adapted from a piece written by Bill Weintraub

Gilgamesh is one of the great epics and one of the greatest and most psychologically acute myths of all mankind.

In its brilliance, economy, and honesty, Gilgamesh is one of the great treasures of the human race.

Gilgamesh, is an ancient epic, dating at least to 2700 BCE, which has survived into our era on some bits of cuneiform that were found in the shattered library of King Ashurbanipal of Assyria. When he first read it, it was already 2000 years old, and the Sumerians ---- the world's first great civilization, who created it, themselves had long been dust.

It had such a formidable shelf life because it addresses a number of psychological truths, and presents models for some of life's great challenges for men --- among them sex, love, and death. It also sheds a light on the original male nature that men have long lost.

Part I: Warriors meet

Gilgamesh is the story of two warriors, who meet, fight, and then become inseparable lovers. Both of them came from very different backgrounds.

Gilgamesh, considered two-thirds a god by his subjects, is a mighty warrior who rules a great city. But he's also promiscuous sexually, with both youths and maidens, and since no one can refuse him, the people of his city appeal to the gods to do something to curb his appetites.

The gods respond by creating a male companion for him, another warrior named Enkidu.
It's not surprising that the gods would decide to fashion a man out of their own spit and the rich earth of the fertile crescent in order to bring into being someone who will have the force to capture Gilgamesh' heart and turn him from promiscuity. The ancients knew that men make the best companions and lovers for other men as this story clearly reflects. This had to do with the basic nature of men.

It's clear from this Sumerian epic that by now the institution of marriage was already there, and so was the pressure on men to 'reproduce'. However, sexual love between men had not yet become a victim of the politics of fake social masculinity. And love between men ruled.

So it's natural for the gods to decide that the best way to curb Gilgamesh' promiscuity is to arrange for him to have a male lover. But, they don't simply give Enkidu to Gilgamesh. Instead, they set Enkidu down deep in the forest, where he lives like an animal and becomes the protector of the animals - something like Tarzan, a completely natural being who sees no difference between himself and the rest of creation.

That too becomes a problem for the local people, since he won't them let hunt or trap, and they in turn send a temple prostitute to Enkidu to civilize him.

She does, somewhat, by sleeping with him and so making the animals afraid of him, but she also tells him about Gilgamesh, a mighty warrior, the mightiest in the land. Her words anger Enkidu, who has always believed that he is the mightiest creature in existence.

As he thinks about Gilgamesh, Enkidu's anger grows, but he doesn't act upon it till he learns that his rival is about to marry. That news truly enrages Enkidu, and he leaves the forest and goes to Uruk, Gilgamesh' city, and forces his way into the palace, bars the door to the bridal chamber, and there challenges the mighty warrior-king.

Of course Gilgamesh is himself infuriated by Enkidu's intrusion, and so these two enraged heroes, mighty, god-like warriors, have a titanic wrestling bout all through the city, in which they knock down walls and destroy buildings and in general wreak the sort of havoc that superheroes do when they're battling.
But what happens at the end of the bout is not what we would expect. For Gilgamesh defeats Enkidu, pins him, but instead of humiliating him or imprisoning him or killing him, Gilgamesh, in an act of true nobility, allows Enkidu to rise, and they embrace, and kiss, and go off together hand in hand.

And they become constant companions and lovers, recognized as such by Gilgamesh' family, his subjects, and the gods.

So that's the first great lesson of the story: that sex is always available, but that love must be fought for and won.

And that sometimes contained in a great anger is a great love.

Their wrestling match, then, is a metaphor for the struggle entailed in finding that love.

Part II: Powers of an intimate male bond

Having found each in the other his ideal, Gilgamesh and Enkidu embark on a series of heroic adventures, challenging monsters like Wawa, lord of a great cedar forest, and the Bull of the Sun.

Together, Gilgamesh and Enkidu constitute a smooth, unstoppable team, two men who understand each other intimately and whose rallying cry in battle is "Two people, companions, they can prevail!"

And that's the second great lesson of the myth: that an intimate male-bond can surmount almost any obstacle.

Part III: The Challenges of Loss

But, eventually the gods, and especially Ishtar, whom Gilgamesh has rejected sexually, begin to fear that Gilgamesh and Enkidu are becoming too powerful, and decide they must be reigned in. The question for Ishtar is what will most hurt Gilgamesh, and the answer is simple: killing Enkidu.

And so the gods send a wasting illness to Enkidu, and Gilgamesh becomes his caregiver, striving vainly to save the life of the man he loves. Sometimes it's hard for Gilgamesh to accept what's happening to Enkidu, and he tries to deny the ugly reality of the disease that's consuming his lover, seeking to comfort him and himself with false hope and empty cheer.

But it's of no use.

Ultimately, Enkidu, created by the gods to be Gilgamesh' companion, is destroyed by them, and Gilgamesh is left alone.

Gilgamesh is wrecked by grief and pain, and though he erects a monument to his dead lover (the ancient warriors erected monuments for their male lovers long before Shahjahan in the medieval world built Taj Mahal for a woman), he finds that his old life is meaningless. He gives up the rulership of his city, and embarks on a fruitless quest for immortality.

And that's the third great lesson of the legend. That sometimes terrible things happen to those we love, and that in the aftermath we cannot go on with our lives as usual, but must undertake heroic tasks to try to again find ourselves.
Also see translation of Gilgamesh by David Ferry.

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