Gilgamesh
Babylonian Mythology
Long time ago, in Uruk, there is a king named
Gilgamesh. He was very rude to his people.
The gods were mad at him so they made a
powerful man with clay to fight against him.
His name is Unkidu.
Gilgamesh knew the power of Enkidu. The
king tried to distract him, so he commanded a
beautiful woman, Shamhat, to seduce Enkidu.
Enkidu fell in love and forgot his mission
gradually.
One day, Shamhat took Enkidu to Uruk, he was
angered from what Gilgamesh did and set up a
fight against him.
After a furious fight, no one could beat the
other and they became friends. Gilgamesh
promised not to oppress his people and
Enkidu protects Uruk with Gilgamesh together.
The two men dicided to find woods for their
people. They entered the cedar forest. On
their way, they killed Humbaba, the guardian
of the cedar forest.
Few days later, Gilgamesh rejects the advances
of the goddess Ishtar. She was angry and
brought Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven to Uruk,
despite the gods object to it. The vicious bull
set up fire to Uruk and killed many people.
Once again, the two bravers defeated the
bull and save Uruk. The people were happy,
but Enkidu realized that since they've killed
the Cedar forest Guardian and the Bull of
heaven, someone will be in trouble.
Ishtar was angry about the bull's death and
tried to revange. She gave deadly disease to
Enkidu and within twelve days, he died.
Gilgamesh was so sad about his friend's
death. Alsough, he was fearful of his own
death, so he set out a journey to find the way
to be immortal.
He traveled to the underworld. There, he met
Urshanabi the ferry man who helped
Gilgamesh build a boat and cross the water
of death.
Gilgamesh found Utnapishtim, the only man
who had given the power to become
immortal. He told Gilgamesh that there is a
boxthorn-like plant in the deep ocean.
Before Gilgamesh set up to find the herb,
Utnapistim told him that nobody can go
against the common fate of human.
Gilgamesh dived into the sea and found
the herb. During the returning, Gilgamesh
was too exhausted that he jumped into the
water for a bath and leaved the plant on
the bank. Unfortunately, a serpent saw the
plant and swallowed it. With a big sense of
distressed, Gilgamesh returned to Uruk
and realized that it’s impossible to against
the human fate.