Gilgamesh/Enkidu (The Epic of Gilgamesh)
Title: History's First Lovers
Fandom: The Epic of Gilgamesh
Pairing: Gilgamesh/Enkidu
Author: ninurta
Email: Sharur@gmail.com
12-8-09 - I have found THE MOST AWESOME BOOK: When Heroes Love: The Ambiguity of Eros in the Stories of Gilgamesh and David.
This quarter I took "Introduction to Western Civilization" at the University of Washington, which covered from the Natufian culture (about 9000 BC) to the fall of Rome. For our first essay one of the choices was the relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu and what Gilgamesh learned from their relationship. Since it was obvious Gilgamesh and Enkidu were doing it, I just had to write on that *g*. What follows is my essay, exactly as I turned it in.
But first, a short character introduction.
Gilgamesh is ensi of Uruk, leader and protector of the city. He is a great king unmatched by any other, beautiful and two-thirds god. But soon Gilgamesh oppresses the people of the city, not leaving a son to his father or a girl to her mother (or betrothed). He "struts his power over the people like a wild bull". The people of Uruk pray and cry to the gods. Hearing the people, Enkidu is created to tame Gilgamesh.
Enkidu is a wild man living among lions until a prostitute goes to him and civilizes him. Enkidu is a just and loyal man and bacomes fiercly protective of and devoted to Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh and the Spirit of Love
The Epic of Gilgamesh is the tale of a legendary Sumerian king who lived nearly 5,000 years ago. The first stories about Gilgamesh were composed 600 years after his death, and for the next thousand years the stories were retold, recopied and embellished until it was an eleven-tablet epic1 with a central theme, Gilgamesh’s quest for immortality. In the epic, the most important relationship Gilgamesh has is with Enkidu. Enkidu is Gilgamesh’s most loyal companion, lover, and soulmate, and from their relationship Gilgamesh learns the nature of love and the reality of death.
When Gilgamesh and Enkidu meet, Enkidu is barring the entrance to the marital chamber of the ‘destined wife’, with whom Gilgamesh is to have intercourse before the husband. They fight, and Gilgamesh wins. After Enkidu expounds Gilgamesh’s superb qualities, they kiss and become devoted friends2. Enkidu is outraged by this incident with the destined wife, but it is not clear why he is angry. The nature of this episode is uncertain; it may be a ritual, or it may be that Gilgamesh is abusing his power as king3. Prior to their meeting, Enkidu had been told of Gilgamesh’s might and how he abused his power as king, and also of Gilgamesh’s beauty. If the incident with the destined wife is indeed a ritual of some sort, as it being “ordered by the council of Anu”4 suggests, it is likely that Enkidu’s anger is due to jealousy. And judging by the way Gilgamesh and Enkidu become devoted friends so quickly, Enkidu is doubtless jealous of the destined wife, not Gilgamesh.
Enkidu was literally created to be a perfect match for Gilgamesh, in strength and to his “stormy heart”5. As such, they complement each other. After being in the city for a while, Gilgamesh decides he wants to kill Humbaba, the Guardian of the Cedar Forest, to gain prestige and to have an adventure. Enkidu tries to talk him out of it because he knows how formidable Humbaba is and is afraid6. Gilgamesh will not be dissuaded, and Enkidu goes with him. As they near the Cedar Forest Enkidu’s courage wavers. Gilgamesh tells Enkidu to let his trepidation leave him because there is nothing to fear, because they will face Humbaba together7. When they face Humbaba it is Gilgamesh whose courage fails him. Enkidu urges him not to turn away but to strike harder8. When one falters the other is there to bolster him even when the other himself is afraid.
Not only were Gilgamesh and Enkidu the greatest of friends, they were lovers. As Enkidu lies dying, he curses everyone and everything that played a part in bringing him to where he is now, sentenced to death by the gods for cutting down the Sacred Cedar9. Everyone but Gilgamesh, who was the one who wanted to go to the Cedar Forest and kill Humbaba. Shamash asks Enkidu why he cursed the harlot Shamhat since it was she who made it possible for him “to make beautiful Gilgamesh [his] comrade”10. Shamash also tells him how great Gilgamesh’s grief will be. Immediately after this is pointed out to Enkidu, he blesses the harlot fervently. If he had not had sex with Shamhat and become alienated from the forest, he would not have met Gilgamesh. From the blessings he heaps upon Shamhat, it is obvious that Enkidu would rather go to an early grave than never have met Gilgamesh. In light of the fact that “the Sumerians were convinced that life in the nether world was but a dismal, wretched reflection of life on earth”11, it is certain there was more than simple friendship between the two men. There must have been a very strong connection and deep caring between them to make Enkidu feel this way. To invoke such heartfelt conviction that it was better to know Gilgamesh than to live a long peaceful life, it is not hard to imagine that they were lovers.
After Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh is a complete wreck. For six days and seven nights he weeps for Enkidu and will not let him be buried until a maggot falls from Enkidu’s nose12. After making the city mourn Enkidu and having a statue made of the finest materials commissioned and dedicated to Enkidu, Gilgamesh flees the city to wander the wilderness. When Gilgamesh meets the tavern-keeper Siduri after weeks or months of drifting, he is half-starved, haggard, dirty and ragged, and visibly heart-broken13. These are not the actions and condition of a person who has lost a friend, but rather a person who has lost the one they’re in love with.
Before Gilgamesh meets Enkidu Gilgamesh dreams that a man-Enkidu-who is strongest and mightiest in the land and who will repeatedly save his friend will come to him. Gilgamesh “loved him and embraced him as a wife”14. The term “wife” has a sexual connotation as well as one of love; it implies that the man and woman love each other and have sex with each other. Saying that Gilgamesh loved Enkidu as a wife, as opposed to saying that Gilgamesh loved him as a brother, clearly shows that Gilgamesh and Enkidu were lovers.
The most important lesson Gilgamesh learns from his relationship with Enkidu is the nature of love, whether it be the love of friends or lovers. It means having someone who can always be relied upon to there for you, to stand beside you even when they’re afraid, and being there for them. Together people that love each other are stronger than they could ever be apart because they can share the burden. And it means preferring to know and love someone, only to lose them, to never having known them at all.
Gilgamesh also learns something from their relationship that he cannot hide from. His own mortality. Enkidu’s death brings home the frailty of life and makes Gilgamesh realize nothing lasts forever. When he and Enkidu were facing Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven, who caused 300 men of Uruk to fall into huge pits1 to avenge Gilgamesh’s insults against Ishtar15, Gilgamesh believed they were invincible. That they were immortal: “pay no heed to death, do not lose heart!”16
Gilgamesh rages against what he has realized and seeks out Utanapishtim to learn how he became immortal17. Utanapishtim tells Gilgamesh of the Flood and that he was given immortality for his loyalty and obedience to his god, Ea. He then puts a test to Gilgamesh to see if he is worthy of convening the gods to ask for immortality: Gilgamesh must go six days and seven nights without sleep. As soon as Gilgamesh sits down he falls asleep18. Utanapishtim is convinced by his wife to give Gilgamesh a consolation prize: there is a plant that will make Gilgamesh young again19. But before Gilgamesh can eat it, it is stolen by a snake20. Not only is death inescapable, Gilgamesh learns that no matter how hard he tries, he does not get to live his life over again.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu are friends and lovers who complete each other: the failings of one are matched by their opposite in the other. They are, in a word, soulmates. And one’s soulmate is the most influential person in one’s life. It is no wonder that Gilgamesh learned two of life’s most valuable lessons through their relationship.
__________________________________
1 Maureen Kovacs, The Epic of Gilgamesh (Stanford: University of Stanford Press,
1989), xxxv.
2 Gilgamesh, Tablet II, ln. 105-9, 129.
3 Gilgamesh, II:footnote #3.
4 II:77, 129.
5 I:80.
6 II:200-6, 236-46, 261-4.
7 IV:265-76.
8 V:90-8.
9 VII:1-121.
10 VII:128.
11 Samuel Kramer, Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), 135.
12 X:61-3.
13 X:39-44.
14 I:249-53.
15 VI:21-77.
16 IV:278.
17 IX-X.
18 XI:1-208.
19 XI:266-78.
20 XI:295-7.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kovacs, Maureen Gallery. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Stanford: University of Stanford Press, 1989.
Kramer, Samuel Noah. The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963.
There is no Gilgamesh/Enkidu fanfic on the web that I've been able to find. But! There is a novel called Gilgamesh by Stephan Grundy, which I'm about halfway through. It's really good, and I am so happy I didn't talk myself out of buying it. Unfortunately he puts in het sex but skips the gay sex. So I'll just have to write some myself ;).
1-1-05: I just realized I didn't put one of my favorite slashy parts in the essay (cuz I just got to that part in Grundy's book). After Gilgamesh and Enkidu return to Uruk, Ishtar goes to Gilgamesh and asks him to be her husband. He essentially says 'Are you nuts? You killed all your other lovers' and lists her lovers and what she did to them. She then goes to her father, Anu, and tells him to give her the Bull of Heaven so it can kill Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill it, of course.
"Woe unto Gilgamesh who slandered me and killed the Bull of Heaven!"
When Enkidu heard this pronouncement of Ishtar,
he wrenched off the Bull's hindquarter and flung it in her face:
"If I could only get at you I would do the same to you!
I would drape his innards over your arms!"
