In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet VI describes Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s battle with the Bull of Heaven.
The goddess Ishtar sends the Bull after Gilgamesh rejects her proposal of marriage. The divine animal is associated with drought, destruction, and the punishment of Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu confront it together and kill it, protecting the city.
The episode follows the heroes’ victory over Humbaba in the Cedar Forest. It also leads directly to the gods’ decision that Enkidu must die, because the companions have killed major divine or divinely protected beings.
Readers sometimes confuse Tablet VI with Tablet VII, which begins the consequences of the Bull’s death and contains Enkidu’s ominous dream. The flood narrative appears much later, in Tablet XI.