{"id":10193,"date":"2011-12-05T15:43:34","date_gmt":"2011-12-05T14:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eden-saga.com\/en\/sumer-mythology-enki-innana-enkiddu-atrahasis-eternity-king-gilgamesh.html"},"modified":"2025-06-29T18:57:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T17:57:26","slug":"sumer-mythology-enki-innana-enkiddu-atrahasis-eternity-king-gilgamesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eden-saga.com\/en\/sumer-mythology-enki-innana-enkiddu-atrahasis-eternity-king-gilgamesh.html","title":{"rendered":"Gilgamesh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“In the beginning<\/em> was Uruk, the first city of men. Black as night, more ruffled than bird nests, its huge walls inspired respect or fear.<\/em><\/p>\n

At the heart of the city was the House of Sky. The founder of this city, in very ancient times, had built with his hands the walls of colossal stones.<\/em><\/p>\n

On the House of Heaven, he drew the golden lightning rod<\/a> that attracts the fire of Ishtar<\/a>.”<\/em><\/p>\n

This\u00a0<\/em>is the prologue of the first novel ever written. Jewel of Sumerian mythology, it was found on the Assyrian tablets<\/a>.\u00a0This is the Epic of the first king of the men, in the time when they were living with gods. Here is his story as it was engraved with his hand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“I am the one you name Gilgamesh<\/a>, a pilgrim of all roads in the country and elsewhere. I am the one who has known the hidden truths and the mysteries of life and death, and of death especially. I knew Inanna in the sacred marriage bed; I killed demons and spoke to the gods; I am myself two thirds god, one third man only.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

From a very early age I had the stature and strength <\/a> of a giant<\/a>. I could provoke anyone to fight, I always won. <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"gilgamesh-resto-200po\"So I became the king of the first city of men. My pride was boundless, my strength superhuman, and my will irrevocable. Tired of my tyranny, the men went to the gods to complain. <\/em>Enki <\/a>said:<\/em> “When I created Gilgamesh, I created a perfect man, accomplished, to whom all the gods wanted to make a gift. Shamash, the god of sun, gave him beauty, and Adad, the god of storm<\/a>, gave him courage. Nammu, my mother, gave him victory: Gilgamesh can not be defeated.”\u00a0The men were in despair when Enki added this:<\/em>\u00a0“I can see only one way to avert his violence. I will make a second Gilgamesh to challenge him to a duel.”\u00a0What he did.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He\u00a0mixed the genes<\/a>, taking off here, adding there, to get a superb DNA. And he made Enkidu, the wild giant, living naked in the woods, covered with hair from head to foot, stronger than a hundred buffaloes, more ferocious than ten lions, more brutal than the storm.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

And the men, trembling with fear, cursed their doom. They came to complain to me. I was the invincible Gilgamesh, I would make short work of him, even if he was bigger than the mountains. I burst on him, we fought <\/em>“never running away, never tired, crossing sword to sword and leaping ditches.” (Source)<\/a>Victor Hugo, Legend of the Centuries<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"gilgamesh-lion-688po\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After days and nights of fighting, even if I was born winner, I could not overcome him. I told him: “As long as it remains something in our hands, we will fight as lions and panthers. Wouldn’t it be better if we become brothers?” (Source)<\/a>Victor Hugo, Legend of the Centuries<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"gilgamesh-statue-sydney-university-200po\"And we did. Together, we have accomplished countless works, limitless feats. But it was never enough for my taste. <\/em>One day, I said to him: “Let us get rid the Earth of the giant Humbaba. He is fierce and evil, gods and men shall bless us.” <\/em>Enkidu sighed. He knew how stubborn I was. “Humbaba guards the sacred cedar<\/a> forest.\u00a0<\/em>Enki, his master, created him flawless, armed with the Seven Terrors<\/a> the rays that burn the flesh and twist the bones. <\/em>When he roars, it is like a torrent in the middle of the storm. His breath is fiery, his teeth are death itself. <\/em>If a deer is moving in the distance, Humbaba hears it.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

He will kill us when we land the foot in the forest.”<\/em><\/p>\n

But I did not want to listen. The battle was terrible, yet the two of us, we overcame him, the fierce Humbaba bit the dust. I felled the cedars of Enki, and I made for Uruk the most beautiful gate a city could dream of, with a width and a height never seen before.”\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gilgamesh felt invincible, right in the <\/span>arcanum XI the Strength<\/a>. <\/span>But soon Gilgamesh switched to <\/span>arcanum XII The Hanged Man<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"gilgamesh-antique-statue-200po\"“Enkidu was watching over me like a brother. When I took a wife, he was afraid that I suffer, and he was right. On a sad day he fell ill, and despite all the care of sorcerers, my only friend died. I could not bring myself to his absence, and I began to think about death, so much that this awful image never left me. I decided to go in search of immortality of the gods, because death terrified me. <\/em>I did not care of all the trials that awaited me on my way.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The victory was my fate, but death would be too. The invincible Gilgamesh, sooner or later, would have to bow before it; this thought made me force the pace.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A man gets tied up to the ground \/ Gives the world its saddest sound.<\/p>