K. Dickson
Comparative
Mythology: Near Eastern
Sumerian Gilgamesh
Narratives
Five Sumerian
narratives of Gilgamesh
date from ca. 2500-2200 BCE.
Gilgamesh
and Agga
Gilgamesh of Uruk is besieged by Agga
of Kish. He sends an attendant to
distract Agga while Gilgamesh collects his army and routs the enemy.
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Gilgamesh
and the Land of the Living (OR Gilgamesh
and Huwawa OR Gilgamesh and
the Cedar Forest)
Alarmed by the sight of death and
eager for everlasting fame, Gilgamesh
and Enkidu are guided by Utu to the Cedar Forest sacred to Enlil. There
they together defeat the monster Huwawa, guardian of the forest. The
cut down trees from the forest. Both Gilgamesh and Enkidu are cursed by
Enlil.
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Gilgamesh
and the Bull of Heaven
Gilgamesh rejects the advances of
Inanna. She sends the Bull of Heaven
to avenge this insult. Together Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the bull.
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Gilgamesh,
Enkidu, and the Netherworld (OR
Gilgamesh
and the Huluppu Tree)
Inanna plants a huluppu tree in her
temple in Uruk, intending to make
furniture from it when it is fully grown. The inhabitants of the tree —
an anzu bird, the female demon Lilit,
and
a serpent — refuse to be dislodged. Gilgamesh
successfully kills the serpent, scares the other demons away, and cuts
the tree down. Inanna uses some of the wood to make the pukku and the mukku, which subsequently fall into
the netherworld. Enkidu descends to retrieve them, and becomes trapped
there. The god Enki instructs Utu to burn a hole into the netherworld,
through which Enkidu's ghost emerges and tells Gilgamesh about
existence after death.
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The
Death of Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh expresses resentment about
his (or Enkidu's) death.
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