The Epic of Gilgamesh

A The Epic of Gilgamesh is a epic poem.

• Context:
  • It can (often) be a tale of Human Heroism.
  • It can (often) be a meditation on the inevitability of death.
  • It can (often) be interpreted in historical, religious, and philosophical contexts due to its themes of power, divine interaction, and human frailty.
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  • It can be one of the oldest surviving literary works, written in Akkadian on clay tablets.
  • It can depict the journey of Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu as they confront supernatural beings and search for the meaning of life.
  • It can feature mythological figures like Utnapishtim, who survives a great flood, paralleling later flood myths such as Noah’s Ark in the Bible.
  • It can represent an early exploration of human concerns such as the fear of mortality and the search for eternal life.
  • It can provide insights into Sumerian mythology and the socio-political structure of early Mesopotamian civilizations.
  • It can be a foundational text in the study of ancient literature and comparative mythology.
  • It can reflect early religious beliefs, particularly surrounding the afterlife, through Gilgamesh's fear of death and his encounters with gods and eternal beings.
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• Example(s):
  • The Old Babylonian Version (c. 18th century BCE), which is the earliest known version of the story. It includes portions of the tale such as Gilgamesh's battle with Humbaba and his grief over Enkidu’s death but is fragmentary, leaving some episodes incomplete.
  • The Standard Akkadian Version (c. 13th to 10th centuries BCE), also known as the "He who Saw the Deep" version, compiled by the scholar Sin-leqi-unninni. This version is more complete and includes the famous episode where Gilgamesh meets Utnapishtim to seek the secret of immortality.
  • The Sumerian Flood Myth, a separate narrative about a great flood, incorporated into later versions of the epic. It bears resemblance to other ancient flood myths and highlights Gilgamesh’s encounter with Utnapishtim, the survivor of the flood, who tells Gilgamesh the story as part of his quest for eternal life.
  • The Hittite and Hurrian Translations of the epic (c. 14th century BCE), found in the archives of Hattusa. These versions reflect regional variations in the telling of the story, possibly adjusted to fit the local mythology or cultural context.
  • A reconstructed version combining all known fragments of the Akkadian texts, which attempts to fill gaps in the narrative. This version is often used by modern scholars to analyze the complete arc of Gilgamesh’s transformation from a tyrant to a wise king who accepts his mortality.
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• Counter-Example(s):
  • The Iliad, which, although also an epic poem, focuses on Greek mythology and the Trojan War rather than Mesopotamian themes.
  • The Odyssey, which similarly deals with heroism and the quest but is centered on Greek culture and a different style of epic narrative.
  • Aeneid, which is a Roman epic drawing from different mythological traditions and socio-political contexts.
• See: Gilgamesh, Mesopotamian Mythology, Utnapishtim, Epic Poetry, Religious Text, Immortality, Deluge (Mythology), Akkadian Language, Gilgamesh, Sumerian Language, Uruk, Pyramid Texts.

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References

2022

• (Wikipedia, 2022) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh Retrieved:2022-1-25.
  • The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about Bilgamesh (Sumerian for "Gilgamesh"), king of Uruk, dating from the Third Dynasty of Ur ().These independent stories were later used as source material for a combined epic in Akkadian. The first surviving version of this combined epic, known as the "Old Babylonian" version, dates to the 18th century BC and is titled after its incipit, Shūtur eli sharrī ("Surpassing All Other Kings"). Only a few tablets of it have survived. The later Standard Babylonian version compiled by Sîn-lēqi-unninni dates from the 13th to the 10th centuries BC and bears the incipit Sha naqba īmuru("He who Saw the Abyss", in modern terms: "He who Sees the Unknown"). Approximately two-thirds of this longer, twelve-tablet version have been recovered. Some of the best copies were discovered in the library ruins of the 7th-century BC Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. The first half of the story discusses Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, and Enkidu, a wild man created by the gods to stop Gilgamesh from oppressing the people of Uruk. After Enkidu becomes civilized through sexual initiation with a prostitute, he travels to Uruk, where he challenges Gilgamesh to a test of strength. Gilgamesh wins the contest; nonetheless, the two become friends. Together, they make a six-day journey to the legendary Cedar Forest, where they plan to slay the Guardian, Humbaba the Terrible, and cut down the sacred Cedar. The goddess Ishtar sends the Bull of Heaven to punish Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull of Heaven after which the gods decide to sentence Enkidu to death and kill him. In the second half of the epic, distress over Enkidu's death causes Gilgamesh to undertake a long and perilous journey to discover the secret of eternal life. He eventually learns that "Life, which you look for, you will never find. For when the gods created man, they let death be his share, and life withheld in their own hands". Nevertheless, because of his great building projects, his account of Siduri's advice, and what the immortal man Utnapishtim told him about the Great Flood, Gilgamesh's fame survived well after his death with expanding interest in the Gilgamesh story which has been translated into many languages and is featured in works of popular fiction. The epic is regarded as a foundational work in the tradition of heroic sagas, with Gilgamesh forming the prototype for later heroes like Hercules, and the epic itself serving as an influence for the Homeric epics.

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