PROLOGUE

 

Their coach swayed along a desert grit road, its garish livery muted by fine dust, the rattle of the air conditioning contesting the engine's growl. It described a wide circle, rocking from side to side, whilst the exhaust spluttered alien chemistry into wide earth and open sky.

The girl thumbed her study notes and read words that stirred with promise. As the bus slowed she pushed the notebook into her shoulder bag and peered bright-eyed through the dirt-streaked window at a scarred and abandoned landscape. Raised by the wheels, dust plumes drifted by in the heat of the day; departing spectres of those who once lived, laughed and toiled here - or so she imagined.

For some this was an excuse to pop another cola can, feign interest in the glossy itinerary replete with superlatives or raise a camera and snap what lay beyond the window to prove they had been to that famous somewhere-or-other named in the brochure. They had seen too many ruins these last few days. Were they expected to leave the coach again to suffer this infernal heat?

'Where are we?' asked an aged man, chicken-claw fingers clutching a wide-brimmed straw hat that boasted the tour operator's logo.

'Some place called Warka,' replied his dressed-for-the-shopping-mall, wife. 'That's what it says for Thursday afternoon, see - Warka. What's supposed to be at Warka, for God's sake?'

'Heaps of dried mud,' he mumbled, narrowing his eyes close to the window. 'Why they suggested we come out here, I don't know. D'you have that damned guide book?'

A sharp tap. A piercing electronic squeak. At the front of the coach their tour guide had switched on his microphone.

'Okay,' announced the stubbled face and mirrored sunglasses, 'the modern name for this site is Warka.' Another squeak assailed their ears as he moved the microphone away from the console. 'If you have been reading your brochure you will know that this was once a great city - yes, a very famous city. Its ancient name was Uruk.' Perhaps in hesitating he expected a question or two. There were no questions, though the girl and her two male companions eyed him steadily.

'Like most sites in the Tigris-Euphrates area,' he continued, 'known to the ancient Greeks as Mesopotamia, this is very old. It was at least as ancient to the Classical Greeks as the Greeks of those days are to ourselves - okay? The site was occupied for over five thousand years - right to the third century of the Christian era - a very long time - yes? And no matter how it looks today, this place is very special.'

Fingers rummaged noisily inside a plastic bag. Others stabbed and poked at smart phones. Most of the passengers settled back in their seats as if to say, 'Fine, but I'd rather be down by the hotel pool.'

The girl smiled at their guide and nodded encouragement.

'You see these ruins now,' he continued above the drone of the engine whilst prodding the sunglasses a little higher against his nose, 'and maybe you would not think this was once the biggest and most important city in the land of Sumer. There are no stone temples, no marble sculptures - nothing like that. They used mostly bricks of mud that were dried in the sun or baked in kilns. Here in the alluvial plains of southern Iraq finding stone was not so easy and there was little timber for building. Such things had to be brought from far away and used sparingly. So, they made good use of what they had - clay.'

'We saw plenty of trees some way back,' croaked one of the elderly passengers. Here was a point to be made.

'Okay, yes, as the gentleman says, there are trees - but these are date palms that have always grown here. The ancients made use of the fibres, leaves and fruit, as people do in our own time, but the wood is not strong enough to cross large spaces. So, the people of those days built mainly in mud-brick and reeds - materials that do not last as long as stone.'

The coach engine roared as an angry beast. They shuddered to a halt and the guide gestured beyond the window. 'Now, as you can see, it is dry here because the Euphrates river has shifted far away. But long ago that river flowed close to Uruk so the land was irrigated and fertile. Here was once a city of maybe fifty thousand. As I explained earlier today, those people, the Sumerians, are a mystery to us. No one knows where they came from. Their language was unique. We know of no connection to any other. But they were the most resourceful and inventive people in the ancient world - okay? And right here in Uruk were discovered the world's first written records.'

'You mean these guys invented writing?' drawled a woman with white-creamed nose and floppy blue hat.

