Ishtar and the Bull of Heaven

The goddess Ishtar, dazzled by the crowned victor, offers herself as his bride — and Gilgamesh refuses her, reciting the ruin she brought on every lover before him. Humiliated, she demands the Bull of Heaven from her father Anu, and it descends on Uruk, cracking the earth and killing hundreds. Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the Bull and fling its haunch in the goddess's face. But two guardians of the gods are now dead, and in the still air of heaven Anu, Enlil, and Shamash decree that one of the two friends must pay with his life.