Due to the nature of the Epic of Gilgamesh, I think that a retelling without changing any of the known detail or plot gives me a lot of freedom to write. Since the epic had to be translated, and there were gaps in the text due to the tablets being defaced, the Epic of Gilgamesh (found in Myths & Legends of Babylonia & Assyria by Lewis Spence) is more of a summary than a properly told story.
I think that the tale of Gilgamesh and Eabani (also known as Enkita or Enkidu) could be told well as either a story focusing on both of their perspectives - Gilgamesh, who is the 'tyrant hero' and wishes to twist the plans of the gods, and Eabani, who has little knowledge of the plans of the gods and is interested in befriending Gilgamesh after being told of him. There is no text detailing how exactly the two meet and become friends, so the details are completely up to my own devising. It is implied that they do not fight, as Eabani "wisely refrained from combat", but how they act towards each other prior to and in the process of forming their friendship is up to my own decision.
The story of Ishtar and the mighty bull Alu would also be an interesting tale. I could possibly tell it from either side of the story, from Gilgamesh and/or Eabani's perspectives or from Ishtar's, but I think that I would enjoy writing the former more, since the focus would be more on Gilgamesh and Eabani that way. The battle against Alu is missing from the text, so again I have more freedom with the details of what happened. In particular, this story would be great to use because at the end, Eabani dies, which results in a strong reaction from Gilgamesh and is likely a result of Ishtar cursing him in a rage due to the slaying of Alu.
Gilgamesh's reaction to Eabani's death is a long tale, but captures very well how Gilgamesh mourns the death of his friend, and subsequently begins to fear death and search for an escape from it. Many creatures and deities along Gilgamesh's path warn him away from this search, but he continues until he meets Ut-Napishtim. There is a long discussion between the two (which, due to being the Babylonian flood myth, could be its own story by itself - so I will almost definitely summarize or skip over it for my retelling!), and Ut-Napishtim eventually directs Gilgamesh towards where the plant of life would be found. Gilgamesh finds it and goes to bring it back to his kingdom, but a serpent steals it on the way back. Upon his return to his kingdom, Gilgamesh still grieves Eabani. He cries to Ea, who persuades Nergal (the deity of the underworld) to bring forth the shade of Eabani. Eabani tells Gilgamesh of the state of the underworld, and how those whose bodies are not treated properly suffer in the afterlife (Eabani is not one of these, and his spirit is a 'happy' one). There is a significant amount of story here, and I will definitely have to summarize a lot of it unless I intend to split it into two stories; the trip to Ut-Napishtim, and then the plant of life and the summoning of Eabani's spirit. Depending on what I want to include, I might separate those differently, but splitting this into two tales would give me more freedom to include further details instead of feeling constrained by fitting all that happens into one story.
Given Gilgamesh's role as a king, and my intent to try and show off how his role as king resulted in both his heroic and tyrannic sides, I think that this image of a golden throne chair matches my project direction. Unfortunately, there are not many convenient color images that work for both Gilgamesh/Ancient Babylonia and the direction I wish to take my retellings, so I went for the latter.
(Warsaw Throne chair of Stanislaus Augustus, Wikimedia Commons)
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