Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh went abroad and defeated every man who could withstand his arms before he returned to Uruk. He stormed through the city by day and by night, proud of his strength and royal power. The men of Uruk said that he sounded the alarm for his own amusement and that his arrogance had no bounds. No son remained with his father because Gilgamesh took them all. They said that a king was a shepherd to his people.

The people also condemned Gilgamesh’s treatment of women. They said that his lust left no virgin with her lover. He claimed the bride-right and sought sex with another man’s bride on her wedding night. The complaints named a warrior’s daughter and a noble’s wife. The women prayed to their goddesses and repeated their sorrows month after month.

The men of Uruk appealed to the gods for relief. The gods of heaven heard their complaints and went to Anu, the god of Uruk. They said that Gilgamesh had been made strong as a savage bull, that no one could withstand his arms, and that he took the sons and brides of the city. Anu heard their lamentation, and the gods called on Aruru, the goddess of creation.

After killing the Bull of Heaven, Gilgamesh and Enkidu returned to Uruk. They cut out the Bull’s heart and gave it to Shamash. In the palace, they washed their hands in the Euphrates, embraced, and went away. The heroes gathered in the streets, and Gilgamesh called to the singing girls. He asked who was the most glorious of heroes and the most eminent among men. They answered that Gilgamesh was both. Feasting and celebration continued in the palace, and the two heroes later lay down to sleep.

During the night, Enkidu dreamed that Anu, Enlil, Ea, and Shamash sat in council. Anu said that Gilgamesh and Enkidu had killed the Bull of Heaven and Humbaba, guardian of the cedar forest. Because of these killings, one of the two had to die. Enlil declared that Enkidu would die, while Gilgamesh would live.

Shamash objected. He asked whether the two had not killed the Bull and Humbaba at his command, and questioned why Enkidu should die. Enlil grew angry and asked why the Sun God had marched with them as a comrade in arms. The gods nevertheless chose Enkidu as the victim.

Enkidu rose and told Gilgamesh the dream, calling him his brother. He understood that death would separate them. Lying before Gilgamesh, he shed streams of tears and lamented that no one would bring him back from the dead. He would sit with the shades, cross the threshold of death, and never again see his companion. The judgement followed the deeds that had brought the two heroes together. Enkidu had refused Humbaba’s plea for mercy, broken the taboo of the gate, and insulted Ishtar. Gilgamesh had shared in the killings, but the punishment fell first on Enkidu.

Gilgamesh went alone to the Temple of the Mountain, the home of Enlil, and wept for Enkidu. His ball had fallen into the underworld, and his bat had followed it. Enkidu had gone down to retrieve them, but the underworld had taken him. Gilgamesh said that Enkidu had not been taken by the God of Death, a demon, or Nergal’s merciless bailiff. Enlil did not answer. Gilgamesh went to Ur, the home of Sîn, and repeated his plea.

Before Enkidu descended, Gilgamesh warned him about the underworld. He must not wear sandals, raise his voice, kiss the wife he loved, strike the wife he hated, kiss the son he loved, or strike the son he hated. He must not carry a cudgel, since the spirits would tremble before him, or a stick, since those it struck would surround him. Enkidu ignored these instructions. He wore clean clothes, smeared himself with sweet oil, threw a stick, carried a cudgel, and wore sandals. The dead saw that he was a stranger, gathered around the scent of the oil, and the underworld took him.

Ea told the young hero Shamash, son of Ningal, that Enkidu’s spirit could return like a ghost if a hole were opened to the underworld. Shamash listened, opened a hole, and brought Enkidu’s spirit back. Gilgamesh and Enkidu embraced, kissed, and spoke. Gilgamesh asked about the laws of the underworld. Enkidu refused, saying that Gilgamesh would break down crying if he heard them. Gilgamesh replied that he would rather cry than remain ignorant.

Enkidu described the house of darkness, the home of Irkalla, which no one leaves. Its inhabitants longed for light, ate dust, and lived on clay. Wrapped like birds in feather cloaks, they saw no light. Dust covered the doors and bolts, and silence filled the house. Enkidu saw the crowns of dead kings and the high priests. He then said that his own body had become dust and was being eaten by a moth. Gilgamesh cried out and threw himself into the dust.

Enkidu stepped into the street and blocked the entrance to the wedding house. Gilgamesh had risen during the night and come to the house, where the bridal bed had been prepared for the goddess of love. The bride waited for the bridegroom. Enkidu put out his foot to prevent Gilgamesh from entering, and Gilgamesh met him at the gate.

They grappled like bulls. They seized each other, broke the doorposts, and made the walls shake. They snorted as they struggled. Gilgamesh planted his foot, bent his knee, and turned Enkidu until he threw him down. Gilgamesh’s fury then ended. Enkidu spoke to him, though the surviving passage does not preserve his words.

The men of Uruk had expected this meeting. They had said that Enkidu was bigger of bone and had been reared on the milk of wild beasts. They called him the strongest of all and rejoiced that Gilgamesh had found his match. Enkidu had once lived among wild animals, swift as a gazelle. After a woman from the city led him away, he learned to wear clothes, eat human food, herd sheep, and fight wolves and lions. He became the shepherds’ watchman before reaching Uruk.

He had heard of Gilgamesh’s conduct in the city. Gilgamesh was described as a man of great beauty, strength, and youthful dignity. His strength was complete, and he did not rest by night or day. The two men therefore met in hostility, but the contest showed each the other’s power. Once Enkidu had been thrown, Gilgamesh’s anger ended. They recognised each other as equals and became friends, remaining inseparable companions. Later, they are called brothers and comrades in arms.

