Gilgamesh: The Tragic Hero Who Fell to the Gods

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient Mesopotamian odyssey that tells the adventures of Gilgamesh, an incredibly powerful demigod with superhuman strength, and the ruler of Uruk. However, in the world that this story is in, there is a group of much stronger beings known as “gods”. Even though Gilgamesh is the almighty hero of the epic, and the king of Uruk, the gods are actually the ones in the role of the ruler of the world, and wield absolute power and control over the mortals, especially Gilgamesh himself.

In the beginning of the story, we are immediately introduced to how powerful and mighty Gilgamesh is:

[T]he gods of heaven cried to the Lord Uruk, to Anu the god of Uruk: ‘A goddess made him, strong as a savage bull, none can withstand his arms. No son is left with his father, for Gilgamesh takes them all; and is this the king, the shepherd of his people? His lust leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior’s daughter nor the wife of the noble.” (Sandars, 62).

As you can see, the author has given us a first impression of Gilgamesh as this strong, undefeatable being whom no one could stand up against, and that he was a ruthless tyrant who could do whatever he pleased. He kidnapped children from families, and raped women with no inhibition. The people of Uruk were completely powerless against him and could do nothing but cry to the gods. However, that first impression is instantly shattered when the gods created Enkidu, Gilgamesh’s equal:

“When Anu had heard their lamentation the gods creid to Aruru, the goddess of cretion, ‘You made him, O Aruru, the goddess of creation, ‘You made him, O Aruru, now create his equal; let it be as like him as his own reflection, his second self, stormy heart for stormy heart. Let them contend together and leave Uruk in quiet.’ (Sandars, 62)

The process of creating Enkidu is surprisingly simple: “She dipped her hands in water and pinched off clay, she let it fall in the wilderness, and noble Enkidu was created. (Sandars, 62)” In the start, Gilgamesh was introduced as the mightiest being alive, yet immediately afterwards, the gods demonstrate that keeping Gilgamesh under control was something that requires very little effort, if any. This immediately establishes a sense of superiority of the gods over Gilgamesh.

In chapter 3, Enkidu had a dream that the gods has sentenced Enkidu to death for killing the bull of heaven and Humbaba: “Anu said to Enlil, “Because they have killed the Bull of Heaven, and because they have killed Humbaba who guarded the Cedar Mountain one of the two must die”.” (Sandars, 89) Shamash refuted this sentence by saying “It was by your command they killed the Bull of Heaven, and killed Humbaba, and must Enkidu die although innocent?”(Sandars, 89) This made Enlil “flung round in rage at glorious Shamash, “You dare to say this, you went about them every day like one of themselves!”(Sandars, 89) Despite this was a dream, Enkidu’s horrified reaction suggests it will most certainly become true: “Enkidu lay stretched out before Gilgamesh; his tears ran down in streams and he said to Gilgamesh, ‘O my brother, so dear as you are to me, brother, yet they will take me from you.’. ” (Sandars, 89) Notice how Enkidu said “will” instead of something like “might”, suggesting that Enkidu knew that the gods will definitely kill him. Shortly afterwards, Enkidu fell ill and died, which suggests that the gods have indeed killed Enkidu, who was Gilgamesh’s equal, which means that the gods certainly could kill Gilgamesh if they desired so.

But even if Gilgamesh was not the one who died, we still get a feeling of how weak and powerless Gilgamesh was in the face of the gods. Whilst Enkidu was dying due to his sickness, Gilgamesh could not do anything to save Enkidu, and he was absolutely devastated by his death.

“When Gilgamesh touched his heart it id not beat. so Gilgamesh laid a veil, as one veils the bride, over his friend. He began to rate like a lion, like a lioness robbed of her whelps.” (Sandars, 96)

Here, we have a strong juxtaposition towards the beginning of the story: Gilgamesh was a reckless tyrant who was strong as a bull and no one in Uruk, except for Enkidu, could defeat him, yet at this point, he was completely miserable and powerless to change his dreadful circumstances. On the other hand, the gods have all the authority and power in determining the fate of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, and by extension, other mortals of the land. The gods in Uruk are like the government in a society. Their words are absolute and no mortal being could oppose anything they say or do.