'Ah yes, they were the first people we know of to use it,' enthused the guide at this modest show of interest, 'and that was around five and a half thousand years ago - okay? The people of these lands were also the first to use the wheel for transport but remember, in those days they had no horses - only the ass and the ox to pull their carts.'

'How about that,' someone drawled wearily, 'ah got me a cart but I got no hoss.'

'It must have taken a hell of a time to go any place,' observed another.

'That is so,' replied the courier. 'But maybe they were not in so much of a hurry.'

The engine slowed to a murmur and he leaned aside to speak a few words in Arabic to the driver. Returning his attention to the party, his face broadened into a wide smile. 'Okay, here we can get out and see the ruins close up.'

'How long do we have to stay?' asked one in pink satin dress and high heels, mustering enough enthusiasm to stifle a yawn.

'Looks like those pictures they send back from Mars,' remarked her blue-rinsed companion.

'How long?' answered the courier, 'Well, we have allowed up to one hour and I will explain what you see as we go around.'

'An hour - is that all?' came the girl's voice from the rear of the coach. The courier perceived a blaze of light in the lowering dusk of indifference and smiled, 'Ah, one of our student friends. Yes, I'm afraid that is all the time we have. The afternoon is very hot. I think an hour will be enough.'

'Perhaps we'll hang about here for now,' nodded the blue-rinse. 'My shoes will be ruined.' Others muttered agreement. More smart phones appeared. Some hovered momentarily against the windows.

'As you wish,' replied the courier, though a few began to struggle from their seats.

A serpent hiss, a stamping-hoof clatter and the door at the front of the coach quivered open. Most eager of the eight who clambered out to tread ancient earth were the three students in T-shirts and jeans. They grinned at each other as someone hung stooping from the hand rail in the coach doorway to gasp, 'Christ, how could anyone live out here - it's a goddamned furnace!'

'It would have been more pleasant when the river flowed close by and the city was surrounded by green fields and palm trees,' responded the courier. 'The houses of the city dwellers were built around shaded courtyards for comfort. They could use their rooftops to avoid the humidity and maybe grow bushes and flowers. I think then it was a good place to live.'

'You must know a lot about Sumerian history,' said the girl as they moved away from the coach, wisps of straw-blond hair shifting across her face in the hot breeze.

The man adjusted his sunglasses again and her face was mirrored in them like a tiny votive doll as he replied, 'I am a university lecturer in Baghdad but doing this I make a little more money. Things are not easy in this country as you know. There has been much violence and still there is uncertainty.'

At that point he stopped and turned to face his diminished audience. 'Okay, people, where we now stand would have been some way inside the city wall. That wall was once nearly ten kilometres around and within its circuit lay temples, workshops, houses and gardens. Most of the excavations have been carried out around the great temples that occupied the centre of the city. Little of what we see belongs to the earliest phase because successive generations destroyed or built on top of what was there before. And so, the city grew upon its own ruins. The remains closest to us,' he gestured across the rubble-strewn ground to where lay a soft edged, irregular geometry of low walls and foundations, 'are belonging to the last period of the city when it was occupied by descendants of Alexander the Great - those we know as the Selucids. Afterwards, from Iran, came the Parthians.

Rising up behind, you see what remains of the great temple of Uruk's patron goddess, Inanna. She was goddess of love, fertility and war. Most ancient civilisations seem to have had such a deity. Maybe you know of her by her Babylonian name, Ishtar. The Greeks had their Aphrodite. To the Romans she was Venus.' Glancing up at the ruined temple he continued, 'As you will have read in your guidebook, we call this kind of structure a ziggurat. To the people of these flat lands the ziggurat was a mountain - perhaps a stairway to the gods.' He produced a limp handkerchief and with it dabbed his brow. 'Okay, we will walk around the ziggurat and there you can still see reed matting they laid between the courses of brick.'

'How old is the ziggurat?' asked one of the male students.

'Older than most of what you now see,' he replied. 'It dates back more than four thousand years and was rebuilt by those who ruled from the city of Ur when they conquered all of Sumer.'

