Gilgamesh
Mesopotamian Mythology
Found in Two Cultures
 SUMERIANS
 BABYLONIANS/AKKADIANS
Mesopotamian Societies
Sumerians
•first major civilization (3000 BCE)
•Uruk (and other cities)
•Developed cuneiform writing
•elaborate mythology and cultbased mythic poems
Babylonians / Akkadians
•later (c.1200-600 BCE)
•myths based on Sumerian myth
The Gilgamesh Epic
The OLDEST KNOWN written Text.
The standard version was discovered in 1849
by Austen Henry Layard .
Translated into English in 1888.
This poem is the most popular piece of
literature in Mesopotamia, found in many
different languages and versions across 2500
years.
Gilgamesh
INTRODUCTION – TABLET ONE
I shall tell the land of the
one who learned all
things, of the one who
experienced everything, I
shall teach the whole. He
searched lands
everywhere. He found
out what was secret and
uncovered what was
hidden, he brought back a
tale of times before the
flood.
Gilgamesh
INTRODUCTION – TABLET ONE
He had journeyed far and
wide, weary and at last
resigned.
He built the wall of Uruk.
.. . One square mile is the
city, one square mile is its
orchards, one square mile
is its claypits, as well as
the open ground of
Ishtar’s temple.
URUK
URUK- Walls
Gilgamesh
KING OF URUK
2/3 god, 1/3 human. But like all
humans he is destined to die.
Considered “perfect in splendor,
perfect in strength”
Causes problems for his citizens
Builds too much
Forces people to work
Has sex with all the women –
considers everything in Uruk to be
his.
Citizens of Uruk
Pray for help
ENKIDU
•Hairy- Natural- Untamed
•Wild- Has never been civilized.
•Lives in woods, eats grass, disturbs the people
A woman- Temple Prostitute named
Shamat goes to him to “Tame” him.
Has sex with him for 7 days and
nights.
Teaches him how to eat bread.
Teaches him how to drink Ale. (7
Goblets)
He becomes civilized.
Shaves his hair, stops eating grass.
WEDDING FESTIVAL
Enkidu blocks the door.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu
THEY FIGHTGilgamesh Wins (Subdues
Enkidu)
They become Fast Friends
Go to the CEDAR FOREST to get a
giant tree.
(Only Gods and Goddesses were
allowed there)
They meet HUMBABA – Demon who
protects the Cedar Forest.
“WE WILL MAKE A NAME FOR
OURSELVES!”
HUMBABA- Giant with the head of a lion
The Cedar Forest
Enkidu
“Kill Him”
Gilgamesh
“OK”
And they kill
HUMBABA
ISHTAR- GODDESS OF LOVE AND
FERTILITY
Gilgamesh & Ishtar
Ishtar: “Come to me, Gilgamesh,
and be my lover! Bestow on me
the gift of your fruit! You can
be my husband, I can be your
wife. I shall have a chariot of
lapis lazuli and gold harnessed
for you . . . kings, nobles and
princes shall bow down beneath
you. . .”
Gilgamesh “You are a door that
can’t keep out winds and gusts, a
palace that rejects its own warriors,
a waterskin which soaks its carrier .
. . which of your lovers lasted
forever? Which of your paramours
went to heaven?”
Gilgamesh & Ishtar
What reasons does Gilgamesh
give for rejecting the love of
Ishtar? Have we seen anything
like this in Greek myth?
Why is Gilgamesh so hostile to
Ishtar, given that he does reject
her?
How is Ishtar characterized in this
exchange – benevolent, cruel, as
bad as Gilgamesh says, etc. . . .
What do you expect at the
conclusion of this episode, when
Enkidu and Gilgamesh have both
disrespected the goddess?
The Bull of Heaven
 The gods were in council last night. And
Anu said to Ellil, “As they have slain the Bull
of Heaven, so too have they slain Humbaba:
One of them must die.” Enlil replied, “Let
Enkidu die, but let Gilgamesh not die.”
Enkidu’s death- Tablet 7
Enkidu has a terrible nightmare:
He is going to die. He says “I don’t want to die!”
Enkidu gets sick and over 12 days, he dies. He curses the
hunter who found him and made him human, but Shamash
persuades him not to curse the prostitute.
And he dies
Gilgamesh Mourns his Death
 FILLED WITH TERROR OVER HIS OWN
MORTALITY
 Gilgamesh Sets out to find one man who has
become immortal. Ut-napishtim
Gilgamesh travels to the ends
of the earth, through the dark
mountain, the pathways of
Shamash:
Travels through the tunnel
of the sun.
He meets Siduri, the (female)
innkeeper (another cult name
of Ishtar), to whom he pours
out his troubles.
With the help of the boatman Urshanabi, Gilgamesh travels
across the water to Dilmun, the land at the edge of time . . .
He cuts 60 saplings for poles, and as each enters the waters, it
is eaten away. He finally uses his tattered clothing for a sail
and arrives exhausted to Ut-napishtim:
Ut-napishtim – Tablet 11THE GREAT FLOOD (handout)
Ut-napishtim offers Gilgamesh
a way to become immortal:
Test yourself! Don't sleep
for six days and seven
nights."
But as soon as Gilgamesh sits
down, he falls asleep. He
sleeps for seven days and
nights, and each day, Utnapishtim’s wife puts a loaf of
bread beside him. The old loaf
is rotting when the last one is
fresh: a metaphor for the
seven decades of human life.
“How can I become Immortal?”
GET THE PLANT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN
Puts the plant down
 Serpent comes along and takes it.
So:
Gilgamesh will not be
immortal.
GILGAMESH RETURNS HOME TO URUK
Homecoming
Urshanabi accompanies Gilgamesh home, and
when they reach the city, Gilgamesh proudly
points it out to him:
Go up onto the wall of Uruk, and
walk around! Inspect it . . . One
square mile is the city, one square
mile is its orchards, one square mile is
its claypits, as well as the open
ground of Ishtar’s temple.
finis
Mesopotamian Societies
Both societies share:
•social/political hierarchy with
kings as head of state
•priestly class who also
teach/write/preserve literature
•tradition of sacred writings
associated with actual rituals
•high level of “civilization” (i.e.
social structure & material
wealth)
•irrigation-based agriculture,
water resources organized by
government
cuneiform writing