Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Scripture Portions

Tablet VI: The Bull of Heaven

Epic of Gilgamesh

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In the sixth tablet, the goddess Ishtar propositions Gilgamesh after his victorious return, and he refuses her, cataloguing the misfortunes of her past lovers. Enraged, Ishtar demands the Bull of Heaven from her father Anu and sends it against Uruk, where its snorting opens pits that swallow hundreds of men; Enkidu seizes the bull by the tail so that Gilgamesh can kill it, after which the two heroes offer its heart to the sun god Shamash, an act of defiance against Ishtar that sets up the gods' decision, in the following tablet, that one of the two friends must die for it.

Facts
Identity
Parent Work
Epic of Gilgamesh 1
Position in the Canon
Chapter 6 1
Canonical Reference
Tablet VI 1
Origins
Language
Akkadian 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Gilgamesh, Figures

This source names Gilgamesh directly: "the goddess Ishtar propositions Gilgamesh after his victorious return, and he refuses her, cataloguing the misfortunes of her past lovers."

Contained In

Originates in Language

Akkadian, Languages

Related To

Sources
1. The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts
Andrew R. George, Oxford University Press, 2003Tablet VI, Ishtar and the Bull of HeavenView the Source
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