Gilgamesh #

By Sin-Leqi-Unninni

Overview #

Summary #

This is one of the oldest stories ever known. This is a Sumerian poem about Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was the king of Uruk and ruled around 2700 BCE. This story was spoken and told orally, but clay tablets have been found. The tablets date back to around 2100 BCE. They are written in a cuneiform script called Akkadian. This was the Semitic language used in the Assyrian and Babylonian Around 1200 BCE, and the tablets were then compiled into their most complete form and into one single story by a Babylonian priest named Sin-Leqi-Unninni around 1200 BCE. These were multiple tales that were compiled into a larger story. Fragments were found all over Mesopotamia, so this story was widespread. The most complete version is called the “Standard Babylonian Version,” and it was discovered in Ashurbanipal’s library (an Assyrian king). This was discovered around the mid-19th century.

There are twelve tablets. This is very significant as its stories parallel later works. A major one is the Bible’s story of the flood in Genesis. The story also mirrors the Greek myth where Deucalion and his wife survive a great flood sent by Zeus and repopulate the Earth, although the story of Noah is much closer to Gilgamesh. A flood story predates Gilgamesh, and that’s the Mesopotamian Epic myth of Atrahasis. A god tells Atrahasis to build a boat to survive a flood meant to wipe out humanity.

Personal Takeaway #

I read a few versions of this epic, and one of my favorite was the graphic novel version. The depiction of the Humbaba battle is fantastic. The new English translation by Stephen Mitchell was also quite good. It is much more readable than some of the older versions. Reading these first helped me understand the story and made the others more readable after knowing what was going on. Some of the versions are more raw and include more of the sexuality, humor, and tough concepts like Gilgamesh’s “first right” to women on their wedding day.

Some of the versions tend to make this more academic, and some of the sexuality and humor is dropped. This was an incredible story that passed down through generations.

Utnapishtim is brought in as if the reader/listener already knows who he is. It’s as if he’s the main charater in the previous epic that’s brought in for a cameo appearance. After researching more about this, he mentions that while he was a king his name was “Atra-Hasis”, which basically translates to “Exceedingly/Extraordinarily Wise”. This was the main character in the previous epic Atrahasis. In this Atra-Hasis is chosen by the god Enki (Ea) as well, to build an ark as well, to survive the flood. It’s very clear the reader is supposed to know him as the main character from this other epic. Atrahasis is a much older epic and Utnapishtim is a very old man in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

The epic of Atrahasis that I found (a translation by Stephanie Dalley) was only about 30 pages and quite an easy read. It was not part of the Brodsky challenge, but well worth the read to figure out similarities here.

Book Summary #

Tablet I: Introduction and Gilgamesh’s Rule #

Gilgamesh is described as a demi-god. He’s two-thirds god and one-third human. He is strong and massive in size. However, he’s very oppressive. One of the rights of the king is called “first rights”. First rights are royal privileges, and the right a king has to be the first of anything. The first to resources, the first to food, and the first to fruits of labor. Gilgamesh abused this by claiming the virginity of women on their wedding night. The people of Uruk feel he abused his first rights, but this one is the one they resented the most.

In response to the people’s complaints, the gods created a wild man to confront him. This wild man is named Enkidu. Enkidu ends up being tricked into joining the human world by having sex with a human. The local farmer/hunter hired a prostitute to have sex with Enkidu so that he wouldn’t be a wild animal anymore.

Tablet II: Enkidu’s Civilizing and Meeting with Gilgamesh #

Enkidu is a huge man. The temple prostitute (Shamat) seduces Enkidu and brings Enkidu to challenge Gilgamesh. Enkidu stands at the doorway to a chapel to prevent Gilgamesh from claiming first rights to a bride, and they get into a fistfight. Gilgamesh barely wins. However, he grows as a person from the fight and the two become best friends out of mutual respect.

Tablet III: The Quest for Cedarwood #

Gilgamesh, seeking fame, proposes a dangerous expedition to the Cedar Forest to confront its guardian, Humbaba. Enkidu and the elders of Uruk initially warn against it, but Gilgamesh insists. It’s interesting that Enkidu already knew of the dangers of the forest, and I’m not sure where he would have learned of this, but he suddenly had knowledge of it. This was probably to make the story more suspenseful and make it sound more dangerous. Not a lot really happens in this tablet.

