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Enkidu

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Enkidu (𒂗𒆠𒆕 EN.KI.DU3 "Enki's creation") appears in Sumerian mythology as a mythical wild-man raised by animals. His beast-like ways are finally tamed by a courtesan named Shamhat. HIs archetype is the faithful sidekick. Later he adventures with Gilgamesh until his death in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Older sources sometimes transliterate his name as Enkimdu, Eabani, or Enkita. Enkiddu is a modern variant.

First Tablet

Enkidu is the quintessential savage person in the beginning of the epic:

"The whole of his body was hairy and his (uncut) locks were like a woman's or the hair of the goddess of grain. Moreover, he knew nothing of settled fields or human beings and was clothed (in skins) like a deity of flocks."

Enkidu roamed with the beasts of the wilderness. He protected the animals, destroying the hunters' traps, and lurked around the watering holes to protect the game. These actions were much to the chagrin of a local trapper. The trapper went to King Gilgamesh to ask for help. Gilgamesh offered the advice "Trapper, go back, take with you a harlot, a child of pleasure ... he will embrace her and the game of the wilderness will surely reject him." The trapper did what he was told, and hired the harlot Shamhat to corrupt the wild man. Enkidu was immediately taken with the harlot and bedded her. Over six days of lust, Enkidu is tainted by the harlot. The animals begin to avoid him, the bond he once shared with them having been broken. Now "he scattered the wolves, he chased away the lions" and the herders could lie down in peace, for Enkidu was now their watchperson.

After the abandonment of his animal brethren, Enkidu is introduced to a pastoralist way of life. He works for the trapper and shepherds, hunting and killing the animals he once served. Soon he grows restless, looking for a greater challenge.

Shamhat tells of a great king in the city Uruk (Gilgamesh) and says, too, that he would be a worthy challenge for Enkidu. Gilgamesh is surprised by Enkidu. The two wrestle fiercely for sometime, until suddenly Gilgamesh gains the upper hand and throws Enkidu to the ground. Knowing his defeat, Enkidu praises Gilgamesh and both swear an oath of friendship, and thereafter cohabit.

Enkidu later in the Epic of Gilgamesh

Enkidu assists Gilgamesh in his fight against Humbaba, the guardian monster of the Cedar Forest. Contrary to Enkidu's conscience, he cooperates in killing the defeated Humbaba. Afterwards, he again assists his companion Gilgamesh in slaying the Bull of Heaven, which the gods have sent to kill Gilgamesh as a reprisal to spurning the goddess Ishtar's affections. Upon its destruction, Ishtar demands that the pair should pay for its destruction. Shamash argues to the other gods to spare both of them, but could only save Gilgamesh. The gods pass judgment that Enkidu had no justification for fighting the Bull of Heaven and was interfering with the will of the gods. Enkidu then is overcome by a severe illness. Near death, he has visions of a gloomy afterlife, and curses the trapper and Shamhat for civilizing him. He retracts his curse on Shamhat, however, after Shamash scolds him, reminding him that it was Shamhat who taught him about civilization, and ultimately, brought him to Gilgamesh.

Gilgamesh mourns over the body of Enkidu for several desperate days. In a vivid line repeated in the epic, Gilgamesh only allows his friend to be buried after a maggot falls out of the corpse's nose. Gilgamesh's close observation of rigor mortis and the slow decomposition of Enkidu's body provides the hero with the impetus for his quest for eternal life, and his visit to Utnapishtim.

There is another non-canonical tablet in which Enkidu journeys into the underworld, but many scholars consider the tablet to be a sequel or add-on to the original epic.

Enkidu and the Gilgamesh Epic have had considerable influence on western, world and popular culture -- being the model of the heroic adventure story.

  • In the anime TV series Gilgamesh, "Enkidu" is the alias of Terumichi Madoka (円 輝道, Madoka Terumichi), a young researcher who, years later, becomes the leader of the Gilgamesh, a group of "god-beasts" formed from antimatter. The pseudonym is a play on the on'yomi (Chinese-derived) readings of the kanji characters which form his name.
  • The song "Defiling the Gates of Ishtar" by death metal band Nile (band) (from their album Black Seeds of Vengeance) is based on an obscure variation of the Enkidu myth. In this more extreme version, a blasphemous Enkidu commits acts of sacrilege in the temple of the goddess Ishtar. The episode comes to a climax with Enkidu attempting to summon an army of the dead from the underworld.
  • In the novel Magic Street by Orson Scott Card, the character Puck is addressed by Titania as Enkidu. The reference also suggests that Titania is Shamhat. In the novel, Puck and Titania are connected to many mystical characters throughout literary history.
  • The video game Final Fantasy V contains the characters Gilgamesh and Enkidu based on the myth. They also appear in Final Fantasy XII as an optional boss battle, and again in Final Fantasy VIII as an assistant in battle, randomly appearing once a certain other assistant falls. They are also mentioned in Final Fantasy IX in Memoria on the pillar to the left after battling Lich, the same location where as the Excalibur 2 sword.
  • In the 1989 PC/Apple video game Dragon Wars, Enkidu is a beastman demigod worshiped by druids in the realm of the Mystic Woods. He can be summoned with a beast horn, and if defeated in a wrestle match, grants earth based spells to the player.
  • In the anime TV series, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Viral's remodeled mecha is named Enkidu. There are also several other parallels between Viral and the Sumerian Enkidu.

Bibliography

The Epic of Gilgamesh, Foster, Benjamin R. trans. & edit. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. ISBN 0-393-97516-9

See also

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