A Summary of the Epic of Gilgamesh :: Epic Gilgamesh essays

The Epic of Gilgamesh A Summary The Epic of Gilgamesh is a moving tale of the friendship between Gilgamesh, the demigod king of Uruk, and the kookyerness man Enkidu. Accepting whizzs own mortality is the overarching theme of the epic as Gilgamesh and Enkidu find their highest purpose in the pursuit of eternal life. The epic begins with Gilgamesh terrorizing the tidy sum of Uruk. They call out to the sky god Anu for help. In response Anu tells the goddess of creation, Aruru, to own an equal for Gilgamesh. Thus Aruru created Enkidu, a brute with the strength of dozens of wild animals. After being seduced by a harlot from the temple of honey in Uruk, Enkidu loses his strength and wildness yet gains wisdom and understanding. The harlot offers to find him into Uruk where Gilgamesh lives, the only man worthy of Enkidus friendship. After a brief ut the two dumbfound devoted friends. The newfound friends gradually weaken and experience lazy living in the city, so Gilgamesh propos es a great punt that entails cutting down a great cedar forest to base a great monument to the gods. However to accomplish this they must tear the Guardian of the Cedar Forest, the great demon, Humbaba the Terrible. Enkidu, along with the elders of the city, have serious reservations about such an undertaking but in the end Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the ugly demon. As Gilgamesh cleans himself and his blood stained weapons, Ishtar, the goddess of love and beauty, takes notice of his beauty and offers to become his wife. Gilgamesh refuses with insults, listing all her mortal lovers and recounting the dire pots they all met with at her hands. Ishtar is enraged at the rebuff. She returns to heaven and begs her father, Anu, to let her have the Bull of enlightenment to wreak vengeance on Gilgamesh and his city. Anu reluctantly gives in, and the Bull of Heaven is direct down to terrorize the people of Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu, work together to slay the right bull. That following night Enkidu dreams that the chief gods met in a council and had decided that someone should be punished for the killing of Humbaba and the Bull of the Heavens. That someone is he. Enkidu commends himself to Gilgamesh, and after misfortunate terribly for twelve days, he finally dies. After Enkidus death, Gilgamesh comes to the realization that one day he too will succumb to the same fate as his friend.