The Gilgamesh Epic Overview

• Language: 

• Province: Nippur, Sumer

• Date: 2000-1500 BC (events take place in 3000-2750 BC)

• Purpose: Explain humanity’s mortality

pgs. 44  & https://geha.paginas.ufsc.br/files/2017/04/Atrahasis.pdf 

Tablet 1

The text opens up talking about someone who has done everything and found some secret from before “the Flood”. He went on a long journey, tired himself out, and wrote about it on a stela. He built up the wall of Uruk and of Ishtar’s temple: the Eanna Temple. This tablet claims to tell that story.

Gilgamesh is explained to have been born in Uruk from Rimat-Ninsun. He is a hard worker, respected by everyone. He is the greatest of all kings, two-thirds divine and one-third human, designed by the goddess Aruru. In contrast to Genesis, powerful semi-divine humans are explained to be great kings.

The people exclaim that Gilgamesh is the shepherd of Uruk, who is bold and wise. However, they complain to the gods that he takes their sons to make them do forced labor and takes their daughters to sleep with them as he pleases. The gods hear and discern that no one can challenge him because of his power. Just as in Genesis’ flood account, the semi-divine Gilgamesh takes women to sleep with him as he pleases and enforces labor on the people.

One warrior’s daughter cries out to the goddess who created humans, Aruru, asking him to make someone to challenge Gilgamesh. She hears and responds by throwing clay into the wilderness to create a new beast with long locks of hair, wearing an uncivilized garment, eating, drinking, and acting like animals, and not knowing humans.

A hunter goes out and sees this beast, Enkidu, drinking water with the other animals, three days one after another. He goes home and complains to his father that the best is double Anu’s size, but continues to free other animals from his traps, fill in the pits he digs, and undo all his work. His father advises him to go tell Gilgamesh, because Gilgamesh is twice Anu’s size. Gilgamesh will have him find a temple harlot from Ishtar’s temple, Eanna, to go before it, take off her clothes to show herself, seduce him to herself, and then have all the animals betray him.

The boy goes off to Gilgamesh, as his father told him, and Gilgamesh instructs him as his father predicted. So, taking a temple harlot, Shamhat, with him on the three-day journey, he goes to the watering hole, waits two days until he sees Enkidu, and then instructs her to show herself off to him. She shows off her body, and Enkidu goes to sleep with her, as the boy had instructed her to allow him to do. They sleep together for six days and seven nights. When Gilgamesh arises from sleeping with her, the cattle turn their face away, and Enkidu feels weaker.

After realizing how the cattle have now rejected him, he looks at Shamhat, who tells him that he is like a god; he shouldn’t live like an animal but come to Anu and Ishtar’s temple and the palace of Gilgamesh, a great hero. He tells her he desires to follow her to Uruk and overthrow Gilgamesh so that he can change the order of the city. She tells him that he will enjoy real life with feasts all the time, and music and harlots sleeping around everywhere all the time. However, first, she warns him that she really loves Gilgamesh. He is a mighty hero who is stronger than him and doesn’t rest. Further, Anu, Ea, and La give him wisdom, and he has already seen Enkidu in a dream.

Gilgamesh wakes up from a dream. Not understanding it, he explains to his mother that the stars had disappeared and a meteorite of Anu fell next to him. He tried to lift it up, but couldn’t move it—and all of the city saw it too. They all love it and go kiss its feet as if it were a baby, and even Gilgamsh loves it, and lays it down at her feet before she makes them compete. She interprets the dream thus: the meteorite is a mighty man who will save his friend, but will be the strongest, as strong as the meteorite of Anu. Gilgamesh will love him like a wife, but the friend will save Gilgamesh.

Gilgamesh explains a second dream to his mother: at the gate of his marital chamber, there was an axe that the people of Uruk had gathered around. He laid it down at her feet before she made them compete. She reexplains what she said before: it is a man whom he will love as his wife, but whom she will have compete with him.

Shamhat explains these dreams to Enkidu, and they sleep together again.

Tablet 2

Shamhat gives Enkidu some of her clothes and brings her before shepherds. The shepherds marvel that he is young, twice as tall as a man, and strong like Gilgamesh. They give him food and beer and drinks until he is full, happy, and singing. After drinking seven jugs of beer, he cleans himself with water and rubs oil on himself. He clothes himself more to become a warrior, using weapons and chasing off lions and wolves for the shepherds.

