this I thought about the prologue, which stated that around 2700 B.C.E there was a priest-king named Gilgamesh who ruled the city-state of Uruk. Now there was no way to know for sure how much of the epic hero Gilgamesh compares to the historic priest-king. So, I thought maybe the priest-king like the epic hero Gilgamesh was also cruel to his people.
The people of Uruk were so terrified of Gilgamesh that they plead to the gods for help. They told Anu, the sky god, that Gilgamesh was supposed to be ” the shepherd of ramparted Uruk… the people’s shepherd. Bold, superb, accomplished, and mature!”(NAWL A: 101) Gilgamesh was supposed to protect the people of Uruk, to look out for them. However, Gilgamesh would harass them, they feared him. Anu replied by saying to “summon Aruru [goddess of birth” so that she can “create a partner for Gilgamesh, mighty in strength, Let them contend with each other, that Uruk may have peace.” (NAWL A: 101) As I read this I thought why didn’t the gods themselves just make Gilgamesh all human.
Aruru creates Enkidu who is both human and animal like. A hunter encounters Enkidu, the hunter returns to Uruk where he tells Gilgamesh about Enkidu. Gilgamesh sends a harlot to seduce Enkidu, he tells the hunter that once Enkidu takes Shamhat the harlot “his beasts that grew up with him on the steppe will deny him.”(NAWL A: 103) I was amazed to see that after “six days, seven nights” Enkidu was transformed, he “was too slow, he could not run as before”. (NAWL A: 104) The harlot convinces Enkidu to return to Uruk with her.
It was interesting to see that before Gilgamesh and Enkidu met, Gilgamesh was having dreams about Enkidu. Gilgamesh tells his mother, Ninsun, he had a dream where something fell down on him and “The whole of Uruk was standing by it, the people formed a crowd around it,[I fell in love with it], like a woman I caressed it, I carried it off and laid it down before you, Then you were making it my partner.” (NAWL 105) Once Enkidu arrives to Uruk, he and Gilgamesh fight but they become best friends shortly after. I would have never thought that Gilgamesh and Enkidu would become best friends, since Gilgamesh sees himself as superior to all. Gilgamesh tells Enkidu about the monster Humbaba, who guards the Cedar Forest. Gilgamesh believes that if they kill Humbaba they are doing god’s work since the Cedar Forest is forbidden to mortals. Thus, comes this idea of immortality; that to achieve immortality they must make a name for themselves. I really like this idea because it means that everything has an end but the way we live on is by the things we do in this life.
The Flood Tablet from “The Epic of Gilgamesh” at the British Museum
