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Shamhat plays the integral role in Tablet I, of taming the wild man Enkidu, who was created by the gods as the rival to the mighty Gilgamesh. Shamhat was a sacred temple prostitute or harimtu. [2] She is used by the Hunter to use her attractiveness to tempt Enkidu from the wild, and his 'wildness', civilizing him through continued sacred love ...
Enkidu has a dream where the gods decide that the heroes must die, since they have killed Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. Samash protests against the decision, but that does not change anything, and Enkidu is sentenced to death. This makes Enkidu curse the door he built with the wood of the forest and Shamhat, for having changed his wild life.
Ultimately Enkidu regrets his words and blesses her instead. [52] Shamhat's name has a double meaning, as while it is an ordinary given name derived from the adjective šamḫu, which designated qualities related to physical well-being, in the context of the epic it is also meant to resemble the word šamḫatu, a synonym of ḫarimtu. [48] Shamash
Enkidu is shocked by his loneliness, but Shamhat tries to comfort him: "Do not grieve, you now have knowledge, like the gods. Gilgamesh, meanwhile, has been having dreams about the imminent arrival of a beloved new companion and asks his mother, the goddess Ninsun , to help interpret these dreams.
As punishment for his cruelty, the god Anu creates the wild man Enkidu. [52] After being tamed by a prostitute named Shamhat, Enkidu journeys to Uruk to confront Gilgamesh. [47] In the second tablet, the two men wrestle and though Gilgamesh wins in the end, [47] he is so impressed by his opponent's strength and tenacity that they become close ...
Sometime later, Enkidu enters and becomes intrigued by a table with an anatomical, H.R. Giger/da Vinci-esque image of a woman's muscles (symbolizing the character Shamhat). The mechanism activates allowing Enkidu to look inside the image revealing a swaying piece of meat on a hook within the woman's body.
Shamhat (𒊩𒌑𒉺, Šamḫat) Fictional (18th century BC) In the old Babylonian version of the Gilgamesh epic, a sacred temple prostitute (harimtu) who inducts Enkidu into Babylonian sexual rites and is therefore partly responsible for civilising the wild man. Also called Shamkat.
In the younger versions of the composition, this is not shown directly, but rather mentioned by Shamhat to Enkidu. [55] Ninsun predicts that Gilgamesh and Enkidu will become close (according to Andrew R. George: that they will become lovers), [55] which comes true after their subsequent duel. [56]