Early Agricultural Society
In the Epic of Gilgamesh
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The People v. Gilgamesh
• Gilgamesh does not leave a girl to her
mother(?)
• The daughter of the warrior, the bride of the
young man,
• the gods kept hearing their complaints, so
• the gods of the heavens implored the Lord of
Uruk [Anu]
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• "You have indeed brought into being a mighty
wild bull, head raised!
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"There is no rival who can raise a weapon
against him.
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"His fellows stand (at the alert), attentive
to his (orders!)
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Separation of ruler and ruled
• 1) Hunter-gatherers -- no kings
• 2) Early hoe agriculture -- warrior leaders kept
in check by community (elders)
– Who were the heads of the Iroquois nation?
• 3) Civilization: rulers as powers over the
people
– Religion: People are slaves of the gods
– Versus earlier animism: “walking with God in the
garden”
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The goddess created him
• and (the gods) called out to [goddess] Aruru:
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"it was you, Aruru, who created
mankind(?),
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now create a zikru [opponent] to it/him.
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Let him be equal to his (Gilgamesh's)
stormy heart,
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let them be a match for each other so that
Uruk may find peace!"
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Creation of Enkidu
• Aruru washed her hands, she pinched off
some clay, and threw it into the wilderness.
• In the wildness(?) she created valiant Enkidu,
• born of Silence, endowed with strength by
Ninurta.
• His whole body was shaggy with hair,
• he had a full head of hair like a woman,
• his locks billowed in profusion like Ashnan.
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He knew neither people nor settled living,
but wore a garment like Sumukan.
He ate grasses with the gazelles,
and jostled at the watering hole with the
animals;
• as with animals, his thirst was slaked with
(mere) water.
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God/Goddess religion
• Who created humans--God or Goddess?
• Role of women in early agricultural societies
– The women in hunter-gatherer society were the
specialists of the plants
• Sharp gender hierarchy of civilization develops
gradually
– from early hoe agriculture
– to irrigation systems and the animal-drawn plow
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Historical Meaning of Gilgamesh
• King as a powerful, but oppressive ruler
• The “savior”: Enkidu. Who/what is he?
– A man who lives with animals
– I.e., a nomadic herder
• Agricultural people recognize freedom of
people who live close to animal, natural world
– They have no kings! They are free!
• -> Warrior herders liberate agriculturalists!
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From whose point of view?
• What is the point of view of early hearers of
Gilgamesh?
– Compare with the point of view of Genesis
– Who are the good/bad people in each
story?
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Who is to blame?
• Genesis: the herders (Abel) are good; the
agriculturalists (Cain) are evil
– Is this the bias of herders?
• Gilgamesh: the herders (Enkidu) are good; the
agriculturalists suffer (evil) from their own king
– Agrees with the Bible on who is to blame!
• Difference between them:
– Bible: agriculturalists in general are to blame
– Gilgamesh: no, its our king, not us, ordinary peasants;
he oppresses us as well.
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How is Enkidu captured?
• Q: What is the historical significance of the narrative?
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The task of womankind
• “Shamhat unclutched her bosom, exposed her
sex,
• and he took in her voluptuousness.
• She was not restrained, but took his energy.
• She spread out her robe and he lay upon her,
• she performed for the primitive the task of
womankind.
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• His lust groaned over her;
• for six days and seven nights Enkidu stayed
aroused,
• and had intercourse with the harlot [also
“priestess”]
• until he was sated with her charms.
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Comparative sex
• Book of Genesis 3:7
– “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and
they knew that they were naked; and they sewed
fig leaves together and made themselves loin
coverings.”
• Why so much sex in Gilgamesh?
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Hieros Gamos
• Religious nature of sex act in early agricultural
societies
– “Hieros Gamos” (sacred marriage)
• Who seduced Enkidu? Prostitute or priestess?
• What is the result of this?
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Enkidu becomes civilized
• “But when he turned his attention to his
animals, the gazelles saw Enkidu and darted
off, the wild animals distanced themselves
from his body.”
• = Separation from nature (and animist
religion)
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Love-hate relation to civilization
• Herders are the natural enemies of agricultural
civilizations
• But peasants admire their freedom
– Radically different social conditions
• Herders are attracted by (seduced by!) the luxury,
advantages of the cities
– Material conditions, technology
• Power of the men: physical powers: physical force, war,
conquest
– Beautiful women of the city
• Power of the women: sexual/psychological powers
(seductive attraction)
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Separation from God(s)
• “The hearts of the Great Gods moved them to
inflict the Flood.”
• Why?
