Mythology

trial of strength which ends in a compact of friendship. The two swear eternal comradeship. This ends the first episode of the Epic. Here we are inevitably reminded of the theme of Genesis 3, where the serpent promises Adam that he will become wise and like God, knowing good and evil, if he partakes of the forbidden fruit. It can hardly be doubted that the Epic in its present form is composed of various myths and folk-stories which have been brought together and artistically welded into a whole round the central figure of Gilgamesh. The next episode relates the adventures of Gilgamesh and Enkidu as they set out to attack and slay the fire-breathing giant Huwawa, or, as his name is given in the Assyrian version, Humbaba. The purpose of the enterprise is, as Gilgamesh says to Enkidu, ‘that all evil from the land we may banish’. It is possible that these stories of the adventures of Gilgamesh and his trusty comrade Enkidu may have helped to shape the Greek myth of the labours of Hercules, though some scholars deny this possibility. [15] In the Epic, Huwawa is represented as guarding the cedar forests of the Amanus stretching six thousand leagues. Enkidu endeavours to dissuade his friend from this perilous enterprise, but Gilgamesh is determined to attempt it, and, with the help of the gods, after a tremendous struggle they slay Huwawa and cut off his head. In the account of this episode the cedar forest is described as being the abode of the goddess Irnini, another name for Ishtar, and this forms the link with the next episode in the Epic. When Gilgamesh returns in triumph from his victory, the goddess Ishtar is attracted by his beauty and tries to induce him to become her lover. He rejects her advances with insults, and reminds her of the miserable fate of all her previous lovers. Enraged by his rejection, the goddess begs Anu to avenge her by creating the Bull of heaven and sending him to ravage the kingdom of Gilgamesh. The bull is sent down and wreaks havoc among the people of Erech, but is ultimately slain by Enkidu. As the result of this act the gods meet in council and decide that Enkidu must die. Enkidu has a dream in which he sees himself carried off to the underworld and transformed by Nergal into a ghost. The dream contains a description of the Semitic conception of the underworld which is worth quoting ‘He (the god) transformed me, So that my arms were like those of a bird. Looking at me, he leads me to the House of Darkness, The abode of Irkalla, To the house which none leave who have entered it, On the road from which there is no way back, To the house wherein the dwellers are bereft of light, Where dust is their fare and clay their food. They are clothed like birds, with wings for garments, And see no light, residing in darkness.’ [16] Enkidu then falls sick and dies, and we have a vivid description of the grief of Gilgamesh and the mourning ritual which he performs for his friend, reminding one of the mourning rites performed by Achilles for Patroclus. There is a suggestion in the Epic here that death is a new and dreadful experience. Gilgamesh is represented as dreading that he must become like Enkidu,

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