What a nice Thursday! Tablets V and VI get into some pretty good action so I hope you're excited!
Tablet V is titled "The Combat with Humbaba" (finally, right?). Gilgamesh and Enkidu are in the Cedar Forest admiring its vastness and beauty. Enkidu notices a cedar that is so beautiful he vows to tear it down and make it a door to the temple of Enlil. Then, Gilgamesh and Enkidu are face-to-face with Humbaba (DUN, DUN, DUN). Humbaba tells Enkidu he is a traitor because he was once part of the wildlife and forest saying, "Now in treachery you bring before me Gilgamesh,/ and stand there, Enkidu, like a warlike stranger" (V 91-2). Humbaba is very angry and he promises to devour Gilgamesh.
As the battle starts, the two remind each other that they will prevail against Humbaba; it is their destiny. Enkidu yells to Gilgamesh, "Don't draw back, don't make a retreat/ make your blow mighty" (V 106-7). The battle ensues. During the battle, Gilgamesh sends a prayer up to Shamash, who sends thirteen winds, "and the face of Humbaba darkened--/ he could not charge forwards, he could not kick backwards" (V 141-2). Humbaba is disoriented and confused and when Gilgamesh has reached him, he pleads for his life. He tells Gilgamesh that if he spares him, then he will be his servant.
Gilgamesh actually contemplates the proposal, but Enkidu says, "Do not listen, my friend, to Humbaba's words,/ ignore his supplications" (V 157-8). Humbaba admonishes Enkidu, and Enkidu still urges Gilgamesh to kill Humbaba before the gods find out what they're doing. Humbaba reminds them that he is a servant of Enlil, who is much greater than Shamash. These words fall on deaf ears. Enkidu tells Gilgamesh to hurry and "establish for ever a fame that endures,/how Gilgamesh slew ferocious Humbaba" (V 188-9). Only by killing Humbaba and stealing the cedars will they gain their fame.
So, that's what the two best friends do. Gilgamesh punctures Humbaba's neck and Enkidu takes out his lung. They take various parts of Humbaba, such as his tusks and head, as booty to show the people of Uruk. Gilgamesh makes a new gate for the city fashioned out of the tallest cedar in the forest. The two friends make a raft to head to Uruk to glorify in their victory.
Tablet VI is called "Ishtar and the Bull of Heaven." You're going to enjoy this tablet. Gilgamesh returns to his city and washes himself off and dons a new, clean robe and put on his crown. Suffice to say, Gilgamesh cleans up pretty well, and this caught the eye of the goddess Ishtar. Ishtar begs Gilgamesh, "Be you my husband and I your wife" (VI 9). She promises to put lapis lazuli and gold on his chariot, kiss his feet as he enters their home, grant him rich harvests, and kings and princes will offer him their wealth. It sounds like a good deal to anyone, except Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh goes on a 55-line rant (24-79) explaining to Ishtar why he abhors the idea of being with her. He says that he has nothing to offer her in return since she is a goddess and has everything, she is as cold as ice, her desire for him is fleeting, he knows about her other human lovers and that she treats them cruelly. He recounts stories about other lovers that have turned into animals, and asks why he should be treated any differently than they were.
Obviously, one shouldn't talk to a goddess like this, and Ishtar is offended to say the least. Ishtar goes to her father, Anu (who a powerful god) and begs them to let her have the Bull of Heaven so she can release it on Gilgamesh and she can watch it kill him. She throws a temper-tantrum and says, "If you do not give me the Bull of Heaven,/ I shall smash the gates of the Netherworld right down to its dwelling,/ to the world below I shall grant manumission,/ I shall bring up the dead to consume the living,/ I shall make the dead outnumber the living" (VI 96-100). A little unbecoming of a goddess, and Anu still hesitates to give the bull to her because it will cause a seven-year famine. Ishtar tells him that she's saved up provisions for the people of Uruk, so Anu gives her the bull.
Ishtar got her way and she released the bull onto Uruk. It snorted up a pit and one-hundred men fell into it. The bull did it again and two-hundred men fell into it. The third time the bull snorted, Enkidu attacked it. Yay, more battle! He, obviously, calls out to Gilgamesh to come help him fight the Bull of Heaven. Enkidu holds the tail and then Gilgamesh drives his sword in between the shoulders of the bull and kills it. They offer up its heart to Shamash.
As one might guess, Ishtar is heated. She climbs the walls of Uruk and shouts at Gilgamesh. While she's doing that, Enkidu throws a piece of the dead bull's haunch at Ishtar and yells, "Had I caught you too, I'd have treated you likewise,/ I'd have draped your arms in its guts" (VI 135-6). It's a big mistake to throw a stinking piece of bull meat at a goddess and then tell her you'd do the same thing to her. Ishtar gathers women to mourn the loss of the bull while Gilgamesh gathers men to admire its beauty. Gilgamesh cuts off the horns and places them in his palace as a trophy. Gilgamesh then boasts and asks who is the finest among men and obviously people say he is. He is merry. At night, as both men are sleeping in their beds, Enkidu wakes from a startling dream. That's the end of Tablet VI. Can you say cliffhanger?
Before I post again, ponder as to what a goddess may do after one has humiliated her.
Cassy
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