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The Pantheon Of The Gods In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

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The pantheon of gods in this culture were not content with their current position. In the Enuma Elish, these beings were almost destroyed by their own father, Apsu. They were only saved because of Marduk, Ea’s son. However, because Marduk saved them, he demanded that he be the ruler over all the other gods. This unrest among the gods caused them to act temperamental and irrational, against one another and to humans as well.
As a result, Gilgamesh and Enkidu try to avoid the gods so as to not anger them and invoke their wrath. An example of this is in tablet V, lines 68 to 70, while fighting Humbaba, Enkidu tells Gilgamesh “Finish him off for the kill, put him out of existence, /Before Enlil the foremost one hears of this! /The great gods will become angry with us….” …show more content…

The prime example of this is when Gilgamesh rejects Ishtar’s advances in tablet VI. Gilgamesh recounts many of the lovers that she had killed, as well as a gardener just for hesitating and questioning her offer. Of course, right after this Ishtar gets her parents, Anu and Antum to send down the Bull of Heaven to destroy Gilgamesh. Along with Enkidu, Gilgamesh slayed the Bull of Heaven, however since he didn’t get permission to kill the bull, there has to be a punishment for that punishment of rejecting Ishtar. This turns out to be the death of Enkidu. It’s so hard to please such temperamental

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