Utnapishtim revealed a secret kept by the gods. A plant grew beneath the water. It looked like a thistle, or like a rose with thorns that wounded the hands. Whoever found and plucked it would regain his life force. Gilgamesh dug a shaft down to the Apsû. He tied heavy stones to his feet, and they pulled him into the depths. He grasped the plant and plucked it, hurting his hand. He then cut the stones from his feet, and the water threw him back onto the shore.

Gilgamesh showed the plant to the boatman Urshanabi. He called it the plant of the pulsing heart and said that he would carry it to Uruk the Sheepfold. There, he would test it on an old man. The plant would restore the man’s youth, after which Gilgamesh would eat it himself. He and Urshanabi travelled back through the gate by which they had come. They went twenty leagues and broke their fast. After another thirty leagues, they stopped for the night.

Gilgamesh saw a well of cool water and went down to bathe. A serpent lay deep in the pool. It sensed the plant’s sweetness, rose from the water, and snatched the plant away. At once, it shed its skin and returned to the well. The serpent’s renewal showed what Gilgamesh had lost. His hope of recovering his life force was gone.

Gilgamesh sat down and wept. He took Urshanabi’s hand and asked whether all his toil and suffering had gained him anything. The beast of the earth now possessed the reward, while he had found a sign and lost it. The stream had carried the plant back towards the channels where he had found it. Gilgamesh abandoned the search and continued towards his city with Urshanabi.

Aga of Kish moved against Uruk with an invading army. Fear spread through the city as the force approached, and the people were divided over how to respond. Gilgamesh took charge of the defence and called the elders to consider the danger.

The elders proposed submission. They advised accepting Aga’s authority rather than risking the city in war. Gilgamesh rejected their counsel. He appealed to the assembly of Uruk and argued that the city should resist. The people remained under pressure while Aga’s army advanced towards the walls.

The invaders surrounded Uruk. Gilgamesh led the men of the city out against them, and the fighting continued as the defenders held their ground. The divided population did not surrender. Uruk defeated the army of Kish, and Aga was captured or forced to withdraw, depending on how the Sumerian account is read.

The episode belongs to the poem usually called Gilgamesh and Akka, with Aga and Akka representing variant forms of the king’s name. Kish and Uruk were traditional rivals. The Sumerian King-list places Gilgamesh as the fifth ruler of Uruk’s first post-diluvian dynasty, after Kish had gained supremacy.

This is the fourth surviving Sumerian poem about Gilgamesh. The poems are separate compositions, not parts of one continuous work, though they preserve connected episodes about the hero. Sumerian versions were studied in Old Babylonian schools during the early second millennium BCE, when Sumerian was already a learned language rather than a spoken vernacular.

Ishtar went to her father, Anu, and demanded the Bull of Heaven. She said that she would use it to kill Gilgamesh in his home. If Anu refused, she threatened to destroy the houses of the underworld, open the gates to the land below, and raise the dead to eat the living. Anu replied that Uruk must first gather seven years of fodder for the Bull. Ishtar answered that this had already been done. The widows had gathered the fodder, and the farmers had grown the hay. Anu then gave her the reins, and Ishtar led the Bull down to earth.

The Bull reached the land and attacked Uruk. With its first snort it killed a hundred men, then two hundred more, and then three hundred. Its second snort brought down hundreds again. When it charged at Enkidu with its third snort, he moved aside and seized the beast. In one account, he caught it by the horns. He called to Gilgamesh and reminded him of their boast that they would leave enduring names behind them. He told Gilgamesh to drive his sword between the Bull’s neck and its horns.

Gilgamesh seized the Bull and killed it with his sword. Another account describes Enkidu sneaking behind the beast, grasping the tuft of its tail, and holding its hock while Gilgamesh thrust his sword between its neck, horns, and spine. Afterward, they cut out the Bull’s heart and gave it to Shamash, the Sun God. They stepped back and bowed before him, then sat down together.

Ishtar climbed the wall of Uruk, stamped her feet, and cried that Gilgamesh had disgraced her by killing the Bull of Heaven. Enkidu heard her. He tore off the Bull’s member and hurled it at her, saying that he would do the same to her if he could. The killing joined the two heroes in another act against a divine opponent, and it later formed part of the charge brought against them by the gods.

Gilgamesh came to the gate of Siduri, the young woman who made wine. She lived in a house beside the sea, among vineyards and wine-vats. Her gate was barred with pitch and bitumen against him. He had eaten small creatures of the pastures and worn their skins during his wandering. When he reached her, he asked about the journey and begged her not to let him see the face of death, which he feared.

Gilgamesh told Siduri why he wandered. He had killed the Bull of Heaven and overthrown Humbaba in the cedar forest with Enkidu, his brother and dear companion. Enkidu had died, and Gilgamesh had wept for him for seven days and nights, until the worm fastened on the body. Because of his brother, he feared death and could not rest. He sought the life that the gods had kept for themselves.

Siduri told him that he would never find that life. When the gods created humanity, she said, they allotted death to people and kept life in their own possession. She urged him to fill his belly with good things, feast and rejoice, wear fresh clothes, bathe in water, and cherish the little child who held his hand. She then directed him towards Urshanabi, the ferryman of Utnapishtim. Urshanabi was in the woods beside the sea, with the stone objects of the boat, and was making its serpent prow.

Gilgamesh found Urshanabi and stood before him. In anger, he shattered the stone objects, then went with the ferryman to the boat. They sailed for more than a month’s journey in three days before reaching the Waters of Death. Urshanabi warned him not to touch the water and told him to use punting poles. Gilgamesh used pole after pole until the supply was exhausted. He then took off his clothes and held them up as a sail. Urshanabi brought him across to Utnapishtim, called the Faraway, who lived in Dilmun at the place where the sun passed east of the mountain. The gods had given everlasting life to Utnapishtim alone among men.