" He was singled out for the
exercise of royal authority. True to the description of the two heroes
in the Pennsylvania tablet as alike, one the counterpart of the other,
the seal cylinder portrays them almost exactly alike, as alike as two
brothers could possibly be; with just enough distinction to make it
clear on close inspection that two figures are intended and not one
repeated for the sake of symmetry. There are slight variations in the
manner in which the hair is worn, and slightly varying expressions
of the face, just enough to make it evident that the one is intended
for Gilgamesh and the other for Enkidu. When, therefore, in another
specimen, No. 173, we find a Gilgamesh holding his counterpart by the
legs, it is merely another aspect of the fight between the two heroes,
one of whom is intended to represent Enkidu, and not, as Dr. Ward
supposed, a grotesque repetition of Gilgamesh. [75]
The description of Enkidu in the Pennsylvania tablet as a parallel
figure to Gilgamesh leads us to a consideration of the relationship
of the two figures to one another. Many years ago it was pointed
out that the Gilgamesh Epic was a composite tale in which various
stories of an independent origin had been combined and brought into
more or less artificial connection with the _heros eponymos_ of
southern Babylonia.
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