Harimtu Shamhat and Enkidu

An ancient story of a wild man civilized by a wise woman.

There is an ancient story, The Epic of Gilgamesh, which dates from 5000 to 4000 years ago during the Sumerian period in Mesopotamia. In early Sumerian history, priests were also the kings of the city-states. Gilgamesh was one of the most heroic priest-kings of this time. He was the priest-king of Uruk which was located on the Euphrates River approximately fifty miles northwest of Ur (map).

When the stories open, Gilgamesh is a tyrant, so the divine assembly creates Enkidu to be his companion. The assembly hopes that Enkidu will take Gilgamesh on daring adventures and keep him from using his energies to oppress the people of Uruk. At first Enkidu has little interest in Gilgamesh and prefers to run with wild animals. To make him more interested in human friendship, the divine assembly dispatches a wise woman (Akkadian: harimtu shamhat) who teaches Enkidu how to be human.

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The hunter and the wise woman took up positions,

For two days they waited by the watering hole.

Finally, the wild beasts came to drink,

The animals came to splash in the water.



Enkidu, like a creature from the hills, came with them,

Grazing with the gazelles,

Watering with the wild beasts,

Splashing in the water with the animals.

The wise woman saw this creature primeval,

This savage from deep within the treeless plains.



The wise woman bared her breasts,

Enkidu took hold of her body.

She was not bashful,

She welcomed his passion.

She spread her clothes on the ground,

Enkidu had intercourse with her on them.

She treated this savage like a man.

Enkidu made love with her.

For six days and seven nights Enkidu took her,

Every day and every night he had intercourse with the woman.



Having satisfied himself with the woman,

Enkidu turned to rejoin the animals.

Seeing him, the gazelles ran off,

The beasts of the steppe shied away from him.

Enkidu felt weak, his body grew taut,

His knees locked when the beasts began to run.

Enkidu became weak, unable to run as before,

But his mind was filled with a new wisdom. . . .



Finally, the woman said: "Now you are wise, Enkidu,

Now you have become like us.

Why do you run with the wild animals?

Why do you run through the plains?

Let me lead you to Uruk, the city of great markets,

Come with me to the sanctuary of Anu . . . where Gilgamesh rules . . ."




She took some of her own clothes and dressed Enkidu,

Then she dressed herself.

The wise woman took his hand and led him like a child.

They walked to the corral, where the herders gathered to stare.



Enkidu knew only how to nurse . . .

To suckle the milk of wild animals.

When they placed beer and bread before him,

He turned away, he sniffed, he stared.

Enkidu did not know how to eat bread.

No one had taught him how to drink beer.

Then the woman said: "Eat the bread, Enkidu, it is the staff of life.

Drink the beer, it is the gift of the land."



Enkidu ate bread until he was full.

He drank beer from seven jars.

He became cheerful and playful.

His heart rejoiced and his face glowed.

He bathed and oiled his body,

He combed his hair.

Enkidu became a man.

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For more information, see the British museum website on Mesopotamia. By the way, 'Mesopotamia' meaning 'the land between the rivers', is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew Aram-naharayim, 'Aram of the (two) rivers', the area of the upper and middle Euphrates and Tigris. The word came to mean the whole Tigris-Euphrates district.