The Mystery of Death
Ishtar, furious...demands of her father Anu that he create the Bull of Heaven to destroy the earth. But Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu slew it. The gods then decide that one of the heroes must pay: Enkidu falls ill and dies.
Weeping, Gilgamesh sets out on a journey to find Utnapishtim, the forefather of humanity, to ask him why all must die. To this end, he travels to the summit of the twin mountains of Mashu, guardians of dawn and dusk, and asks the terrible scorpion-men who guard the gates—half men, half dragons—to let him enter the underworld. Once inside, he would travel for 12 leagues in absolute darkness...
"Because of my brother I am afraid of death. Because of my brother I wander through the unknown"Gilgamesh said to Utnapishtim when he finally found him, to which Utnapishtim replied that death was like a sleep; it comes to all and need not be feared.
Finally, on the journey home and after having heard the account of the flood, of which Utnapishtim was the sole survivor, Gilgamesh finds a plant that has the power to restore youth. But along the way, when he stops to drink water from a pool, a serpent eats the plant—and that is the reason why serpents shed their skin and become young again, while men grow old and die.
The Universal Flood
Utnapishtim, the only man to survive the great flood sent by the gods, lived in the city of Shurrupak, where he served the god Ea.
The city and the gods grew old, and the goddess Ishtar caused so many conflicts among men that with all the noise the gods could not sleep. Thus Enlil, god of earth, wind and air, said:
"Let us unleash the waters upon the world, and let all perish by drowning." The gods agreed, but Ea warned Utnapishtim of the coming catastrophe and told him in a dream to build a vessel and take into it a pair of every species. For seven nights the storm raged with fury until the waters covered the entire world. Finally the vessel came to rest on the summit of Mount Nisir. To gauge the extent of the waters, Utnapishtim released a dove, then a swallow, and finally a raven. When the last did not return, he supposed that it had found a place to perch and that the waters were receding. In thanksgiving, he lit a fire and made sacrifices to the gods. Enlil flew into a rage upon smelling the smoke, but the wise Ea interceded, and Enlil made Utnapishtim and his wife immortal. They are, therefore, the forebears of all humanity.