Reading the Epic of Gilgamesh, we can find two completely different aspects of life in the hero’s journey. This Epic combines two stories, a before and an after, we are first presented with a fearless king ready to sacrifice everything in exchange for glory, power, and adventure. We read about a king full of arrogance, a man who believes his youth is eternal, a king more concerned with heroic feats than in preserving his own life. We also read of an unbreakable friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

But in the same way that an innocent and fearless child, not understanding death and the dangers of life, comes to a turning point of waking up to the facts and fears of this world, and the realization of how fragile existence is, Gilgamesh also confronts his worst fears for the first time.

The tragedy is about to happen, Gilgamesh is devastated by Enkidu’s death, brought about by the goddess Ishtar, death enters into the hero’s path.

Gilgamesh’s journey in the search for the understanding of life, a search for the meaning of life in the face of mortality has begun. The inner child grows up, he is not a child anymore, awareness of life and death has come to the hero’s mind, the lack of fear coming from ignorance is not present anymore.

The king of Uruk now becomes obsessed with his mortality, the question arrives. Can he find a way to avoid death? He is determined to avoid the same fate and decides to make a journey to his Underworld, he embarks on a trip to find Utnapishtim and his wife, the only humans to have survived the Great Flood and who was granted immortality by the gods.

“I will not die like Enkidu,

But weeping has entered into my heart;

Fear of death has befallen me, and

I lie here stretched out upon the ground.

To test the strength of Utnapishtim, the son of Kidin-Marduk,

I will set out, and I will go at once.”

Gilgamesh’s first encounter in his journey was at the foot of a mountain named Mashu, scorpion-men guarded its gate.

Twelve miles of heavy darkness in all directions having to be penetrated to complete this first challenge. He can see nothing behind him or ahead of him, but the hero was not afraid.

He isn’t afraid not because of ignorance, but because a spark of hope flames inside his chest, the hero now understands that only with heroic deeds and great strength can overcome destiny and the will of the gods, but at the same time, he is concerned with death itself more than making a “name” for himself.

Gilgamesh is ready to confront the darkness and abandon his divine protector Shamash, the sun god. The hero cannot change anything unless he first accepts this challenge, the light needs to be abandoned to fight the darkness. Darkness is accepted to be able to come back to light.

Overcoming the first task, Gilgamesh finds the second obstacle in his way, the divine girl Sirudi, sitting upon the throne of the sea sees him from afar. Concerned that he might be dangerous, Siduri closes and bars her door against him.

“Sirudi, what doest thou gaze [at me].

Why doest thou bolt the gate against me];

For I will break [thy gate]”

Part of the plate that tells this story is destroyed, and we can only imagine that Sirudi described to the hero the difficulties of continuing his journey, which would lead him across an impenetrable sea.

Sirudi explains that only Shamash, a god, can cross the sea. This was not an excuse for the king to stop his journey, he cannot be distracted from his mission, he is determined to become immortal no matter the cost, he does not see limits to his quest, he refuses to accept his place as a mortal man, believing himself more capable than any mortal, showing with these actions a kind of hubris.

Sirudi unlocks her door and shows Gilgamesh the way to Urshinabi, the sailor of Utnapishtim.

The hero stands at the entrance to the Waters of Death, which only Utnapishtim’s boatman knows how to navigate, and tells Urshinabi of his grief and his fear. After a few preparations and tasks have been completed, they both sail, in three days they sail as far as an ordinary boat would have sailed in two months.

After three days they reach the island of Dilmun, and while still sitting in the ship, he tells to Utnapishtim his story and asks for help.

Utnapishtim offers Gilgamesh a chance for immortality, he needs to stay awake for six days and seven nights.

Unlike Gilgamesh’s previous challenges, the one Utnapishtim suggests focuses on the necessity of sleep. A human condition is put to test. No matter how much Gilgamesh has trained or fought, no matter how strong and agile, Gilgamesh is destined to fail. Not a single mortal could stay awake for seven days, not even the King of Uruk part god, and part man.

His humanity makes him fail the test, Gilgamesh falls asleep almost before Utnapishtim finishes speaking.

“Behold, here is the hero whose desire is life everlasting!

Sleep came upon him like a storm wind.”

After this failure, Utnapishtim ridicules the hero and sends him back to Uruk but, not before giving Gilgamesh a second chance. A plant grows at the very bottom of the ocean that will make anyone that eats it young again.

We can see once again, the representation of water as a symbol of rejuvenation. In the story told by Utnapishtim, the Earth is rejuvenated by a Flood, and here we see that the secret to everlasting youth grows in the water, specifically on the seafloor.

This is Gilgamesh’s opportunity to achieve immortality through heroic actions. He plans to use the flower to rejuvenate the old men of the city of Uruk and then to use it himself.

Unfortunately, the hero fails again, the hero is distracted while pouring out water and a serpent comes from the water and steals the plant away. The plant grew underwater, and it is time to return it to its origins. The serpent loses the old skin and is thus reborn.

There’s not a third chance for Gilgamesh, no matter how heroic the king can be, he cannot overcome his destiny, the inevitability of his death. He returns to the city of Uruk and in time, at peace with his mortality, Gilgamesh dies.

Just like in the story of the Bible, the serpent once again robs the possibility of eternal life.

The Epic teaches us the consequences of man’s rejection of his mortality. At the end of this journey, Gilgamesh ultimately gained real wisdom, respect for the gods and acceptance of his mortality. But even though death arrives at all us mortals, Gilgamesh ultimately became immortal in the name.