Enkidu and Shamhat see a man moving quickly towards the city and ask him why he is going so fast. He explains that he is going to a marriage in Uruk where Gilgamesh will sleep with a man’s wife before he gets a chance to. This angers Enkidu so much that he goes to walk through Uruk to block the way. People gather around him and kiss his feet like he’s a baby. He blocks Gilgamesh from entering the bridal chamber, and they fight in the public square, with houses shaking.

Gilgamesh confesses Enkidu’s strength, bends his knee before him, and gives away his anger, telling him how he is stronger and so ought to be the king destined by Enlil. They kiss each other and become friends. Here, Gilgamesh confesses that the strongest person should have the right to the throne. 

Gilgamesh’s mother goes to Shamash’s house to tell her that Enkidu has no parents, but was born in the wilderness with no one to hear it. Enkidu hears it and weeps.

Enkidu goes to tell Giglamesh about a beast, Humbaba, that Enlil set in the Cedar Forest to be a terror to humans. It has super hearing, can paralyze people, and has powerful jaws. Gilgamesh admits his mortality: humans have numbered days, and what they do is like wind. He says that, because Enkidu is afraid of death, he will go in front of him into the forest to encourage him, and if he dies, he will be honored.

They then go to the forge to have swords, axes, and weapons made. Then they go to ask for the blessing of the men of Uruk on their journey, but they tell Gilgamesh that even the Igigi gods couldn’t confront him. He is young and inspired, but doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into.

Tablet 3

The elders advise Gilgamesh to go behind Enkidu and ask Enkidu to bring him back safely. They then go to the Egalmah Temple, where Ninsun, his mother, the queen, is. Gilgamesh tells him he is going out to the Cedar Forest to kill the Humbaba and asks that she intercede to Shamash on his behalf and have people rejoice over him if he destroys it. He finally promises to erect a monument for her. She intercedes for Gilgamesh and then gives them advice, affirming her trust in Enkidu going with Gilgamesh

Tablet 4

The first day, they go an entire 50 leagues (150 miles) before resting. By the third day, they stop near Lebanon, dig a well facing Shamash (the setting sun god), and Gilgamesh goes up a mountain to pray to it to give him a good dream from Shamash.

Later that night, a cold wind strong wind comes by before they sleep. Gilgamesh wakes up in the middle of the night, explains a disturbing dream he had, and Enkidu interprets it: the dream is about them capturing Humbaba, killing him, and receiving a favorable message from Shamash afterward.

Again, they go another 50 leagues the next day before resting. They stop to dig a well facing Shamash, and Gilgamesh goes up a mountain to do the same mountain ritual as before. The same wind comes again, Gilgamesh waking up with a dream again: he was fighting against a bull, under which the ground split in two. He fell to his knees but received his waterskin. Enkidu interprets it: Shamash is the wild god that they are seeking to follow, and he is protecting them, and the one giving him the waterskin is his personal god, Lugaalbanda.

For a third time, they travel 50 leagues, rest, dig a well towards Shamash, and Gilgamesh makes his prayer and sacrifice on the mountain. There is a strong wind before they sleep and Giglamesh wakes up in the middle of the night with a new dream: the heavens and earth shook, and darkness came over everything. Lightning flashed, fire went out, death rained, and everything turned to ash. Again, Enkidu interprets it.

This repeats a fourth, but the fifth time, Giglamesh weeps as he explains his dream to Enkidu, pleading with him to remember his promise that he made in Uruk to go before him into the forest. Then, Shamash speaks, warning them to hurry because Humbaba has taken off six of his seven coats of armor, and he might hide or make off first if they don’t go after him.

One of them encourages the other: more people are stronger together rather than one alone. Enkidu recommends that they strip the Cedar Tree and take off its branches once they enter the forest, but Giglamesh encourages him not to be afraid of death.

Tablet 5

They come before the forest, seeing the Cedar Mountain where the gods dwell, the Cedar Tree, and Humbaba. They both barrage each other with insults and fight as the ground splits before Mount Hermon. Clouds get dark, and rain, and Shamash sends 13 different winds as well to attack Humbaba. Humbaba cannot see nor escape with all the awful weather, and so he begs Gilgamesh to let him live, promising to be his servant and to chop down all the trees he wishes. Seeing that Enkidu is dissuading Gilgamesh from sparing him, he turns to Enkidu to try to ask for Enkidu to let him live. However, Enkidu tells Gilgamesh to grind him to dust and set up a monument that declares that he killed him.

