Earliest Epics, Semi-Divine Hero Gods and Bro Culture
The Epic of Gilgamesh is among the oldest of Early Bronze Age testaments to the warrior-poet archetype and homosocial value set, endorsing warrioristic homosocial bonds and the notion of the ‘Wise King.’
Gilgamesh is a semi-divine hero-king, a giant of a god-man who has started out his career as a warrior by invading and taking the Sumerian city-state of Uruk in the alluvial plain where, in ancient times, the Tigris and Eurphates met before flowing out into the Persian Gulf. As the privileged tyrant with ultimate entitlement, he ‘harries’ his warriors to perform in rigorous and exhausting contests for his entertainment; he works the common men of the realm to death; and he claims his right as regent to take the virginity of all the young girls of his kingdom, snatching them from their bridegrooms on their wedding night so as to enjoy them first, before they could even lie with their husbands.
The populace of Uruk, despairing, has appealed to the Great Goddess Inanna for help. She, in turn, has appealed to her grandfather, Anu. ‘Anu listened. He knew that talking to his daughter Ninsun [Inanna’s mother] would be of little use, so he went to Aruru, the creator of mankind. He asked Her to create a man who would be equal to King Gilgamesh…Aruru began working with her clay and fashioned it into the form of a man. When she was finished, she threw it into the wilderness. Aruru had created a wild man who knew no language, was covered with hair and ate with the wild animals. His name was Enkidu.’ (https://discover.hubpages.com/education/The-Epic-of-Gilgamesh-A-Mesopamian-Blockbuster)
The idea is that the Wild Man, who is equal in strength to Gilgamesh, will bring him down to size and knock the arrogance out of him. But first, wild Enkidu needs to be civilized enough to enter the city and attract the attention and admiration of the king as a warrior and hero. A trapper of wild animals travels to Uruk, seeking to request an intervention from the Temple of Inanna. The idea is to present one of Inanna’s priestesses to him so as to civilize, tame and ‘gentle’ him with the Goddess’s sexual sacraments. In this manner, Enkidu would be brought out of the animal state and into the human realm by the priestess. She would bring human refinement to the Wild Man, to temper and finesse his great strength. Anita Smith presents an insightful synopsis of the tale:
A priestess named Shamhat came from Inanna’s temple and journeyed into the wilderness so as to tame the wild man through sex. The trapper and Shamhat returned to the well and waited several days before Enkidu appeared. When he did, Shamhat did as she was instructed. She showed the wild man her body and captured his attention. She laid with him for six days and seven nights while Enkidu remained aroused. Once he had finally reached his fill, he turned his attention back to the animals, but they were now afraid of him. He had become a man like all the others who were out to capture them.
Instead of taking Enkidu straight to Uruk, she took him to stay with the shepherds outside of the city walls. There he was educated in how to eat food and drink beer. He was dressed as a warrior and helped the shepherds by keeping watch while they slept. In a short period of time, Enkidu had become civilized. Then one day, a young man came to tell the shepherds there was to be a wedding in the city. The young man explained that he was preparing the wedding feast for the king, as he must eat before sleeping with the bride. Enkidu, upon hearing that Gilgamesh would do such a thing, was filled with rage. He took off toward the city with Shamhat following behind him.
When Enkidu arrived in Uruk, he went straight to the marital chamber where Gilgamesh had planned to be with the bride. He was determined that he would not let this happen and blocked the doorway. When Gilgamesh appeared, expecting sex, he was surprised to find Enkidu there blocking the way. He grabbed the stranger and tried to throw him from the doorway, but Enkidu would not be moved. The two men then took to fighting. They punched each other, shoved each other throughout the palace and finally spilled out onto the streets of the city. They continued landing blows on each other with neither one being willing to give up the fight and still neither one being able to take down the other. After hours of constant fighting, Gilgamesh finally stopped to take a breath. Enkidu, not wanting to continue the fight if he did not have to, told Gilgamesh that he, Gilgamesh, was the son of Ninsun. He was better than this. He was made by the gods to rule over men, but this was not the way to go about doing it. He pointed out that while he could not defeat Gilgamesh, neither could Gilgamesh defeat him, but he would fight him every time to stop him from sleeping with every bride. Gilgamesh considered all that Enkidu had said, and he believed that his mother was correct in saying that this man was destine to be his best friend. Gilgamesh then agreed to make some changes to the way he ruled, including sleeping with every bride. The two men then hugged and became friends. (https://discover.hubpages.com/education/The-Epic-of-Gilgamesh-A-Mesopamian-Blockbuster)
The pair had bonded through battle, and become closer than brothers. Sadly, one of the dynamic duo’s first heroic acts involved challenging heaven by killing Inanna’s avatar and consort, her ‘Bull of Heaven,’ who guarded the threshold of the celestial paradise, so that they could gain entry to the realm of the deities and achieve immortality.
