some copies of the Sumerian myth Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven. She advises her son to reject Inanna's proposals and gifts. In the Old Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the eponymous hero asks Ninsun to interprets his dreams foretelling the arrival of Enkidu. In the younger versions of the composition, this is not shown directly, but rather mentioned by Shamhat to Enkidu. Ninsun predicts that Gilgamesh and Enkidu will become close (according to Andrew R. George: that they will become lovers), which comes true after their subsequent duel. In the "Standard Babylonian" version, the heroes later visit Ninsun in her temple in Uruk. She prays to Shamash to take care of her son, even though she is aware of the fate awaiting him. She also asks Shamash's wife Aya to intercede on her Gilgamesh's behalf. She manages to convince Shamash to give Gilgamesh thirteen winds meant to help him on the way to the Cedar Forest. At one point, she acknowledges that he is destined to dwell in the underworld alongside deities such as Ningishzida and Irnina. The final lines are damaged, but Ninsun seemingly holds Shamash responsible for Gilgamesh's plan to journey to distant lands, and therefore expects him to help him. It has been noted that overall the later version expands Ninsun's role, as in the Old Babylonian version, Gilgamesh prays to Shamash himself, without his mother's intercession. Both Ninsun and the dream sequences are absent from the Hittite translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh known from Hattusa. After finishing her prayer to Shamash, Ninsun decides to meet with Enkidu and proclaims him as equal to her son in rank and a member of her family. The scene has been conventionally interpreted as representing adoption. There is no evidence that an analogous plot point was present in the Old Babylonian versions. Andrew R. George proposes that the passage reflected a custom known from neo-Babylonian and later documents from Uruk, according to which foundlings and orphans were raised in temples, though their divine protectors were the anonymous "Daughters of Eanna" rather than Ninsun. A different interpretation has been proposed by Nathan Wasserman, who assumes that by adopting Enkidu, Ninsun guaranteed his loyalty to Gilgamesh and the city of Uruk. He argues that Enkidu's actions during the confrontation with Humbaba indicate that he valued Ninsun's acceptance highly, as he seemingly tells Gilgamesh to ignore the monster's pleas