Summary

Tablet 8

This tablet is heavily damaged. What there is of the tablet talks about Gilgamesh’s deep grief for his friend and his creation of a statue to honor his friend.

Tablet 9

Gilgamesh is obsessed with death after Enkidu’s death, leading him to seek out Utanapishtim, an ancestor of his who has been granted immortality by the gods. When Gilgamesh reaches Mount Mashu at the very eastern end of the world, he comes face to face with a couple of scorpions. The scorpions tell him he cannot go to where Utanapishtim is because no mortal can walk the path the sun rises fast enough to keep from being burned. However, Gilgamesh manages to make it just in time and finds himself in a garden where precious stones grow on the trees instead of fruit.

Analysis

Gilgamesh is deeply disturbed about Enkidu’s...