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Epic of Gilgamesh

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Ancient History,
Classical History and Mythology; Poetry & Opera

                               Fertile Crescent
                                                               myth series

     Mark of the Palm

                                 Mesopotamian
                                   Levantine
                                    Arabian
                                  Mesopotamia
                               Primordial beings
                              7 gods who command
                                The great gods
                             Spirits and monsters
                              Tales from Babylon
                             Demigods and Heroes

             Adapa, Enkidu
     Enmerkar, Geshtinanna
     Gilgamesh, Lugalbanda
           Shamhat, Siduri
       Tammuz, Utnapishtim

   The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Babylonia and is among the
   earliest known literary works. A series of Sumerian legends and poems
   about the mythological hero-king Gilgamesh, thought to be a ruler of
   the 3rd millennium BC, were gathered into a longer Akkadian poem long
   afterward, with the most complete version extant today preserved on
   eleven clay tablets in the library collection of the 7th century BC
   Assyrian king Assurbanipal.

   One of the stories included in the epic relates to the deluge. The
   essential story revolves around the relationship between Gilgamesh, a
   king who has become distracted and disheartened by his rule, and a
   friend, Enkidu, who is half-wild and who undertakes dangerous quests
   with Gilgamesh. Much of the epic focuses on Gilgamesh's feelings of
   loss following Enkidu's death.

   The epic is widely read in translation, and the hero, Gilgamesh has
   become an icon of popular culture.

History

   The Deluge tablet of the Gilgamesh epic in Akkadian
   Enlarge
   The Deluge tablet of the Gilgamesh epic in Akkadian

   Gilgamesh's supposed historical reign is believed to have been
   approximately 2500 BC, 400 years before the earliest known written
   stories. The discovery of artifacts associated with Agga and
   Enmebaragesi of Kish, two other kings named in the stories, has lent
   credibility to the historical existence of Gilgamesh.

   The earliest Sumerian versions of the epic date from as early as the
   Third dynasty of Ur ( 2100 BC- 2000 BC). The earliest Akkadian versions
   are dated to ca. 2000- 1500 BC. The "standard" Akkadian version,
   composed by Sin-liqe-unninni was composed sometime between 1300 BC and
   1000 BC. The standard and earlier Akkadian versions are differentiated
   based on the opening words, or incipit. The older version begins with
   the words "Surpassing all other kings", while the standard version's
   incipit is "He who saw the deep" (ša nagbu amāru). The Akkadian word
   nagbu, "deep", is probably to be interpreted here as referring to
   "unknown mysteries".

   The eleventh (XI) tablet contains the flood myth that was mostly copied
   from the Epic of Atrahasis. See Gilgamesh flood myth

   A twelfth tablet sometimes appended to the remainder of the epic
   represents a sequel to the original eleven, and was added at a later
   date. This tablet has commonly been omitted until recent years, as it
   is in a different style and is out of sequence with the rest of the
   tablets (" Enkidu is still alive..."), and is considered a separate
   work.

   The Epic of Gilgamesh is widely known today. The first modern
   translation of the epic was in the 1870s by George Smith. More recent
   translations include one undertaken with the assistance of the American
   novelist John Gardner, and published in 1984. Another edition is the
   two volume critical work by Andrew George whose translation also
   appeared in the Penguin Classics series in 2003. In 2004, Stephen
   Mitchell released a controversial edition, which is his interpretation
   of previous scholarly translations into what he calls the "New English
   version".

Contents of the eleven clay tablets

   Gilgamesh and Enkidu on a cylinder seal from Ur III
   Enlarge
   Gilgamesh and Enkidu on a cylinder seal from Ur III
    1. Gilgamesh of Uruk, the greatest king on earth, two-thirds god and
       one-third human, is the strongest super-human who ever existed.
       When his people complain that he is too harsh, and abuses his power
       by sleeping with women before their husbands do, the goddess of
       creation Aruru creates the wild-man Enkidu, a worthy rival as well
       as distraction. Enkidu is tamed by the seduction of
       priestess/prostitute (a hierodule) Shamhat.
    2. Enkidu challenges Gilgamesh. After a mighty battle, Gilgamesh
       breaks off from the fight (this portion is missing from the
       Standard Babylonian version but is supplied from other versions).
       Gilgamesh proposes an adventure in the Cedar Forest to kill a
       demon.
    3. Gilgamesh and Enkidu prepare to adventure to the Cedar Forest, with
       support from many including the sun-god Shamash.
    4. Gilgamesh and Enkidu journey to the Cedar Forest.
    5. Gilgamesh and Enkidu, with help from Shamash, kill Humbaba, the
       demon/ogre guardian of the trees. But before this is done Humbaba
       curses them both, saying that one will die for this; then he cuts
       down the trees, which they float as a raft back to Uruk.
    6. Gilgamesh rejects the sexual advances of Anu's daughter, the
       goddess Ishtar. Ishtar asks her father to send the " Bull of
       Heaven" to avenge the rejected sexual advances. Gilgamesh and
       Enkidu kill the bull.
    7. The gods decide that somebody has to be punished for killing the
       Bull of Heaven, and they condemn Enkidu. This also fulfulls
       Humbaba's curse. Enkidu becomes ill and describes the Netherworld
       as he is dying. Stephen Mitchell and others interpret the
       punishment as being for the killing of Humbaba.
    8. Gilgamesh delivers a lamentation for Enkidu, offering gifts to the
       many gods in order that they might walk beside Enkidu in the
       netherworld.
    9. Gilgamesh sets out to avoid Enkidu's fate and makes a perilous
       journey to visit Utnapishtim and his wife, the only humans to have
       survived the Great Flood who were granted immortality by the gods,
       in the hope that he too can attain immortality. Along the way,
       Gilgamesh encounters the alewyfe Siduri who attempts to dissuade
       him from his quest.
   10. Gilgamesh punts across the Waters of Death with Urshanabi, the
       ferryman, completing the journey to the underworld.
   11. Gilgamesh meets Utnapishtim, who tells him about the great flood
       and reluctantly gives him a chance for immortality. He tells
       Gilgamesh that if he can stay awake for six days and seven nights
       he will become immortal. However, Gilgamesh falls asleep and
       Utnapishtim tells his wife to bake a loaf of bread for every day he
       is asleep so that Gilgamesh cannot deny his failure. When Gilgamesh
       awakens, Utnapishtim tells him of a plant that will rejuvenate him.
       Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that if he can obtain the plant from
       the bottom of the sea and eat it he will be rejuvenated, be a
       younger man again. Gilgamesh obtains the plant, but doesn't eat it
       immediately because he wants to share it with other elders of Uruk.
       He places the plant on the shore of a lake while he bathes, and it
       is stolen by a snake. Gilgamesh, having failed at both
       opportunities, returns to Uruk, where the sight of its massive
       walls prompts him to praise this enduring work of mortal men.
       Gilgamesh realizes that the way mortals can achieve immortality is
       through lasting works of civilization and culture. For the origin
       of the flood myth in tablet XI see Gilgamesh flood myth.

Influence on later Epic Literature

   According to the Greek scholar Ioannis Kordatos, there are a large
   number of parallel verses as well as themes or episodes which indicate
   a substantial influence of the Epic of Gilgamesh on the Odyssey, the
   Greek epic poem ascribed to Homer.

   Some aspects of the Gilgamesh flood myth seem to be related to the
   story of Noah's ark in the Bible, see deluge (mythology).
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