That's the second part the made me think "They are so doing it!" Enkidu basically bitch-slaps Ishtar and tells her to keep the fuck away from his man. I love that part *g*
Fandom: The Epic of Gilgamesh
Pairing: Gilgamesh/Enkidu
Author: ninurta
Email: Sharur@gmail.com
12-8-09 - I have found THE MOST AWESOME BOOK: When Heroes Love: The Ambiguity of Eros in the Stories of Gilgamesh and David.
This quarter I took "Introduction to Western Civilization" at the University of Washington, which covered from the Natufian culture (about 9000 BC) to the fall of Rome. For our first essay one of the choices was the relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu and what Gilgamesh learned from their relationship. Since it was obvious Gilgamesh and Enkidu were doing it, I just had to write on that *g*. What follows is my essay, exactly as I turned it in.
But first, a short character introduction.
Gilgamesh is ensi of Uruk, leader and protector of the city. He is a great king unmatched by any other, beautiful and two-thirds god. But soon Gilgamesh oppresses the people of the city, not leaving a son to his father or a girl to her mother (or betrothed). He "struts his power over the people like a wild bull". The people of Uruk pray and cry to the gods. Hearing the people, Enkidu is created to tame Gilgamesh.
Enkidu is a wild man living among lions until a prostitute goes to him and civilizes him. Enkidu is a just and loyal man and bacomes fiercly protective of and devoted to Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh and the Spirit of Love
The Epic of Gilgamesh is the tale of a legendary Sumerian king who lived nearly 5,000 years ago. The first stories about Gilgamesh were composed 600 years after his death, and for the next thousand years the stories were retold, recopied and embellished until it was an eleven-tablet epic1 with a central theme, Gilgamesh’s quest for immortality. In the epic, the most important relationship Gilgamesh has is with Enkidu. Enkidu is Gilgamesh’s most loyal companion, lover, and soulmate, and from their relationship Gilgamesh learns the nature of love and the reality of death.
When Gilgamesh and Enkidu meet, Enkidu is barring the entrance to the marital chamber of the ‘destined wife’, with whom Gilgamesh is to have intercourse before the husband. They fight, and Gilgamesh wins. After Enkidu expounds Gilgamesh’s superb qualities, they kiss and become devoted friends2. Enkidu is outraged by this incident with the destined wife, but it is not clear why he is angry. The nature of this episode is uncertain; it may be a ritual, or it may be that Gilgamesh is abusing his power as king3. Prior to their meeting, Enkidu had been told of Gilgamesh’s might and how he abused his power as king, and also of Gilgamesh’s beauty. If the incident with the destined wife is indeed a ritual of some sort, as it being “ordered by the council of Anu”4 suggests, it is likely that Enkidu’s anger is due to jealousy. And judging by the way Gilgamesh and Enkidu become devoted friends so quickly, Enkidu is doubtless jealous of the destined wife, not Gilgamesh.
Enkidu was literally created to be a perfect match for Gilgamesh, in strength and to his “stormy heart”5. As such, they complement each other. After being in the city for a while, Gilgamesh decides he wants to kill Humbaba, the Guardian of the Cedar Forest, to gain prestige and to have an adventure. Enkidu tries to talk him out of it because he knows how formidable Humbaba is and is afraid6. Gilgamesh will not be dissuaded, and Enkidu goes with him. As they near the Cedar Forest Enkidu’s courage wavers. Gilgamesh tells Enkidu to let his trepidation leave him because there is nothing to fear, because they will face Humbaba together7. When they face Humbaba it is Gilgamesh whose courage fails him. Enkidu urges him not to turn away but to strike harder8. When one falters the other is there to bolster him even when the other himself is afraid.
Not only were Gilgamesh and Enkidu the greatest of friends, they were lovers. As Enkidu lies dying, he curses everyone and everything that played a part in bringing him to where he is now, sentenced to death by the gods for cutting down the Sacred Cedar9. Everyone but Gilgamesh, who was the one who wanted to go to the Cedar Forest and kill Humbaba. Shamash asks Enkidu why he cursed the harlot Shamhat since it was she who made it possible for him “to make beautiful Gilgamesh [his] comrade”10. Shamash also tells him how great Gilgamesh’s grief will be. Immediately after this is pointed out to Enkidu, he blesses the harlot fervently. If he had not had sex with Shamhat and become alienated from the forest, he would not have met Gilgamesh. From the blessings he heaps upon Shamhat, it is obvious that Enkidu would rather go to an early grave than never have met Gilgamesh. In light of the fact that “the Sumerians were convinced that life in the nether world was but a dismal, wretched reflection of life on earth”11, it is certain there was more than simple friendship between the two men. There must have been a very strong connection and deep caring between them to make Enkidu feel this way. To invoke such heartfelt conviction that it was better to know Gilgamesh than to live a long peaceful life, it is not hard to imagine that they were lovers.
After Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh is a complete wreck. For six days and seven nights he weeps for Enkidu and will not let him be buried until a maggot falls from Enkidu’s nose12. After making the city mourn Enkidu and having a statue made of the finest materials commissioned and dedicated to Enkidu, Gilgamesh flees the city to wander the wilderness. When Gilgamesh meets the tavern-keeper Siduri after weeks or months of drifting, he is half-starved, haggard, dirty and ragged, and visibly heart-broken13. These are not the actions and condition of a person who has lost a friend, but rather a person who has lost the one they’re in love with.
Before Gilgamesh meets Enkidu Gilgamesh dreams that a man-Enkidu-who is strongest and mightiest in the land and who will repeatedly save his friend will come to him. Gilgamesh “loved him and embraced him as a wife”14. The term “wife” has a sexual connotation as well as one of love; it implies that the man and woman love each other and have sex with each other. Saying that Gilgamesh loved Enkidu as a wife, as opposed to saying that Gilgamesh loved him as a brother, clearly shows that Gilgamesh and Enkidu were lovers.
The most important lesson Gilgamesh learns from his relationship with Enkidu is the nature of love, whether it be the love of friends or lovers. It means having someone who can always be relied upon to there for you, to stand beside you even when they’re afraid, and being there for them. Together people that love each other are stronger than they could ever be apart because they can share the burden. And it means preferring to know and love someone, only to lose them, to never having known them at all.
Gilgamesh also learns something from their relationship that he cannot hide from. His own mortality. Enkidu’s death brings home the frailty of life and makes Gilgamesh realize nothing lasts forever. When he and Enkidu were facing Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven, who caused 300 men of Uruk to fall into huge pits1 to avenge Gilgamesh’s insults against Ishtar15, Gilgamesh believed they were invincible. That they were immortal: “pay no heed to death, do not lose heart!”16
Gilgamesh rages against what he has realized and seeks out Utanapishtim to learn how he became immortal17. Utanapishtim tells Gilgamesh of the Flood and that he was given immortality for his loyalty and obedience to his god, Ea. He then puts a test to Gilgamesh to see if he is worthy of convening the gods to ask for immortality: Gilgamesh must go six days and seven nights without sleep. As soon as Gilgamesh sits down he falls asleep18. Utanapishtim is convinced by his wife to give Gilgamesh a consolation prize: there is a plant that will make Gilgamesh young again19. But before Gilgamesh can eat it, it is stolen by a snake20. Not only is death inescapable, Gilgamesh learns that no matter how hard he tries, he does not get to live his life over again.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu are friends and lovers who complete each other: the failings of one are matched by their opposite in the other. They are, in a word, soulmates. And one’s soulmate is the most influential person in one’s life. It is no wonder that Gilgamesh learned two of life’s most valuable lessons through their relationship.
__________________________________
1 Maureen Kovacs, The Epic of Gilgamesh (Stanford: University of Stanford Press,
1989), xxxv.
2 Gilgamesh, Tablet II, ln. 105-9, 129.
3 Gilgamesh, II:footnote #3.
4 II:77, 129.
5 I:80.
6 II:200-6, 236-46, 261-4.
7 IV:265-76.
8 V:90-8.
9 VII:1-121.
10 VII:128.
11 Samuel Kramer, Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), 135.
12 X:61-3.
13 X:39-44.
14 I:249-53.
15 VI:21-77.
16 IV:278.
17 IX-X.
18 XI:1-208.
19 XI:266-78.
20 XI:295-7.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kovacs, Maureen Gallery. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Stanford: University of Stanford Press, 1989.
Kramer, Samuel Noah. The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963.
There is no Gilgamesh/Enkidu fanfic on the web that I've been able to find. But! There is a novel called Gilgamesh by Stephan Grundy, which I'm about halfway through. It's really good, and I am so happy I didn't talk myself out of buying it. Unfortunately he puts in het sex but skips the gay sex. So I'll just have to write some myself ;).
1-1-05: I just realized I didn't put one of my favorite slashy parts in the essay (cuz I just got to that part in Grundy's book). After Gilgamesh and Enkidu return to Uruk, Ishtar goes to Gilgamesh and asks him to be her husband. He essentially says 'Are you nuts? You killed all your other lovers' and lists her lovers and what she did to them. She then goes to her father, Anu, and tells him to give her the Bull of Heaven so it can kill Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill it, of course.
"Woe unto Gilgamesh who slandered me and killed the Bull of Heaven!"
When Enkidu heard this pronouncement of Ishtar,
he wrenched off the Bull's hindquarter and flung it in her face:
"If I could only get at you I would do the same to you!
I would drape his innards over your arms!"
That's the second part the made me think "They are so doing it!" Enkidu basically bitch-slaps Ishtar and tells her to keep the fuck away from his man. I love that part *g*