Enkidu (Sumerian: 𒂗𒆠𒄭 EN.KI.DU10)[6] was a legendary figure in ancient Mesopotamian mythology, wartime comrade and friend of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk.

Their exploits were composed in Sumerian poems and in the Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh, written during the 2nd millennium BC.

The apparition of Enkidu as a primitive man seems to be a potential parallel of the Old Babylonian version (1300–1000 BC), in which he was depicted as a servant-warrior in the Sumerian poems.

There have been suggestions that he may be the "bull-man" shown in Mesopotamian art, having the head, arms, and body of a man, and the horns, ears, tail and legs of a bull.

[9] The deep, tragic loss of Enkidu profoundly inspires in Gilgamesh a quest to escape death by obtaining godly immortality.

He seems to appear in an invocation from the Paleo-Babylonian era aimed at silencing a crying baby, a text which also evokes the fact that Enkidu would be held to have determined the measurement of the passage of time at night, apparently in relation to his role as herd keeper at night in the epic.

The king of Uruk and Enkidu make an expedition to the Forest of the Cedars, where, with Utu's blessing, they traverse seven mountains.

Enkidu warns the king that the monster Huwawa inhabits the mountain region, armed by seven supernatural Auras.

Enlil reproaches them for his death, and distributes the seven auras to the fields, the rivers, the reed-beds, the lions, the palace, the forest and Nungal, which would explain the fear and fascination they give to the humans.

[15][16] Inanna is enraged with Gilgamesh, she forbids him from administering justice in her temple, the Eanna, causing unrest in the environment of the King of Uruk.

An oak tree grows on the banks of the Euphrates, the south wind blows it away and the goddess Inanna gathers it, planting it in her garden to use its wood as her throne.

Gilgamesh cuts the tree, kills the serpent, expels the eagle to the mountain, and the demon to the desert.

Inanna gives Gilgamesh a drum (ellag) and drumsticks (ekidma), in some versions a rod and a ring.

Enkidu offers to recover them, but not before receiving instructions from Gilgamesh on how to behave in the underworld, to not seem alive in the residence of the dead.

Then he takes comfort in the words of the gods; after death, he will be reunited with his family, his priests, his warriors and his best friend, Enkidu.

[18] The Akkadian epic Gilgamesh is found in various versions, including Surpassing all other kings (c. 1800 – c. 1600) and He who saw the Deep (c. 1300 – c. 1100), which was compiled by Sin-liqe-unninni from earlier texts, later discovered in the Library of Ashurbanipal in 1853.

Enkidu learns to behave like a man with the shepherds eating, drinking and defending them from wolves and lions at night.

Enkidu is depressed by having abandoned his old wild life, to which Gilgamesh proposes an expedition to the Cedar Forest to kill Humbaba.

[19] Ninsun, the mother of Gilgamesh adopts Enkidu as her son, and seeks protection of the sun-god Shamash (the protector of the Uruk dynasty).

First, Gilgamesh strikes Humbaba so hard it splits the Mount Hermon in two, and the skies turn black and start “raining death”.

Humbaba pleads for his life, offers to be his slave and to cut the sacred trees for him, Gilgamesh pities him, but Enkidu argues that his death will establish his reputation forever.

Ishtar, furious and crying, goes to her father Anu, to demand the Bull of Heaven take revenge, or she will scream so loudly that the dead will devour the living.

This makes Enkidu curse the door he built with the wood of the forest and Shamhat, for having changed his wild life.

[22] It has often been suggested that these descriptions reflect the semi-nomadic Amorites who, from their homeland in the Syrian Desert, infiltrated southern Mesopotamia and came to dominate it in the early second millennium.

[23] 𒃻 𒅥𒅇𒁉 𒉡𒈬𒌦𒍪𒀀𒀭 𒌆𒂵 𒈬𒈬𒁉 𒉡𒈬𒌦𒍪𒍑 𒌦 𒄑𒁺𒈾 𒋢𒁉 𒈬𒌦𒁺 𒇻𒄀 𒅗𒁀 𒌑 𒈬𒉌𒅁𒅥 𒀀 𒊬𒊬 𒊏𒅗 𒄿𒅎𒅘𒅘𒉌 ninda gu7-u3-bi nu-mu-un-zu-uc-am3 tug2-ga mu4-mu4-bi nu-mu-un-zu-uc-am3 kalam jic-gen-na su-bi mu-un-jen udu-gin7 ka-ba u2 mu-ni-ib-gu7 a mu2-sar-ra-ka i-im-na8-na8-ne Knew not the eating of bread, Knew not the wearing of garments, The people went around with skins on their bodies, They ate grass with their mouths like sheep, Drank water from ditches.

[28]The first translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh was produced in the early 1870s by George Smith, a scholar at the British Museum, who published the Flood story from Tablet XI in 1880 under the title The Chaldean Account of Genesis.