Gilgamesh’s powerlessness was only further reinforced by what happened afterwards. Enkidu’s death had devastated Gilgamesh so much that he began to fear his own death in the future:

Bitterly gilgamesh wept for his friend Enkidu; he wandered over the wilderness as a hunter, he roamed over the plains; in his bitterness he cried, ‘How can I rest, how can I be at peace? despair is in my heart. What my brother is now, that shall i be when i am dead. Because I am afraid of death I will go as best I can to find Utnapishtim who they called the faraway, for he has entered the assembly of the gods. (Sanders, 97)

This lead him to a quest to find Utnapishtim in order to be immortal, but despite all the hardships he went through, his journey concluded with Utnapishtim’s dejecting statement: “There is no permanence”(Sanders, 106), with permanence meaning immortality, and that “When Anunnaki, the judges come together, and Mammetun the mother of destinies, together they decree the fates of men” (Sandars, 107), further reinforcing that the life and death of mortals is up to the gods to decide, and mortals can do nothing about the matter. Not willing to give up, Gilgamesh noted that Utnapishtim looked exactly like him and asked how he became immortal. Utnapishtim answered that he used his wisdom to survive a massive flood that destroyed almost all of humanity, caused by no one other than the gods, and Utnapishtim became the sole survivor of that disaster. Ea then rewarded him eternal life. This means that if a mortal has gained immortality, not only does he/she gain the ability to live forever, but he/she is also capable of doing something that is worthy of such a hefty reward. Hence, Utnapishtim challenged Gilgamesh to “prevail against sleep for six days and seven nights”(Sanders, 114). Gilgamesh, gaining a sliver of hope, instantly accepted the challenge. Here is what happened:

But while Gilgamesh sat there resting on his haunches, a mist of sleep like soft wool teased from the fleece drifted over him, and Utnapishtim said to his wife, ‘Look at him now, the strong man who would have everlasting life, even now the mists of sleep are drifting over him.’” (Sanders, 114)

Gilgamesh, the mighty ruler of Uruk, who was strong as a bull, was instantly lulled to sleep by a mist. And to ensure Gilgamesh actually was asleep, Utnapishtim put a loaf of bread next to him everyday, and there were seven loaves besides Gilgamesh by the time he was woken by Utnapishtim. This meant that Gilgamesh was asleep for 7 days, and he fell asleep on the 1st day. Gilgamesh was clearly very under-qualified for immortality and joining the gods, and he was doomed to remain a powerless, insignificant mortal until his inevitable death, which was entirely in the hands of the gods, now that he had lost his sole chance of gaining the power to stand up to them.

Looking at the Epic of Gilgamesh as a whole, godhood is clearly a major theme of the story. In the beginning, it was established that “men and gods each have their place in a clearly-defined hierarchy. To overstep the bounds of that position is to be proud, something the gods punish harshly, even among themselves (Litcharts)” Gilgamesh’s quest to kill Humbaba was fueled by his desire to become immortal in terms of fame, and immortality was something only gods or those deemed worthy of the gods could possess, and Enkidu’s death was the immense and irreversible price that Gilgamesh paid as a result. This lead to him to search for immortality the proper way, in the eyes of gods, to which ended in failure. Balance and order were also closely linked to the gods. The reason why Enkidu was even created was because Gilgamesh was being a tyrant, causing many complaints, and so Anu created Enkidu, someone who could stand up against Gilgamesh, in an attempt to control Gilgamesh, which worked out because Gilgamesh stopped kidnapping children and raping women, and instead developed a strong friendship with Enkidu, leading the two to go on the adventure of slaying Humbaba.

Overall, the gods are the true rulers of the world. They decide the life and death of mortals, do whatever they want with them, and when something is wrong or out of order, they can easily create solutions. No mortal is capable of opposing their actions. In fact, Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and supposedly the humans were all created by the gods, which adds a sense of ownership and sovereignty that the gods have over the mortals. Despite Gilgamesh being the hero of this odyssey, he was a completely helpless puppet, and under the total control of the gods, who were the true kings of the mortals.