The Tyrant of Uruk

Gilgamesh, two parts god and one part man, raises the great walls of Uruk but grinds his own people down until their lament reaches heaven. The gods answer: his mother, the goddess Ninsun, asks that a match be made for him, and Aruru pinches off clay to shape a wild equal in the wilderness. Twice Gilgamesh dreams of a fallen star and an axe he loves like a brother, and his mother reads the omen — a companion is coming who will still the storm in his heart.