An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic
overcame the "guardian," who dispatched Hu(m)baba in the cedar forest,
who killed lions and overthrew the bull, [99] we have the completion
of the process which transferred to Gilgamesh exploits and powers
which originally belonged to Enkidu, though ordinarily the process
stops short at making Gilgamesh a _sharer_ in the exploits; with the
natural tendency, to be sure, to enlarge the share of the favorite.
We can now understand why the two heroes are described in the
Pennsylvania tablet as alike, as born in the same place, aye, as
brothers. Gilgamesh in the Epic is merely a reflex of Enkidu. The
latter is the real hero and presumably, therefore, the older
figure. [100] Gilgamesh resembles Enkidu, because he _is_ originally
Enkidu. The "resemblance" _motif_ is merely the manner in which
in the course of the partly popular, partly literary transfer, the
recollection is preserved that Enkidu is the original, and Gilgamesh
the copy.
The artificiality of the process which brings the two heroes together
is apparent in the dreams of Gilgamesh which are interpreted by
his mother as portending the coming of Enkidu. Not the conflict is
foreseen, but the subsequent close association, naïvely described as
due to the personal charm which Enkidu exercises, which will lead
Gilgamesh to fall in love with the one whom he is to meet. The two
will become one, like man and wife.
On the basis of our investigations, we are now in a position to
reconstruct in part the cycle of episodes that once formed part of
an Enkidu Epic. The fight between Enkidu and Gilgamesh, in which
the former is the victor, is typical of the kind of tales told of
Enkidu. He is the real prototype of the Greek Hercules. He slays
lions, he overcomes a powerful opponent dwelling in the forests of
Lebanon, he kills the bull, and he finally succumbs to disease sent
as a punishment by an angry goddess. The death of Enkidu naturally
formed the close of the Enkidu Epic, which in its original form may,
of course, have included other exploits besides those taken over into
the Gilgamesh Epic.
VII.
There is another aspect of the figure of Enkidu which is brought
forward in the Pennsylvania tablet more clearly than had hitherto been
the case. Many years ago attention was called to certain striking
resemblances between Enkidu and the figure of the first man as
described in the early chapters of Genesis. [101] At that time we had
merely the Assyrian version of the Gilgamesh Epic at our disposal,
and the main point of contact was the description of Enkidu living
with the animals, drinking and feeding like an animal, until a woman
is brought to him with whom he engages in sexual intercourse. This
suggested that Enkidu was a picture of primeval man, while the
woman reminded one of Eve, who when she is brought to Adam becomes
his helpmate and inseparable companion. The Biblical tale stands,
of course, on a much higher level, and is introduced, as are other
traditions and tales of primitive times, in the style of a parable
to convey certain religious teachings. For all that, suggestions
of earlier conceptions crop out in the picture of Adam surrounded
by animals to which he assigns names. Such a phrase as "there was no
helpmate corresponding to him" becomes intelligible on the supposition
of an existing tradition or belief, that man once lived and, indeed,
cohabited with animals. The tales in the early chapters of Genesis
must rest on very early popular traditions, which have been cleared
of mythological and other objectionable features in order to adapt
them to the purpose of the Hebrew compilers, to serve as a medium for
illustrating certain religious teachings regarding man's place in
nature and his higher destiny. From the resemblance between Enkidu
and Adam it does not, of course, follow that the latter is modelled
upon the former, but only that both rest on similar traditions of
the condition under which men lived in primeval days prior to the
beginnings of human culture.
We may now pass beyond these general indications and recognize in the
story of Enkidu as revealed by the Pennsylvania tablet an attempt
to trace the evolution of primitive man from low beginnings to the
regular and orderly family life associated with advanced culture. The
new tablet furnishes a further illustration for the surprisingly early
tendency among the Babylonian _literati_ to connect with popular tales
teachings of a religious or ethical character. Just as the episode
between Gilgamesh and the maiden Sabitum is made the occasion for
introducing reflections on the inevitable fate of man to encounter
death, so the meeting of Enkidu with the woman becomes the medium
of impressing the lesson of human progress through the substitution
of bread and wine for milk and water, through the institution of
the family, and through work and the laying up of resources. This
is the significance of the address to Enkidu in column 4 of the
Pennsylvania tablet, even though certain expressions in it are
somewhat obscure. The connection of the entire episode of Enkidu and
the woman with Gilgamesh is very artificial; and it becomes much more
intelligible if we disassociate it from its present entanglement in
the Epic. In Gilgamesh's dream, portending the meeting with Enkidu,
nothing is said of the woman who is the companion of the latter. The
passage in which Enkidu is created by Aruru to oppose Gilgamesh [102]
betrays evidence of having been worked over in order to bring Enkidu
into association with the longing of the people of Erech to get rid
of a tyrannical character. The people in their distress appeal to
Aruru to create a rival to Gilgamesh. In response,
"Aruru upon hearing this created a man of Anu in her heart."
