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Gilgamesh

May 04, 2023

For other uses, see Gilgamesh (disambiguation).

Gilgamesh (Akkadian: 𒀭𒄑𒂆𒈦, romanized: Gilgameš; originally Sumerian: 𒀭𒄑𒉋𒂵𒎌, romanized: Bilgames)[7][a] was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC. He was possibly a historical king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, who was posthumously deified. His rule probably would have taken place sometime in the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia) (henceforth ED), c. 2900 – 2350 BC, though he became a major figure in Sumerian legend during the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112 – c. 2004 BC).

Gilgamesh
𒀭𒄑𒂆𒈦
𒀭𒄑𒉈𒉽𒂵𒈩
King of Uruk
Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assyrian palace relief (713–706 BC), from Dur-Sharrukin, now held in the Louvre[1]
Reignc. 2900–2700 BC (EDI)[2][3][4][5][6]
PredecessorDumuzid
SuccessorUr-Nungal
IssueUr-Nungal
FatherLugalbanda (in Sumerian poetry)
MotherNinsun (in Sumerian poetry)
This article contains cuneiform script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of cuneiform script.

Tales of Gilgamesh's legendary exploits are narrated in five surviving Sumerian poems. The earliest of these is likely "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld",[12] in which Gilgamesh comes to the aid of the goddess Inanna and drives away the creatures infesting her huluppu tree. She gives him two unknown objects, a mikku and a pikku, which he loses. After Enkidu's death, his shade tells Gilgamesh about the bleak conditions in the Underworld. The poem Gilgamesh and Aga describes Gilgamesh's revolt against his overlord Aga of Kish. Other Sumerian poems relate Gilgamesh's defeat of the giant Huwawa and the Bull of Heaven, while a fifth, poorly preserved poem relates the account of his death and funeral.

In later Babylonian times, these stories were woven into a connected narrative. The standard Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh was composed by a scribe named Sîn-lēqi-unninni, probably during the Middle Babylonian Period (c. 1600 – c. 1155 BC), based on much older source material. In the epic, Gilgamesh is a demigod of superhuman strength who befriends the wild man Enkidu. Together, they embark on many journeys, most famously defeating Humbaba (Sumerian: Huwawa) and the Bull of Heaven, who is sent to attack them by Ishtar (Sumerian: Inanna) after Gilgamesh rejects her offer for him to become her consort. After Enkidu dies of a disease sent as punishment from the gods, Gilgamesh becomes afraid of his death and visits the sage Utnapishtim, the survivor of the Great Flood, hoping to find immortality. Gilgamesh repeatedly fails the trials set before him and returns home to Uruk, realizing that immortality is beyond his reach.

Most scholars agree that the Epic of Gilgamesh exerted substantial influence on the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems written in ancient Greek during the 8th century BC. The story of Gilgamesh's birth is described in an anecdote in On the Nature of Animals by the Greek writer Aelian (2nd century AD). Aelian relates that Gilgamesh's grandfather kept his mother under guard to prevent her from becoming pregnant, because an oracle had told him that his grandson would overthrow him. She became pregnant and the guards threw the child off a tower, but an eagle rescued him mid-fall and delivered him safely to an orchard, where the gardener raised him.

The Epic of Gilgamesh was rediscovered in the Library of Ashurbanipal in 1849. After being translated in the early 1870s, it caused widespread controversy due to similarities between portions of it and the Hebrew Bible. Gilgamesh remained mostly obscure until the mid-20th century, but, since the late 20th century, he has become an increasingly prominent figure in modern culture.

Name

The modern form "Gilgamesh" is a direct borrowing of the Akkadian 𒄑𒂆𒈦, rendered as Gilgameš. The Assyrian form of the name derived from the earlier Sumerian form 𒄑𒉋𒂵𒎌, Bilgames. It is generally concluded that the name itself translates as "the (kinsman) is a hero", the relation of the "kinsman" varying between the source giving the translation. It is sometimes suggested that the Sumerian form of the name was pronounced Pabilgames, reading the component bilga as pabilga (𒉺𒉋𒂵), a related term which described familial relations, however, this is not supported by epigraphic or phonological evidence.[13]

Historical king

 
Seal impression of "Mesannepada, king of Kish", excavated in the Royal Cemetery at Ur (U. 13607), dated circa 2600 BC.[14][15] The seal shows Gilgamesh and the mythical bull between two lions, one of the lions biting him in the shoulder. On each side of this group appears Enkidu and a hunter-hero, with a long beard and a Kish-style headdress, armed with a dagger. Under the text, four runners with beard and long hair form a human Swastika. They are armed with daggers and catch each other's foot.[15]

Most historians generally agree that Gilgamesh was a historical king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk,[16][17][18][19] who probably ruled sometime during the early part of the Early Dynastic Period (c. 2900 – 2350 BC).[16][17] Stephanie Dalley, a scholar of the ancient Near East, states that "precise dates cannot be given for the lifetime of Gilgamesh, but they are generally agreed to lie between 2800 and 2500 BC".[17] An inscription, possibly belonging to a contemporary official under Gilgamesh, was discovered in the archaic texts at Ur;[20] his name reads: "Gilgameš is the one whom Utu has selected". Aside from this the Tummal Inscription, a thirty-four-line historiographic text written during the reign of Ishbi-Erra (c. 1953 – c. 1920 BC), also mentions him.[18] The inscription credits Gilgamesh with building the walls of Uruk.[21] Lines eleven through fifteen of the inscription read:

For a second time, the Tummal fell into ruin,
Gilgamesh built the Numunburra of the House of Enlil.
Ur-lugal, the son of Gilgamesh,
Made the Tummal pre-eminent,
Brought Ninlil to the Tummal.[22]

Gilgamesh is also connected to King Enmebaragesi of Kish, a known historical figure who may have lived near Gilgamesh's lifetime.[21] Furthermore, he is listed as one of the kings of Uruk by the Sumerian King List.[21] Fragments of an epic text found in Mê-Turan (modern Tell Haddad) relate that at the end of his life Gilgamesh was buried under the river bed.[21] The people of Uruk diverted the flow of the Euphrates passing Uruk for the purpose of burying the dead king within the river bed.[23][21]

Deification and legendary exploits

Sumerian poems

 
Sculpted scene depicting Gilgamesh wrestling with animals. From the Shara temple at Tell Agrab, Diyala Region, Iraq. Early Dynastic period, 2600–2370 BC. On display at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad.
 
