By Zahi Hawass In my last article I commented on Omar Sharif's beautiful smile. Well, I have found out why he was radiating such happiness. He is about to play a role in the Hollywood movie Gilgamesh, co-staring Peter O'Toole, so after their magnificent performances in Lawrence of Arabia, these two great actors will meet again in this film. We listened eagerly to Sharif describing the movie, which will be filmed in Turkey. Sharif's role will take about three weeks to film. The story of Gilgamesh is very interesting. Gilgamesh, a legendary hero, was considered to be one-third human and two- thirds god. He founded the city of Uruk in Mesopotamia in about 2700 BC, but was hated by his people on account of his ruthlessness. He even established a law granting him the right of "jus primae noctis", or of sleeping with a bride on her wedding night. The people began to present offerings to the gods and ask him to save them from this terrible king. The gods listened and created a legendary figure, a man with the power of 12 huge animals. This giant was called Enkido. Enkido lived in the desert, where he met a sacred prostitute who gave him wisdom and took him to the city. Enkido arrived in Uruk on a day when Gilgamesh was about to take a bride from her groom. When he saw this he confronted Gilgamesh, but the king proved to be stronger and Enkido was unable to defeat him. Gilgamesh admired Enkido's courage and they became friends. The two decided to embark on an adventure that would ensure that they were remembered forever. They decided to cut down cedar trees and build a huge fence to surround the city of Uruk. However, when they started on their adventure they encountered a huge monster. Gilgamesh was afraid of it, but Enkido bravely killed it. Before the monster died it put a terrible curse on Enkido. The goddess Ashtar planned to take Gilgamesh as a lover but he refused because he knew that anyone who had a relationship with her would be cursed. Ashtar was angry, and asked the sky god to kill Gilgamesh and destroy Uruk. She threatened that if he did not do this then the doors of hell would open and the dead would awaken and destroy the city. Enkido fell ill as a result of the curse, and eventually died. Gilgamesh was saddened not only by the death of his friend but also because he himself was terrified of death. He went to see the god Nw, his grandfather, and asked him for the secret of immortality. Nw explained that it was the nature of mankind to hanker after immortality, but later instructed him to stay awake for six days and seven nights. Gilgamesh tried to stay awake, but instead after only a few minutes he fell asleep and slept for six days. Gilgamesh then asked Nw how he became immortal. Nw warned him of a big flood to come, and told him to build a boat. Later the god told Gilgamesh that if he really wanted immortality he could obtain it from a sacred plant which grew at the bottom of the sea. Gilgamesh found the plant, but before he could collect it, it was swallowed by a huge serpent. So a defeated Gilgamesh returned to Uruk without hope of ever gaining immortality. Sharif told me that Hollywood was remaking the film The Old Man and the Sea from the novel by Ernest Hemingway, which had Spencer Tracey in the leading role. The old man went fishing and drifted for nearly three months at sea before he caught a fish so big that it took him three days to land it. In the end he let the fish go and it was devoured by sharks, leaving only its skeleton. Sharif said that he would retire after he had completed this film and would live in Egypt. I hold Sharif in the highest respect because he is proud to be Egyptian and always refuses to do anything against his country. He loves to talk about the old days in Egypt with his close friend Ahmed Ramzi. Sharif is in the heart of every Egyptian and every foreigner. At the age of 72, his charming and charismatic personality captures all hearts. When Sharif and I left we were singing, "Old Man and the Sea". To be continued.