As they walked on, he answered questions, dispensed more okay's and described what lay about in greater detail. Two of the party, oppressed by the heat, retreated to the cooler interior of the coach. But the girl's hazel eyes saw much as she studied the great ruin. Against the harsh sky it arose - a layered mound of facets and recesses licked almost smooth by the tongue of time; its once pristine form and measured features long vanished beyond human memory.

'By around four thousand years ago,' continued the guide, 'Sumerian culture and language were being replaced by that of Babylon to the north. For a time, the land fell under Assyrian rule, and then Persian - until Alexander, who you call, "The Great," came. We have to thank the scribes of Assyria and Babylonia for our recovery of Sumerian literature. They preserved and translated into their own language the writing of earlier days - okay? Much of what has been recovered came from the royal library at the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, far to the north. That city was burned by the Babylonians and Persians, six hundred and twelve years before the Christian era. But, and here is truly a miracle, the flames that destroyed Nineveh also baked and preserved thousands of clay tablets that otherwise would have crumbled to dust. Amongst those tablets were discovered many religious, historical and literary texts, including the oldest recorded tale in human history.'

'The Epic of Gilgamesh,' put in the girl with an enthusiastic smile.

'That is so,' he replied, 'the Epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh - the man who sought eternal life. You know of him? You have read this?'

'Oh, sure, we covered it at college. It's why we grabbed those spare seats on the coach - just so we could see where he lived.'

'Okay - and this is the very place, but the Epic as we know it was put together over the many centuries after Gilgamesh lived and belongs more to myth than to history. Much like your King Arthur, I think. I have read about him, also.'

'But Gilgamesh did live,' responded the girl. 'We know that for sure, don't we? For people to have kept his name alive over all that time, he must have been more than an ordinary man - more than just another petty king.'

One of the party glanced at his watch and, with two others, drifted away to smoke cigarettes and talk amongst themselves on their way back to the coach, stopping only to pose idly for photographs with the ruins of Uruk a convenient backdrop.

'Ah,' replied the guide, seemingly unconcerned that his party consisted now of only the three students, 'who can know what kind of a man this Gilgamesh was. Legend says he conquered his enemies, rebuilt the walls of Uruk and glorified the temple of Inanna but legend is legend and there is little more anyone can say.'

'They had so many gods and goddesses in those days,' said the girl. 'Religion must have been pretty complicated.'

'But perhaps more tolerant,' replied the guide. 'Now we have Islam, a religion of one god, but it can be very intolerant the way Christianity was in your middle ages. This I say to you because soon you will be gone from this country with your memories. But if you can imagine - if only you can imagine what this city was like in her days of power and glory.'

The other students began to put questions of their own but the girl turned aside and sat down on a low, mud-brick wall whilst the voices of her companions and that of the guide, drifted away. Her gaze wandered across the sun-scorched monotony of rubble, trenches and toothless-jaw ruins. She regarded the sad and all but featureless heap that once had soared in grandeur as the pride and spirit of once great Uruk, a city returning to the formless earth from which it had long ago been wrested.

'Hey, Angie!' called one of the students.

'I'll catch up with you!' she replied with a wave of her hand.

They were gone. All lay still and silent beneath an empty sky. The girl drifted into fanciful thought, all but oblivious to the desolation. Oblivious to the heat. Oblivious to time itself.

A step away from the wall upon which she sat lay the softened edges of a rectangular pit. It was lined with part-tumbled bricks of baked clay. She wondered if perhaps it had been a burial - the final resting place of someone important, because it stood not far from the ancient temple mound. In the sand by her foot, small coloured fragments caught her eye and she reached down, scooping up several of them to place on the palm of her hand where she examined them closely. What were they? Fragments of painted shell or bone? Ivory, perhaps? One was a rich, deep blue that shimmered in the light as if trying to impart to her a memory of its past. Were these discarded little remnants once a part of something of great value - something wonderful?