After Humbaba continues to try to persuade Enkidu and Gilgamesh, Enkidu tells Gilgamesh to stop listening to him and to destroy him. They slaughter Humbaba, cut down trees, and then cut down the Cedar with its head in the skies to turn it into a door 72 cubits (108 feet) high and 24 (36 feet) cubits wide. Then, they make a raft to sail back home.

Tablet 6

Gilgamesh puts on royal regalia again, and Princess Ishtar tells him to marry her, promising all the blessings of the earth. But Gilgamesh lists off all the men she loved but cursed and turned into kids, goats, wolves, or had something worse happen to them. In response, Ishtar goes up to the heavens angrily and cries to her father, Anu, and her mother, Anrum, about how Gilgamesh spoke badly of her.

After her mother turns her away for instigating it, she goes to her father to demand that he give her the Bull of Heaven to kill Gilgamesh with. If not, she swears, she will kick down the gates of the underworld and let the dead come up to eat up the living. However, her father, Anrum, explains that if he does this, it will cause a seven-year famine, so she needs to have already provided seven years of grain and food for them. She says she already has, and so he hands her the Bull. She brings it down to Uruk and then the Euphrates. When it snorts, it opens a huge pit that 100 people in Uruk fall into. On the second snort, it’s 300; on the third, Enkidu falls in.

But Enkidu jumps out, takes the Bull by the horns. The Bull spits at him and kicks dung behind him with its tail. He then goes to grab its tail, telling Gilgamesh to cut off its head. After they kill it, they rip out the heart to give to Shamash.

Ishtar goes up to the top of Uruk’s wall to cry about Gilgamesh slandering her and killing the Bull of Heaven, but Enkidu throws its hind leg at her and tells her he would drop its innards over her if he could reach her. She then has all the ladies who work in temples mourn this hindquarter of the Bull. Gilgamesh summons all the artisans and craftspeople to look at and admire the jewel-like Bull’s horns. After selling it for a lot of oil, he gives up a third of it to his god, Lugalbanda.

Then Gilgamesh proclaims himself the bravest man and Ishtar a woman impossible to please. They celebrate at his palace. Enkidu has a dream and explains it to Gilgamesh.

Tablet 7

Enkidu explains his dream to Gilgamesh: Anu, Enlil, and Shamash all held a council, and Anu said that the one who destroyed the Cedar of the Mountain must die for killing Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. Enlil advises that they have Enkidu die, but not Gilgamesh. Bur explains that he commanded Enkidu to kill the Bull of Heaven, so he shouldn’t die. Enlil then blames Shamash for going with them to protect them on their way to destroying Humbaba.

Enkidu feels sick, and Gilgamesh begins to cry, asking why Enkidu must die instead of him. Enkidu goes to the massive door he built with the wood from the Cedar of the Forest, cursing it for being the reason he dies. He tears it down, and Giglamesh hears him and responds by telling him that he has gone mad by yelling at the door; all people are mortal, and the dream is important and terrifying, but he will pray to the gods for him, and, even if he dies, he will build an immeasurably grand statue of him made from pure gold.

When the sun rises next, Enkidu cries out to Shamash, lamenting and cursing the hunter and asking that he never have enough food, lose his wages, and die; he then curses the temple harlot who found him and prays that drunk people vomit all over her, she never have any children, her home get wrecked, and that she be miserable. Shamash hears his prayer and asks why he curses the harlot who introduced him to his best friend, Gilgamesh, who honors him in every way. After hearing this, Enkidu calms down and blesses Shamhat, declaring that nobles and soldiers and all men will love her and give her every type of precious jewel. He prays that even a wife and mother with seven children is abandoned for her.

Then, lying there, he tells Gilgamesh of a dream he had where a monster with hands like a lion and talons like an eagle takes him by the hair, overpowers him, tramples him like a bull, and defeats him despite his attempt to strike it. He called for Gilgamesh’s help, only to not receive any. He says it turned him into a dove and took him to the underworld, where people do not return; they live in darkness, eat clay, drink dirt, and wear feathers. Looking around, he sees crowns in huge piles on the ground with kings who used to wear them bringing sacrifice meals to Anu and Enlil.

