Gilgamesh Intro, I-III

Throughout the introduction to and the first three tablets of The Epic of Gilgamesh, there are already a number of parallels that arise in regards to another ancient text, the Bible. These similarities include the significance and prevalence of the number seven as well as the creation and subsequent defiling of Enkidu.

The number seven appears numerous times within the first three tablets. Whether it is Enkidu making love to Shamhat for six days and seven nights (I, I 193), Enkidu drinking seven goblets of ale (II, P 100), the seven gates of Uruk (II, Y 172), or Ninsun bathing seven times (III, III 37), the number seven appears often and in a variety of circumstances. The constant repetition of the number suggests a monumental significance and perhaps spiritual association with the value as all of the instances represent significant ideas or concepts. Enkidu’s drinking of the ale and making love to Shamhat shows his transformation from a god of the animals to a man. The seven gates of Uruk represent the bastion of the city and Gilgamesh’s accomplishments while Ninsun’s bathing seven times occurs just before she invokes a prayer to Shamash to protect Gilgamesh. The number seven also carries with it a point of significance in the Bible, one such example being in the myth of Creation as God was said to have created the world in a span of seven days. There are countless other instances of the number seven having Biblical significance, paralleling the prevalence of the number in Gilgamesh.

The creation and spurning of Enkidu from a pure being into imperfect man reflects the concept of Original Sin. While man was supposedly created from clay mixed with the flesh of a rebellious god, the source of man’s life and flaws (xl), Enkidu was created from only clay (I, I 101-104). As a result, Enkidu can be thought of as pure and uncorrupted unlike men, as perhaps Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden before they were tempted by the serpent. And like the figures in the Bible, it is not until Enkidu is tempted and corrupted by the sexual pleasures of Shamhat that he loses his original purity, reflected in his being spurned by the herd of gazelles by whom he was raised (I, I 195-202).