Epic of Gilgamesh

The Tyrant King

Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, was two-thirds god and one-third man. Mighty beyond measure, he exhausted his people with restless energy and tyrannical demands. The gods created Enkidu, a wild man and his equal, to challenge and calm him.

The Wild Man

Enkidu lived among the animals until a temple priestess civilized him. He traveled to Uruk and confronted Gilgamesh. They fought, and in their struggle, found brotherhood.

The Cedar Forest

Together they journeyed to the Cedar Forest, guarded by the terrifying Humbaba. Against divine warnings, they slew the guardian and felled the sacred cedars. The gods took note.

Death of Enkidu

For their transgressions, the gods decreed that one must die. Enkidu fell ill. For twelve days he suffered, cursing the civilization that had separated him from the wild, before finally succumbing.

"He who was my companion through adventure and hardship, the fate of mankind has overtaken him."

The Quest

Shattered by grief and terrified of his own mortality, Gilgamesh set out to find Utnapishtim, the one mortal granted eternal life after surviving the Great Flood.

Siduri's Counsel

At the edge of the world, the alewife Siduri counseled him: fill your belly, dance and be merry, cherish the child who holds your hand. This is the lot of humankind.

Return

Gilgamesh found Utnapishtim but failed every test of immortality. He returned to Uruk empty-handed. Yet standing before the great walls he himself had built, he found a different kind of permanence: the enduring works of a mortal life.