Enkidu lies in his bed for 10 days as his sickness gets worse and worse. He cries out that Gilgamesh hates and has abandoned him, even though he had saved him in battle. Hearing him, Gilgamesh gets up, hoping he doesn’t die.

Tablet 8

At the beginning of the next day, Gilgamesh mourns his friend, recalling his birth, history, and their friendship, and hoping that everyone joins him in his mourning. Then, he publicly mourns in front of all of the people of Uruk, goes back, and, finding him dead, cuts off all his hair and takes off all of his royal robes to mourn him. The next day, he has smiths put together a statue of Enkidu. He mourns some more and then offers up a grand sacrifice to Shamash.

Tablet 9

Gilgamesh wanders in the wilderness, crying over his friend Enkidu and his death. Weeping over his own mortality and imminent death, he decides to set out for Utanapishtim. Then, in a dream that night, he sees a warrior with an ax and a dagger.

Gilgamesh goes out to Mount Mashu, which reaches the heavens above and goes down to the underworld, but is guarded by scorpion monsters that strike fear into everyone’s heart. As Gilgamesh approaches, he becomes afraid, and the scorpions ask why he journeys from so far. Gilgamesh explains that he heard of his ancestor, Utanapishtim, who joined the council of the gods and received eternal life. The scorpion replies that no one who could do that—no one has passed through the mountains, which have no light for an entire 12 leagues (36 miles).

Gilgamesh persuades the scorpions, and they let him pass. Making his way through dense darkness, he happens upon a garden filled with all types of precious jewels. This bejeweled garden is similar to the one in Eden, which has precious metals growing by the rivers that go out from it. In fact, Ezekiel also describes the garden as being full of jewels.

Tablet 10

Gilgamesh wanders on, still depressed, and a tavern-keeper sees him and thinks he must be a murderer. She closes her door and locks her bolt, alerting Gilgamesh, who then turns to her and demands that she tell him why she locked her door lest he rip it open. He confesses that he is Gilgamesh and that he killed the Guardian, slew the Humbaba, lions, and the Bull of Heaven. The tavern-keeper asks, if it is true that he is Gilgamesh, why does he look so sad? Gilgamesh responds that he ought to be sad, since his friend, Enkidu, with whom he slew the Humbaba, lions, and the Bull of Heaven, died. He, too, will die.

So, Gilgamesh asks the tavern keeper the way to Utanapishtim. The tavern-keeper responds that there has never been any passage to Utanapishtim, and Shamash is the only one who can cross the sea. Even if he did cross the sea, he would reach the Waters of Death that bar the way. The tavern-keeper explains that the ferryman of Utanapishtim is there at Urshanabi. He ought to use him to cross the waters or turn back.

Gilgamesh goes to Urshanabi, who asks him why he looks so melancholic. Gilgamesh explains the death of his friend, Enkidu, to Urshanabi just as he had to the tavern keeper. Urshanabi explains that Gilgamesh prevented his crossing in destroying the stone ones (perhaps magical devices that moved the boat beforehand). He then tells Gilgamesh to cut down 300 punting poles, 60 cubits (90 feet) long each, and bring them into the boat to use to push against the ground under the water to move the boat forward.

After Gilgamesh brings the punting poles, they sail off until they approach the Waters of Death. Then, Urshanabi tells Gilgamesh to use one punting pole after another to send them forward. Gilgamesh uses 120 punting poles later. Then, Urshanabi again asks why Gilgamesh looks so tired. After again explaining the death of his friend and his long journey and toil, Urshanabi tells him his toil is in vain, because human life is short, and he will die early. The gods have fated all humans to die—the Anunnaki and Enlil established it, but do not let anyone know when they will die.

Tablet 11

Gilgamesh tells Utanapishtim that he looks just like him, not different. In his mind, he wants to fight him, but he finds that he can’t. He asks him how he entered the assembly of the gods and found eternal life.

Utanapishtim tells Gilgamesh a secret: he explains that the gods used to meet in a city by the Euphrates, Shuruppak. There, Anu, Enlil, and all the gods decided to flood the world and wipe out humanity and had Ea swear with them to not share the secret. Instead of directly sharing the secret, Ea speaks to the wall of a reed house near him, telling him to tear down the house and build a boat. He tells him to give it cubic horizontal dimensions and have its Roof be like Apsu. Unlike in the account of Noah’s flood, where God lovingly spares Noah and all his family, the gods here work together to send a flood and one god has to find a technical work around to not break his curse while sparing humans.

