Humbaba - evil giant, guarding the cedar forest

The legend of the giant that protects cedars, came to us from the depths of centuries. It originated in Mesopotamia, between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. The ancient inhabitants of these places - the Sumerians - have not yet revealed to the scientists all their secrets, despite the fact that they left behind a lot of cultural and historical monuments. One of them is the legend of Gilgamesh, which mentions an evil giant who guarded the cedar forest.

The Legend of the Keeper of the Forest

The ancient Sumerians believed that the amazing cedar forests in the mountains of Lebanon are guarded by the giant Humbaba. God himself Ellil entrusted him with this important matter. Since then, and stood in the post guard cedar forests, not allowing them to mere mortals.

The image of the giant Humbaba in the mythology of Mesopotamia

According to the views of the ancient Sumerians, the evil giant, guarding the cedar forest, had a rather frightening appearance. Seeing the violator of the forest tranquility, who had encroached on the tree, Humbaba rushed to him on powerful lion's legs. His body shimmered in the sun with shiny pinkish scales. Above his head towered formidable and powerful horns. The huge and evil giant, guarding the cedar forest, published heart-rending, angry roars that repelled any desire of ordinary mortals to cut valuable mountain cedars.

A terrible battle

The heroes of Humbaba were defeated by two heroes - Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Their names occupy a worthy place in the epic of Mesopotamia. Legends of the exploits of these soldiers survived to this day. One of the ancient legends says that once Enkidu and Gilgamesh threw Humbaba a challenge, and the evil giant who guarded the cedar forest accepted it. He saw the enemies from a distance and moved towards them from the very backwoods of the forest thicket.

His angry roar shook everything around him, a heavy footstep was audible to the brim of the earth. But this did not frighten the heroes. They raised their weapons, preparing to meet the enemy.

At this time from the sky came the voice of Shamash, the sun god. He encouraged the soldiers and sent them to help the eight winds. Even the terrible roar of the giant died from this powerful voice. Humbaba appeared before the soldiers in seven raincoats of sunlight. Scales on his body sparkled ... The first hit Gilgamesh. In one of his hands was a battle ax, in the other - a sword. He struck the giant in the back of his head. Enkidu arrived in time to help his friend, and eight winds flew to Humbaba from all sides, causing him to fall to the ground. At first Gilgamesh wanted to spare the defeated enemy, but his friend decided to bring the matter to an end. So the evil giant was defeated, guarding the cedar forest. Since then, people are not afraid to go to the forest on the slopes of the Lebanese mountains, collect nuts there and extract valuable timber.