Talk:Shamhat

What to say...opinions
I have claimed on the existentialism page that the Epic of Gilgamesh, is the first and ONLY, good existential story I know of. All the poor existentially deprived authors of the late Renaissance were deprived of this great existential story.

I think it is obvious that Enkidu is the other half of Gilgamesh. And.. i (sic)define the existential story as the  "civilized man"  -(Gilgamesh) and his inner duality the still-wild:  "wild-(natural)-man"  - (Enkidu). At any rate, Šamhat(Shamhat) is integral in helping this great Epic of Gilgamesh get started.

I see this as a twin thing, and a duality thing. (from the Arizona/SonoranDeserts)(I just made some edits to the article.)(I still think today's Modern Humans think we're so much smarter–in so many ways we're poorer. At least we have a History, if one can only access it: Believe in "sequential traslation": It is really NOT 'The Magnificent One'; It is: "Magnificent One" (in this case a female, but not just any, a main player in the story; she is required for the Epic to even start.))(articles: The, A, etc. can be important) --Mmcannis 21:05, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Issues with Shamhat & Shamash
From my translation and studies of Gilgamesh it does not name the Harlot as Shamhat/Samhat. It does, however, mention Shamash the Glorious One in the form of one of the gods alongside Eanna, Ishtar and Ea. Shamash is the glorious sun, or what we consider to be the Sun God in many of the ancient cultures. The harlot was also a temple prostitute under the rule of Ishtar, so I believe that this may be either a mistranslation or misunderstanding from the source of this posted article. The translation that I am using is N. K. Sanders, Penguin Classics, Penguin Books Ltd., London 1960 and is also the same translation used at Winthrop University Survey of World Lit ENGL208 using the Norton Anthology of World Lit Vol A. ---Erika —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.144.108.67 (talk) 02:27, 21 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Sanders is a prose version, not a direct translation of the original verse. Please read Andrew George for the actual text recorded, and yes, she is called Shamhat as per George's direct translation of the cuneiform.Wiki-proofer-and-tagger (talk) 15:00, 17 April 2014 (UTC)

Providing complete picture of Shamhat's role in the Epic
Yes, Shamhat's primary tool with Enkidu was sex, but she also civilized him with many other abilities. She taught him to speak, clothed him, taught him "the ways of the city", she gave him wine. Shamhat did so much much more than just have sex with Enkidu, this should, in my opinion, be properly reflected in her Wikipedia entry.Wiki-proofer-and-tagger (talk) 14:58, 17 April 2014 (UTC)

Shamhat is God/Jesus/the divine one
Shamhat is who brings men in to civilization. The lowliest of the low in their culture, but the thing they most want. The human species used women to evolve. They could represent the ideals of beauty and perfection and wisdom and moderation that men, as animals, couldn't. That's why they are Mum's. Tried again with Aphrodite, and Helen of Troy, and still didn't get the message, so we go on to Jesus... - and The Iliad obviosuly isn't about the war ItsBeautifulOnTheMountain (talk) 10:53, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

page image?
the of Shamhat and Enkidu used in this article is marked as "public domain" on its Wikimedia Commons page, but was apparently taken directly from someone's DeviantArt (seemingly by a person other than the illustrator). is it even alright to use here copyright-wise ??? Knejritter (talk) 00:42, 4 May 2024 (UTC)