Mace dedicated to Gilgamesh, with transcription of the name Gilgamesh (𒀭𒉈𒂵𒈩) in standard Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform, Ur III period, between 2112 and 2004 BC

It is certain that, during the later Early Dynastic Period, Gilgamesh was worshiped as a god at various locations across Sumer.[16] In 21st century BC, King Utu-hengal of Uruk adopted Gilgamesh as his patron deity.[16] The kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112 – c. 2004 BC) were especially fond of Gilgamesh,[16][21] calling him their "divine brother" and "friend."[16] King Shulgi of Ur (2029–1982 BC) declared himself the son of Lugalbanda and Ninsun and the brother of Gilgamesh.[21] Over the centuries, there may have been a gradual accretion of stories about Gilgamesh, some possibly derived from the real lives of other historical figures, such as Gudea, the Second Dynasty ruler of Lagash (2144–2124 BC).[24] Prayers inscribed in clay tablets address Gilgamesh as a judge of the dead in the Underworld.[21]

"Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld"

During this period, a large number of myths and legends developed surrounding Gilgamesh.[16][25][26][27]: 95  Five independent Sumerian poems narrating various exploits of Gilgamesh have survived to the present.[16] Gilgamesh's first appearance in literature is probably in the Sumerian poem "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld".[28][21][29] The narrative begins with a huluppu tree—perhaps, according to the Sumerologist Samuel Noah Kramer, a willow,[30] growing on the banks of the river Euphrates.[30][21][31] The goddess Inanna moves the tree to her garden in Uruk with the intention to carve it into a throne once it is fully grown.[30][21][31] The tree grows and matures, but the serpent "who knows no charm," the Anzû-bird, and Lilitu, a Mesopotamian demon, all take up residence within the tree, causing Inanna to cry with sorrow.[30][21][31]

Gilgamesh, who in this story is portrayed as Inanna's brother, comes along and slays the serpent, causing the Anzû-bird and Lilitu to flee.[32][21][31] Gilgamesh's companions chop down the tree and carve its wood into a bed and a throne, which they give to Inanna.[33][21][31] Inanna responds by fashioning a pikku and a mikku (probably a drum and drumsticks respectively, although the exact identifications are uncertain),[34][21] which she gives to Gilgamesh as a reward for his heroism.[35][21][31] Gilgamesh loses the pikku and mikku and asks who will retrieve them.[36] Enkidu descends to the Underworld to find them,[37] but disobeys the strict laws of the Underworld and is therefore required to remain there forever.[37] The remaining portion of the poem is a dialogue in which Gilgamesh asks the shade of Enkidu questions about the Underworld.[16][36]

Subsequent poems

Story of Gilgamesh and Aga
 
 
Story of "Gilgamesh and Agga". Old Babylonian period, from southern Iraq. Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq

"Gilgamesh and Agga" describes Gilgamesh's successful revolt against his overlord Agga, the king of the city-state of Kish.[16][38] "Gilgamesh and Huwawa" describes how Gilgamesh and his servant Enkidu, aided by the help of fifty volunteers from Uruk, defeat the monster Huwawa, an ogre appointed by the god Enlil, the ruler of the gods, as the guardian of the Cedar Forest.[16][39][40] In "Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven", Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the Bull of Heaven, who has been sent to attack them by the goddess Inanna.[16][41][42] The plot of this poem differs substantially from the corresponding scene in the later Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh.[43] In the Sumerian poem, Inanna does not seem to ask Gilgamesh to become her consort as she does in the later Akkadian epic.[41] Furthermore, while she is coercing her father An to give her the Bull of Heaven, rather than threatening to raise the dead to eat the living as she does in the later epic, she merely threatens to let out a "cry" that will reach the earth.[43] A poem known as the "Death of Gilgamesh" is poorly preserved,[16][44] but appears to describe a major state funeral followed by the arrival of the deceased in the Underworld.[16] It is possible that the modern scholars who gave the poem its title may have misinterpreted it,[16] and the poem may actually be about the death of Enkidu.[16]

Epic of Gilgamesh

Main article: Epic of Gilgamesh
 
The ogre Humbaba, shown in this terracotta plaque from the Old Babylonian Period,[45] is one of the opponents fought by Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh.[46]
 
Ancient Mesopotamian terracotta relief (c. 2250 — 1900 BC) showing Gilgamesh slaying the Bull of Heaven,[47] an episode described in Tablet VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh[46][48]

Eventually, according to Kramer (1963):[25]

Gilgamesh became the hero par excellence of the ancient world—an adventurous, brave, but tragic figure symbolizing man's vain but endless drive for fame, glory, and immortality.

By the Old Babylonian Period (c. 1830 – c. 1531 BC), stories of Gilgamesh's legendary exploits had been woven into one or several long epics.[16] The Epic of Gilgamesh, the most complete account of Gilgamesh's adventures, was composed in Akkadian during the Middle Babylonian Period (c. 1600 – c. 1155 BC) by a scribe named Sîn-lēqi-unninni.[16] The most complete surviving version of the Epic of Gilgamesh is recorded on a set of twelve clay tablets dating to the seventh century BC, found in the Library of Ashurbanipal in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh.[16][21][49] The epic survives only in a fragmentary form, with many pieces of it missing or damaged.[16][21][49] Some scholars and translators choose to supplement the missing parts of the epic with material from the earlier Sumerian poems or from other versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh found at other sites throughout the Near East.[16]

 
Tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq

In the epic, Gilgamesh is introduced as "two thirds divine and one third mortal."[50] At the beginning of the poem, Gilgamesh is described as a brutal, oppressive ruler.[16][50] This is usually interpreted to mean either that he compels all his subjects to engage in forced labor[16] or that he sexually oppresses all his subjects.[16] As punishment for Gilgamesh's cruelty, the god Anu creates the wild man Enkidu.[51] After being tamed by a prostitute named Shamhat, Enkidu travels to Uruk to confront Gilgamesh.[46] In the second tablet, the two men wrestle and, although Gilgamesh wins the match in the end,[46] he is so impressed by his opponent's strength and tenacity that they become close friends.[46] In the earlier Sumerian texts, Enkidu is Gilgamesh's servant,[46] but, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, they are companions of equal standing.[46]

In tablets III through IV, Gilgamesh and Enkidu travel to the Cedar Forest, which is guarded by Humbaba (the Akkadian name for Huwawa).[46] The heroes cross the seven mountains to the Cedar Forest, where they begin chopping down trees.[52] Confronted by Humbaba, Gilgamesh panics and prays to Shamash (the East Semitic name for Utu),[52] who blows eight winds in Humbaba's eyes, blinding him.[52] Humbaba begs for mercy, but the heroes decapitate him regardless.[52] Tablet VI begins with Gilgamesh returning to Uruk,[46] where Ishtar (the Akkadian name for Inanna) comes to him and demands that he become her consort.[46][52][53] Gilgamesh repudiates her, insisting that she has mistreated all her former lovers.[46][52][53]

In revenge, Ishtar goes to her father Anu and demands that he give her the Bull of Heaven,[54][55][43] which she sends to attack Gilgamesh.[46][54][55][43] Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull and offer its heart to Shamash.[56][55] While Gilgamesh and Enkidu are resting, Ishtar stands up on the walls of Uruk and curses Gilgamesh.[56][57] Enkidu tears off the Bull's right thigh and throws it in Ishtar's face,[56][57] saying, "If I could lay my hands on you, it is this I should do to you, and lash your entrails to your side."[58][57] Ishtar calls together "the crimped courtesans, prostitutes and harlots"[56] and orders them to mourn for the Bull of Heaven.[56][57] Meanwhile, Gilgamesh holds a celebration over the Bull of Heaven's defeat.[59][57]

Tablet VII begins with Enkidu recounting a dream in which he saw Anu, Ea, and Shamash declare either Gilgamesh or Enkidu must die as punishment for having slain the Bull of Heaven.[46] They choose Enkidu and Enkidu soon grows sick.[46] He has a dream of the Underworld, and then he dies.[46] Tablet VIII describes Gilgamesh's inconsolable grief over his friend's death[46][60] and the details of Enkidu's funeral.[46] Tablets IX through XI relate how Gilgamesh, driven by grief and fear of his own mortality, travels a great distance and overcomes many obstacles to find the home of Utnapishtim, the sole survivor of the Great Flood, who was rewarded with immortality by the gods.[46][60]

 
Early Middle Assyrian cylinder seal impression dating between 1400 and 1200 BC, showing a man with bird wings and a scorpion tail firing an arrow at a griffin on a hillock. A scorpion man is among the creatures Gilgamesh encounters on his journey to the homeland of Utnapishtim.[60]

