Normally I write about funny wacky things that happen in history but I thought today I want to write about one of my favorite stories and one of the first stories known to man, the Epic of Gilgamesh. It’s a tale about how one person can change us for the better, what we do when that person is gone, and coming to terms with the fact that one day, like all living things, we must die too, no matter how invincible we seem.

The story starts out with Gilgamesh, the king of Urk who is 2/3 god, and he is possibly the worst human to ever live. He fight people, he doesn’t care about his people, and he invokes a law that allows him, the king of Urk, to sleep with any lady on her wedding night, whether they want to or not. He is so bad that the gods come together and talk about what to do about him. They decide to make him an equal, Enkidu. Enkidu is part beast and wild. He lived with animals in the forest until he was spotted by trappers. The trappers went to the temple and the temple gave the a prostitute to give to Enkidu. After spending ten days with her he became more man like and was rejected by the animals in the forest. He lived a simple life with people until he heard about the horrible things Gilgamesh was doing. He decided to go to Urk and stop him. There him and Gilgamesh have an epic fight which leads to tie. They agree to be friends and Enkidu seems to keep Gilgamesh out of trouble and Gilgamesh stops hurting his own people and spending more time doing things with Enkidu.

Enkidu and Gilgamesh go on adventures together and this gets the attention of the goddess of love and war. She asks Gilgamesh to be her love and he tells her no, all the lovers she has had have wound up with nothing but misfortune. She returns to heaven in a rage and asks her father to unleash the bull of heaven on Urk. Her father agrees and they send the bull, that will cause nothing but trouble and 7 years of famine to Urk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the bull and the goddess comes down from heaven to yell at them. Enkidu throws part of the bull at her and she asks her father to punish them for kill the bull. Her father agrees and decides to kill Enkidu slowly. Enkidu wastes away on his bed with Gilgamesh by his side. Gilgamesh refuses to believe his friend is dead for days before realizing that he too is mortal and will one day die. Gilgamesh then desperately tries to seek out immortally going through many trials and traveling to the ends of the earth.

After a while he his told about a plant the will regenerate a person at the bottom of the ocean. Gilgamesh rushes to the plant and takes it. Planning it on sharing with the elders of Urk, a far cry from what he would’ve done with the plant in the beginning of the Epic. But wile he is bathing a snake steals and eats the plant. Once Gilgamesh realizes what has happened he is devastated. He returns home and begins to show an elderly man around Urk and while the Epic doesn’t say to the reader he seems more calm, at peace, and understands that one day he must die too.