Gilgamesh Summary

Once upon a time, there was a king called Gilgamesh. He was as strong as a wild ox, and all the citizens of his city feared him, for with him around "neither the father's son, nor the wife of the noble, neither the mother's daughter nor the wife of the noble were safe." And so, typically, they prayed to the Gods for someone who would match him.

One god, Aruru, heard the prayer and decided to listen. She created Enkidu, who lived in the wild. He would become the second most important person in the book. He was equal to everyone except Gilgamesh, whom he fought, and was wrestled to his knees. This passage was important because it would mean that for the rest of the book Gilgamesh would always be the most important of the two, and Enkidu would not mind obeying him because he had proved his superiority so there would be no control fights.

Gilgamesh heard about Huwawa, who guarded the Cedar Forest, and he and Enkidu set off to defeat him. It was a long journey, and when they finally got there they didn't even him, but the god Shamash did. Actually, that happens a lot in this story. Gilgamesh always has the help of either a god or Enkidu and never does anything by himself.

Then Ishtar, Goddess of Love & War (what a strange combination!) falls in love with him, but Gilgamesh refuses, saying that nothing good will come out of it. In a rage, she sends the Bull of Heaven after him, but he and Enkidu kill it.

A quote I like here, that is said when Ishtar offers herself to him and saying he can touch her anyway, is: "Why should I eat rotten food, having been taught to eat wholesome food?" (Pg. 31) I think this still applies to modern culture in many ways, the most obvious one is that we all eat junk food and rot our teeth by eating things that taste good but are really unhealthy. That was probably what Ishtar was; she tasted good and probably felt good, but she would have ended up being more trouble than she's worth if Gilgamesh had ended up with her.

Then all the gods have a council to punish the two of Enkidu and Gilgamesh, and it is decided that Enkidu will be killed.

Enkidu keeps having horrible nightmares about death, and I thought that was interesting too. Why do the olden cultures portray Death as a horrible thing, to be avoided at all costs, because if they die they will end up being weak and maltreated, while the Catholic church portrays it as your reward, something to be looked forward to your whole life? It's curious, is it because the catholic God is kind and compassionate, perfect, while the pagan gods are always flawed and taken to human passion and greed?

Anyway, Enkidu dies and Gilgamesh is heartbroken, yet also scared of death now since he's starting to feel his age. He goes on a wild journey, where he traces the path that the sun passes during the night (making it quite clear that whoever wrote this book was not really scientific), in search of the one man he believes can teach him the secret to immortality.

When he finds him, however, the man says something really fascinating: "[In death] the simple man and the ruler resemble each other.The face of the one will darken like that of the other." (Pg. 64) I thought this one was really interesting because it shows that even thousands of years ago, some people realized the peasants and emperors were similar in that they were both human, and therefore were sick and needed to eat and died one as much as the other. The books then goes on to show that the only way for someone to be immortal was to be a god, and only a human of considerable worth to manage that feat.

Gilgamesh doesn't manage it, but he is does get the plant called How-The-Old-Man-Became-A-Young-Man-Again, which is a very obvious name, in my opinion. But a snake steals it, and so he Gilgamesh doesn't end up being immortal. Too bad, so sad.

After that, Gilgamesh drops his Drumstick in the Netherworld (I never got that part. How on earth do you manage to drop a drumstick in the Netherworld????), and Enkidu volunteers to go get it. He is caught , however, and another of my favorite quote is said: "Namtar the demon did not seize and hold him. The fever demon Ashak did not seize him. Nergal's pitiless viceroy did not hold him. It was the Cry of the Dead that seized and held him. He did not fall in battle. It was the Cry." (Pg. 88) I liked it because it made me think about the fact that no one died just because. For someone to die, they have to have a problem, such as their heart not working, eating something that doesn't agree with them, being run over a car. You don't even die because you're old, but because your body stops working well enough to keep you alive. I found it really cool that someone died because Death seized it, with absolutely no reason. Your life just ended like that (it also made me think of Harry Potter and the Avada Kedavra curse, where no doctors can ever figure out what happened because nothing happened. Your life just ended like that).

Anyway, Enkidu manages to convince a god to open up the doors to the Underworld, and Enkidu came. He talked about Death for awhile, and he said that the more sons a man has the better he is treated. I wonder if he meant that because men with lots of boys are "better," and therefore gods like them better, or if he meant that if a man has lots of boys they can serve them better and make more sure they're comfortable. And how does that work with the son's sons and father? And does it apply to girls?

After that the book ended.

I don't understand why this tale is supposedly about the creation of existence. Things already existed before Gilgamesh, he didn't make any of it.

Something that I find interesting is that Gilgamesh never did anything just because he wanted to, but always to "secure [his] fame to all [his] sons." I wonder if by that he meant that he wanted, years from then, for people to remember his name and fear him, or if he just wanted his sons to be able to brag that they were descendants of Gilgamesh and as such ought to be treated with respect. I think that he wants a bit of both, actually.

So this is basically what happened in the epic of "Gilgamesh." I, personally, didn't like it that much because the writing was different then what I'm used to and it annoyed me how the verses were repeated over and over again. I probably would've liked the story if it had been written differently, even though I realize that was how things were written back then (it suddenly occured to me that that must also have been how they spoke. That must've been funny!!!!), but it jut spoiled the whole book for me.