The journey to Utnapishtim involves a series of episodic challenges, which probably originated as major independent adventures,[60] but, in the epic, they are reduced to what Joseph Eddy Fontenrose calls "fairly harmless incidents."[60] First, Gilgamesh encounters and slays lions in the mountain pass.[60] Upon reaching the mountain of Mashu, Gilgamesh encounters a scorpion man and his wife;[60] their bodies flash with terrifying radiance,[60] but, once Gilgamesh tells them his purpose, they allow him to pass.[60] Gilgamesh wanders through darkness for twelve days before he finally comes into the light.[60] He finds a beautiful garden by the sea in which he meets Siduri, the divine Alewife.[60] At first, she tries to prevent Gilgamesh from entering the garden,[60] but later she instead attempts to persuade him to accept death as inevitable and not journey beyond the waters.[60] When Gilgamesh refuses to do this, she directs him to Urshanabi, the ferryman of the gods, who ferries Gilgamesh across the sea to Utnapishtim's homeland.[60] When Gilgamesh finally arrives at Utnapishtim's home, Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that, to become immortal, he must defy sleep.[46] Gilgamesh fails to do this and falls asleep for seven days without waking.[46]

Next, Utnapishtim tells him that, even if he cannot obtain immortality, he can restore his youth using a plant with the power of rejuvenation.[46][31] Gilgamesh takes the plant, but leaves it on the shore while swimming and a snake steals it, explaining why snakes are able to shed their skins.[46][31] Despondent at this loss, Gilgamesh returns to Uruk,[46] and shows his city to the ferryman Urshanabi.[46] It is at this point the epic stops being a coherent narrative.[46][31][61] Tablet XII is an appendix corresponding to the Sumerian poem of Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld describing the loss of the pikku and mikku.[46][31][61]

Numerous elements within this narrative reveal lack of continuity with the earlier portions of the epic.[61] At the beginning of Tablet XII, Enkidu is still alive, despite having previously died in Tablet VII,[61] and Gilgamesh is kind to Ishtar, despite the violent rivalry between them displayed in Tablet VI.[61] Also, while most of the parts of the epic are free adaptations of their respective Sumerian predecessors,[62] Tablet XII is a literal, word-for-word translation of the last part of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld.[62] For these reasons, scholars conclude this narrative was probably relegated to the end of the epic because it did not fit the larger narrative.[46][31][61] In it, Gilgamesh sees a vision of Enkidu's ghost, who promises to recover the lost items[46][36] and describes to his friend the abysmal condition of the Underworld.[46][36]

In Mesopotamian art

 
The Gilgamesh Dream tablet. From Iraq. Middle Babylonian Period, First Sealand Dynasty, 1732-1460 BCE. Iraq Museum, Baghdad. This dream tablet recounts a part of the epic of Gilgamesh in which the hero (Gilgamesh) describes his dreams to his mother (the goddess Ninsun), who interprets them as announcing the arrival of a new friend, who will become his companion

Although stories about Gilgamesh were wildly popular throughout ancient Mesopotamia,[63] authentic representations of him in ancient art are uncommon.[63] Popular works often identify depictions of a hero with long hair, containing four or six curls, as representations of Gilgamesh,[63] but this identification is known to be incorrect.[63] A few genuine ancient Mesopotamian representations of Gilgamesh do exist, however.[63] These representations are mostly found on clay plaques and cylinder seals.[63] Generally, it is only possible to identify a figure shown in art as Gilgamesh if the artistic work in question clearly depicts a scene from the Epic of Gilgamesh itself.[63] One set of representations of Gilgamesh is found in scenes of two heroes fighting a demonic giant, certainly Humbaba.[63] Another set is found in scenes showing a similar pair of heroes confronting a giant, winged bull, certainly the Bull of Heaven.[63]

Later influence

In antiquity

 
The episode involving Odysseus's confrontation with Polyphemus in the Odyssey, shown in this seventeenth-century painting by Guido Reni, bears similarities to Gilgamesh and Enkidu's battle with Humbaba in the Epic of Gilgamesh.[64]
 
Indus valley civilization seal, with the Master of Animals motif of a man fighting two lions or tigers (2500–1500 BC), similar to the Sumerian "Gilgamesh" motif, an indicator of Indus-Mesopotamia relations.[65][66]

The Epic of Gilgamesh exerted substantial influence on the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems written in ancient Greek during the eighth century BC.[67][64][68][69] According to Barry B. Powell, an American classical scholar, early Greeks were probably exposed to Mesopotamian oral traditions through their extensive connections to the civilizations of the ancient Near East[19] and this exposure resulted in the similarities that are seen between the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Homeric epics.[19] Walter Burkert, a German classicist, observes that the scene in Tablet VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh in which Gilgamesh rejects Ishtar's advances and she complains before her mother Antu, but is mildly rebuked by her father Anu, is directly paralleled in Book V of the Iliad.[70] In this scene, Aphrodite, the later Greek adaptation of Ishtar, is wounded by the hero Diomedes and flees to Mount Olympus, where she cries to her mother Dione and is mildly rebuked by her father Zeus.[70]

Powell observes the opening lines of the Odyssey seem to echo the opening lines of the Epic of Gilgamesh.[50] The storyline of the Odyssey likewise bears many similarities to the Epic of Gilgamesh.[71][72] Both Gilgamesh and Odysseus encounter a woman who can turn men into animals: Ishtar (for Gilgamesh) and Circe (for Odysseus).[71] In the Odyssey, Odysseus blinds a giant Cyclops named Polyphemus,[64] an incident which bears similarities to Gilgamesh's slaying of Humbaba in the Epic of Gilgamesh.[64] Both Gilgamesh and Odysseus visit the Underworld[71] and both find themselves unhappy whilst living in an otherworldly paradise in the presence of an attractive woman: Siduri (for Gilgamesh) and Calypso (for Odysseus).[71] Finally, both heroes have an opportunity for immortality but miss it (Gilgamesh when he loses the plant, and Odysseus when he leaves Calypso's island).[71]

In the Qumran scroll known as Book of Giants (c. 100 BC) the names of Gilgamesh and Humbaba appear as two of the antediluvian giants,[73][74] rendered (in consonantal form) as glgmš and ḩwbbyš. This same text was later used in the Middle East by the Manichaean sects, and the Arabic form Gilgamish/Jiljamish survives as the name of a demon according to the Egyptian cleric Al-Suyuti (c. 1500).[73]

The story of Gilgamesh's birth is not recorded in any extant Sumerian or Akkadian text,[63] but a version of it is described in De Natura Animalium (On the Nature of Animals) 12.21, a commonplace book which was written in Greek sometime around 200 AD by the Hellenized Roman orator Aelian.[75][63] According to Aelian's story, an oracle told King Seuechoros (Σευεχορος) of the Babylonians that his grandson Gilgamos would overthrow him.[63] To prevent this, Seuechoros kept his only daughter under close guard at the Acropolis of the city of Babylon,[63] but she became pregnant nonetheless.[63] Fearing the king's wrath, the guards hurled the infant off the top of a tall tower.[63] An eagle rescued the boy in mid-flight and carried him to an orchard, where it carefully set him down.[63] The caretaker of the orchard found the boy and raised him, naming him Gilgamos (Γίλγαμος).[63] Eventually, Gilgamos returned to Babylon and overthrew his grandfather, proclaiming himself king.[63] The birth narrative described by Aelian is in the same tradition as other Near Eastern birth legends,[63] such as those of Sargon, Moses, and Cyrus.[63] Theodore Bar Konai (c. AD 600), writing in Syriac, also mentions a king Gligmos, Gmigmos or Gamigos as last of a line of twelve kings who were contemporaneous with the patriarchs from Peleg to Abraham; this occurrence is also considered a vestige of Gilgamesh's former memory.[76][77]

