September 9, 2003
The Humanization of Gilgamesh
At the beginning of the epic, Gilgamesh is a tyrant and a poor king. He is two-thirds god, and that has become an issue for his people. In essence, he terrorizes them, like a malignant human might an ant hill or some puppies. Rather than, as the men complain at the beginning, being a “shepherd to his people,” he kills the men and rapes the women.[1] The text implies that he does this, not necessarily because he evil, but that he is singular—i.e., he has no one else to challenge him or to be his equal. Or, perhaps, no one to distract him from being a scumbag. Figuratively, Gilgamesh is only one-half of a person. Like a sociopath: he feels she is superior to everyone, so he is not bound by the moral codes of humanity. He is missing an integral quality that would make him a human being. This is why Enkidu is created.
Enkidu represents the human side of Gilgamesh—a part of him that’s closer to the earth. Created by Aruru, the great mother goddess of creation, literally “pinched off clay” to create Enkidu as a match for the tyrant: “let it be as like [Gilgamesh] as his own reflection, his second self, stormy heart for stormy heart.”[2] A mirror image to Gilgamesh, Enkidu is two-thirds animal, more child-like with a natural altruism that Gilgamesh does not share.[3]
At first, Enkidu must himself learn the ways of civilization, being “innocent of mankind” and “cultivated land.”[2] Both of these are significant, as the epic begins to define what it means to be human in the time of Gilgamesh. Here is the first clue: while some of the still hunt, agriculture is more important to civilization, and therefore being human. Therefore, before he can act as foil to Gilgamesh, he must learn the ways of humanity. A common theme in Mesopotamian literature is the conflict between the animal nature and human behavior, and Enkidu exemplifies this struggle as he is educated.[4] Indeed, it’s this emphasis on the acquisition of knowledge that’s important in the epic, rather than the heroic deeds the heroes will later perform, as education is what makes a civilized human being in the poem.[5]
The “harlot” Shamhat[6] is brought in for the job. She plays an important roll, but the choice of labeling her “harlot” in this translation is unfortunate, as it suggests she is a common prostitute rather than one of acolytes of Ishtar’s temple: one of the “priestesses who give their bodies / to any man in honor of the goddess.”[7] Mitchell explains that there is no convenient English word for what Shamhat is: like a “reverse nun,” she is an incarnation of the goddess and a servant of eros who “dedicated her life to what the Babylonians considered the sacred mystery of sexual union.”[8] She is not a prostitute for personal gain, but uses her gifts for all who need them in a selfless way. in this sense, Shamhat uses her “love-arts” to temper and educate the animal nature in Enkidu and prepares him to go to Uruk.
References
- ↑ Mack, Maynard, ed. (1999). "Gilgamesh". The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. 1. Translated by Sandars, N. K. (Seventh ed.). New York: W. W. Norton. p. 19.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mack 1999, p. 19.
- ↑ Mitchell, Stephen, ed. (2004). Gilgamesh: A New English Version. New York: Free Press. p. 11.
- ↑ Mack 1999, p. 17.
- ↑ Foster, Benjamin R., ed. (2019). The Epic of Gilgamesh. Norton Critical Edition (Second ed.). New York: W. W. Norton. pp. xx–xxi.
- ↑ Curiously, she is unnamed in Sandars’ translation.
- ↑ Mitchell 2004, p. 12.
- ↑ Mitchell 2004, p. 13.
