Chapter 1 Summary

The epic of Gilgamesh is the story of a heroic King who goes to great lengths - all the way to the underworld itself - in order to discover the secret the immortality and, thus save his departed companion.

The story of Gilgamesh begins with an account of the geography of his world. To the north of his city of Uruk, one of the seven cities of ancient Sumer, lie the mountains of Mashu, to the west is the place in which the Sun sets to descend through the underground caverns and rise again in the Eastern Garden. Encircling this arrangement is the Bitter River, the slightest touch of whose waters causes immediate death. To the north of the Bitter River are the mountains-without-end and, to the south, the sea-without-end.

The people over which Gilgamesh rules as king possess a vast pantheon of...