Modern rediscovery

 
 
In 1880, the English Assyriologist George Smith (left) published a translation of Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh (right), containing the Flood myth,[78] which attracted immediate scholarly attention and controversy due to its similarity to the Genesis flood narrative.[79]

The Akkadian text of the Epic of Gilgamesh was first discovered in 1849 AD by the English archaeologist Austen Henry Layard in the Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh.[21][49][27]: 95  Layard was seeking evidence to confirm the historicity of the events described in the Hebrew Bible, i.e. the Christian Old Testament,[21] which, at the time, was believed to contain the oldest texts in the world.[21] Instead, his excavations and those of others after him revealed the existence of much older Mesopotamian texts[21] and showed that many of the stories in the Old Testament may actually be derived from earlier myths told throughout the ancient Near East.[21] The first translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh was produced in the early 1870s by George Smith, a scholar at the British Museum,[78][80][81] who published the Flood story from Tablet XI in 1880 under the title The Chaldean Account of Genesis.[78] Gilgamesh's name was originally misread as Izdubar.[78][82][83]

Early interest in the Epic of Gilgamesh was almost exclusively on account of the flood story from Tablet XI.[84] The flood story attracted enormous public attention and drew widespread scholarly controversy, while the rest of the epic was largely ignored.[84] Most attention towards the Epic of Gilgamesh in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries came from German-speaking countries,[85] where controversy raged over the relationship between Babel und Bibel ("Babylon and Bible").[86]

In January 1902, the German Assyriologist Friedrich Delitzsch gave a lecture at the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin in front of the Kaiser and his wife, in which he argued that the Flood story in the Book of Genesis was directly copied from the one in the Epic of Gilgamesh.[84] Delitzsch's lecture was so controversial that, by September 1903, he had managed to collect 1,350 short articles from newspapers and journals, over 300 longer ones, and twenty-eight pamphlets, all written in response to this lecture, as well as another lecture about the relationship between the Code of Hammurabi and the Law of Moses in the Torah.[87] These articles were overwhelmingly critical of Delitzsch.[87] The Kaiser distanced himself from Delitzsch and his radical views[87] and, in the fall of 1904, Delitzsch was forced to give his third lecture in Cologne and Frankfurt am Main rather than in Berlin.[87] The putative relationship between the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Hebrew Bible later became a major part of Delitzsch's argument in his 1920–21 book Die große Täuschung (The Great Deception) that the Hebrew Bible was irredeemably "contaminated" by Babylonian influence[84] and that only by eliminating the human Old Testament entirely could Christians finally believe in the true, Aryan message of the New Testament.[84]

Early modern interpretations

 
Illustration of Izdubar (Gilgamesh) in a scene from the book-length poem Ishtar and Izdubar (1884) by Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton, the first modern literary adaptation of the Epic of Gilgamesh[88]

The first modern literary adaptation of the Epic of Gilgamesh was Ishtar and Izdubar (1884) by Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton, an American lawyer and businessman.[88] Hamilton had rudimentary knowledge of Akkadian, which he had learned from Archibald Sayce's 1872 Assyrian Grammar for Comparative Purposes.[89] Hamilton's book relied heavily on Smith's translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh,[89] but also made major changes.[89] For instance, Hamilton omitted the famous flood story entirely[89] and instead focused on the romantic relationship between Ishtar and Gilgamesh.[89] Ishtar and Izdubar expanded the original roughly 3,000 lines of the Epic of Gilgamesh to roughly 6,000 lines of rhyming couplets grouped into forty-eight cantos.[89] Hamilton significantly altered most of the characters and introduced entirely new episodes not found in the original epic.[89] Significantly influenced by Edward FitzGerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and Edwin Arnold's The Light of Asia,[89] Hamilton's characters dress more like nineteenth-century Turks than ancient Babylonians.[90] Hamilton also changed the tone of the epic from the "grim realism" and "ironic tragedy" of the original to a "cheery optimism" filled with "the sweet strains of love and harmony".[91]

In his 1904 book Das Alte Testament im Lichte des alten Orients, the German Assyriologist Alfred Jeremias equated Gilgamesh with the king Nimrod from the Book of Genesis[92] and argued Gilgamesh's strength must come from his hair, like the hero Samson in the Book of Judges,[92] and that he must have performed Twelve Labors like the hero Heracles in Greek mythology.[92] In his 1906 book Das Gilgamesch-Epos in der Weltliteratur, the Orientalist Peter Jensen declared that the Epic of Gilgamesh was the source behind nearly all the stories in the Old Testament,[92] arguing that Moses is "the Gilgamesh of Exodus who saves the children of Israel from precisely the same situation faced by the inhabitants of Erech at the beginning of the Babylonian epic."[92] He then proceeded to argue that Abraham, Isaac, Samson, David, and various other biblical figures are all nothing more than exact copies of Gilgamesh.[92] Finally, he declared that even Jesus is "nothing but an Israelite Gilgamesh. Nothing but an adjunct to Abraham, Moses, and countless other figures in the saga."[92] This ideology became known as Panbabylonianism[93] and was almost immediately rejected by mainstream scholars.[93] The most stalwart critics of Panbabylonianism were those associated with the emerging Religionsgeschichtliche Schule.[94] Hermann Gunkel dismissed most of Jensen's purported parallels between Gilgamesh and biblical figures as mere baseless sensationalism.[94] He concluded that Jensen and other Assyriologists like him had failed to understand the complexities of Old Testament scholarship[93] and had confused scholars with "conspicuous mistakes and remarkable aberrations".[93]

In English-speaking countries, the prevailing scholarly interpretation during the early twentieth century was one originally proposed by Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet,[95] which held that Gilgamesh is a "solar hero", whose actions represent the movements of the sun,[95] and that the twelve tablets of his epic represent the twelve signs of the Babylonian zodiac.[95] The Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, drawing on the theories of James George Frazer and Paul Ehrenreich, interpreted Gilgamesh and Eabani (the earlier misreading for Enkidu) as representing "man" and "crude sensuality" respectively.[96][97] He compared them to other brother-figures in world mythology,[97] remarking, "One is always weaker than the other and dies sooner. In Gilgamesh this ages-old motif of the unequal pair of brothers served to represent the relationship between a man and his libido."[97] He also saw Enkidu as representing the placenta, the "weaker twin" who dies shortly after birth.[98] Freud's friend and pupil Carl Jung frequently discusses Gilgamesh in his early work Symbole der Wandlung (1911–1912).[99] He, for instance, cites Ishtar's sexual attraction to Gilgamesh as an example of the mother's incestuous desire for her son,[99] Humbaba as an example of an oppressive father-figure whom Gilgamesh must overcome,[99] and Gilgamesh himself as an example of a man who forgets his dependence on the unconscious and is punished by the "gods", who represent it.[99]

Modern interpretations and cultural significance

Main article: Gilgamesh in the arts and popular culture
 
Existential angst during the aftermath of World War II significantly contributed to Gilgamesh's rise in popularity in the middle of the twentieth century.[81] For instance, the German novelist Hermann Kasack used Enkidu's vision of the Underworld from the Epic of Gilgamesh as a metaphor for the bombed-out city of Hamburg (pictured above) in his 1947 novel Die Stadt hinter dem Strom.[81]

