Mesopotamian PantheonMythical Realm
The Cedar Forest
A vast primordial forest at the edge of civilization, guarded by the monster Humbaba appointed by Enlil. Gilgamesh and Enkidu ventured here to slay Humbaba and make their names immortal.
About The Cedar Forest
Humbaba's precinct
The Cedar Forest is Enlil's protected wood, guarded by Humbaba (Huwawa). Gilgamesh and Enkidu cut a road, kill the guardian, and fell the cedars. Tablet V of the standard epic (and older Sumerian Gilgamesh and Huwawa) set the scene in the west, toward Lebanon in later geography. It is a sacred timber reserve, not a city. The crime is against a god's appointment. The forest exists so a name can be made and a curse can follow.
On the map
The Cedar Forest among other places of the Mesopotamian Pantheon.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet V
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Coordinates mark where the myths place a site, or where the tradition locates it today. Mythic realms are left off the map or marked as symbolic placements.
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