The Epic of Gilgamesh - Sumerian Mythology

many ages ago when the ancient gods ruled the world there was a mighty Sumerian king named Gilgamesh while ruler of the great city of Uruk Mesopotamia Gilgamesh built magnificent ziggurat temples surrounded his City with high walls and planted many Orchards of rare fruits but Gilgamesh was no ordinary man he was a demigod son of the priest king Lou gobanda and the goddess ninsen Gilgamesh was an exemplary creature taller than all other people with magnificent Beauty and uncommon physical strength even though he was a demigod and had a longer than normal lifespan Gilgamesh was not immortal

despite his physical qualities Gilgamesh had an arrogant personality and acted as a proud and haughty Tyrant with no one to stop and challenge him he abused his authority as king demanding to be idolized by the people and ordering the construction of monuments in his honor and he seduced any woman who attracted him even if she was of the nobility or married the population of the city of Uruk gradually began to despise the king in their prayers to the gods They begged to be saved from gilgamesh's cruelty and lewdness the powerful Celestial god Anu felt pity

for the humans and ordered aruru the goddess of vegetation to engineer a creature to rival Gilgamesh using a portion of clay the goddess oruru fashioned a hybrid being a mixture of man and animal named and kidu with a hairy primitive appearance and Bulls horns on his head and kedu lived like an animal in the woods and plains of Sumer he ate grass next to the gazelles and drank water from Rivers side by side with lions all the animals knew and obeyed in kidu he became a protector of wildlife but did not know how to approach

human beings upon hearing stories about the appearance of a large and strong man Gilgamesh decided to send shamat a priestess from the Temple of a rook to inquire into the case and try to seduce that mysterious man the goal was to take away his Purity granted by the goddess to the Priestess surprise and kiru was as impressive as Gilgamesh and she quickly fell in love with him I after seven days and seven nights of sultry love in kiru became civilized he learned to wear clothes and eat food like humans after that shamat told him about

the existence of Gilgamesh and his reign of tyranny a great wedding was about to take place in the city of Iraq but as usual Gilgamesh appeared and demanded to possess the bride before the wedding to the relief of the bride and groom in kedu appeared from among the crowd he had arrived in the City guided by the Priestess shamat gilgameshen and kiru entered a furious argument about the disrespectfulness of interfering in a marriage of two people who loved each other for the first time in his life Gilgamesh found someone able to strike back at him

this made him angry anticipating the ensuing Mayhem the crowd quickly moved away from the scene leaving the two Giants face to face Gilgamesh was the first to resort to violence the two powerful beings exchanged blows the epic fight between the two demigods lasted for seven uninterrupted days and destroyed several houses in the city each punch landed by the two Titans was enough to kill five human Warriors but neither seemed to give in and inevitably they began to admire each other Gilgamesh finally managed to strike a clean blow and knocked and kedu down but instead of

Exterminating his opponent Gilgamesh reached out and helped in kiru to his feet both were proud of the great fight and embraced each other beginning an eternal friendship from that day on Gilgamesh became a more just King and stopped tormenting his people in the following years Gilgamesh and inkidu traveled through many unknown lands where they had a great Many Adventures Together defeating monsters and heroes of all kinds but one thought hovered over gilgamesh's mind he knew the two of them were growing old and would one day have to face death to immortalize their names Gilgamesh asked

in kedu to travel to the cedar Forest where the powerful demon humbaba lived a being so Dreadful and dangerous that even the gods respected him humbaba had never left the forest and had not committed any action likely to provoke gilgamesh's attack still he had to defend himself against his attackers when they saw the demon humbaba the pair of demigods were paralyzed with Terror for they had never seen such a terrifying creature trying to gain courage Gilgamesh attacked him with his ax after a few attempts he wounded the monster sideways and kedu used a spear to

deliver the Fatal blow to humbaba's throat ending the nightmarish bout before dying humbaba cursed them both saying that one of them would die as punishment for what they had done although Gilgamesh and in kiru had accomplished a great feat whom Baba's death angered the Gods still Gilgamesh and in kiru returned to the city of Iraq where they planned to celebrate the event but an unexpected guest appeared during the party Ishtar goddess of love beauty war and fertility was impressed by gilgamesh's handsomeness and strength and decided to make him her lover despite her enormous charm Ishtar

failed to seduce Gilgamesh he rejected her claiming that he was aware that all of ishtar's other lovers had died horrible deaths Ishtar was furious at gilgamesh's boldness and swore Revenge Ishtar asked her father the celestial god Anu for help begging him to send the most powerful creature of all to kill Gilgamesh and in kiru the god Anu sent the bull of Heaven to Earth to destroy the city of Uruk and Gilgamesh the bull came down from heaven bringing with it seven years of famine and natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes the people of Uruk

quickly pleaded with Gilgamesh and in kiru to destroy the celestial Beast the huge confrontation between the two demigods and the strong Divine bull shook all of Mesopotamia Gilgamesh and inkidu use the same weapons with which they defeated the demon humbaba and together they killed the bull of Heaven as a sign of contempt Gilgamesh cut off one of the Bull's legs and threw it at the feet of the Goddess Ishtar who was watching the fight from a distance Not only was Ishtar angry but the other gods rebelled against Gilgamesh and in kiru deciding to punish them

after deliberating about what had happened the gods decided that in kidu would have to die because he was the one who had held the bull of Heaven by the horns for Gilgamesh to give the animal the final blow a few days later and kiru fell Gravely ill and realized that his death was near seeing his best friend in that situation Gilgamesh became desperate asking the best doctors in the Kingdom to find a cure but to no avail and kiru died in agony Delirious in gilgamesh's arms and Gilgamesh wept bitterly for days and kiru's death made

Gilgamesh fear for his existence The Dread of the end made him begin a search for the secret of immortality and a way to resurrect in kidu he traveled far through mountains and deserts hoping to find utna pishdem the man who survived the great flood and was rewarded by the gods with immortality with the help of The Boatman urshanavi Gilgamesh crossed a huge Lake of poisonous Waters finally reaching the home of the immortal utnapishtem but to gilgamesh's disappointment utnapishtem explained to him that only the gods could Grant eternal life even so there was a miraculous plant

in the depths of the sea capable of rejuvenating whoever ate it prolonging their lifespan Gilgamesh dived into the sea and found the plant but when he returned to the surface he left it on the banks of a lake while he bathed to purify himself from the long journey and something terrible happened a common snake attracted by the plant's sweet smell devoured it when Gilgamesh noticed what had happened it was too late he found the snake's dry skin indicating that the animal had rejuvenated Gilgamesh concluded that no man no matter how strong and Rich he may

be can defeat death and he accepted his end he returned to Uruk and for the first time noticed how magnificent and enduring his city was his legacy as a good king would be the closest thing to immortality he could achieve Gilgamesh decided to draft his story on clay tablets forever eternalizing the name of him his friend in kiru and the Great Adventures of both thank you foreign