Gilgeam the Horse-Eater: Difference between revisions

Tired of the gods and their petty schemes, Gilgeam resolved to strike back against his oppressors. He decided to kill Enunu, a winged steed beloved by the gods for his beauty and grace. He stalked Enunu all the way to where it slept at the top of a mountain. To avoid being detected by Enunu's powerful sense of smell, Gilgeam put mint herbs on his hair. Gilgeam killed Enunu by striking it in the temple with a sharpened rock and afterwards dragged the carcass to his home. Once there he gathered all his descendants about him and the dead Enunu whereupon he set upon the corpse with a knife, carving himself a generous portion of its meat and instructing his brood to take from the gods as they pleased for the gods would give them nothing willingly. In this moment his brood stopped calling him Father and instead began calling him King. Gilgeam also took the wings of Enunu for himself, using them to soar through the sky, further showing his defiance of his creators. Gilgeam called the city that was growing outside his home Nasrad, which in the ancient tongue of that city meant the ''Mouth of Creation'', for it sat outside the mouth of the cave where Gilgeam created Ahunatum. After five thousand years of defending [[Nasrad]] against the depredations of the gods, Gilgeam grew tired and knew the Life within him was ebbing away faster than ever before. To save his progeny and protect them, he resolved to make a bargain with the gods: exchange his Life and that of his beloved wife Ahunatum, for the forgiveness of the gods towards his progeny. After spending a last moment together, Ahunatum breathed the Light of Life inside her back to Gilgeam, dying as a result. Filled with grief, Gilgeam next he climbed to the top of Mount Urum and made his bargain with the gods, surrendering his life for all his children who are mankind.

==Artifacts==

Gilgeam is usually depicted as a warrior king, with an armored tunic embroidered with patterns of royalty and divinity, the helm-crown of kings, his sword Anzû sheathed and in his hands, the two thunderbolts he stole with from the gods. On his left hand he wears a gold bracelet upon which is mounted the desiccated eye of the beast of many limbs. On the rare depictions that have been found of Gilgeam seated upon a throne, he is clothed in the very same manner but carries no weapons, instead he holds a scepter of office to represent his kingship on his right hand and a plume of fire on the left.

==Feats==

The feats of Gilgeam are described in the Tablets of Fate and in other, lesser sources found in temples and vaults of Rusana's pre-Islamic civilization. An incomplete list of said feats below: