Gilgamesh's Defeating Humbaba In The Cedar Forest

During the second half of the tale, the goddess of love, Ishtar, makes advances toward Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh berates the goddess for her capricious emotions instead of giving into the goddess

After Enkidu and Gilgamesh defeat the divine beast Humbaba, another pivotal sexual interaction tests Gilgamesh’s character and reveals his changed nature. As Gilgamesh and Enkidu travel back from the sacred forest, Ishtar (Babylonian goddess of love and

After passing through the twin mountains of Mashu, Gilgamesh encounters Shiduri, the tavern keeper. Lost in his wanderings, he is forced to seek advice from her on how to reach Utanapishti. It is ironic because after his blatant abuse of power and mistreatment of women, as mentioned above, it is a woman that he seeks advice from in one of his weakest moments. She tells him how to reach Utanapishti and the dangers that lay in between and tells him to find Ur-shanabi so that he may continue his journey. In addition to providing guidance, women also play powerful roles. Shamhat, for example, uses the power of sex and curiosity to lure Enkidu away from his wild environment. After having sex for seven days and seven nights, Enkidu was no longer able to return to live amongst the animals and was forced to learn the ways of civilized life, which Shamhat taught him. It is easy to see that at this point in the epic, Shamhat clearly possessed the upper hand over Enkidu. He succumbed to her every word, learned the ways of morality and man, and was even convinced to go stand up to the mighty king of Uruk, which ultimately led to the friendship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh.Ishtar also takes on the role of a powerful woman. The goddess of love used her sexual power over men. Not only did she use it to get the man she wanted, but she used this power to dominate and hurt the men that loved her. Knowing that her love would eventually lead to his loss of independence and

     Gilgamesh uses his strength to get anything he wants. He especially uses his power to get women. He “demands to be first with the bride, the

Gilgamesh was a very intelligent leader. He shows throughout the entire epic a sense of foresight that keeps him safe and his city powerful. It is known, that a good leader must prove that he is powerful, and that he can defend his people in the best way possible. Gilgamesh knew that by fighting the terrible beast Humbaba he would prove to his people that he was strong and powerful and could out wit even the strongest beast. He tells Enkidu that, “All glory will be ours if now we conquer this unprecedented foe and risk the woe that frightens others.” He also shows foresight by respecting his mother’s wisdom when she told him that Enkidu was his true friend. Additionally, throughout the entire epic Gilgamesh looks to his mother, “who is wise and worries not,” for advice and counseling on things to do and the right paths to take in his life. Looking to those who are wise and more intelligent, is

     Gilgamesh sets out on his journey for immortality, leaving his kingdom and people behind to fend for themselves. He starts to become self-seeking just as he had before. He spends every waking moment searching for immortality only to benefit himself. The whole purpose of the journey itself is so that Gilgamesh can gain immortality for himself and be remembered forever. He doesn’t realize that his people are off on there own with no king to control the empire. Even when

At first, Gilgamesh was seen as an oppressor to his people. He was known to be among the best of creation; as stated in the prolouge "When the gods created Gilgamesh they gave him a perfect body...". This emphasizes his signification of his situation and makes him feel better

In "The Epic of Gilgamesh" it seem like the women have all the power. The women have great influences on the men. In "Gilgamesh" sex plays an important role, and it also seems that sex has a hold on Gilgamesh and also Enkidu - not just a hold on them, but more of an addiction throughout the story of Gilgamesh. In the beginning of the story, Gilgamesh has a great lust that leaves "no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior's daughter nor the wife of noble men. To me, the lust in Gilgamesh's heart makes him a very selfish person. I think what makes Gilgamesh a selfish person is because the gods made him perfect, he was beautiful and strong as a savage bull and everyone feared Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh knew he had power so he abused it, because

According to Gilgamesh, the world is not just because the innocent are killed. During the story, Ishtar, who is the goddess of love and sex, comes to Gilgamesh and asks him to be her lover. Gilgamesh refuses,

Gilgamesh declines Ishtar’s offer for marriage, inevitably resulting in Enkido’s death. He evaluates Ishtar’s offer and concludes that the

