Epic of Gilgamesh (summary)

Tablet 1

    Tablet 1 

The one who saw all [Sha nagba imuru ]Iwill declare to the world, The one who knew all I will tell about [linemissing] He saw the great Mystery, he knew the Hidden: He recovered theknowledge of all the times before the Flood. He journeyed beyond the distant,he journeyed beyond exhaustion, And then carved his story on stone. [naru :stone tablets ] This great hero who had all knowledge [nemequ ], Gilgamesh,built the great city of Uruk; the tablet invites us to look around and view thegreatness of this city, its high walls, its masonwork, and here at the base ofits gates, as the foundation of the city walls, a stone of lapis lazuli onwhich is carved Gilgamesh's account of his exploits, the story you are about tohear. The account begins: Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and one-third human, is thegreatest king on earth and the strongest super-human that ever existed;however, he is young and oppresses his people harshly. The people call out tothe sky-god Anu, the chief god of the city, to help them. In response, Anucreates a wild man, Enkidu, out in the harsh and wild forests surroundingGilgamesh's lands. This brute, Enkidu, has the strength of dozens of wildanimals; he is to serve as the subhuman rival to the superhuman Gilgamesh. Atrapper's son, while checking on traps in the forest, discovers Enkidu runningnaked with the wild animals; he rushes to his father with the news. The fatheradvises him to go into the city and take one of the temple harlots, Shamhat,with him to the forest; 1 when she sees Enkidu, she is to offer herselfsexually to the wild man. If he submits to her, the trapper says, he will losehis strength and his wildness. Shamhat meets Enkidu at the watering-hole whereall the wild animals gather; she offers herself to him and he submits,instantly losing his strength and wildness, but he gains understanding andknowledge. He laments for his lost state, but the harlot offers to take himinto the city where all the joys of civilization shine in their resplendence;she offers to show him Gilgamesh, the only man worthy of Enkidu's friendship.Gilgamesh meanwhile has two dreams; in the first a meteorite falls to earthwhich is so great that Gilgamesh can neither lift it nor turn it. The peoplegather and celebrate around the meteorite, and Gilgamesh embraces it as hewould a wife, but his mother, the goddess Rimat-Ninsun, forces him to competewith the meteorite. In the second, Gilgamesh dreams that an axe appears at hisdoor, so great that he can neither lift it nor turn it. The people gather andcelebrate around the axe, and Gilgamesh embraces it as he would a wife, but hismother, again, forces him to compete with the axe. Gilgamesh asks his motherwhat these dreams might mean; she tells him a man of great force and strengthwill come into Uruk. Gilgamesh will embrace this man as he would a wife, andthis man will help Gilgamesh perform great deeds.