'But they did remember you,' she whispered. The fragments slipped as passing time through her fingers and she spoke his name. 'They remembered you, Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. Through all the centuries they remembered and you became a legend. Gilgamesh - are your bones hidden beneath these ruins? If people have a soul, does yours still wander this lonely place? I sit beneath the same sky and breathe the same air as you once did. Oh yes, I do. If only -'

A movement. Her attention was drawn to the desert haze and she became aware of a figure some distance away - a young man dressed in white, long black hair cascaded about his shoulders. Arms half raised, he seemed transfixed at the sight of the ruins but she could make out nothing more. Thinking it odd that he should wander the desert alone she looked about to see if there were others nearby, companions perhaps, who might be waiting for him. There were none so she wondered if he might be a nomad. Did she hear the man cry out or was it her imagination? When she returned her gaze to the desert the figure had vanished.

A breeze sprang up. Invisible spirals gathered about, hovered for a while then scurried away with her thoughts.

In those brief moments the city was whole again amidst green fields. Close by the great river glinted sunlight. Boats swayed colourful upon the water. Inanna's temple soared white against a smiling sky, a sacred jewel in Earth's crown. Her voice carried his name as a soaring eagle across the land. 'Gilgamesh!'

 

CHAPTER 1 - GILGAMESH THE KING

 

Sangasu was a rough man of the country, a hunter and trapper, his hands often stained with blood, his clothes smelling of the animals he snared and skinned and of the earth that often served as his bed.

Afternoon sun still blazed fierce when he raised a hand to shade his eyes. Beholding Uruk at last in the hazed distance, he urged the ass onward with a gruff cry and a swish of his stick. At one side of his toiling mount hung a leather bag to contain his sustenance of bread, cheese and dried figs. To the other, a pair of leather-capped flagons to contain rough beer. All were now were empty.

Much wearied from travelling, the image of the city rekindled his hope and strength. Three days had passed since Sangasu had set out at first light from his humble home in the wild lands, attired in deerskin cap, cape and loincloth of stitched animal skins. By day he had detoured to where he hoped there would be water. At night he had rested under the stars, mindful of lion and wolf but had encountered neither. His night-time company had been the beast that carried him and the fearful image that haunted his thoughts day and night, the image that urged him so desperately on. In the day, buzzards and vultures had circled against a searing sky in anticipation of their next meal - the man they saw alone in a sea of desert. Having forded the great river where it was wide and shallow he eventually reached one of the tracks used by traders who came and went from marshland and desert. Some way ahead he would need to cross the sluggish waters of canal and irrigation ditch, then finally a narrow branch of the river that snaked in close to the city wall where stood Uruk's busy quay. Here were moored boats that came and went to places he would never know. Worlds of dreaming.

The land no longer stretched away as desert but had become green pasture. In time Sangasu found himself riding through the barley fields where Uruk's people toiled naked in the heat, wielding wooden scythes with keen, flint-edged blades. Across this patchwork land the crops had ripened full and plentiful and the main harvest of the year was almost done. Passing by, he watched them gather the barley, bundle and bind it in readiness for ox and cart. Already the aroma of the orchards laying closer to the city had livened his senses.

A short way from the floating bridge, he dismounted, tethered the ass to a bush close by the water then sat down against the trunk of a date palm where the shade from surrounding trees offered modest relief. Important as his journey might be, there was still time to rest his aching bones before crossing the river. Time as well to feast his eyes upon the glorious sight that was his destination. Sangasu clasped hands about his knees and breathed in deeply. Here was a splendid view of the city and her great wall. A strong wall of burned brick, clad with dazzling white gypsum. A wall fit to resist the guile and battering of the enemy. Always there had been an enemy. Bright in golden afternoon light with the long shadows of palm trees cast across its seamless face, the wall curved about Uruk as a protecting arm.

Some way behind this rampart arose another, higher wall that defined the temple platform within the holy precinct called Eanna. Its cornice, sheathed in burnished copper, blazed sunlight. Rising in majesty above this was the portal of earth and heaven, gateway to the gods, the white-plastered, recess-walled temple of Inanna. Inanna - she who the people of Uruk revered as Queen of Heaven. Before it her brightly coloured banners swayed lazily from cedarwood masts. Sangasu wondered if the hand of man might ever again enrich Sumer with wonders to equal Uruk and her temples.

