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Gilgamesh and Ishtar, and thedeath of Enkidu

The Gilgamesh Epic

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Layout of the Gilgamesh Epic

Prologue

The coming of Enkidu

The forest journey

Ishtar and Gilgamesh and the death of Enkidu

The search for everlasting life

The story of the flood

The return

The death of Gilgamesh

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What has happened thus far?

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Flashback: Humbaba, guardian of the

forest

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Flashback: Humbaba, guardian of the

forest

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Gilgamesh in visual representations

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Gilgamesh in visual representations

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Gilgamesh in visual representations

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Gilgamesh in visual representations

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Layout of Gilgamesh and Ishtar, and

the death of Enkidu After Gilgamesh and Enkidu slayed Humbaba they returned to Uruk. Once there

the goddess Ishtar asked Gilgamesh to be her husband, and then she would makehim famous among men.

Gilgamesh did not accept Ishtars offer, naming all the lovers that Ishtar have hadand not loved forever.

Ishtar was enraged, she told her father Anu how Gilgamesh insulted her. She went

on to ask Anu to give her the Bull of Heaven to destroy Gilgamesh, and if he didnot give it she would open the doors of hell so that the dead can live among theliving.

Anu agreed to give her the Bull of Heaven, but in return there would be sevenyears of drought in Uruk. Ishtar however indicates that she saved enough grain forthe people for seven year.

Ishtar led the Bull of Heaven to Uruk, but it was not match for Gilgamesh who

slayed it with the help of Enkidu. Gilgamesh ripped out the heart of the Bull andpresented it to Shamash, whereafter Gilgamesh and the heroes of the city had agreat feast.

Enkidu had a dream which he told to Gilgamesh. In the dream Enlil said toShamash that because Gilgamesh and Enkidu killed both Humbaba and the Bull ofHeaven one of them must die.

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Enkidu became sick and in his sickness he cursed the city walls ofUruk and the harlot who braught him there. Shamash howeverspoke to him from heaven telling him to not curse the harlotbecause if it was not for her he would never have knownGilgamesh. Enkidu then withdrew his curse.

Enkidu had another dream, wherein a sombre-faced man-birdtransformed his arms into wings and took him to the place of the

Queen of Darkness where those who enters never returns. ThereEnkidu saw many kings, rulers and kings who once wore kinglycrowns and ruled the world in the days of old.

Enkidu shared his dream with Gilgamesh, and as he becames sickerGilgamesh wept over Enkidu.

Enkidu died and Gilgamesh mourned him for seven days and nights.

Gilgamesh commanded that the whole Uruk weep for his friend andcommissioned that a statue should be made of his friend.

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Ishtar the goddess of love and war

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Ishtar the goddess of love and war

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Ishtar the goddess of love and war

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The Bull of Heaven

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The Bull of Heaven

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The Search for Everlasting Life

The Epic of Gilgamesh

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The Search for Everlasting Life:

Overview Gilgamesh mourned the death of Enkidu, but because he was afraid of

death he went in search of Utnapishtim, who was the only one whoreceived everlasting life from the gods.

Gilgamesh decided to go to the land of Dilmun, the garden of paradise,,where Utnapishtim lived, but at night he reached the mountain pass

where lions roamed. Gilgamesh prayed to the moon god Sin to protecthim, and he overpowered the lions with his axe and his sword.

Then Gilgamesh came to the great mountains of Mashu, which guards therising and the setting sun. Its twin peaks are as high as the wall of heavenand it reached down to the underworld. The Scorpions stand guard at itsgates, half man and half dragon.

Gilgamesh asks the scorpions if he may enter, even if no one has enteredbefore, because he is on his way to see Utnapishtim, to ask him abaout lifeand death. The scorpions grant him permission to enter into the darknessof the mountain.

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Gilgamesh in the mountain pass killing

the lions

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The Scorpion Men

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Gilgamesh entered the mountain and travelled a very long distance in the

darkness before the light of dawn appeared.

Gilgamesh reached the great sea and he met the woman of the vine, the

maker of wine, called Siduri. Siduri could not believe that it was

Gilgamesh, because he looked so weary, but then he told her about Enkidu

and his plans to obtain everlasting life.

Siduri told Gilgamesh that he had to cross the sea to find the land of

Dilmun where Utnapishtim lives. Gilgamesh said who but Shamash could

cross the great sea. Siduri however told him that he could ask Urshanabi,the ferryman of Utnapishtim to help him.

Urshanabi told Gilgamesh to go and chop wood in the forest to build a

boat. After Gilgamesh built the boat he and Urshanabi sailed for a month

and fifteen days until they reached Dilmun where Utnapishtim lived, the

only man that received everlasting life from the gods.

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Gilamesh and Urshanabi grossing the

Great Sea

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When Gilgamesh reached Dilmun, Utnapishtim saw him from a distance

and wondered who this man was. Gilgamesh introduced himself as

Gilgamesh from Uruk, but Utnapishtim could not believe that it could be

Gilgamesh, because he looked so weary. Gilgamesh then explained to him

that Enkidu has died, and he mourned for him seven days and seven

nights, and that he has travelled a very far distance to reach Dilmun.

Gilgamesh told Utnapishtim that he came to ask him about life and death

and how to gain everlasting life, whereby Utnapishtim told him that

Anunnaki, the judge and Mammetun, the mother of destinies, decides the

fates of men.

Utnapishtim however said that he would tell Gilgamesh how he came into

the precence of the gods and how they granted then everlasting life.

The story continues in THE STORY OF THE FLOOD