Gilgamesh
Mesopotamian Mythology
Epic of Gilgamesh 2500 BC
(earliest known literary text)
•
11 Clay Tablets (story)
– 12th Tells of his ruling the netherworld
• Most important epic poem in human history
• Various adventures of hero-king searching for
immortality
• An account of the flood
• Characters
– Gilgamesh (2/3 god & 1/3 human)
– Enkidu (wild man)
Mesopotamian Societies
Sumerians
•first major civilization (3000 BCE)
•non-Semitic people /language
•Uruk (and other cities)
•cuneiform writing
•elaborate mythology and cultbased mythic poems
Babylonians / Akkadians
•later (c.1200-600 BCE)
•Semitic people.language
•myth based on Sumerian myth
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
Gods and Goddesses
•Sin (the moon), had a
higher place in the
pantheon than his
children:
•Shamash (the sun), who
becomes important as a
deity of all-seeing justice,
and
•Ishtar (the morning
star), whose multifaceted
nature includes goddess of
sexual love, of justice and
warfare, of communal
prosperity . . .
Gods and Goddesses
•Tammuz (Dumuzi) was Ishtar’s
husband – a god like Attis (with
Cybele) who died and was reborn
every year.
•Ereshkigal was the goddess of
the Underworld (Kurnugi).
•Ea was the god of fresh water,
thus a fertility god; he is often a
protective figure (asin the flood
myth in Gilgamesh).
•Belili, Dumuzi’s sister – parallel
to Geshtinanna in the Sumerian
story, who takes her brother’s
place in the underworld.
Key Themes
• Companionship
• Death
• Immortality
• Gods-Humans Relationship
• “Meaning of Life” or “Growing Up”?
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh is on the Sumerian king-list as
one of Uruk’s earliest kings – in the realm of
myth.
He is featured in several Sumerian myths and
in one long poem, the “Epic” of Gilgamesh.”
This poem is the most popular piece of
literature in Mesopotamia, found in many
different languages and versions across 2500
years. We discovered it in about 1920.
There are two major versions: we are reading
the Nineveh version, compiled by a priest in
about 800-700 BCE.
Gilgamesh
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.
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.
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh is the son of Lugulbanda
and the goddess Ninsun – and he is
2/3 god, 1/3 human. But like all
humans he is destined to die.
As the poem begins he is king of
Uruk, busy building his city ever
greater. When the epic opens,
Gilgamesh, though “perfect in
splendor, perect in strength” is
causing problems at home. His
excess energy (in building,
exploration, and sex – everything in
fact) is causing tension among his
people, who pray to the gods for
relief.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu
The gods create Enkidu, a hairy wild man, and place him in the
forest near Uruk. He lives like an animal, startling the locals. They
send to Gilgamesh, who suggests thay they tame him by sending
him a woman to sleep with.
The woman (called Shamhat, a cult
name of Ishtar) sleeps with him –
converting him to humanity. Enkidu
decides to go to Uruk.
Gilgamesh dreams about him, and his
mother Ninsun interprets the dreams.
When the two men meet – at a
celebration of Ishtar – they fight to a
standstill, then become fast friends.
They decide to go on a quest to free
the Cedar Forest of Humbaba.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu
So the heroes represent culture
in theis battle against nature . . .
Everyone advises against it.
Ninsun prays to Shamash:
Why did you single out my
son Gilgamesh and impose a
restless spirit on him? He faces
an unknown struggle, he will
ride along an unknown road . .
.
Ellil destined Humbaba to
keep the pine forest safe, to
be the terror of people . . .
She adopts Enkidu as her son, and
entreats him to watch after
Gilgamesh. The heroes depart . . .
Gilgamesh
•What does Gilgamesh have in
common with such heroes as
Odysseus, Achilles, Hercules,
and others modern day
heroes?
•Is his story (so far) essentially
different from theirs in some
ways?
•You’re reading the poem in
fragmentary form so this may
be hard to tell but . . . are
there essential differences in
how this story is told,
compared to, say, Homer?
Characteristics of heroic myths
• 1. The hero is usually a demi-god, or has a god in his family.
• 2. The hero has some kind of super-natural power or has the strong
support of a god.
• 3. The hero is usually on a quest. He has a task or a challenge (or
more than one) that an ordinary mortal could not carry out.
