Shamhat is a sacred temple prostitute or harimtu.[2] She uses her attractiveness to tempt Enkidu from the wild, and his 'wildness', civilizing him through continued sexual intercourse. Unfortunately for Enkidu, after he enjoys Shamhat for "seven days and seven nights", his former companions, the wild animals, turn away from him in fright, at the watering hole where they congregated. Shamhat persuades him to follow her and join the civilized world in the city of Uruk, where Gilgamesh is king, rejecting his former life in the wild with the wild animals of the hills.