The epic’s prelude offers a general introductionto Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, who was two-thirds god and one-thirdman. He built magnificent ziggurats, or temple towers, surroundedhis city with high walls, and laid out its orchards and fields.He was physically beautiful, immensely strong, and very wise. AlthoughGilgamesh was godlike in body and mind, he began his kingship asa cruel despot. He lorded over his subjects, raping any woman whostruck his fancy, whether she was the wife of one of his warriorsor the daughter of a nobleman. He accomplished his building projectswith forced labor, and his exhausted subjects groaned under hisoppression. The gods heard his subjects’ pleas and decided to keepGilgamesh in check by creating a wild man named Enkidu, who wasas magnificent as Gilgamesh. Enkidu became Gilgamesh’s great friend, andGilgamesh’s heart was shattered when Enkidu died of an illness inflictedby the gods. Gilgamesh then traveled to the edge of the world andlearned about the days before the deluge and other secrets of thegods, and he recorded them on stone tablets.
The epic begins with Enkidu. He lives with the animals,suckling at their breasts, grazing in the meadows, and drinkingat their watering places. A hunter discovers him and sends a templeprostitute into the wilderness to tame him. In that time, peopleconsidered women and sex calming forces that could domesticate wildmen like Enkidu and bring them into the civilized world. When Enkidusleeps with the woman, the animals reject him since he is no longerone of them. Now, he is part of the human world. Then the harlotteaches him everything he needs to know to be a man. Enkidu is outragedby what he hears about Gilgamesh’s excesses, so he travels to Urukto challenge him. When he arrives, Gilgamesh is about to force hisway into a bride’s wedding chamber. Enkidu steps into the doorwayand blocks his passage. The two men wrestle fiercely for a longtime, and Gilgamesh finally prevails. After that, they become friendsand set about looking for an adventure to share.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu decide to steal trees from a distantcedar forest forbidden to mortals. A terrifying demon named Humbaba, thedevoted servant of Enlil, the god of earth, wind, and air, guards it.The two heroes make the perilous journey to the forest, and, standingside by side, fight with the monster. With assistance from Shamashthe sun god, they kill him. Then they cut down the forbidden trees,fashion the tallest into an enormous gate, make the rest into araft, and float on it back to Uruk. Upon their return, Ishtar, the goddessof love, is overcome with lust for Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh spurns her.Enraged, the goddess asks her father, Anu, the god of the sky, tosend the Bull of Heaven to punish him. The bull comes down fromthe sky, bringing with him seven years of famine. Gilgamesh andEnkidu wrestle with the bull and kill it. The gods meet in council andagree that one of the two friends must be punished for their transgression,and they decide Enkidu is going to die. He takes ill, suffers immensely,and shares his visions of the underworld with Gilgamesh. When hefinally dies, Gilgamesh is heartbroken.
Gilgamesh can’t stop grieving for Enkidu, and he can’tstop brooding about the prospect of his own death. Exchanging his kinglygarments for animal skins as a way of mourning Enkidu, he sets offinto the wilderness, determined to find Utnapishtim, the MesopotamianNoah. After the flood, the gods had granted Utnapishtim eternallife, and Gilgamesh hopes that Utnapishtim can tell him how he mightavoid death too. Gilgamesh’s journey takes him to the twin-peakedmountain called Mashu, where the sun sets into one side of the mountainat night and rises out of the other side in the morning. Utnapishtimlives beyond the mountain, but the two scorpion monsters that guardits entrance refuse to allow Gilgamesh into the tunnel that passesthrough it. Gilgamesh pleads with them, and they relent.
After a harrowing passage through total darkness, Gilgamesh emergesinto a beautiful garden by the sea. There he meets Siduri, a veiledtavern keeper, and tells her about his quest. She warns him thatseeking immortality is futile and that he should be satisfied with thepleasures of this world. However, when she can’t turn him away fromhis purpose, she directs him to Urshanabi, the ferryman. Urshanabitakes Gilgamesh on the boat journey across the sea and through theWaters of Death to Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh thestory of the flood—how the gods met in council and decided to destroyhumankind. Ea, the god of wisdom, warned Utnapishtim about the gods’plans and told him how to fashion a gigantic boat in which his familyand the seed of every living creature might escape. When the watersfinally receded, the gods regretted what they’d done and agreedthat they would never try to destroy humankind again. Utnapishtimwas rewarded with eternal life. Men would die, but humankind wouldcontinue.
When Gilgamesh insists that he be allowed to live forever,Utnapishtim gives him a test. If you think you can stay alive foreternity, he says, surely you can stay awake for a week. Gilgameshtries and immediately fails. So Utnapishtim orders him to cleanhimself up, put on his royal garments again, and return to Urukwhere he belongs. Just as Gilgamesh is departing, however, Utnapishtim’s wifeconvinces him to tell Gilgamesh about a miraculous plant that restoresyouth. Gilgamesh finds the plant and takes it with him, planningto share it with the elders of Uruk. But a snake steals the plantone night while they are camping. As the serpent slithers away, itsheds its skin and becomes young again.
When Gilgamesh returns to Uruk, he is empty-handed butreconciled at last to his mortality. He knows that he can’t liveforever but that humankind will. Now he sees that the city he hadrepudiated in his grief and terror is a magnificent, enduring achievement—the closestthing to immortality to which a mortal can aspire.
