The enslavement of men: Enkidu and Shamhat.

The cities of Sumer had been established for over a thousand years by the time the Epic of Gilgamesh was written, circa 2500BC, but they did not control all of the land. Most of it remained uncultivated and taming the wilderness, to make more commercially productive farmland, became important to the cities. That required an ever-increasing labour force, which could only be achieved through the enslavement of men. Civilisation depends on the enslavement of men. Many early civilisations were built on the enslavement of men, in the sense that we now understand it, but others were either not slave states or were only partially so. So how could the enslavement of men be effected, other than by force? One answer is illustrated in two great tales: The Epic of Gilgamesh and  Genesis. The enslavement of men to the city was brought about not through violence, but through love, or at least, lust. After the settlement After the establishment of sedentary living there remain