Tablet IV: Journey to the Cedar Forest #

Gilgamesh and Enkidu travel to the Cedar Forest. Along the way, Gilgamesh experiences troubling dreams that Enkidu interprets as favorable omens. There are a lot of dreams in the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is no different. This is a main reason why I think tablet XII (12) fits in as a dream sequence.

Tablet V: The Battle with Humbaba #

The two men confront and defeat Humbaba with divine assistance. They earn a tony of glory from this. Humbaba asks for mercy, but Gilgamesh does not spare him. It’s interesting that Humbaba pleads for his life, and Gilgamesh feels like the bad guy at a point. The monster (ogre) is clearly intelligent and speaks language. It feels a little like murder at the end. Perhaps this just didn’t age well.

Tablet VI: The Bull of Heaven and Ishtar’s Rejection #

This is hilarious. The goddess Ishtar really goes after Gilgamesh. She’s tries really hard to romantically get involved with him. Gilgamesh then rejects her harshly. He brings up her past lovers and mocks her. She gets very angry and sends the Bull of Heaven to punish him. Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the bull. This book is meant to be quite funny and there is a lot of entertainment here. I can imagine this story being told around Summarian campfires.

Tablet VII: The Death of Enkidu #

The gods decide Enkidu must die as punishment for killing Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. Enkidu falls ill and curses the events that led him to civilization but ultimately accepts his fate and dies. There is some foreshaddowing here as Enkidu goes a little crazy he starts talking nonsense, but there is some foreshadowing to Utnapishtim here.

I had always understood that wedding rings were first associated with the Romans or with the “rings of love” from the Egyptians, who are sometimes credited with exchanging rings as symbols of love. However, while reading the Epic of Gilgamesh, I came across a passage in Tablet VIII that states, “of the wife place a ring on you, mourn you.” This could be referring to wedding rings, or I could be misunderstanding this.

Tablet VIII: Mourning Enkidu #

Gilgamesh mourns deeply for his friend. He ends up building a monument for him as well. This shows the friendship between the two being one of intense emotion. Ancient Mesopotamian literature often blurred lines between intense friendship and romantic love. The texts talk about an intense emotional and physical relationship between the two. It reminds me of the relationship between David and Jonathon in the Old Testament. There are more undertones of a possible physical closeness between Gilgamesh and Enkidu than between David and Jonathon. It’s possible that either or both couples were gay, or maybe neither was. Intense friendships between men were a common thing in the past.

David declares that Jonathan’s love was “wonderful, surpassing the love of women” (2 Samuel 1:26). I’m not really sure culturally what he means by that as I’m not as familiar with ancient Near Eastern culture, but in a more modern lens it does read as a highly emotional bond. I’ll unpack this more as I re-read the Old Testament.

Tablet IX: The Quest for Immortality #

Gilgamesh now fears death after the death of Enkidu. He set’s out on a quest for immortality. He looks to find the only one he know of that has lived forever. This is the Mesopotanian version of Noah called Utnapistim. He was granted imortality by the gods. There are these half men half scorpians that he meets, that end up being helpful rather than evil. Gilgamesh then spends 10 hours traveling through pitch darkness to arrive in another place.

Tablet X: Meeting with Siduri and the Boatman #

Gilgamesh encounters Siduri, a tavern keeper, who advises him to accept mortality. She is quite kind and Gilgamesh might be better off to just live his days out with her. He moves on howevers, and meets Urshanabi, the ferryman, who helps him cross the waters of death to reach Utnapishtim.

Tablet XI: Utnapishtim’s Story and the Secret of Immortality #

Utnapishtim recounts the story of a great flood and how he and his wife were granted immortality by the gods. Utnapishtim then challenges Gilgamesh to stay awake for seven days as a test, which he fails. Gilgamesh sleeps for all seven days, and Utnapishtim sets out bread that molds in various ways to prove he’d been asleep the whole time. Gilgamesh leaves, but as a gift for coming so far Utnapishtim tells him about a plant at the bottom of the water that can restore youth. Gilgamesh finds it, but then a snake steals it. (This feels very biblical too.) Gilgamesh immediatly gives up and returns to Uruk. The story is attempting to show he is accepting his mortality and taking pride in his legacy, but it just feels as he’s giving up.

Tablet XII (Appendix, not always included): Enkidu’s Spirit #

A later addition, possibly unrelated to the main story, describing a conversation between Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s spirit. In this Gilgamesh asks a lot of questions about how the dead are doing and Enkidu describes them. I like to read this as if Gilgamesh is in a dream sequence as it makes more sense this way. Also there are a lot of dreams in this story so it makes sense.