The divine tavern keeper Gilgamesh met was Siduri.
Siduri, more precisely Šiduri or Shiduri, is the divine alewife who keeps a tavern near the edge of the ocean in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh encounters her during his desperate journey after Enkidu’s death, when grief and fear of mortality drive him to search for Utnapishtim, the survivor of the great flood.
At first, Siduri is wary of the disheveled traveler and keeps her distance. After hearing his story, she explains that reaching Utnapishtim will be difficult and directs him to Urshanabi, the boatman who can help him cross the dangerous waters. In an older version, she also urges Gilgamesh to accept mortality and enjoy ordinary human life.
Siduri’s role varies across surviving versions of the epic. In some early fragments she is unnamed, while the name Siduri appears in the Standard Babylonian edition. She is sometimes confused with Ishtar because the name can function as a divine epithet, but the tavern keeper in the epic is treated as a distinct figure.