Conquer the Fear of Man's Desire

The Secrets of the Queen of Alchemy

By Jean-Honoré Fragonard (French; 1732 – 1806)

He will give you the harlot Shamhat, take her with you.
The woman will overcome the fellow!
As if she were strong.
When the animals are drinking at the watering place,
Have her take off her robe and expose her sex.
When he sees her he will draw near to her
And his animals, who grew up in his wilderness, will be alien to him."
[...] He Enkidu, the offspring of the mountains,
who eats grasses with the gazelles,
came to drink at the watering hole with the animals,
with the wild beasts he slaked his thirst with water.
Then Shamhat saw him - a primitive, a savage fellow
From the depths of the wilderness! '
That is he, Shamhat! Release your clenched arms,
Expose your sex so he can take in your voluptuousness.
Do not be restrained - take his energy!
When he sees you he will draw near to you.
Spread out your robe so he can lie upon you,
and perform for this primitive the task of womankind!
His animals who grew up in his wilderness,
Will become alien to him, and his lust will groan over you.

- Tablet I from the Epic of Gilgamesh (Translated by Maureen Gallery Kovacs)

This excerpt from the Epic of Gilgamesh describes the scene in which the priestess of the Goddess goes into the wilderness in order to conquer the wild man Enkidu. His beastly nature, symbolic for him still existing only within the domain of instinct and impulse, is exemplified by his ability talk and eat with animals. It was said that he could “become like a god” (“You are beautiful. Enkidu you have become like a god”, she tells him later), and be initiated into the world of kings & civilisation through Shamhat’s strategic incitement of his lust and the eventual consumption of his energy. The text calls the ritual “the task of womankind.”

Shamhat goes into the wilderness and exposes herself in her full voluptuousness — since Enkidu was beastly, he was surely to be overcome by his instinctual nature and give in to the lust.