Gilgamesh and the Gods

The epic of Gilgamesh begins with the introduction of Gilgamesh, a tyrannical king whose oppressive rulership causes his subjects to turn to the gods for help. In response, the gods create a man named Enkidu as Gilgamesh’s equal. Interestingly enough, the poet, instead of having the gods create a more powerful being than Gilgamesh who would vanquish Gilgamesh, chose to have the gods create a figure equal to Gilgamesh and involve them into a cooperative relationship instead of an antagonistic relationship. By doing this, the unknown poet, instead of suggesting that humans must follow the gods’ every word or be punished severely, implies that humans can fairly govern themselves, but at the same time, gods reserve the right to discipline kings if they govern tyrannically.

When the gods create Enkidu, they intend for him to be the “equal to Gilgamesh” (George, 4). Enkidu is described as almost being the “image of Gilgamesh” (George, 15). When Enkidu and Gilgamesh first encounter each other, they fight, though no one emerges as the victor. Instead of becoming mortal enemies, however, they become close-knit friends, with Enkidu becoming a sort of mentor to the young and reckless Gilgamesh, trying to get him to change his tyrannical ways. One of the first instances of the mentor-student relationship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh is shown by how Enkidu advises Gilgamesh not to embark on a dangerous quest to slay Humbaba in the Forest of Cedar.

The epic of Gilgamesh, with its numerous references to various deities, shows that religion did play a significant role in ancient Near Eastern society. Nevertheless, it seems that the poet did not intend to portray religion as having as large of a role in the ancient Near East as modern scholars tend to give it credit for, for example, in the temple-city of Uruk. It appears that the poet was trying to convey the idea that even though ideology was quite important during that time period, humans were not necessarily at the whim of the gods. In the vein of ‘fictional royal autobiography’ mentioned in the introduction, perhaps the unknown author of the epic of Gilgamesh was trying to suggest that rulers should listen to the gods, but should not act as their puppets.