![]() Some of the clearest advice is provided by the beer deity, Siduri (yes, a goddess of beer), who suggests Gilgamesh set his mind less resolvedly on extending his life. The text provides multiple answers, allowing the reader to wrestle with these ideas alongside the hero. Gilgamesh explores the nature and meaning of being human, and asks the questions that continue to be debated in the modern day: what is the meaning of life and love? What is life really - and am I doing it right? How do we cope with life’s brevity and uncertainty, and how do we deal with loss? Gilgamesh and his adventures can only be described in superlative terms: during his legendary journeys, the hero battles deities and monsters, finds (and loses) the secret to eternal youth, travels to the very edge of the world - and beyond.ĭespite the fantastical elements of the narrative and its protagonist, Gilgamesh remains a very human character, one who experiences the same heartbreaks, limitations and simple pleasures that shape the universal quality of the human condition. The story ends with Gilgamesh returning home to the city of Uruk. In one of the earliest literary anti-climaxes, Utanapishtim tells him that he doesn’t have it. ![]() ![]() After a perilous journey over the waters of death, Gilgamesh finally meets Utanapishtim and asks for the secret to immortality. The hero dresses himself in the skin of a lion, and travels to find a long-lived great flood survivor, Utanapishtim (often compared with the biblical Noah). The love between Gilgamesh and Enkidu transforms the royal protagonist, and Enkidu’s death leaves Gilgamesh bereft and terrified of his own mortality. The death of Enkidu is a pivotal point in the narrative. ![]() The heroes’ actions upset the gods, leading to Enkidu’s early death. Gilgamesh and Enkidu become inseparable, and embark on a quest for lasting fame and glory. Gilgamesh sets about civilising Enkidu, a feat achieved through the novel means of a week of sex with the wise priestess, Shamhat (whose very name in Akkadian suggests both beauty and voluptuousness). ![]()
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