Gilgamesh, the hero king of Uruk. Born from the inter-divine love between the king Lugalbanda and the goddess Ninsun, Gilgamesh was self-described as 2/3rds divine and 1/3rd human. Gilgamesh abused his power once he assumed the throne of Uruk, either enacting slavery or sexually assaulting residents. Watching Gilgamesh’s horrible actions, the sky god Anu created a being called Enkidu who would stop the tyrant. Once Enkidu arrived in Uruk he immediately confronted Gilgamesh, starting an all out brawl across the kingdom. Throwing each other through buildings, their punches created great fissures in the earth. However Gilgamesh barely won out, beating Enkidu. But their fight connected their souls together, the two coming to an ultimate form of love for one another. The two befriended each other, becoming inseparable, and with Enkidu’s influence, Gilgamesh saw the err in his actions, remodeling himself and becoming a valiant ruler. Eventually the pair learn about the monstrous Humbaba, with Gilgamesh proposing that they slay him to both save those he terrorized and to immortalize their actions. The two embark on their journey, receiving a blessing from the sun god Shamash who also wanted to rid Humbaba. The two walked all the way to the cedar forest of the gods, and after finding Humbaba engaged in combat. Their fight shook the earth, but ultimately the two have Humbaba backed into a corner. Gilgamesh attempts to spare the monster’s life, but using underhanded tactics Humbaba tries to backstab Gilgamesh. But with Enkidu alerting him to Humbaba, Gilgamesh is able to defeat Humbaba in one on one combat. The two then gather the great wood from the forest and bring it back to Uruk, where they are celebrated for defeating Humbaba. Seeing his grand feats, the goddess Ishtar appears to Gilgamesh, demanding him to submit himself to her and become one of her lovers. Gilgamesh declines, enraging the goddess who then sends the Bull of heaven to gore Gilgamesh. But the duo of Gilgamesh and Enkidu are able to defeat and kill the grand bull, with Enkidu tearing off a leg and throwing it at Ishtar. The death of the bull stirred among the gods, leading them to conclude that one of the two had to be punished. Enkidu takes on this punishment, his health quickly deteriorating, and ultimately dying. Gilgamesh gathered all of Uruk to mourn Enkidu, though even when they left he still continued. He held Enkidu for so long that he only stopped once maggots began to rise up from Enkidu. Enkidu’s death made Gilgamesh panic over his own mortality, resolving to become immortal like the ferryman of the gods Utnapishtim. Though Gilgamesh was able to best the journey to Utnapishtim, each and every trial and challenge given to him resulted in his failure. Finally after his thorough defeat Gilgamesh realized the limits mortals held, death was inescapable, and hoping to eventually reunite with Enkidu Gilgamesh found solace and accepted death.
The myths of Gilgamesh are the oldest recorded stories found to date, with them originating in Sumerian poetry around 2200BC. More well known ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ was the result of later Akkadian translations and retellings of the previous Sumerian poetry. The original texts differ from the later Babylonian renditions in many ways, for example Gilgamesh was called the brother of Inanna (the original Sumerian Ishtar) and held a friendly relationship with her. Within this story Gilgamesh and Enkidu help Inanna by driving out the monstrous Anzu and Lilitu from Inanna’s personal garden, even carving a bed and throne for her from the wood of her trees. Inanna rewards Gilgamesh with lavish treasures that he then proceeds to drop into the underworld. Enkidu journeys to the underworld to return the treasure, but ends up being forced to stay in the underworld as his mortal body was rendered dead from the journey. The relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu holds clear homosexual connotations, the two often preforming traditional romantic gestures during their journeys as well as describing their relationship as ‘like a man and wife’. Several ancient poems have also recorded certain potential euphemisms used in stories about Enkidu and Gilgamesh’s exploits. Some have refuted this however, stating that it’s purely metaphorical. Gilgamesh was worshiped as a deity in Sumer, especially among Sumerian kings. These kings would call Gilgamesh their friend and brother, even declaring themselves the children of Lugalbanda and Ninsun. According to Ancient Greek writings, Gilgamesh’s mother was locked away and kept under guard by his grandfather, this was because the grandfather had received a prophecy that his grandson would depose him. When his mother ended up pregnant they threw the baby Gilgamesh out of the building, but he was saved by an eagle who delivered him to a gardener. It’s sufficed to say that this origin was never believed by the ancient Mesopotamians and was likely a Greek invention.