Gilgamesh: Nether World Revive

Tablet twelve for me was the hardest to understand. I would first like to say, since it is the last tablet, a reference. As I have said in my previous blogs the Sumerian number system was built around sixty. Now in Gilgamesh’s journey he had to travel twelve leagues between the mountains. There are twelve tablets. They also said the sixty number system is what built our clock, and there are 12 hours on a clock. This is just another observation I have made. I don’t believe it is a coincidence. Now back to the tablet. The interesting new is that now Enkidu is back. It is hard to know whether Enkidu is the one disobeying in the Nether World or Gilgamesh. This tablet to me was very confusing. Gilgamesh goes into the Nether World yet he sent Enkidu to recover his drumstick. Enkidu tells Gilgamesh a set of rules to go down into the Nether World, but who appears not to follow them is Enkidu. This to me was all very confusing. In this there is a chant [Cry of the Dead: Naked the goddess mother lies in hell; naked Ninazu’s mother lies expose, the holy garment fallen from her shoulders, bare the breasts of the mother, Ereshikigal.] Pg. 86 Can anyone help me interpret this passage? Enkidu apparently revives at the end and tells Gilgamesh about the Nether World. He says all this stuff about men and the ones who have more sons having a better experience in the Nether World. This reminds me of the stories of kings and how they had to have a son to inherit the thrown. It reminded me of King Henry the 8^th in The tudors and how he had multiple wives just so he could have a son. [“How is it with the man who has five sons?” “They treat him in the Nether World as if he were a scribe of the court, dispenser of justice.”] The more sons they have, the better treatment. The epic ends in a nice way. The reader is hoping for Enkidu back ever since he dies and it is a good way to have the story flow to an end.