• 4, The hero is always seeking fame, glory and most important,
honor. These are more important than life itself.
• 5. The hero is braver, stronger, bolder and some times more clever
than most men. He is close to the gods.
• 6. The hero usually has a weakness, usually too much pride or a
terrible temper. This can lead to problems for him, and usually to
his downfall.
The Cedar Forest
When Enkidu touches the gates of the
Cedar forest, he feels a supernatural
cold and debility, and at first can barely
continue. Then Gilgamesh has terrible
dreams of destruction, which Enkidu
interprets in a favorable light.
The heroes battle Humbaba, who asks
for mercy. But Enkidu urges Gilgamesh
to kill the monster, despite the gods’
possible displeasure. Humbaba cries
out:
Neither one of them shall outlive
his friend! Gilgamesh and Enkidu
shall never become old men!
The heroes defeat
Humbaba, and return
to Uruk in triumph.
In Uruk, the goddess
Ishtar approaches
Gilgamesh to become
her lover.
Gilgamesh & 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. . .
But Gilgamesh scornfully rejects her:
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?
The Bull of Heaven
Enraged, Ishtar sends the Bull of Heaven to ravage Uruk.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill it, and when Ishtar reviles them, Enkidu
also insults her, even throwing the “thigh” of the bull in her face.
Inanna calls together the women to mourn the bull – a type scene
related to fertility ritual. (The Bull of Heaven is the husband of
Ereshkigal.)
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?
Enkidu’s death
Enkidu has a terrible nightmare:
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.”
Then heavenly Shamash said, “Was it
not according to your plans?” But
Enlil turned in anger to Shamash:
“You accompanied them daily, like
on of their comrades.”
Enkidu gets sick and over
12 days, he dies. He
curses the hunter and the
prostitute who found
him and made him
human, but Shamash
persuades him not to
curse the prostitute.
Gilgamesh mourned
bitterly for Enkidu his
friend, and roved the
open country. “Shall I
die too? Am I not like
Enkidu? Grief has
entered my innermost
being . . .
Gilgamesh travels to the ends
of the earth, through the dark
mountain, the pathways of
Shamash:
When he had gone one
double-hour, thick is the
darkness, there is no light; he
can see neither behind him nor
ahead of him… When he had
gone seven double hours, thick
is the darkness, there is no
light… At the nearing of
eleven double-hours, light
breaks out. At the nearing of
twelve double-hours, the light
is steady.
He meets Siduri, the (female)
innkeeper (another cult name
of Ishtar), to whom he pours
out his troubles. She directs
him to Utnapishtim, and adds:
As for you, Gilgamesh, let
your belly be full, Make
merry day and night. Of
each day make a feast of
rejoicing. Day and night
dance and play!
Utnapishtim
With the help of the boatman
Urshanabi, Gilgamesh travels across
the water to Dilmun, the land at the Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh:
edge of time . . .
•how Ea told him to build a
He cuts 60 saplings for poles, and as huge arc because a flood was
coming;
each enters the waters, it is eaten
away. He finally uses his tattered
•how built the amazing thing,
clothing for a sail and arrives
how he and his family alone
exhausted to Utnapishtim:
of all mortals were saved from
I crossed uncrossable
mountains. I travelled all the
seas. No real sleep has calmed
my face. I have worn myself
out in sleeplessness; my flesh is
filled with grief.
the Flood,
•how Ishtar mourned the
dead;
• and how he and his wife
came to Dilmun, living as
immortals.
READ PP.25-32
Utnapishtim 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.
Gilgamesh says to him, to
Utnapishtim the remote,
"as soon as I was ready to
fall asleep, right away you
touched me and roused
me."
But Utnapishtim shows him
the loaves, and Gilgamesh
realizes that he has failed his
quest.
Utnapishtim gives Gilgamesh
a “consolation prize”: a
rejuvenating plant. But on
the way home, a snake takes it
from him.
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.
The story's quiet close belies the significance of Gilgamesh's
return. He is back where he started but a changed man, his
description of Uruk here suggesting in the context a new
acceptance of the meaning of the city in his life, an embracing
rather than a defiance of the limits it represents… the king has
evolved from a hubristic, dominating male into a wiser man,
accepting the limitations that his mortal side imposes…[and]
his essential kinship with all creatures who must die .
Thomas van Nortwick
finis
Atrahasis