The Oldest Queer Story?

The oldest known written fictional story in the world is incredibly homoerotic. But can we call it queer?

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a collection of poems from Mesopotamia, which we now call Iraq, likely first written down around 2100 BC. Most contemporary translations of the epic are based on 12 clay tablets produced in the first millennium BC. It chronicles the adventures of Gilgamesh, the King of Uruk, as he slays monsters, quarrels with the Gods, and searches for the source of immortality. Two-thirds God and one-thirds human, Gilgamesh has boundless physical energy, which he uses to oppress his subjects: interrupting marriage rituals, sleeping with brides, and erecting massive structures in his city-state.

Exhausted by the constant demands of their wanton King, the citizens of Uruk pray for help. In response, the gods create Enkidu: a burtish, hairy, beast of a man, who lives in the forest until he’s seduced by a woman named Shamat. They have sex for six continuous days (!) before she tells him of Gilgamesh and the king’s unbridled power. Intrigued by the stories of this powerful man, Enkidu travels to Uruk and challenges Gilgamesh to a wrestling match. They compete in a fierce battle of strength until Gilgamesh, realizing he has finally met his equal, embraces Enkidu, kissing him. The two form a powerful bond that lasts for the rest of the epic.

Together, they continue the search for power and recognition, slaying a demon named Huwawa in a battle so impressive that Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, offers Gilgamesh a proposal of marriage. But Gilgamesh refuses. Engraged, Ishtar sends a bull from heaven to attack them, but Gilgamesh and Enkidu defeat it. The Gods decide that Enkidu must pay for his role in killing their sacred bull, and they sentence him to death.

Devastated by the loss of his close companion, Gilgamesh begins a quest of his own, ultimately finding the source of immortality (it’s soon snatched away from him by a snake). He returns to Uruk dejected and empty-handed––until the spirit of Enkidu returns to him, speaking to him from the afterlife.

So. Is the epic of Gilgamesh a story of tragic queer lovers? Or is it the tale of an epic male rivalry turned friendship? It’s a question that’s been debated by countless scholars.

You might be thinking, “How about that steamy wrestling match that ended in a kiss? That’s pretty queer.” Unfortunately, it’s not the best proof of the story’s queerness. In Mesopotamia, hugging or kissing between members of equal status implied a showing of affection or respect. The kiss, more than anything, was an acknowledgment that Gilgamesh had finally met his match.

According to Mesopotamian legal codes, it was legal for a man to have sex with another man, as long as the passive participant was a sex worker or enslaved. To be penetrated by another man of your own status was “to resign one’s standing as a citizen.” Though Gilgamesh and Enkidu were certainly equals, we don’t know whether they actually had sex.

But what about that erotic wrestling scene? Most likely, Gilgamesh is getting ready to take advantage of his ‘right of first night’ (a King is allowed to bed a bride on her wedding night, even before her husband) when Enkidu interrupts him. As they wrestle outside of the bridal chamber, the scene serves as erotic foreplay, not only literally––for the impending sexual enounter with the bride-to-be––but also figuratively, for the lifelong relationship that will emerge from it.

It isn’t the only sexual act with women that is undermined by their relationship. In fact, most of the heterosexual relationships as described in the epic feel trivial compared to that of the two men. Enkidu’s sexual experience with Shamat ultimately leaves him unsatisfied and yearning for a challenge. Gilgamesh’s sexual conquests with the new brides of Uruk are portrayed as selfish, hollow behavior that is upended when he meets a man of his own caliber.

Perhaps the most telling of the depth of their connection is Gilgmesh’s despair upon Enkinu’s death. The passages that describe his grief are particularly and intentionally feminine, referring to him as a “mourner woman” and a “a lioness deprived of her cubs”. The loss of his closest companion has a permanent effect on his life. He leaves the city to search for himself in the desert, abandoning his sexually extravagant lifestyle and his relationships with women.

Given the evidence, can we call Gilgamesh queer? To be completely transparent, even a term as inclusive and flexible as “queer” might fail here, since our use of “queer” arose in response to oppressions of the modern era. Gilgamesh, however, was far from oppressed. If anything, he was very much an oppressor, and by modern standards, he could arguably be classified as a sexual predator (after all, it’s doubtful that all of his sexual conquests with the brides of Uruk were consensual). With no evidence of identity-based persecution, the term “queer” loses its defiant, rebellious quality.

Perhaps the term most appropriate to encapsulate the relationship of Gilgamesh and Enkidu is the label used by Neal Walls in his essay on heroic love: “soul mates.” Impassioned, unequivocal, and authentically requited, it was a love that changed both of their lives for the better and lasted even into the afterlife.

The story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu is proof that same-sex “soul mates” are as old as the written record. It’s proof that there was once a time when queer relationships, as we would now call them, needed no explanation and drew no criticism. On the contrary, they were celebrated, championed, and passed down through generations of ancient poets and storytellers.

This defining characteristic, that the Epic of Gilgamesh was passed down repeatedly, by scribes or by word of mouth, absorbing with every reiteration the biases of the storyteller, might help us solve the riddle of Gilgamesh’s queerness. To continue the tradition, perhaps we should inject our own biases into the story, making Ekindu and Gilgamesh’s relationship whatever we want it to be.

With so many queer characters and narratives stolen or hidden from us throughout history, I embolden you, as queer persons and ametuer historians, to freely insert your identity into this story, one as old as humanity itself.

If you see yourself (or your soul mate, or your wrestling partner) in this ancient tale, and if labeling Ekindu and Gilgamesh as the original queer icons is helpful to your understanding of the world, then yes––those boys were queer as hell.

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