It is important to recognize that when Gilgamesh and Enkidu meet, fight, and become bound companions, their relationships to women in the story— whether divine or common women—virtually disappear. In his dreams of the meteor and the axe, Gilgamesh repeatedly emphasizes that he is drawn to these objects "and to me its attraction was like the love of a woman" (1. 66), Each time Ninsun interprets the dreams for her son Gilgamesh, she also repeats that "you will love him as a woman and he will never forsake you" (1. 66).
Contemporary readers are often uncomfortable with erotic language that is applied to same-sex relationships, and too often see strong bonds between men only in stereotypical terms like "homosexual." However, social scientists and literary critics use the term "homosocial" to denote the intense personal bonds between.....
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