Now this "man of Anu" cannot possibly be Enkidu, for the sufficient
reason that a few lines further on Enkidu is described as an offspring
of Ninib. Moreover, the being created is not a "counterpart"
of Gilgamesh, but an animal-man, as the description that follows
shows. We must separate lines 30-33 in which the creation of the "Anu
man" is described from lines 34-41 in which the creation of Enkidu is
narrated. Indeed, these lines strike one as the proper _beginning_
of the original Enkidu story, which would naturally start out with
his birth and end with his death. The description is clearly an
account of the creation of the first man, in which capacity Enkidu
is brought forward.
"Aruru washed her hands, broke off clay,
threw it on the field [103]
... created Enkidu, the hero, a lofty
offspring of the host of Ninib." [104]
The description of Enkidu follows, with his body covered with hair
like an animal, and eating and drinking with the animals. There
follows an episode [105] which has no connection whatsoever with
the Gilgamesh Epic, but which is clearly intended to illustrate how
Enkidu came to abandon the life with the animals. A hunter sees Enkidu
and is amazed at the strange sight--an animal and yet a man. Enkidu,
as though resenting his condition, becomes enraged at the sight of
the hunter, and the latter goes to his father and tells him of the
strange creature whom he is unable to catch. In reply, the father
advises his son to take a woman with him when next he goes out on
his pursuit, and to have the woman remove her dress in the presence
of Enkidu, who will then approach her, and after intercourse with
her will abandon the animals among whom he lives. By this device he
will catch the strange creature. Lines 14-18 of column 3 in the first
tablet in which the father of the hunter refers to Gilgamesh must be
regarded as a later insertion, a part of the reconstruction of the
tale to connect the episode with Gilgamesh. The advice of the father
to his son, the hunter, begins, line 19,
"Go my hunter, take with thee a woman."
In the reconstructed tale, the father tells his son to go to Gilgamesh
to relate to him the strange appearance of the animal-man; but there
is clearly no purpose in this, as is shown by the fact that when the
hunter does so, Gilgamesh makes _precisely the same speech_ as does
the father of the hunter. Lines 40-44 of column 3, in which Gilgamesh
is represented as speaking to the hunter form a complete _doublet_
to lines 19-24, beginning
"Go, my hunter, take with thee a woman, etc."
and similarly the description of Enkidu appears twice, lines 2-12
in an address of the hunter to his father, and lines 29-39 in the
address of the hunter to Gilgamesh.
The artificiality of the process of introducing Gilgamesh into
the episode is revealed by this awkward and entirely meaningless
repetition. We may therefore reconstruct the first two scenes in the
Enkidu Epic as follows: [106]
Tablet I, col. 2, 34-35: Creation of Enkidu by Aruru.
36-41: Description of Enkidu's hairy body and of his life with the
animals.
42-50: The hunter sees Enkidu, who shows his anger, as also his woe,
at his condition.
3, 1-12: The hunter tells his father of the strange being who pulls
up the traps which the hunter digs, and who tears the nets so that
the hunter is unable to catch him or the animals.
19-24: The father of the hunter advises his son on his next expedition
to take a woman with him in order to lure the strange being from his
life with the animals.
Line 25, beginning "On the advice of his father," must have set forth,
in the original form of the episode, how the hunter procured the
woman and took her with him to meet Enkidu.
Column 4 gives in detail the meeting between the two, and naïvely
describes how the woman exposes her charms to Enkidu, who is captivated
by her and stays with her six days and seven nights. The animals see
the change in Enkidu and run away from him. He has been transformed
through the woman. So far the episode. In the Assyrian version there
follows an address of the woman to Enkidu beginning (col. 4, 34):
"Beautiful art thou, Enkidu, like a god art thou."
We find her urging him to go with her to Erech, there to meet Gilgamesh
and to enjoy the pleasures of city life with plenty of beautiful
maidens. Gilgamesh, she adds, will expect Enkidu, for the coming
of the latter to Erech has been foretold in a dream. It is evident
that here we have again the later transformation of the Enkidu Epic
in order to bring the two heroes together. Will it be considered too
bold if we assume that in the original form the address of the woman
and the construction of the episode were such as we find preserved in
part in columns 2 to 4 of the Pennsylvania tablet, which forms part
of the new material that can now be added to the Epic? The address
of the woman begins in line 51 of the Pennsylvania tablet:
"I gaze upon thee, Enkidu, like a god art thou."
This corresponds to the line in the Assyrian version (I, 4, 34)
as given above, just as lines 52-53:
"Why with the cattle
Dost thou roam across the field?"
correspond to I, 4, 35, of the Assyrian version. There follows in both
the old Babylonian and the Assyrian version the appeal of the woman
to Enkidu, to allow her to lead him to Erech where Gilgamesh dwells
(Pennsylvania tablet lines 54-61 = Assyrian version I, 4, 36-39);
but in the Pennsylvania tablet we now have a _second_ speech (lines
62-63) beginning like the first one with _al-ka_, "come:"
"Come, arise from the accursed ground."
Enkidu consents, and now the woman takes off her garments and clothes
the naked Enkidu, while putting another garment on herself. She takes
hold of his hand and leads him to the sheepfolds (not to Erech!!),
where bread and wine are placed before him. Accustomed hitherto
to sucking milk with cattle, Enkidu does not know what to do with
the strange food until encouraged and instructed by the woman. The