In the years following World War II, Gilgamesh, formerly an obscure figure known only by a few scholars, gradually became increasingly popular with modern audiences.[100][81] The Epic of Gilgamesh's existential themes made it particularly appealing to German authors in the years following the war.[81] In his 1947 existentialist novel Die Stadt hinter dem Strom, the German novelist Hermann Kasack adapted elements of the epic into a metaphor for the aftermath of the destruction of World War II in Germany,[81] portraying the bombed-out city of Hamburg as resembling the frightening Underworld seen by Enkidu in his dream.[81] In Hans Henny Jahnn's magnum opus River Without Shores (1949–1950), the middle section of the trilogy centers around a composer whose twenty-year-long homoerotic relationship with a friend mirrors that of Gilgamesh with Enkidu[81] and whose masterpiece turns out to be a symphony about Gilgamesh.[81]

The Quest of Gilgamesh, a 1953 radio play by Douglas Geoffrey Bridson, helped popularize the epic in Britain.[81] In the United States, Charles Olson praised the epic in his poems and essays[81] and Gregory Corso believed that it contained ancient virtues capable of curing what he viewed as modern moral degeneracy.[81] The 1966 postfigurative novel Gilgamesch by Guido Bachmann became a classic of German "queer literature"[81] and set a decades-long international literary trend of portraying Gilgamesh and Enkidu as homosexual lovers.[81] This trend proved so popular that the Epic of Gilgamesh itself is included in The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature (1998) as a major early work of that genre.[81] In the 1970s and 1980s, feminist literary critics analyzed the Epic of Gilgamesh as showing evidence for a transition from the original matriarchy of all humanity to modern patriarchy.[81] As the Green Movement expanded in Europe, Gilgamesh's story began to be seen through an environmentalist lens,[81] with Enkidu's death symbolizing man's separation from nature.[81]

Theodore Ziolkowski, a scholar of modern literature, states, that "unlike most other figures from myth, literature, and history, Gilgamesh has established himself as an autonomous entity or simply a name, often independent of the epic context in which he originally became known. (As analogous examples one might think, for instance, of the Minotaur or Frankenstein's monster.)"[102] The Epic of Gilgamesh has been translated into many major world languages[103] and has become a staple of American world literature classes.[104] Many contemporary authors and novelists have drawn inspiration from it, including an American avant-garde theater collective called "The Gilgamesh Group"[105] and Joan London in her novel Gilgamesh (2001).[105][81] The Great American Novel (1973) by Philip Roth features a character named "Gil Gamesh",[105] who is the star pitcher of a fictional 1930s baseball team called the "Patriot League".[105]

Starting in the late twentieth century, the Epic of Gilgamesh began to be read again in Iraq.[103] Saddam Hussein, the former President of Iraq, had a lifelong fascination with Gilgamesh.[106] Saddam's first novel Zabibah and the King (2000) is an allegory for the Gulf War set in ancient Assyria that blends elements of the Epic of Gilgamesh and the One Thousand and One Nights.[107] Like Gilgamesh, the king at the beginning of the novel is a brutal tyrant who misuses his power and oppresses his people,[108] but, through the aid of a commoner woman named Zabibah, he grows into a more just ruler.[109] When the United States tried to pressure Saddam to step down in February 2003, Saddam gave a speech to a group of his generals posing the idea in a positive light by comparing himself to the epic hero.[103]

Scholars like Susan Ackerman and Wayne R. Dynes have noted that the language used to describe Gilgamesh's relationship with Enkidu seems to have homoerotic implications.[110][111][112] Ackerman notes that, when Gilgamesh veils Enkidu's body, Enkidu is compared to a "bride".[110] Ackerman states, "that Gilgamesh, according to both versions, will love Enkidu 'like a wife' may further imply sexual intercourse."[110]

In 2000, a modern statue of Gilgamesh by the Assyrian sculptor Lewis Batros was unveiled at the University of Sydney in Australia.[101]

See also

References

Informational notes

  1. ^ /ˈɡɪlɡəmɛʃ/,[8] /ɡɪlˈɡɑːmɛʃ/)[9] 𒄑𒂅𒈦, Gilgameš, originally Bilgames (Sumerian: 𒀭𒄑𒉋𒂵𒎌). His name translates roughly as "The Ancestor is a Young-man",[10] from Bil.ga "Ancestor", Elder[11]: 33  and Mes/Mesh3 "Young-Man".[11]: 174  See also , U Penn, archived from the original on 24 September 2018, retrieved 7 August 2014.

