The Epic of Gilgamesh: Lines 1–216

He shall impart his wisdom, and so they shall share it together.

He it was who built the ramparts of Uruk, the high-walled,
And he it was who set the foundation,
As solid as brass, of Eanna, the sacred temple of Anu and Ishtar,
Strengthened its base, its threshold....

The gods of Uruk, the strong-walled,
Assume the shape of flies and buzz about the streets.

Three years the enemy besieged the city of Uruk;
The city’s gates were barred, the bolts were shot.

Day and night they poured out their complaint:
“He is the ruler of Uruk the strong-walled.
He is the ruler—strong, cunning—but
Gilgamesh does not leave a daughter to her mother,
Nor the maiden to the warrior, nor the wife to her husband.”

His flowing hair was luxuriant like that of the corn-god.

He quenched his thirst with the beasts.

Ever he ranges at large over the mountains, and ever with cattle
Grazes on herbage and ever he sets his foot to the water,
So that I fear to approach him.

His father opened his mouth and said, addressing the hunter:
“Gilgamesh dwells in Uruk, my son, whom no one has vanquished,
It is his strength that is the greatest the length and breadth of the country,
Like to a double of Anu’s own self, his strength is enormous,
Go, set your face towards Uruk: and when he hears of a monster,
He will say ‘Go, O hunter, and take with you a courtesan-girl, a hetaera (a sacred temple girl from Eanna, the temple of Ishtar).

One day, two days, they lurked at the entrance to the well,
Where the cattle were accustomed to slake their thirst,
Where the creatures of the waters were sporting.

The gazelles, resting, beheld Enkidu; they and
The cattle of the field turned away from him.

This startled Enkidu and his body grew faint;
His knees became stiff, as his cattle departed,
And he became less agile than before.

He turned again, in love enthralled, to the feet of the temple girl,
And gazed up into the face of Shamhat.

Again he spoke to his mother,
“Mother, a second dream did I see: Into Uruk, the high-walled,
Hurtled an axe, and they gathered about it:
People were standing about it, the people all thronging before it,
Artisans pressing behind it, while I at your feet did present it,
I held it to me like a woman, that you might recognize it as my own equal.”

Enkidu ate the bread, ate until he was gorged,
Drank of the mead seven cups; his spirits rose, and he was exultant,
Glad was his heart, and cheerful his face:
He anointed himself with oil: and thus became human.