The Revenge of Ishtar continues the story begun in Ludmila Zeman's first picture book, Gilgamesh the King.

The epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest written stories in the world. Its value of loyalty and courage and emotions of love and pain have come down to us over 5,000 years, and turn up in many of our myths and legends.

In Gilgamesh the King, artist-filmmaker Zeman told of how Gilgamesh was changed from cruel tyrant to kind ruler through his friendship with Enkidu, the wild man from the forest who had been lured to Uruk by the beautiful Shamhat.

Here, in The Revenge of Ishtar, the two friends subdue the monster Humbaba who has sent destruction upon the city and killed the beloved Shamhat. In doing so, Gilgamesh attracts the attention of the goddess Ishtar. By rejecting her, he incurs her anger and revenge. She rides a new monster, the Bull of Heaven, to destroy the city. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay that monster too, her final revenge is to send a terrible illness upon Enkidu. Bereft of his only friend, Gilgamesh recognizes death as the last monster in the world and determines to find the secret of immortality. 

A rare and magnificent evocation of an ancient civilization and its ideals.

From the dust jacket