This important fact adds to the probability that the "cedar
forest" in which Huwawa dwells is none other than the Lebanon district,
famed since early antiquity for its cedars. This explanation of the
name Huwawa disposes of suppositions hitherto brought forward for an
Elamitic origin. Gressmann [39] still favors such an origin, though
realizing that the description of the cedar forest points to the Amanus
or Lebanon range. In further confirmation of the West Semitic origin of
the name, we have in Lucian, _De Dea Syria_, ยง 19, the name Kombabos
[40] (the guardian of Stratonika), which forms a perfect parallel to
Hu(m)baba. Of the important bearings of this western character of the
name Huwawa on the interpretation and origin of the Gilgamesh Epic,
suggesting that the episode of the encounter between the tyrant and
the two heroes rests upon a tradition of an expedition against the
West or Amurru land, we shall have more to say further on.
The variation in the writing of the name Enkidu is likewise
interesting. It is evident that the form in the old Babylonian
version with the sign du (i.e., d?g) is the original, for it furnishes
us with a suitable etymology "Enki is good.
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