Another way that the hero’s journey can be modified to better match Gilgamesh’s journey is by deleting two ideas that are less relevant. First, the temptation should be removed from the journey. The temptation is less revalent because the previous idea mentioned in the journey, meeting with the goddess, includes a temptation. “‘Come, Gilgamesh, be you my bridegroom!’” (Tablet VI, 7). Here we see Ishtar attempting to persuade Gilgamesh to make love with her. This event is put in the meeting with the goddess because Ishtar is a god, and she happens to be tempting Gilgamesh into something that could change the outcome of the story. Moreover, the meeting with the goddess make the temptation part of the hero’s journey useless; thus it should be removed. Not only should the temptation be removed, but the transcendence should

A little background history: in Sumerian civilization, there is no morality linked with sexuality; it is practically an honor to be a prostitute. This is because the literary works were pre-Biblically written. All in all, sexuality is just sexuality and everyone has the same amount of freedom, sexually. Greeks could be married and have relations with other women and men because there were no such things as heterosexuality or homosexuality. The literary work, “When Heroes Love: The Ambiguity of Eros in the Stories of Gilgamesh and David” by Susan Ackerman details all the possible erotic allusions to Enkidu and Gilgamesh’s relationship through the wordplays in the meteor and axe dream accounts; the frequent designation of Gilgamesh and Enkidu as “brothers”; the sexual nature of the wrestling account; Gilgamesh’s odd rejection of Ishtar’s advances; the deathbed scene in which Enkidu is compared to a bride; and, finally, Gilgamesh’s lament over his dead friend. For Ackerman, based on these events, “the presence of homoerotic overtones in some of the Epic’s descriptions ... seems indisputable” (Nissinen 307). In “The Epic of Gilgamesh”, what starts as a rivalry ends in friendship, companionship, and love. The reader remembers that Enkidu and Gilgamesh first meet as enemies and they “wrestle” with each other, sexually. It is during this battle that Gilgamesh encounters his first life changing events and comes to understand that his thoughts about women and life in general could be wrong. He learns from Enkidu and Enkidu learns from him and becomes more acclimated to being civilized through his relationship with Gilgamesh. With that sexual connection comes the unbreakable soul tie between Enkidu and Gilgamesh. They go through life and show loyalty through the ups and downs of their journey. When the gods decide to punish Enkidu with death because

Ishtar, the goddess, is a powerful woman as if to recognize the power of women as they give life to men through their love as well as their ability to destroy men. The name goddess normally would represent a majestic and noble woman of power. Ishtar however, is portrayed as the complete opposite in The Epic of Gilgamesh. She is portrayed as one who uses the characteristics of a prostitute to lure in the man that she wants, which at the time is Enkidu. Ishtar is told “make your breasts bare, have no shame. Let him see you naked, let him possess your body” (Sandars, 3), “she was not ashamed to take him, she made herself naked and welcomed his eagerness” (Sandars, 4). The story talked about how Ishtar would go for the men she wants and would throw them away after she gets what she wants. This is rather the opposite of how women during the times of this story were. Women were used by men and not the other way. The creators of this epic portrayed Ishtar this way to show the power of women being able to seduce men to have their way.

During my reading of tablets III-V, you learn that Gilgamesh has the power of wanting to eliminate the Humbaba. We learn that Gilgamesh wants to do eliminate the Humbaba to show off his strength, but later find that Gilgamesh grows weaker and weaker throughout his journey. Even with great warning from Ninsun and Enkidu does Gilgamesh leave to continue their journey. “Each day when you travel the circuit of the earth, may Aya the Bride unfearing remind you: “Entrust him to the care of the watches of the!”” (Tablet III, Verse 55). For Gilgamesh has been warned that his nights will remind and overcome him as he grows closer to Humbaba. Gilgamesh will fear death until he faces death himself. Until the adventure to the Cedar Forrest, does

Also, in Mesopotamian culture, no one god is all-powerful. After Ishtar is rejected by Gilgamesh, she seeks revenge. Ishtar is not strong enough to fulfill this task on her own, so she asks Anu, her father for permission to use the Bull of Heaven. She says, “Father, give me the Bull of Heaven, so he can kill Gilgamesh in his dwelling” (54). Anu replies, “If you demand the bull from me, there will be seven years of empty husks for the land of Uruk” (54). The conversation between Ishtar and Anu is not very god-like and holds a very human aspect of a conversation you would hear between a mortal father and daughter. The fact that Ishtar has to ask permission before acting, shows how much power she lacks.