This sickness symbolizes the
waning strength of the sun after midsummer is past. The sun recedes
from the earth, and this was pictured in the myth as the sun-god's
rejection of Ishtar; Gilgamesh's fear of death marks the approach
of the winter season, when the sun appears to have lost its vigor
completely and is near to death. The entire episode is, therefore,
a nature myth, symbolical of the passing of spring to midsummer and
then to the bare season. The myth has been attached to Gilgamesh as
a favorite figure, and then woven into a pattern with the episode
of Enkidu and the bull. The bull episode can be detached from the
nature myth without any loss to the symbolism of the tale of Ishtar
and Gilgamesh.
As already suggested, with Enkidu's death after this conquest
of the bull the original Enkidu Epic came to an end. In order to
connect Gilgamesh with Enkidu, the former is represented as sharing
in the struggle against the bull. Enkidu is punished with death,
while Gilgamesh is smitten with disease. Since both shared equally
in the guilt, the punishment should have been the same for both. The
differentiation may be taken as an indication that Gilgamesh's disease
has nothing to do with the bull episode, but is merely part of the
nature myth.
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