Tablet 5
Gilgamesh and Enkidu enter thegloriously beautiful CedarForest and begin to cutdown the trees. Hearing the sound, Humbaba comes roaring up to them and warnsthem off. Enkidu shouts at Humbaba that the two of them are much stronger thanthe demon, but Humbaba, who knows Gilgamesh is a king, taunts the king fortaking orders from a nobody like Enkidu. Turning his face into a hideous mask,Humbaba begins to threaten the pair, and Gilgamesh runs and hides. Enkidushouts at Gilgamesh, inspiring him with courage, and Gilgamesh appears fromhiding and the two begin their epic battle with Humbaba. Shamash intrudes onthe battle, helping the pair, and Humbaba is defeated. On his knees, withGilgamesh's sword at his throat, Humbaba begs for his life and offers Gilgameshall the trees in the forest and his eternal servitude. While Gilgamesh isthinking this over, Enkidu intervenes, telling Gilgamesh to kill Humbaba beforeany of the gods arrive and stop him from doing so. Should he kill Humbaba, hewill achieve widespread fame for all the times to come. Gilgamesh, with a greatsweep of his sword, removes Humbaba's head. But before he dies, Humbaba screamsout a curse on Enkidu: "Of you two, may Enkidu not live the longer, mayEnkidu not find any peace in this world!" Gilgamesh and Enkidu cut downthe cedar forest and in particular the tallest of the cedar trees to make agreat cedar gate for the city of Uruk.They build a raft out of the cedar and float down the Euphratesriver to their city. ����
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Epic of Gilgamesh (summary)
Historical FictionGilgamesh was an historical king of Uruk in Babylonia, on the River Euphrates in modern Iraq; he lived about 2700 B.C. Although historians (and your textbook) tend to emphasize Hammurabi and his code of law, the civilizations of the Tigris-Euphrates...