As with all dwellers in this land, Sangasu possessed some knowledge of the city and its affairs. It was common knowledge that Uruk's king had brought low the ruthless Agga, ambitious ruler of mighty Kish, Uruk's old rival far to the north. Since those bloody days Gilgamesh had enlarged the city wall, had enhanced and beautified the shrine of Inanna with coloured mosaics of precious glass and stone - all aided by the spoils of war.

It was commonly believed that Gilgamesh was fifth in line of the deified ones who had ruled over Uruk since the time of the Great Flood. Born of Ninsun the Wise, herself a minor goddess according to many, Gilgamesh was champion of the people, his rule sanctioned by the city elders and by the priesthood of both Inanna and of remote and mystical Anu, father of the gods and ruler of the heavens. As for the king's father - the trapper knew nothing beyond the rumour that he was a priest from the precinct of the Kullab district where Anu's temple stood. Others declared his father to be a divine hero but Ninsun's private life was shrouded in mystery and so speculation remained no more than that. Sangasu had heard, recited by the city's children, how the deeds of Gilgamesh were a beacon by which every red-blooded male might set the course of his own life when he reached manhood. And when conflict came.

Would Kish rise again? Would another town seek glory by aggression? Always the star of fortune must rise for one as it descended for another. Passing traders talked of intrigues and changing alliances and the nomads might also carry news of value. There were disputes over water, over territory and over livestock though the priests taught that such things were in the hands of the eternal gods and not of frail mortals. The gods made themselves known in wind, in tempest, and in the fortunes of mankind. Much of this Sangasu understood, though in his unending days of toil it counted for little.

But what had driven him in desperation to Uruk with no skins to trade, with nothing to exchange for even a morsel of food or a cup of beer? He hoped someone, perhaps the priests of Inanna, would be feeling generous. Perhaps they would offer him beer and bread to ease the thirst and emptiness he felt within. Perhaps also a place to rest for the night where he might think over his plans for the following day.

Sangasu the hunter and trapper could never have guessed the nature of events taking place in Uruk. Events in which he, a man of so little importance in the great wide world, was destined to play a brief yet vital role. But for now he had found unexpected comfort. Sangasu closed his eyes and lost touch with the day. When he awoke the sun had gone and in descending darkness a figure stood watching him.

***

The sky was brightening when the drum rattle echoed through narrow, shadowed streets. People moved aside to wait and watch as the party approached. 'Make way for the king!' cried the herald. 'Make way!'

The sun had not cut the horizon as they passed by on their progress to the Southern Gate. Uruk's people were familiar with the chime of gilded harness that adorned the king's spirited asses. Familiar with the ornate but cumbersome chariots whose wooden wheels furrowed the ground. Their king often took this route, accompanied by the royal companions, each attired in white tunic, each boasting a finely crafted spear tipped by polished bronze.

'Keep aside!' ordered the herald, passing on ahead with the sound of his drum giving way to the snort of asses and rumble of wheels. Then they were gone and people continued about their business.

The day was one of peace within Uruk because the market stalls were closed. All but the very youngest and the very oldest, or almost all, laboured in the field and orchard below whilst their chatter drifted across to the temple on still, humid air.

***

Later that morning, below the white facade of Inanna's temple, three shaven-headed priests relaxed upon a low mud-brick bench, cushioned by the softness of lambswool rugs. They were shaded in part from the sun by a stepped recess of the wall, in part by an awning of woven rushes suspended above their shaven and oiled bodies. About the limestone floor beneath three pairs of splayed feet was spread rush matting. Upon the matting rested sandals, dishes of dates, dried figs, fresh fruits and, casting a shadow across these, a terra-cotta jug, round-bellied as the owners of the three copper drinking tubes that had been placed upon the rushes next to it. The beer jug, alas, was drained almost to its sediment-laden bottom.

