Summary of the Epic of Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh is the King of Uruk, a brave warrior, ambitious builder, good-looking,

very wise and the strongest of all men. He is two-thirds God and one third mortal. Although
he was godlike in body and mind, he started his kingship as a cruel despot. He raped women,
accomplished buildings with forced labor and his exhausted subjects groaned under his
oppression. When the citizens of Uruk can't take it anymore, they prayed to the gods for
help. The god Anu hears them, and commands the goddess Aruru to create another human
who will be a match for Gilgamesh. Aruru creates Enkidu, an uncivilized wild man and was
raised by animals. Enkidu looks much like Gilgamesh and is almost physically the same. A
hunter discovered him and sent a temple prostitute named Shamhat to tame him. Enkidu
then was brought into the civilized world. A harlot taught him everything he needed to know
in order to become a man. When he heard about Galgameshs excesses, he was furious and
so he went to Uruk to challenge Galgamesh. The two men wrestled fiercely and Galgamesh
finally prevails. He aspired to be Gilgameshs rival nut the two became friends and shared
adventures together.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu decided to steal in the Cedar Forest where Humbaba, a
fearsome demon, and the servant of Enlil (god of Earth, wind, and air) guards the forest
which is forbidden to mortals. Gilgamesh and Enkidu fought together, standing side by side
and with the help of Shamash, the sun god they have killed Humbaba. They cut the
forbidden trees and gates, and rafts, and float in it back to Uruk.
Upon their return to Uruk, the goddess Ishtar (goddess of love and fertility) develops
an obsession to Gilgamesh and asks him to marry her. Gilgamesh rejects her. Furious about
it, Ishtar borrows the Bull of Heaven from her father, Anu, and sends it to earth to punish
Gilgamesh with 7 years of famine. Gilgamesh and Enkidu had wrestled and killed the Bull.
The gods meet and decided to punish one of the two friends for their transgression and
decided that Enkidu must die. Enkidu suffered a slow, painful, inglorious death for killing the
demon Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven.
Gilgamesh cant stop brooding about the prospect of his own death and so he sets off
into the wilderness to meet Utnapishtim, known as the Mesopotamian Noah. Gilgameshs
journey took him to the twin peaked mountain called Mashu but the two scorpion
monsters wont allow him to pass through but he pleaded and the two scorpion monsters
finally relented.
Upon arrival, he meets Siduri the innkeeper, who directs him to Urshanabi the
ferryman. Urshanabi helps Gilgamesh cross the Waters of Death. On the other side,
Gilgamesh meets Utanapishtim, who tells him, "Tough luck: humans just can't escape death."

Utanapishtim doesn't think Gilgamesh is worthy of such a gift; to prove it, he challenges
Gilgamesh saying that if he can stay alive for eternity, surely he can stay awake for a week
but Gilgamesh failed miserably.
Utanapishtim tells him to return to Uruk, and fires Urshanabi for good measure. After
those two sail off, however, Utanapishtim's wife makes her husband call them back. This
time, Utanapishtim tells Gilgamesh about a plant that will restore the youth. Gilgamesh
found the plant on the bottom of the sea and decided to take it home to Uruk and share it
with the elders but a snake stole the plant one night and the serpent slithers away, it shed its
skin an became young again. He came back to Uruk empty-handed but finally reconciled to
his mortality.