Gilgamesh explained to Enkidu that only the gods were allowed to dwell in the Heavens. As men, and the one-quarter mortal within Gilgamesh would seal his fate with theirs, time upon the Earth was short. He told his friend that no matter what they did, nothing would be remembered, but if they went on a quest together and kill the mighty beast that prevents men from reaching Heaven, where only the gods were allowed to dwell, they would forever be famous. The plan was set. The two of them would go kill the dreaded Humbaba, protector of the Cedar Forest, the gateway to Heaven.
Gilgamesh then took Enkidu to the see the local blacksmith and have them make weapons for both of them, so that they would be able to defeat the feared Humbaba. When Gilgamesh told the blacksmith where they were going to go, to make sure they weapons and armor were the very best quality, word soon spread around town. The city elders then went to the king and begged him not to make this journey. They told him he was too young and foolish to know what he was getting himself and Enkidu into, but Gilgamesh insisted that they would defeat the monster and cut down trees from the Cedar Forest. Enkidu assured the elders that by telling Gilgamesh that he cannot do this, they have ensured that he must try. (https://discover.hubpages.com/education/The-Epic-of-Gilgamesh-A-Mesopamian-Blockbuster)
The Bull of Heaven that he and Enkidu have jointly slain is the sacred lunar avatar of Inanna and Her divine sister aspects (Maiden and Crone), Ereshkigal and Lillith, who jointly form the Triple Goddess of the ancient Sumerian pantheon. Inanna’s Bull of Heaven correlates to the Apis Bull of pre-dynastic Egypt, the earliest manifestations of Yahweh as the Heavenly Bull — consort of Asherah, the early Hebrew Queen of Heaven and Tree of Life — the Minoan Moon Bull, and other cosmic bovines of the Levant, the Near and Middle East, Anatolia and neolithic civilizations throughout Old Europe and the Mediterranean.
After Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh is inconsolable. He tears his hair, he rends his clothes. He wanders, senseless with grief, and can not be comforted. He goes in search of the Tree of Immortality to be found in the paradisiacal garden and crosses the river of death in the Underworld. He’s nearly succeeded, and is on his way back to the world of mortals with the magical plant, crossing the stygian river in his little boat, when a crafty serpent steals it from him and swallows it down, thus gaining the ability to shed his skin and emerge renewed, seemingly resurrected from his own corpse. Gligamesh is once again verklempt, as this is just another of the hard lessons of his life’s journey.
‘The physical and spiritual journey of Gilgamesh also involves suffering the harsh consequences of divine punishment, which bring the death of the beloved friend, and the experience of pain and uncertainty, which pushes the hero into seeking the limits of the known world in search for answers. Only when Gilgamesh crosses beyond the world of the living and comes back does he become the king he was meant to be. In the process, he also reaches his full acceptance of the inevitability of death. This realization comes after he speaks to Ut-napishtim [‘Noah’ in the Bible] and hears his story of how he and his family survived the Flood, after which the god Enlil made him and his wife immortal, a fate not available to even semi-divine heroes. Along the way, Gilgamesh finds guidance from various gods and lone characters like Siduri the female tavern keeper. In a text preserved from the Old Babylonian Version, she offers Gilgamesh the most poignant piece of advice, and our first preserved version of the carpe diem idea (“collect the day”)’:
Gilgamesh, where do you roam?
You will not find the eternal life that you seek.
When the gods created mankind,
they appointed death for mankind,
kept eternal life in their own hands.
So, Gilgamesh, let your stomach be full,
day and night enjoy yourself in every way,
every day arrange for pleasures.
Day and night, dance and play,
wear fresh clothes.
Keep your head washed, bathe in water,
appreciate the child who holds your hand,
let your wife enjoy herself in your lap.
(Trans. Stephanie Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others, Oxford, 2000, p. 150)