One of the three began to snore. Another glanced at him disapprovingly, adjusted the folds beneath his woollen kilt for greater comfort, leaned back against his cushion and closed his eyes. His companion to the other side did likewise.

'Pardon, holy ones!'

Two pairs of eyes sprang open. Oblivious to the intrusion, the portliest of the trio, continued to snore, each exhalation of air ending in a lip-quivering splutter.

'Ah,' exclaimed the first priest, eyeing the lean, deep-tanned form of a fuzzy-haired slave of the temple, as the boy knelt out of respect before them, 'I take it you have brought fresh beer - though I see no sign of it.'

'He hasn't brought any beer,' remarked the second priest, wafting his face with a fan of woven reeds. 'We'd see the jar standing in front of us if he had.'

The third priest snorted, stirred, passed wind loudly from his rear and at last opened his eyes. 'What! Is it the beer?'

'He hasn't brought any beer,' repeated the second priest.

'Holy ones,' nodded the boy with exaggerated anxiousness before three well-fleshed, questioning faces, 'there are men from the town of Larsa wanting to speak with you.'

'Men from Larsa!' exclaimed the first priest. 'What are men from Larsa doing here at harvest time and what do they want with us?'

'They didn't say, holy one,' answered the boy, rising to his feet before permission to do so had been given, 'but they are impatient and demand to be heard. They sent me because they could find no one else to bring their message.'

'Oh, very well,' grumbled the first priest, glancing at the other two for signs of agreement, 'show them up here and then go for the beer.'

'No problem, holy ones!' With a cheeky grin, the boy scurried off bare-foot down stone steps to the precinct, to reappear several priestly yawns and grumblings later with two men striding close behind. One of the pair, the priests observed, was tall and fine-featured with well-groomed hair and plaited beard. A patterned headband kept sweat from his eyes, a fringed white gown of embroidered linen swayed about his slender body and on his feet were leather sandals set above the toe with semi-precious stones, their glitter muted at present with a coating of dust. In one hand was clutched an ivory-handled flywhisk.

With leather bag clutched to his chest, his bald-headed companion, almost as portly and as sparingly dressed as the three priests, was evidently a slave. In recognising the status of the taller man, the three priests arose awkwardly from their seats as he halted before them.

'Holy ones,' he began, showing his left hand where was fixed the bronze ring that proclaimed him an official attached to the royal household of Larsa. 'I regret interrupting your well-earned period of contemplation but no representative of your king seems available today. I went to the House of Assembly but was told the elders of your city are absorbed in council with townsmen and must not be disturbed. I waited in the heat with no offer of refreshment and nowhere to stable our asses. It seems I was not expected, though a messenger had arrived here shortly after dawn to announce my visit.'

'You must excuse our apparent laxity,' offered the first priest, 'but the king and his retainers left Uruk at first light for their sport and we ourselves were given no notice of your arrival. What the elders are about today I really can't imagine.' Turning to the lithe figure leaning casually against the wall a short distance away, he barked, 'Boy - why are you idling there? Fetch the beer!'

'Ah, that won't be necessary,' said the envoy, thinking the request had been made on his behalf, 'I found a beer-seller by the precinct gate before ascending to the temple. I will leave the document in your safekeeping and inform our lord that he may expect a response within a few days - at Lord Gilgamesh's convenience, of course.' He glanced impatiently at his mute companion who, reaching into the leather pouch, withdrew a clay tablet, larger than a man's hand, densely inscribed with clusters of wedge-shaped characters. 'I trust someone will read this to the king on his return.'

'Someone!' put in the second priest with an indignant cough. 'Our king will read it for himself. Does the Man of Larsa not read his own documents?'

'He has others to do that sort of thing for him,' replied the envoy with a hint of condescension. His slave handed the tablet to the first priest, who studied it intently for some moments before looking up at the envoy. 'Our lord won't be pleased with this, I know it.'

'What's in the message?' asked the second priest, straining to peer over his shoulder.