Shamhat ou Shamkhat
Dans la version ancienne babylonienne de Gilgamesh, elle est un personnage féminin qui apparaît dans la première et la deuxième tablette de l'épopée de Gilgamesh, et est mentionnée dans la septième tablette. C'est une prostituée sacrée qui joue un rôle important dans la mise en contact de l'homme sauvage Enkidu avec la civilisation.
Shamhat joue un rôle essentiel dans la première tablette, apprivoisant l'homme sauvage Enkidu, créé par les dieux comme un puissant rival de Gilgamesh. Shamhat est la prostituée du temple sacré ou Harimtu. Elle utilise son charme pour attirer Enkidu hors de la nature et le prépare par des rapports sexuels constants. Unfortunately for Enkidu, after hosting Shamhat for “seven days and seven nights,” his former companions, the wild animals, turn away from him in fear, at the watering hole where they gather. Shamhat convinces him to follow her and join the civilized world in the city of Uruk, where Gilgamesh is king, rejecting his previous life in the wilderness with the wild animals of the hills. From now on, Gilgamesh and Enkidu become close friends and go through many adventures (starting with the Cedar Forest and meeting Humbaba.)
When Enkidu dies he expresses his anger at Shamhat for civilizing him, blaming her for bringing him into a new world of experiences that led to his death. He curses her to become an outcast. The god Shamash reminds Enkidu that Shamhat fed and clothed him. Enkidu calms down and tells her that all men will desire her and give her gifts of jewelry.
When Enkidu dies he expresses his anger at Shamhat for civilizing him, blaming her for bringing him into a new world of experiences that led to his death. He curses her to become an outcast. The god Shamash reminds Enkidu that Shamhat fed and clothed him. Enkidu calms down and tells her that all men will desire her and give her gifts of jewelry.
The name Shamhat literally means “the seductress.” Her role in bringing Enkidu from nature to civilization through sex has been widely discussed. Rivka Harris argues that "the mediating role of the courtesan in transforming Enkidu from a person at home from nature and wild animals into a human being is crucial." According to the classicist Paul Friedrich, Shamhat's sexual skills establish "the relationship between the intellectual sense, or the developed sense, and civilization." ». Through her sexual arts, Enkidu leads to an understanding of how basic animal urges can be transformed into something sophisticated, or “civilized.” Mesopotamia believed that prostitution was an essential feature of civilization: "a major representative of urban life." Shamhat then becomes the “mother” of civilized Enkidu, teaching him the basics of civilized life, eating, drinking wine, and dressing himself.
Iraq museum The Iraqi Museum
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