godlike appearance. Gilgamish receives him and they dedicate their arms to heroic endeavor. At this point the epic brings in a new and powerful motif, the renunciation of woman’s love in the presence of a great undertaking. Gilgamish is enamoured of the beautiful virgin goddess Išhara, and Enkidu, fearing the effeminate effects of his friend’s attachment, prevents him forcibly from entering a house. A terrific combat between these heroes ensues,[1] in which Enkidu conquers, and in a magnanimous speech he reminds Gilgamish of his higher destiny.
In another unplaced fragment of the Assyrian text[2] Enkidu rejects his mistress also, apparently on his own initiative and for ascetic reasons. This fragment, heretofore assigned to the second book, probably belongs to Book III. The tablet of the Assyrian version which carries the portion related on the new tablet has not been found. Man redeemed from barbarism is the major theme of Book II.
The newly recovered section of the epic contains two legends which supplied the glyptic artists of Sumer and Accad with subjects for seals. Obverse III 28–32 describes Enkidu the slayer of lions and panthers. Seals in all periods frequently represent Enkidu in combat with a lion. The struggle between the two heroes, where Enkidu strives to rescue his friend from the fatal charms of Išhara, is probably depicted on seals also. On one of the seals published by Ward, Seal Cylinders of Western Asia, No. 459, a nude female stands beside the struggling heroes.[3] This scene not improbably illustrates the effort of Enkidu to rescue his friend from the goddess. In fact the satyr stands between Gilgamish and Išhara(?) on the seal.
- ↑ Rm. 289, latter part of Col. II (part of the Assyrian version) published in Haupt, ibid., 81–4 preserves a defective text of this part of the epic. This tablet has been erroneously assigned to Book IV, but it appears to be Book III.
- ↑ K. 2589 and duplicate (unnumbered) in Haupt, ibid., 16–19.
- ↑ See also Ward, No. 199.
