Mark’s Reviews > The Epic of Gilgamesh > Status Update

Tablet XI: Uta-napishtim tells Gilgamesh the story of the flood. Uta-napishtim, with the help of his village, crafted an ark and in doing so saved them from the flood and granted him immortality. He tells Gilgamesh that he should try to go a week without sleep. Gilgamesh falls asleep right away, proving that he can’t beat sleep or death. He travels back to Uruk with Ur-shanabi

Tablet X: Gilgamesh asks the goddess tavern keeper Shiduri how to get to Uta-napishti. She tells him to find Ur-shanabi, the ferryman of Uta-napisti. Gilgamesh sneaks up on Ur-shanabi and the Stone Ones, who man the boat, killing the Stone Ones. He crosses the ocean and the waters of death. Uta-napishti tells Gilgamesh that he lives a lavish life and that by struggling to seek immortality, he is killing himself

Tablet IX: Gilgamesh travels to the Mashu mountains. Two scorpion men guard the gate to the path under the mountain. Gilgamesh tells them of his journey and they allow him passage under the mountains. He travels for 12 double-hours in complete darkness. When he emerges, he is in a forest of trees made from gems

Tablet VII: Enkidu dreams that the gods Anu, Enlil, Ea, and Shamash assemble. Anu is angered by Gilgamesh’s and Enkidu’s actions and demands that one of them die. Enkidu weeps and curses the hunter and Shamhat. Shamash points out that Shamhat was good to him, so Enkidu blesses her. Enkidu then falls ill and dies

Tablet VI: Ishtar asks Gilgamesh to marry her. Gilgamesh tells the myths of what befell her last lovers. Ishtar goes to Anu, insulted, and asks for the bull of heaven lest she open up the gates to the netherworld and release the dead. She unleashes the bull on Uruk. It drinks its water and kills its people. Enkidu holds the bull while Gilgamesh kills it. They offer it to Shamash and celebrate

Tablet V: Gilgamesh and Enkidu arrive at the forest of cedar. Shamash unleashes 13 storms and Gilgamesh attacks Humbaba. Humbaba insults them both and pleads for his life. Enkidu urges Gilgamesh to kill him and he does so. He takes war trophies. Then Gilgamesh fells the cedars and Enkidu fashions a large door out of one. They sail on a raft with it back down the Euphrates

Tablet IV: The two travel to the forest of cedar. Gilgamesh has 5 dreams. The first is almost entirely lost but mentions a mountain. In the 2nd, a mountain falls on Gilgamesh and he is saved by a man who offers him water. In the 3rd, lightning strikes and causes fires, then “death rains down” and they are extinguished. In the 4th, a Thunderbird is bound by a man. In the last, he takes a bull by the horns

Tablet III: this tablet begins more intact than the preceding ones but progressively becomes more fragmented. For this reason, or perhaps the tablet is inherently this way, this tablet narrates fewer events than in previous ones. The main event is Gilgamesh and Enkidu visiting the temple of Ninsun. Ninsun prays to Shamash that the two may have a safe journey. Then she adopts Enkidu