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Why the gods destroyed humans
• “In those days the world teemed, the people
multiplied, the world bellowed like a wild bull,
and the great god was aroused by the
clamour. Enlil heard the clamour and he said
to the gods in council, ‘The uproar of mankind
is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible
by reason of the babel.’ So the gods agreed to
exterminate mankind.”
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Why the flood? Why evil to Humans?
• Question 1: why is there evil (=harm to
humans)?
• Answer? Because of an evil god
• Enlil and Ea: two gods, one who does evil, one
who does good (to humans)
– Polytheism
• Question 2: why did Enlil want to destroy
humans?
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The Flood: Genesis
• “And now God found that earth was full of men’s
iniquities, and that the whole frame of their
thought was set continually on evil; and he
repented of having made men on the earth at all.
• “So, smitten with grief to the depths of his heart,
he said, I will blot out mankind, my creature,
from the face of the earth, and with mankind all
the beasts and the creeping things and all that
flies through the air; I repent of having made
them. Only on Noe did God look with favor.”
(Genesis 6: 5-9)
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Bible’s story of the flood
• 1) Problem of monotheism: why the flood,
why harm to humans?
– Because of an evil god?
– Because of … ??
• 2) What is the difference between making
noise and committing “iniquities”?
– Ethical monotheism
– versus anthropomorphic polytheism
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Who is to blame for misery of
mankind?
• In Gilgamesh, (a) God is to blame
– Time of Gilgamesh 2600 BCE
– Time of Moses: about 1200 BCE
• Which was first?
– Implications of this?
• So the Bible story responds to the older story
that blames God(s)
– It’s not what those others say—that an evil god
causes the suffering
– It’s really the fault of human beings
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God is not to blame (in Genesis)
• Where does evil come from in the Bible?
– The serpent-tempter (why a snake?)
– The sin of Eve, and then of Adam
• God is not to blame
– Why a snake?
– (Later) theology of the serpent: a fallen angel who
rebels against God takes this form to speak to Eve
• Why does the snake come to Eve, and not to
Adam?
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Cause of death?
• Gilgamesh finds a plant that gives immortality
but while Gilgamesh is relaxing
– A snake eats the fruit that gives immortality
– And then it sheds its skin, to be reborn
– And so Gilgamesh will eventually die
• The Bible must respond to this story
– It is not ordinary human weakness or a mistake
that is the cause of death
– but an ethical failing by Adam and Eve
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What is the snake?
• The snake is the symbol of immortality
• It is therefore the emblem of the female
priestess
– who performs the fertility rites
– that guarantee the rebirth of the crops and of
human life
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Minoan Snake Goddess
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Reply by the Bible
• Eve is tempted by the snake
– Eat of this fruit and you will be like God
– i.e., you will be a goddess (like Aruru)
– The true sin is to join the agricultural religion with
its female goddesses and snake religion
• Eve and then Adam disobey a command of
God
– Humans cause evil—but the woman first of all
– The tree of immortality is barred from them, and
so they die
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Evolution of religion
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1) Animism
2) “Anthropomorphic polytheism”
3) ethical monotheism
Dates?
– 200,000 BCE to present (Paleolithic: Old Stone
Age)
– Gilgamesh: 2600 BCE (Bronze Age)
– Hebrew Bible: 1000-500 BCE (Iron Age)
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Oneness with Nature/God
• Religion of hunter-gatherers: animism
– Divine in nature
– Harmony of divine and human
– Cave paintings: Spodek 31
• Why deep in caves?
– See Venus figurine: Spodek 30
– Cave as uterus of world; Earth Mother (Gaia)
– Shamanism: humans participate in creation
• =Oneness of humans with “God”
– Genesis: Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden of
Eden
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“Natural” (kinship) society
• Technological dependence on independent
nature:
– Animals (hunting, men)
– Plants (gathering, women)
• Kinship as natural unity of people
• Religion of nature – animism
– Not passive, active: participation with/in divine
– Symbolic exchange between humans and gods,
not domination of gods over humans
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Shamash and Hammurabi
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Which is which? (Spodek, 59)
Gods look like kings (and vice versa)
Separation of ruler from ruled
Separation of divine from human
God-given laws cement human divisions
– Rich and poor
– Men and women
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Threefold approach to society
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Relation to nature – technology
Relation between people – social structure
Belief system – form of consciousness
Harmony between these levels (normally)
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Historical “fall” (summary)
• On technological level
– from dependence on independent nature
– to control over nature
• On social level
– from family-based, egalitarian society
– to class-based, male dominant society
– rulers are all powerful
• On consciousness level
– Animist oneness > Gods/priests are all powerful
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