Women In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient Mesopotamian epic about a king who is two thirds god and one third man. The king does not meet his expectations of leadership as he is selfish and often angers the Gods. When his companion Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh goes off on a quest to attain immortality. He fails in this quest and eventually dies, but through his travel he came to terms with his own mortality and his greatness lived on. While the main characters are men, women have small but important roles in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The women in this epic reveal that ancient Mesopotamians valued womenÕs roles as child bearers and transmitters of civilization. While the Epic of Gilgamesh reveals much about Mesopotamian religion, the goddesses described also reveal, in some ways, how the Mesopotamian viewed and valued women. Ishtar is the goddess of both love and war, this shows that women have the power to be both wonderful and productive or destructive and horrible. A womanÕs most important role in life is to bear children and a woman who cannot bear children is seen as destructive to the population. Only a woman has the capacity to create life and that makes her important and valuable. The one who created the earth, according to the Epic of Gilgamesh, was a goddess, a woman. The wife of the sun is the dawn, giving birth to a new day. Because of
This example not only reveals that women transmitted civilization, but that their sexuality and sensitivity had immense power over men. This story shows that men were aware of the power of womenÕs art which transformed even the most wild of men. Women had power as lovers and as mothers. Another such example of the power of women as lovers and nurtures is in the sixth chapter entitled ÔThe ReturnÕ. Gilgamesh had made his journey to the land of Dilmun, in the garden of the sun to see Utnapishtim, the Faraway, to whom the gods granted everlasting