The Epic of Gilgamesh

* The Nine(?) Realms (LS)

***Legends Summarized: The Epic of Gilgamesh*** is the eighty-fifth episode of the Miscellaneous Myths series and the twentieth episode of the Legends Summarized series by Red. In it, Red discusses the importance of storytelling to humans and summarizes the *Epic of Gilgamesh*, the oldest known written story.

## Introduction

Red begins by talking about how storytelling can reveal worlds from long ago that have since changed so much they cease to exist. As examples, she presents the possibility that stories about the Pleiades, a star cluster sometimes known as "The Seven Sisters," may be 100,000 years old and how Australian Aboriginal stories and art describe ancient fauna that have been extinct for thousands of years. She then says, however, that most stories change and evolve little by little over time to the point where one can only trace a lineage of stories to a forever lost ancient tale. Sometimes information is just gone, but sometimes we can make discoveries, such as that of the *Epic of Gilgamesh*.

Red then continues by saying that the epic was originally just a pile of pottery taken by the British until part of it was translated by George Smith in 1872, telling a story similar to the biblical story of the Great Flood. Many versions exist; the oldest are Sumerian tales from the 18th century BCE, but it wasn't codified into an epic until about the 13th-11th centuries BCE. Tablets are still discovered to this day, adding to the grand story that mirrors its own themes of death and immortality.

## Summary

### Bros4Lyfe

The story begins by describing the grand city of Uruk and its also-super-great hero-king Gilgamesh: a huge, powerful guy who's two-thirds god and one-third man. However, he also treats the city's citizens terribly. Most notably, he makes each woman on her wedding night sleep with him first and then her husband second. Understandably, the women petition the gods for help.

In response, the gods decide to make Gilgamesh an equal to control him. Aruru, the goddess who created humanity, molds a man named Enkidu out of clay. He is also massive and powerful but instead lives in the wild and causes problems for the local hunters. To combat the issue, they send the legendary prostitute Shamhat to "civilize" him. After two weeks of canoodling, Shamhat tells Enkidu of Gilgamesh and he decides to go fight him in a 1v1. Enkidu enters Uruk and stops Gilgamesh as he is making his way to the most recent newlywed's place, challenging him to a fight. After an undetailed fight due to tablet damage, the two stop fighting, kiss, and become bros for life.

After getting the WR in Enemies-To-LoversAny%, Gilgamesh decides to go fight the horrifying monster Humbaba. Enkidu comes along as well after failing to dissuade him. On their journey, Gilgamesh has some prophetic dreams that Enkidu assures are good things, and the two make their way to Humbaba in the Forest of Cedar. The three fight, and with some wind from his goddess-mom, Ninsun, Gilgamesh slays Humbaba. The two then cut down the cedar forest and return victorious.

After their return, Gilgamesh cleans himself up a bit, but Ishtar comes to him saying she wants to marry him. Gilgamesh lists the unfortunate fates of her many exes in a resounding "no," so Ishtar goes to her parents Anu and Antu for help. She demands that they give her the Bull of Heaven to kill Gilgamesh or else she would cause a zombie apocalypse instead, so Anu obliges. It makes the rivers boil and the earth crack, but Enkidu and Gilgamesh beat it up, sacrifice it, party, and then go to sleep.

### Immortality Quest!

Enkidu dreams that night of the gods deciding that one of them must die for killing two heavenly beings, and the eventual consensus is that Enkidu will be killed. As Gilgamesh petitions the gods to reverse their decision, Enkidu breaks down, cursing his life in civilization and Shamhat as he laments to Shamash, the sun god. After Shamash gets him to calm down a little, Enkidu asks that Shamhat be blessed to be the hottest prostitute ever. He has a second dream where he is taken to the underworld by a lion-bird-man and put before a bunch of death gods, and then he wakes up sick. He deteriorates over twelve days, lamenting to Gilgamesh that he would have preferred death in battle since that would have held meaning. He then dies, and, in his heartbroken state, Gilgamesh commissions a beautiful statue of Enkidu to be built and great sacrifices to be made in his favor. At that, he sets out to find Utnapishtim and his wife in hopes of learning the secret to their immortality.

Gilgamesh journeys through the wilderness in fear, eventually making it to a cave guarded by two scorpion-men. He travels through the pitch-black cave for a full day before finding a garden of crystal trees at the edge of a vast ocean. He misinterprets some directions from an old goddess and begins beating up Ur-shanabi and some stone men before realizing they were his ride across the ocean. He and Ur-shanabi then make a perilous journey across the ocean and he finally meets Utnapishtim. Gilgamesh asks Utnapishtim to tell him how he became immortal, so he tells him the tale.

### The Great Flood

Long ago, Utnapishtim lived in the great city of Shuruppak. One day, the god Ea came to him in a dream and told him to sell everything he owned and build an enormous boat. He told him that he had incurred the wrath of Enlil and needed to crash in the oceanic realm for a bit and also that there was going to be a lot of rainfall soon. Now alarmed at the veiled warning, Utnapishtim sacrificed all his money and livestock to build a massive boat for him, his family, some workers, and many animals. He then sealed the hatch on the day the rains began to fall. A massive storm then destroyed all of humanity and drives the gods to the realm of Anu, who grieved humanity's destruction. On the seventh day, Utnapishtim opened the hatch and looked out over the vast ocean covering the whole earth, only the highest of peaks still visible. He sent out two birds that failed to find good land, but didn't find anything. He sent out a raven that eventually found the waters to be receding. Utnapishtim then made a sacrifice that attracted all the gods as it was the only one. Enlil came as well, furious that the humans survived, but Ea calmed him down enough that Enlil gave Utnapishtim and his wife immortality and sent them to live at the mouth of all rivers.

### Gilgamesh Learns a Lesson

After telling Gilgamesh the story, Utnapishtim then tells him that before he would ever conquer death, he must conquer sleep. Gilgamesh accepts it as an easy task but then immediately passes out for seven days. Utnapishtim then cleans him up and kicks out the boatman to prevent anyone else from finding him. However, he gives Gilgamesh one last option by telling him that there is a plant at the bottom of the ocean that restores youth. Gilgamesh dives into the ocean to get it, but plans to test it on an old guy first before eating it. Unfortunately, during the night, the plant is eaten by a snake. With no options left, Gilgamesh and the boatman return to Uruk and bask in its splendor.

## Conclusion

Red makes note of how in the end, Gilgamesh does end up immortal. Like Utnapishtim, it was by no agency of his own but by others he could not control. In the end, through the stories that were told by the people who remembered him and thought worthy of him, he continues to live forever. Red then rants about how she wished they would have switched the designs for Alexander the Great and Gilgamesh in the Fate franchise.

## Characters Appearing

* Gilgamesh
* Enkidu
* Shamhat
* Humbaba
* Ishtar
* Aruru
* Anu
* Antu
* Shamash
* Ur-shanabi
* Utnapishtim
* Utnapishtim's Wife

## Links

* Legends Summarized: The Epic of Gilgamesh