The legend of a giant protecting cedars has come to us from the depths of centuries. It originated in Mesopotamia, between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. The ancient inhabitants of these places - the Sumerians - still have not revealed to scientists all their secrets, despite the fact that they left behind a lot of cultural and historical monuments. One of them is the legend of Gilgamesh, which refers to the evil giant who guarded the cedar forest.
Legend of the Keeper of the Forests
The ancient Sumerians believed that the giant Humbaba guarded the amazing cedar forests in the mountains of Lebanon. God Ellil himself entrusted him with this important matter. Since then, the guard of cedar forests stood at the post, not letting ordinary mortals to them.
The image of the giant Humbaba in the mythology of Mesopotamia
According to the ancient Sumerians, the evil giant who guarded the cedar forest had a rather frightening appearance. Seeing a troublemaker who encroached on a tree, Humbaba raced towards him on powerful lion legs. His body shimmered in the sun with shiny pinkish scales. Terrible and powerful horns towered overhead. The huge and evil giant, guarding the cedar forest, emitted heartbreaking angry roars, discouraging any desire from ordinary mortals to cut valuable mountain cedars.
Scary battle
Two heroes defeated the giant Humbab - Gilgamesh and Enkida. Their names occupy a worthy place in the epic of Mesopotamia. Legends about the exploits of these soldiers have survived to this day. One of the ancient legends says that once Enkidu and Gilgamesh challenged Humbab, and the evil giant who guarded the cedar forest accepted him. He saw the enemies from afar and moved towards them from the wilderness of the thicket.
His evil roar shook everything around, a heavy tread was heard to the ends of the earth. But this did not frighten the heroes. They raised their weapons, preparing to meet the enemy.
At this time, from the sky came the voice of Shamash, the god of the Sun. He encouraged the warriors and sent eight winds to their aid. Even the menacing roar of the giant died down from this mighty voice. Humbaba appeared before the warriors in seven cloaks of sunlight. The scales on his body sparkled ... The first to strike Gilgamesh. There was a battle ax in one hand, and a sword in the other. He hit the giant in the back of the head. Enkidu arrived in time to help a friend, and eight winds hit the Humbaba from all sides, which caused it to crash to the ground. At first, Gilgamesh wanted to spare the defeated enemy, but his friend decided to finish the job. And so the evil giant who guarded the cedar forest was defeated. Since then, people have not been afraid to go to the forest on the slopes of the Lebanese mountains, collect nuts there and mine valuable wood.