Gilgamesh Study Guide
Humans
- Gilgamesh - youthful and bullish king
of Uruk
- Enkidu - nature boy
- Shamhat - the "harlot" who "civilizes"
Enkidu
- Utnapishtim -'The Faraway'; given
immortality by the gods
- Mrs. Utnapishtim - baker of bread
- Siduri - bartender at the edge of the
world
- Urshanabi - the ferryman of Utnapishtim
Gods and Monsters
- Humbaba - monster who guards the Cedar
Forest
- Ishtar - goddess of beauty and love
- Bull of Heaven - Sphinxy symbol of
drought (sort of)
- Anu - king of the Sumerian gods
- Shamash - sun god
- Scorpion-Man - guardian of the gates at
Mount Mashu
Places
- Uruk - city in Mesopotamia ruled by
Gilgamesh
- Cedar Forest - probably Lebanon
- Mount Mashu - symbolic division between
the setting and rising of the sun
- Dilmun - the faraway land in the garden
of the sun, where Utnapishtim lives
Principal stories
- The civilizing of Enkidu
- How Enkidu and Gilgamesh became friends
- Journey to the Cedar Forest and the killing of
Humbaba
- Ishtar, Gilgamesh, and the Bull of Heaven
- The death of Enkidu
- Gilgamesh's journey to Utnapishtim
- The flood