Toward the end of the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh King, Gilgamesh laments the untimely death of his comrade Enkidu, 'my friend whom I loved dearly'. This book examines the stories' sexual and homoerotic language and suggests that its ambiguity provides fresh ways of understanding ideas of gender and sexuality in the ancient Near East.

Her interpretation also considers the heroes' erotic and sexual interactions with members of the opposite sex.Ackerman shows that the texts' language and erotic imagery suggest more than just an intense male bonding. She argues that, though ambiguous, the erotic imagery and language have a critical function in the texts and serve the political, religious, and aesthetic aims of the narrators. More precisely, the erotic language in the story of David seeks to feminize Jonathan and thus invalidate his claim to Israel's throne in favor of David. In the case of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, whose egalitarian relationship is paradoxically described using the hierarchically dependent language of sexual relationships, the ambiguous erotic language reinforces their status as liminal figures and heroes in the epic tradition.

Abbreviations Prologue 1. Of Greeting Cards and Methods: Understanding Ancient Near Eastern Sex The Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh 2. Introducing Gilgamesh 3. Gilgamesh and Enkidu 4. The Liminal Hero, Part 1 5. The Liminal Hero, Part 2 The Biblical Story of David and Jonathan 6. Introducing David 7. David and Jonathan 8. Liminality and Beyond Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index