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In the continuation of the story Eabani becomes the companion of Gilgamesh, but I venture to think that the title was transferred in the development of the epic from Ukhat, to whom it originally belonged. It is she who awakens in Eabani a sense of dignity which made him superior to the animals. The word translated 'companion' may be appropriately applied to Ukhat.
The hymns to Nergal may be taken as samples of the Babylonian dirges. The praise of Nergal and Allatu was combined with the lament for the sad fate of the dead. Gilgamesh weeping for his friend Eabani furnishes an illustration. Gilgamesh is described as stretched out on the ground.
Eabani clings to her, as Adam does to Eve after she 'is brought' to him. Ukhat becomes Eabani's 'companion, just as Eve becomes the 'helpmate' of Adam. These considerations strengthen the supposition that the Eabani-Ukhat episode is quite distinct from the career of Gilgamesh. Had the epic originated in Babylon or Nippur, Eabani and Ukhat would have been brought to Babylon or Nippur.
Gilgamesh puts his question to Eabani: Tell me, my companion, tell me, my companion, The nature of the land which thou hast experienced, oh! tell me. Eabani replies: I cannot tell thee, my friend, I cannot tell thee! He seems to feel that Gilgamesh could not endure the description. The life after death, as will be shown in a subsequent chapter, is not pictured by the Babylonians as joyous.
Shamash and Gilgamesh promise Eabani royal honors if he will join friendship with them. Come, and on a great couch, On a fine couch he will place thee. He will give thee a seat to the left. The rulers of the earth will kiss thy feet. All the people of Uruk will crouch before thee. Eabani consents, and in company with Gilgamesh proceeds to the fortress of Khumbaba.
Gilgamesh, it will also be recalled, is unable to pass to the nether world where Eabani is placed, and in the following chapter we will come across a tale intended to illustrate the impossibility of any one ever returning from the hollow under the earth where the dead dwell.
In the twelfth tablet which is in large part obscure we find Gilgamesh wandering from one temple to the other, from the temple of Bel to that of Ea, lamenting for Eabani, and asking, again and again, what has become of his companion. What has been his fate since he was taken away from the land of the living?
Eabani reveals glimpses of the sad conditions that prevail there. It is the domain of the terrible Allatu, and Etana is named among those who dwell in this region. Eabani bewails his fate. He curses Ukhat, whom, together with Sadu, he holds responsible for having brought death upon him.
Popular belief makes her responsible for decay and death, since life and fertility appear to be in her hand. Gilgamesh, as a popular hero, is brought into association by popular traditions with Ishtar, as he is brought into relationships with Eabani and Ukhat. A factor in this association was the necessity of accounting for Gilgamesh's death.
In Genesis, it will be recalled, death likewise is viewed as the consequence of Adam's yielding to the allurements of Eve. Special significance, too, attaches to the further parallel to be drawn between Adam's punishment and Eabani's fate. Dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return applies to Eabani as well as to Adam.
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