Citations

  1. ^ Delorme 1981, p. 55.
  2. ^ George, A.R. (2003). The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian. Penguin Books. p. lxi. ISBN 978-0-14044919-8.
  3. ^ Isakhan, Benjamin (13 May 2016). Democracy in Iraq: History, Politics, Discourse. Taylor & Francis. p. 200. ISBN 978-1-31715309-2.
  4. ^ Marchesi, Gianni (2004). "Who Was Buried in the Royal Tombs of Ur? The Epigraphic and Textual Data". Orientalia. 73 (2): 197.
  5. ^ Pournelle, Jennifer (2003). Marshland of Cities:Deltaic Landscapes and the Evolution of Early Mesopotamian Civilization. San Diego. p. 268.
  6. ^ "Pre-dynastic architecture (UA1 and UA2)". Artefacts. Berlin, DE.
  7. ^ A. R. George, ed. (2003). The Babylonian Gilgamesh epic : introduction, critical edition and cuneiform texts. Translated by A. R. George. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 71–77. ISBN 0-19-814922-0. OCLC 51668477.
  8. ^ "Gilgamesh". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
  9. ^ George, Andrew R. (2010) [2003]. The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic – Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts (in English and Akkadian). Vol. 1, 2 (reprint ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-19814922-4. OCLC 819941336.
  10. ^ Hayes, J.L. (PDF). Enenuru. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  11. ^ a b Halloran, J. Sum. Lexicon.
  12. ^ "Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the nether world: translation". etcsl. Oxford. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  13. ^ Gonzalo Rubio. "Reading Sumerian Names, II: Gilgameš." Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 64, The American Schools of Oriental Research, 2012, pp. 3–16, https://doi.org/10.5615/jcunestud.64.0003.
  14. ^ Hall, H. R. (Harry Reginald); Woolley, Leonard; Legrain, Leon (1900). Ur excavations. Trustees of the Two Museums by the aid of a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. p. 312.
  15. ^ a b Image of a Mesanepada seal in: Legrain, Léon (1936). Ur Excavations Volume III Archaic Seal-Impressions (PDF). The Trustees of the Two Museums by the Aid of a Grant from the Carnagie Corporation of New York. p. 44 seal 518 for description, Plate 30, seal 518 for image.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Black & Green 1992, p. 89.
  17. ^ a b c Dalley 1989, p. 40.
  18. ^ a b Kramer 1963, pp. 45–46.
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  21. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Mark 2018.
  22. ^ Kramer 1963, p. 46.
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  26. ^ George 2003b, p. 141.
  27. ^ a b The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Vol. A (3rd ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. 2012.
  28. ^ Kramer 1961, p. 30.
  29. ^ ETCSL 1.8.1.4
  30. ^ a b c d Kramer 1961, p. 33.
  31. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Fontenrose 1980, p. 172.
  32. ^ Kramer 1961, pp. 33–34.
  33. ^ Wolkstein & Kramer 1983, p. 140.
  34. ^ Kramer 1961, p. 34.
  35. ^ Wolkstein & Kramer 1983, p. 9.
  36. ^ a b c d Fontenrose 1980, pp. 172–173.
  37. ^ a b Fontenrose 1980, p. 173.
  38. ^ ETCSL 1.8.1.1
  39. ^ Fontenrose 1980, p. 167.
  40. ^ ETCSL 1.8.1.5
  41. ^ a b Tigay 2002, p. 24.
  42. ^ ETCSL 1.8.1.2
  43. ^ a b c d Tigay 2002, pp. 24–25.
  44. ^ ETCSL 1.8.1.3
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  55. ^ a b c Fontenrose 1980, pp. 168–169.
  56. ^ a b c d e Dalley 1989, p. 82.
  57. ^ a b c d e Fontenrose 1980, p. 169.
  58. ^ George 2003b, p. 88.
  59. ^ Dalley 1989, p. 82–83.
  60. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Fontenrose 1980, p. 171.
  61. ^ a b c d e f Tigay 2002, pp. 26–27.
  62. ^ a b Tigay 2002, p. 26.
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  68. ^ Burkert 2005, pp. 297–301.
  69. ^ Powell 2012, pp. 338–339.
  70. ^ a b Burkert 2005, pp. 299–300.
  71. ^ a b c d e Anderson 2000, p. 127.
  72. ^ Burkert 2005, pp. 299–301.
  73. ^ a b George 2003b, p. 60.
  74. ^ Burkert 2005, p. 295.
  75. ^ Burkert, Walter (1992). The Orientalizing Revolution. p. 33, note 32.
  76. ^ George 2003b, p. 61.
  77. ^ Tigay. The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic. p. 252.
  78. ^ a b c d Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 1–25.
  79. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 20–28.
  80. ^ Rybka 2011, p. 257.
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  83. ^ Jeremias, Alfred (1891). Izdubar-Nimrod, eine altbabylonische Heldensage (in German). Leipzig, Teubner. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
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  86. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 23–25, 28–29.
  87. ^ a b c d Ziolkowski 2012, p. 25.
  88. ^ a b Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 20–21.
  89. ^ a b c d e f g h Ziolkowski 2012, p. 21.
  90. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 22–23.
  91. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, p. 23.
  92. ^ a b c d e f g Ziolkowski 2012, p. 26.
  93. ^ a b c d Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 26–27.
  94. ^ a b Ziolkowski 2012, p. 27.
  95. ^ a b c Ziolkowski 2012, p. 28.
  96. ^ Freud, Sigmund, William McGuire, Ralph Manheim, R. F. C. Hull, Alan McGlashan, and C. G. Jung. Freud-Jung Letters: The Correspondence between Sigmund Freud and C.G. Jung. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1994, at 199.
  97. ^ a b c Ziolkowski 2012, p. 29.
  98. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 29–30.
  99. ^ a b c d Ziolkowski 2012, p. 30.
  100. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, p. xii.
  101. ^ a b Stone 2012.
  102. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, pp. xii–xiii.
  103. ^ a b c Damrosch 2006, p. 254.
  104. ^ Damrosch 2006, pp. 254–255.
  105. ^ a b c d Damrosch 2006, p. 255.
  106. ^ Damrosch 2006, pp. 254–257.
  107. ^ Damrosch 2006, p. 257.
  108. ^ Damrosch 2006, pp. 259–260.
  109. ^ Damrosch 2006, p. 260.
  110. ^ a b c Ackerman 2005, p. 82.
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Bibliography

  • Ackerman, Susan (2005), When Heroes Love: The Ambiguity of Eros in the Stories of Gilgamesh and David, New York City: Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-50725-7
  • Anderson, Graham (2000), Fairytale in the Ancient World, New York City and London: Routledge, pp. 127–131, ISBN 978-0-415-23702-4
  • Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992), Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary, Austin: University of Texas Press, pp. 166–168, ISBN 978-0-7141-1705-8
  • Burkert, Walter (2005), "Chapter Twenty: Near Eastern Connections", in Foley, John Miles (ed.), A Companion to Ancient Epic, New York City and London: Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4051-0524-8
  • Dalley, Stephanie (1989), Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-283589-5
  • Damrosch, David (2006), The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh, New York City: Henry Holt and Company, ISBN 978-0-8050-8029-2
  • Delorme, Jean (1981) [1964], "The Ancient World", in Dunan, Marcel; Bowle, John (eds.), The Larousse Encyclopedia of Ancient and Medieval History, New York City: Excaliber Books, ISBN 978-0-89673-083-0
  • Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy (1980) [1959], Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: The University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-04106-6
  • George, Andrew R. (2003a) [1999, 2000], The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian, Penguin Classics (Third ed.), London: Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0-14-044919-8, OCLC 901129328
  • George, Andrew R. (2003b), The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts, vol. 1, Oxford University Press
  • Kramer, Samuel Noah (1961), Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C.: Revised Edition, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN 978-0-8122-1047-7
  • Kramer, Samuel Noah (1963), The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-45238-8
  • Mark, Joshua J. (29 March 2018), "Gilgamesh", World History Encyclopedia
  • Powell, Barry B. (2012) [2004], "Gilgamesh: Heroic Myth", Classical Myth (Seventh ed.), London: Pearson, pp. 336–350, ISBN 978-0-205-17607-6
  • Pryke, Louise M. (2017), Ishtar, New York City and London, England: Routledge, ISBN 978-1-315-71632-9
  • Rybka, F. James (2011), "The Epic of Gilgamesh", Bohuslav Martinu: The Compulsion to Compose, Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc., ISBN 978-0-8108-7762-7
  • Tigay, Jeffrey H. (2002) [1982], The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic, Wauconda, Illinois: Bolchazzy-Carucci Publishers, Inc., ISBN 978-0-86516-546-5
  • Stone, D. (2012), "The Epic of Gilgamesh: Statue brings ancient tale to life" (PDF), MUSE, no. 12/2781, p. 28, (PDF) from the original on 29 May 2018
  • West, M. L. (1997), The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth, Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, ISBN 978-0-19-815221-7
  • Wolkstein, Diane; Kramer, Samuel Noah (1983), Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer, New York City, New York: Harper&Row Publishers, ISBN 978-0-06-090854-6
  • Ziolkowski, Theodore (1 November 2011), "Gilgamesh: An Epic Obsession", Berfrois
  • Ziolkowski, Theodore (2012), Gilgamesh among Us: Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic, Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press, ISBN 978-0-8014-5035-8

Further reading

  • "Narratives featuring… Gilgameš". Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  • Gmirkin, Russell E (2006). Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus. New York: T & T Clark International.
  • Foster, Benjamin R., ed. (2001). The Epic of Gilgamesh. Translated by Foster, Benjamin R. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-97516-1.
  • Hammond, D.; Jablow, A. (1987). "Gilgamesh and the Sundance Kid: the Myth of Male Friendship". In Brod, H. (ed.). The Making of Masculinities: The New Men's Studies. Boston. pp. 241–258.
  • Jackson, Danny (1997). The Epic of Gilgamesh. Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. ISBN 978-0-86516-352-2.
  • Kluger, Rivkah Sch. (1991), The Archetypal significance of Gilgamesh: a modern ancient hero, Switzerland: Daimon, ISBN 978-3-85630-523-9
  • Kovacs, Maureen Gallery (trans.) (1989) [1985]. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-1711-3.
  • Maier, John R. (2018). "Gilgamesh and the Great Goddess of Uruk". Suny Brockport Ebooks.
  • Mitchell, Stephen (2004). Gilgamesh: A New English Version. New York: Free Press. ISBN 978-0-7432-6164-7.
  • Oberhuber, K., ed. (1977). Das Gilgamesch-Epos. Darmstadt: Wege der Forschung.
  • Parpola, Simo; Mikko Luuko; Kalle Fabritius (1997). The Standard Babylonian, Epic of Gilgamesh. The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project. ISBN 978-9514577604.
  • Pettinato, Giovanni (1992). La saga di Gilgamesh. Milan: Rusconi Libri. ISBN 978-88-18-88028-1.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gilgamesh.
  •   Quotations related to Gilgamesh at Wikiquote
  •   The dictionary definition of gilgamesh at Wiktionary
Regnal titles
Preceded by En of Uruk
c. 2900–2700 BC 		Succeeded by

