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In ancient Mesopotamian mythology, the Bull of Heaven is a mythical beast fought by the hero Gilgamesh. The story of the Bull of Heaven is known from two different versions: one recorded in an earlier Sumerian poem and a later episode in the Standard Babylonian (a literary dialect of Akkadian) Epic of Gilgamesh.
[57] [58] Meanwhile, Gilgamesh holds a celebration over the Bull's defeat. [60] [58] Tablet VII begins with Enkidu recounting a dream in which he saw Anu, Ea, and Shamash declare that either Gilgamesh or Enkidu must die to avenge the Bull of Heaven. [47] They choose Enkidu, who soon grows sick. [47] He has a dream of the Underworld, and then ...
Bull of Heaven: The Bull of Heaven is a mythical being representing the constellation known today as Taurus. [107] After being unleashed by Ishtar, the bull rampages in Uruk, but Gilgamesh and Enkidu manage to defeat him. [108] An earlier version of this episode is recorded in the Sumerian poem Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven. [109]
Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull of Heaven, insulting Ishtar in the process, after which the gods decide to sentence Enkidu to death and kill him by giving him a fatal illness. In the second half of the epic, distress over Enkidu's death causes Gilgamesh to undertake a long and perilous journey to discover the secret of eternal life.
Finally, Inanna demands, with threats, from her father the Bull of Heaven to kill Gilgamesh. The bull is released in Uruk, whose insatiable hunger destroys crops and rivers. Enkidu grabs the bull by his tail and Gilgamesh smashes its head. Finally they distribute the meat among the poor and transform the horns into cups for ointments for the Eanna.
The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh depicts the horrors of the rage-fueled deployment of the Bull of Heaven by Ishtar and its slaughter by Gilgamesh and Enkidu as an act of defiance that seals their fates: Ishtar opened her mouth and said again, "My father, give me the Bull of Heaven to destroy Gilgamesh.
Some believe that GEN goes back to an earlier and larger Sumerian Gilgamesh cycle, which included both it and three other known Sumerian Gilgamesh epics: GEN opened the cycle, the Death of Gilgamesh closed it, and two others (Gilgamesh and Huwawa; Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven) were between these two, although which one of the two was placed ...
Gilgamesh refuses with insults, listing all the mortal lovers that Ishtar has had and recounting the dire fates they all met with at her hands. Deeply insulted, Ishtar returns to heaven and begs her father, the sky-god Anu, to let her have the Bull of Heaven to wreak vengeance on Gilgamesh and his city: Father, let me have the Bull of Heaven