Utanapishtim reports how he didn’t know what he would tell the elders of his city, so Ea told him to say that Enlil rejected him, so he will leave the city. He directs him to tell the city also that Enlil will shower them with fish and bread the next day and lots of food.

So, in one whole day, he and everyone he can get to help him, build the boat with an equal height, length, and width: 120 cubits (180 feet). He gave it six decks, dividing it into seven levels. He divided it into nine compartments, and used 18,000 units of bitumen. He stored up punting poles, lots of oil, and meat. He contracted everyone to help him build the boat and gave them all the alcohol they wanted. He then gathered all his gold and silver, family and friends, his animals and other beasts of the field, and all the craftsman. Then, they had to use poles to push into the water. Then, Shamash told him he would rain down bread the next morning, so he needed to enter into the boat! Just like in the story of the deluge of Noah’s days, Ea gives precise measurements and tells Utanapishtim to prepare for the flood. His boat is multi-tiered and full of people and animals, a microcosm of the world.

After raining down bread and wheat, the gods send down a flood of water. Everything is flooded and the light is entirely submerged into darkness. In fear, the gods ascend to Anu’s heaven (Ishtar shrieks). Just like in the Exodus narrative, the gods rain down bread. However, here, it is to bring the people outside just before a cosmic deluge.

The mother goddess laments that she destroyed so quickly all the humans that she made. All the other gods go beside her to cry with her, with lips chapped from thirst. After six days and seven nights, the storm stops pounding and turns to quiet; humans have turned to clay and the world is flat. Utanapishtim opens his window to see sunlight and feel fresh air, and then falls to his knees weeping. He looks for land and sees a region of land 12 leagues (36 miles) away.

The boat lands on Mount Nimush. After seven days of the boat resting on the mountain without moving, he sends out a dove, which comes back to him. He sends out a swallow, it also comes back to him. He sends out a raven, but it goes out to eat. Then, he lets out all his animals and sacrifices and offers incense in front of a mountain-ziggurat. All the gods come to the sweet smell of the sacrifice—especially Beletili. Beeltili allows all the other gods to come to the sacrifice, except Enlil, because he sent the flood to wipe out her humans without thinking.

Then, Enlil appears, enraged that a human survived. Ninurta says that only Ea could have come up with such a cunning plan to save humans. Ea accuses Enlil of rashly bringing a flood on humans; he should have sent lions or wolves to kill them, or sent a pestlinece to destroy them. He confesses not to sharing the secret of the flood, but of giving Atrahasis a dream whereby he heard the secret plan, so if anything it would be Atrahasis’ fault!

Enlil goes up to Utanapishtim and says that while he used to be a human, he will now be a god. The gods then take him over to the Mouth of the Rivers.

Then, having finished his story, he asks Gilgamesh who will ask the gods to give him the life that he wants now. He tells him not to lie down for six days and seven knights just as he sits down with his head between his knees and sleeps. Utanapishtim tells his wife to mark the amount of days that he rests as such and to put baked loaves of bread by his head. After putting a loaf next to his head each day for the next seven days, they all go bad: the first dries up, the second goes stale, the third goes moist, the fourth white, the fifth moldy, the sixth is fresh. The seventh touches him and wakes him up.

Awaking, Gilgamesh says that Utanapishtim awoke him with the seventh loaf of bread just as he was beginning to fall asleep. Utanapishtim points to the bad bread at his side, showing him all of the bread that went bad as he was asleep. Giglamesh asks where he can go, since death surrounds him.

Utanapishtim has Urshanabi take him and Gilgamesh to a place for washing themselves. Utanapishtim tells Gilgamesh that there is a plant with thorns that will prick him but that he will be come a young man again if he can reach it. Gilgamesh ties stones to his feet to go deep into the water and bring up the plant. He cuts the stones off of him and comes up to tell Urshanabi that he will bring it back to Uruk to have an old man test it to see if it works, then he will eat it and become young again. He calls the plant “The Old Man Becomes a Young Man”.

Gilgamesh goes some distance, stops for the night, and goes down to a spring to bathe, setting the plant aside. Some snake smells the plant, comes up and takes the plant away, and slithers back, shedding off its skin. Gilgamesh weeps and laments having lost it. Then, Gilgamesh and Urshanabi go back to Uruk.