Enkidu is one of the central characters in the Epic of Gilgamesh, a 5,000-year-old poem from Mesopotamia. He was a wild man of the hills (see Feral Children), created from the earth by a goddess, raised by animals and living like them. The Epic describes him as "the one who was reared on the milk of wild beasts." He became "domesticated" (by intercourse with a prostitute) and the best friend of Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, after Gilgamesh defeated him in a wrestling match.

References

Encyclopedia of Religion. 16 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1987)
Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in English Verse, translated by David Ferry. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1992)
The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by N.K. Sanders. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1960)
"Gilgamesh in the Land of the Living." Available at: http://members.aol.com/mmqchome2/mythnotes.htm#GilgameshEpic

Indexes

Mythological, Traditional and Divine Figures
Arab, Middle Eastern
Near East
Iraq
Birth Identity Disputed or Deliberately Concealed
Birth or Infancy
Foundlings and Feral Children
Animals (i.e., Feral Children)
Wealthy, Famous, Noble or Divine Adoptive or Foster Families
Tracing Impossible or Birth Family Extinct