Siduri


Siduri is a character in the Epic of Gilgamesh. She is an "alewife", a wise female divinity associated with fermentation.

Role in the Epic of Gilgamesh

In the earlier Old Babylonian version of the Epic, she attempts to dissuade Gilgamesh in his quest for immortality, urging him to be content with the simple pleasures of life.

Later influence

Several scholars suggest direct borrowing of Siduri's advice by the author of Ecclesiastes. The advice given by Siduri has been seen as the first expression of the concept of carpe diem, although some scholars see it as urging Gilgamesh to abandon his mourning, "reversing the liminal rituals of mourning and returning to the normal and normative behaviors of Mesopotamian society."
Siduri has been compared to the Odyssey's Circe. Like Odysseus, Gilgamesh receives directions on how to reach his destination from a divine helper. In this case it is the goddess Siduri, who, like Circe, dwells by the sea at the ends of the earth. Her home is also associated with the sun: Gilgamesh reaches Siduri's house by passing through a tunnel underneath Mount Mashu, the high mountain from which the sun comes into the sky. West argues that the similarity of Odysseus's and Gilgamesh's journeys to the edges of the earth are the result of the influence of the Gilgamesh epic upon the Odyssey.
Siduri's name means "young woman" in Hurrian and may be an epithet of Ishtar.