Lecture Eight
Gilgamesh
Lecturer: Wu Shiyu
Outline
I. The previous lecture explored the world of the
Koran and saw the figure of Muhammad as a
great prophet, whose revelation of the Koran,
given by God, truly transformed history.
A. The central theme of the Koran is God—who
God is and what he demands of us.
B. The Koran is written in noble language.
Muslims believe that the Arabic of the Koran
represents the perfection of language. Only one
authorized translation of the Koran exists; it was
created under the Ottoman Empire.
C. The Koran is universal: it is studied and
recited throughout the world of Islam. It is able
to speak across many nations and cultures.
II. Westerners are concerned because the
Koran provides an entire social and legal
framework for Muslim society; however,
Western society is the oddity because it
separates the world of the divine and sacred
from the world of the secular.
A. Most of the great books show a belief that
the divine is truly of the world of humans.
B. The great civilizations of the past—including
those of India, China, Greece, Rome,
Mesopotamia, and Egypt—believed that there
was no dichotomy between the sacred and the
secular. In those cultures, there could be no
separation between church and state.
III. Gilgamesh is an epic poem that also reflects
no separation between the sacred and the
secular.
A. Gilgamesh deals with the second of the
themes for this course, the question of fate, a
question that has consumed the minds of
thoughtful individuals ever since the first days of
civilization.
B. The prophet Muhammad indicates that
everything that befalls people has been
destined by God. This message is also central
to the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.
IV. Civilization was born in Egypt and in
Mesopotamia. Around 3000 B.C., both areas
experienced an astonishing burst of anonymous
creativity.
A. These early civilizations were characterized
by systems of writing, complex government
structures, and monumental architecture. Both
the Tower of Babel and the pyramids
represented monuments to the belief that no
separation existed between the sacred and the
secular.
B. Mesopotamia, the land of two rivers, is
today’s Iraq. Civilization there blossomed in the
form of independent cities, including Uruk and
Ur.
C. A complex governmental structure evolved to
regulate the irrigation of the land through the
two rivers. Irrigation released the population of
Mesopotamia (as well as that of the Nile Valley)
from the vagaries of the weather. The large
cities were able to feed themselves.
D. This growth and harnessing of technology in the 3rd
century B.C. came about through absolute government
control.
1. The people of the Nile Valley accepted the belief
that the pharaoh was god on earth and built pyramids to
celebrate his eternity, the idea that the pharaoh would
live forever.
2. The Mesopotamian city-states along the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers were also based on the absolute
power of the kingship. The king ruled because God had
chosen him and placed him on the throne. Even the
names of the rulers reflected this status.
V. The epic of Gilgamesh is the first known epic
poem. Its theme is fate, and it asks the following
questions.
A. What is our fate?
B. Why do we die?
C. Why can’t we live forever?
VI. The epic of Gilgamesh has had several
forms.
A. Civilization in Mesopotamia came into being
with the Sumerians.
1. The language of the Sumerian civilization
was not related to the Semitic tongues.
2. Early in the Sumerian culture, the people
related tales of the figure of Gilgamesh, the
man of joy and the man of woe.
3. Gilgamesh was a real historical figure, who lived
around 2600 B.C. and had been king of Uruk.
This powerful king was credited with building
the walls that surrounded the city of Uruk.
These walls were a symbol of his ability to
organize labor and a symbol of the constant
warfare in the towns of Mesopotamia.
B. Around 2100 B.C., a longer poem about
Gilgamesh was written.
1. Almost from the beginning, this epic of
Gilgamesh was written down; it was not part of
oral composition.
2. The poem was written in the language of
Babylonia, Akkadian, which was a Semitic
language.
C. Around the end of the 2nd millennium B.C., a
final, elaborate version of the epic of Gilgamesh
appears.
1. The name associated with this poem is
Shin-eqi-unninni, who is the first known great
poet.
2. This poem was extensively copied, and
examples of it were found in clay tablets of
Ashurbanipal, the king of Assyria.
3. The Assyrians had come to rule Mesopotamia
and pushed their rule to the Mediterranean Sea.
They dominated Egypt for a time.
4. These stories about Gilgamesh attracted the
interest of an educated audience. Oral tales of
Gilgamesh also continued.
VII. The epic of Gilgamesh—a real historical
figure who became the subject of mighty
legends—is the story of how Gilgamesh looked
into the abyss; in other words, how he came to
realize that each person must die and that no
one can escape that fate. It is the story of the
quest of Gilgamesh for eternal life.
A. The story begins in the city of Uruk, where
Gilgamesh is ruler. He flaunts his power and is
mighty and vigorous, celebrating his
achievements.
B. The world of Gilgamesh is a polytheistic one;
the gods were human and accessible, like the
gods of Homer. These gods intervened directly
in the world of humans through oracles and
dreams. Dreams were a way that the gods told
humans what they were to do. The gods chose
who would rule, set up codes of law, and made
certain that there was no separation between
the world of the divine and the world of humans.
C. Gilgamesh was two-thirds divine; his mother
was a goddess, and his father was part divine,
as well.
D. Gilgamesh abuses his power. The people
believe that the behavior of Gilgamesh is out of
control, and they appeal to the divinities for
assistance.
E. The gods create Enkidu, a wild and
uncivilized man who knows nothing of
civilization and lives in the world of nature.
Enkidu is finally civilized by a temple prostitute.
F. After a trial of strength, Enkidu and
Gilgamesh become friends and set off on a
series of adventures to make names for
themselves so that people will remember
Gilgamesh forever.
G. Together, Enkidu and Gilgamesh conquer
and kill the fierce monster Khumbaba.
H. Gilgamesh rejects the love of the goddess
Ishtar. Enkidu and Gilgamesh conquer a
ferocious bull, a symbol of chaos, which had
been sent to avenge this insult to the goddess.
I. Enkidu then sickens and dies. Gilgamesh
becomes distraught and overwhelmed by his
understanding that he, too, must die at some
point.
J. Gilgamesh sets out to discover how he can
conquer death. He discovers that one man, UtNapishtim, is immortal and decides to ask him
the secret of immortality.
1. To find Ut-Napishtim, Gilgamesh travels through
the dark mountains, past the scorpion monster,
and finally, crosses the sea of death.
2. Ut-Napishtim explains that the gods had
decided to destroy the human race and had
instructed him to build an ark with two of every
creature. These creatures and the family of UtNapishtim were the only beings who survived a
mighty flood. The gods had granted UtNapishtim eternal life as a reward for his
suffering.
3. Ut-Napishtim tells Gilgamesh that he can
become immortal if he is able to avoid sleeping.
Gilgamesh immediately falls asleep. After he
awakens, Ut-Napishtim tells him that he can live
forever if he can bring the plant of immortality
up from the bottom of the sea. Gilgamesh finds
the plant, but a snake eats it. Gilgamesh then
realizes that he will die.
K. Gilgamesh returns to Uruk and surveys the
walls around the city. He says, “What I have
done is good.” He then lives the rest of his life
knowing that he will die and that all that matters
is his reputation and the achievements that he
leaves behind.
谢 谢！