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Here is a brief summary
of the mythic account:
1The old Mesopotamian city of Uruk (now known as Warka, Iraq) is stressed by the capriciousness and self-centered nature of the ruler Gilgamesh—he keeps the young men busy with warfare, and he exercises the so-called right of the king to have intercourse with every bride before she enjoys her first marriage night with her new spouse (jus primae noctis; droit du seigneur).
2The citizens complain bitterly to the gods, and this council creates a wild, brutish, even animal-like man, Enkidu—who represents the rough edge of nature on the plains or steppes, as compared to life in the city.
3Hearing of the wild man, Gilgamesh dispatches a temple priestess, Shamhat, to woo Enkidu with her sexual prowess, and indeed Enkidu is so enamored that as the text states, “he stayed erect 7 days and 7 nights.” (Note that in contrast to the later biblical story of the “Fall” in the primordial pardesh, the Persian idealized “Garden,” in this myth sexuality is an entrée into civilized existence.)
4Shamhat introduces Enkidu to human food, helps him shave his shaggy body and wash himself, and escorts him to Uruk. When Enkidu learns of Gilgamesh’s practicing the first-night ritual, he is furious, and loudly challenges Gilgamesh at the door.
5An earth-shattering fight between the two giants ensued, but Gilgamesh barely comes out the winner—and then immediately embraces Enkidu as the long-sought companion who is as strong and powerful as he is. Subsequently the two journey into many heroic adventures and become famous for dealing with the wild beasts such as Enkidu has formerly palled around with.
6Back in Uruk, the city’s guardian deity-goddess, Ishtar, proclaims her love for Gilgamesh, but he rejects her overtures rudely. She in turn sends the hideous Bull of Heaven, Humbaba—who is the guardian of the Cedar Forest at the command of another senior god, Enlil—to destroy Uruk in retaliation for the insult.
7Gilgamesh and Enkidu make short shrift of the bull, and in a supreme insult to Ishtar, cut off the animal’s genitals and throw them in her face. That’s a bit much for the gods, and Enkidu is doomed to die. We begin to see some changes in Gilgamesh as he worries for his companion’s health over the twelve days before Enkidu dies.
8Gilgamesh’s grief is so intense it nearly destroys his sanity, weeping as he “veiled Enkidu’s face like a bride’s”; but now Gilgamesh has to face the fact that even though he’s 1/3 divine and 2/3 human, he also must consider death: “Must I die too? Must I be as lifeless as Enkidu? How can I bear this sorrow that gnaws at my belly, this fear of death that restlessly drives me onward?”
9As a last resort, Gilgamesh decides to trek to the underworld to see if the one mortal granted immortality—namely Utnapishtim (the correlative of the later biblical Noah, who however was not made immortal)—can undo the death sentence. Obtaining access to Utnapishtim involves many of the characteristic tests and trials of the hero, but then Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh his Flood and Ark story—it was much larger than the later Noah’s, by the way—and says that Gilgamesh may get somewhere if he can just pass the trial of staying awake for seven days.