May 04, 2023
gilgamesh, other, uses, disambiguation, akkadian, 𒀭𒄑𒂆𒈦, romanized, gilgameš, originally, sumerian, 𒀭𒄑𒉋𒂵𒎌, romanized, bilgames, hero, ancient, mesopotamian, mythology, protagonist, epic, epic, poem, written, akkadian, during, late, millennium, possibly, histori. For other uses see Gilgamesh disambiguation Gilgamesh Akkadian 𒀭𒄑𒂆𒈦 romanized Gilgames originally Sumerian 𒀭𒄑𒉋𒂵𒎌 romanized Bilgames 7 a was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the Epic of Gilgamesh an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC He was possibly a historical king of the Sumerian city state of Uruk who was posthumously deified His rule probably would have taken place sometime in the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period Mesopotamia henceforth ED c 2900 2350 BC though he became a major figure in Sumerian legend during the Third Dynasty of Ur c 2112 c 2004 BC Gilgamesh𒀭𒄑𒂆𒈦 𒀭𒄑𒉈𒉽𒂵𒈩King of UrukPossible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand in an Assyrian palace relief 713 706 BC from Dur Sharrukin now held in the Louvre 1 Reignc 2900 2700 BC EDI 2 3 4 5 6 PredecessorDumuzidSuccessorUr NungalIssueUr NungalFatherLugalbanda in Sumerian poetry MotherNinsun in Sumerian poetry This article contains cuneiform script Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols instead of cuneiform script Tales of Gilgamesh s legendary exploits are narrated in five surviving Sumerian poems The earliest of these is likely Gilgamesh Enkidu and the Netherworld 12 in which Gilgamesh comes to the aid of the goddess Inanna and drives away the creatures infesting her huluppu tree She gives him two unknown objects a mikku and a pikku which he loses After Enkidu s death his shade tells Gilgamesh about the bleak conditions in the Underworld The poem Gilgamesh and Aga describes Gilgamesh s revolt against his overlord Aga of Kish Other Sumerian poems relate Gilgamesh s defeat of the giant Huwawa and the Bull of Heaven while a fifth poorly preserved poem relates the account of his death and funeral In later Babylonian times these stories were woven into a connected narrative The standard Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh was composed by a scribe named Sin leqi unninni probably during the Middle Babylonian Period c 1600 c 1155 BC based on much older source material In the epic Gilgamesh is a demigod of superhuman strength who befriends the wild man Enkidu Together they embark on many journeys most famously defeating Humbaba Sumerian Huwawa and the Bull of Heaven who is sent to attack them by Ishtar Sumerian Inanna after Gilgamesh rejects her offer for him to become her consort After Enkidu dies of a disease sent as punishment from the gods Gilgamesh becomes afraid of his death and visits the sage Utnapishtim the survivor of the Great Flood hoping to find immortality Gilgamesh repeatedly fails the trials set before him and returns home to Uruk realizing that immortality is beyond his reach Most scholars agree that the Epic of Gilgamesh exerted substantial influence on the Iliad and the Odyssey two epic poems written in ancient Greek during the 8th century BC The story of Gilgamesh s birth is described in an anecdote in On the Nature of Animals by the Greek writer Aelian 2nd century AD Aelian relates that Gilgamesh s grandfather kept his mother under guard to prevent her from becoming pregnant because an oracle had told him that his grandson would overthrow him She became pregnant and the guards threw the child off a tower but an eagle rescued him mid fall and delivered him safely to an orchard where the gardener raised him The Epic of Gilgamesh was rediscovered in the Library of Ashurbanipal in 1849 After being translated in the early 1870s it caused widespread controversy due to similarities between portions of it and the Hebrew Bible Gilgamesh remained mostly obscure until the mid 20th century but since the late 20th century he has become an increasingly prominent figure in modern culture Contents 1 Name 2 Historical king 3 Deification and legendary exploits 3 1 Sumerian poems 3 1 1 Gilgamesh Enkidu and the Netherworld 3 1 2 Subsequent poems 3 2 Epic of Gilgamesh 3 3 In Mesopotamian art 4 Later influence 4 1 In antiquity 4 2 Modern rediscovery 4 3 Early modern interpretations 4 4 Modern interpretations and cultural significance 5 See also 6 References 6 1 Informational notes 6 2 Citations 6 3 Bibliography 7 Further reading 8 External linksName EditThe modern form Gilgamesh is a direct borrowing of the Akkadian 𒄑𒂆𒈦 rendered as Gilgames The Assyrian form of the name derived from the earlier Sumerian form 𒄑𒉋𒂵𒎌 Bilgames It is generally concluded that the name itself translates as the kinsman is a hero the relation of the kinsman varying between the source giving the translation It is sometimes suggested that the Sumerian form of the name was pronounced Pabilgames reading the component bilga as pabilga 𒉺𒉋𒂵 a related term which described familial relations however this is not supported by epigraphic or phonological evidence 13 Historical king Edit Seal impression of Mesannepada king of Kish excavated in the Royal Cemetery at Ur U 13607 dated circa 2600 BC 14 15 The seal shows Gilgamesh and the mythical bull between two lions one of the lions biting him in the shoulder On each side of this group appears Enkidu and a hunter hero with a long beard and a Kish style headdress armed with a dagger Under the text four runners with beard and long hair form a human Swastika They are armed with daggers and catch each other s foot 15 Most historians generally agree that Gilgamesh was a historical king of the Sumerian city state of Uruk 16 17 18 19 who probably ruled sometime during the early part of the Early Dynastic Period c 2900 2350 BC 16 17 Stephanie Dalley a scholar of the ancient Near East states that precise dates cannot be given for the lifetime of Gilgamesh but they are generally agreed to lie between 2800 and 2500 BC 17 An inscription possibly belonging to a contemporary official under Gilgamesh was discovered in the archaic texts at Ur 20 his name reads Gilgames is the one whom Utu has selected Aside from this the Tummal Inscription a thirty four line historiographic text written during the reign of Ishbi Erra c 1953 c 1920 BC also mentions him 18 The inscription credits Gilgamesh with building the walls of Uruk 21 Lines eleven through fifteen of the inscription read For a second time the Tummal fell into ruin Gilgamesh built the Numunburra of the House of Enlil Ur lugal the son of Gilgamesh Made the Tummal pre eminent Brought Ninlil to the Tummal 22 Gilgamesh is also connected to King Enmebaragesi of Kish a known historical figure who may have lived near Gilgamesh s lifetime 21 Furthermore he is listed as one of the kings of Uruk by the Sumerian King List 21 Fragments of an epic text found in Me Turan modern Tell Haddad relate that at the end of his life Gilgamesh was buried under the river bed 21 The people of Uruk diverted the flow of the Euphrates passing Uruk for the purpose of burying the dead king within the river bed 23 21 Deification and legendary exploits EditSumerian poems Edit Sculpted scene depicting Gilgamesh wrestling with animals From the Shara temple at Tell Agrab Diyala Region Iraq Early Dynastic period 2600 2370 BC On display at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad Mace dedicated to Gilgamesh with transcription of the name Gilgamesh 𒀭𒉈𒂵𒈩 in standard Sumero Akkadian cuneiform Ur III period between 2112 and 2004 BC It is certain that during the later Early Dynastic Period Gilgamesh was worshiped as a god at various locations across Sumer 16 In 21st century BC King Utu hengal of Uruk adopted Gilgamesh as his patron deity 16 The kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur c 2112 c 2004 BC were especially fond of Gilgamesh 16 21 calling him their divine brother and friend 16 King Shulgi of Ur 2029 1982 BC declared himself the son of Lugalbanda and Ninsun and the brother of Gilgamesh 21 Over the centuries there may have been a gradual accretion of stories about Gilgamesh some possibly derived from the real lives of other historical figures such as Gudea the Second Dynasty ruler of Lagash 2144 2124 BC 24 Prayers inscribed in clay tablets address Gilgamesh as a judge of the dead in the Underworld 21 Gilgamesh Enkidu and the Netherworld Edit During this period a large number of myths and legends developed surrounding Gilgamesh 16 25 26 27 95 Five independent Sumerian poems narrating various exploits of Gilgamesh have survived to the present 16 Gilgamesh s first appearance in literature is probably in the Sumerian poem Gilgamesh Enkidu and the Netherworld 28 21 29 The narrative begins with a huluppu tree perhaps according to the Sumerologist Samuel Noah Kramer a willow 30 growing on the banks of the river Euphrates 30 21 31 The goddess Inanna moves the tree to her garden in Uruk with the intention to carve it into a throne once it is fully grown 30 21 31 The tree grows and matures but the serpent who knows no charm the Anzu bird and Lilitu a Mesopotamian demon all take up residence within the tree causing Inanna to cry with sorrow 30 21 31 Gilgamesh who in this story is portrayed as Inanna s brother comes along and slays the serpent causing the Anzu bird and Lilitu to flee 32 21 31 Gilgamesh s companions chop down the tree and carve its wood into a bed and a throne which they give to Inanna 33 21 31 Inanna responds by fashioning a pikku and a mikku probably a drum and drumsticks respectively although the exact identifications are uncertain 34 21 which she gives to Gilgamesh as a reward for his heroism 35 21 31 Gilgamesh loses the pikku and mikku and asks who will retrieve them 36 Enkidu descends to the Underworld to find them 37 but disobeys the strict laws of the Underworld and is therefore required to remain there forever 37 The remaining portion of the poem is a dialogue in which Gilgamesh asks the shade of Enkidu questions about the Underworld 16 36 Subsequent poems Edit Story of Gilgamesh and Aga Story of Gilgamesh and Agga Old Babylonian period from southern Iraq Sulaymaniyah Museum Iraq Gilgamesh and Agga describes Gilgamesh s successful revolt against his overlord Agga the king of the city state of Kish 16 38 Gilgamesh and Huwawa describes how Gilgamesh and his servant Enkidu aided by the help of fifty volunteers from Uruk defeat the monster Huwawa an ogre appointed by the god Enlil the ruler of the gods as the guardian of the Cedar Forest 16 39 40 In Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the Bull of Heaven who has been sent to attack them by the goddess Inanna 16 41 42 The plot of this poem differs substantially from the corresponding scene in the later Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh 43 In the Sumerian poem Inanna does not seem to ask Gilgamesh to become her consort as she does in the later Akkadian epic 41 Furthermore while she is coercing her father An to give her the Bull of Heaven rather than threatening to raise the dead to eat the living as she does in the later epic she merely threatens to let out a cry that will reach the earth 43 A poem known as the Death of Gilgamesh is poorly preserved 16 44 but appears to describe a major state funeral followed by the arrival of the deceased in the Underworld 16 It is possible that the modern scholars who gave the poem its title may have misinterpreted it 16 and the poem may actually be about the death of Enkidu 16 Epic of Gilgamesh Edit Main article Epic of Gilgamesh The ogre Humbaba shown in this terracotta plaque from the Old Babylonian Period 45 is one of the opponents fought by Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh 46 Ancient Mesopotamian terracotta relief c 2250 1900 BC showing Gilgamesh slaying the Bull of Heaven 47 an episode described in Tablet VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh 46 48 Eventually according to Kramer 1963 25 Gilgamesh became the hero par excellence of the ancient world an adventurous brave but tragic figure symbolizing man s vain but endless drive for fame glory and immortality By the Old Babylonian Period c 1830 c 1531 BC stories of Gilgamesh s legendary exploits had been woven into one or several long epics 16 The Epic of Gilgamesh the most complete account of Gilgamesh s adventures was composed in Akkadian during the Middle Babylonian Period c 1600 c 1155 BC by a scribe named Sin leqi unninni 16 The most complete surviving version of the Epic of Gilgamesh is recorded on a set of twelve clay tablets dating to the seventh century BC found in the Library of Ashurbanipal in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh 16 21 49 The epic survives only in a fragmentary form with many pieces of it missing or damaged 16 21 49 Some scholars and translators choose to supplement the missing parts of the epic with material from the earlier Sumerian poems or from other versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh found at other sites throughout the Near East 16 Tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh The Sulaymaniyah Museum Iraq In the epic Gilgamesh is introduced as two thirds divine and one third mortal 50 At the beginning of the poem Gilgamesh is described as a brutal oppressive ruler 16 50 This is usually interpreted to mean either that he compels all his subjects to engage in forced labor 16 or that he sexually oppresses all his subjects 16 As punishment for Gilgamesh s cruelty the god Anu creates the wild man Enkidu 51 After being tamed by a prostitute named Shamhat Enkidu travels to Uruk to confront Gilgamesh 46 In the second tablet the two men wrestle and although Gilgamesh wins the match in the end 46 he is so impressed by his opponent s strength and tenacity that they become close friends 46 In the earlier Sumerian texts Enkidu is Gilgamesh s servant 46 but in the Epic of Gilgamesh they are companions of equal standing 46 In tablets III through IV Gilgamesh and Enkidu travel to the Cedar Forest which is guarded by Humbaba the Akkadian name for Huwawa 46 The heroes cross the seven mountains to the Cedar Forest where they begin chopping down trees 52 Confronted by Humbaba Gilgamesh panics and prays to Shamash the East Semitic name for Utu 52 who blows eight winds in Humbaba s eyes blinding him 52 Humbaba begs for mercy but the heroes decapitate him regardless 52 Tablet VI begins with Gilgamesh returning to Uruk 46 where Ishtar the Akkadian name for Inanna comes to him and demands that he become her consort 46 52 53 Gilgamesh repudiates her insisting that she has mistreated all her former lovers 46 52 53 In revenge Ishtar goes to her father Anu and demands that he give her the Bull of Heaven 54 55 43 which she sends to attack Gilgamesh 46 54 55 43 Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull and offer its heart to Shamash 56 55 While Gilgamesh and Enkidu are resting Ishtar stands up on the walls of Uruk and curses Gilgamesh 56 57 Enkidu tears off the Bull s right thigh and throws it in Ishtar s face 56 57 saying If I could lay my hands on you it is this I should do to you and lash your entrails to your side 58 57 Ishtar calls together the crimped courtesans prostitutes and harlots 56 and orders them to mourn for the Bull of Heaven 56 57 Meanwhile Gilgamesh holds a celebration over the Bull of Heaven s defeat 59 57 Tablet VII begins with Enkidu recounting a dream in which he saw Anu Ea and Shamash declare either Gilgamesh or Enkidu must die as punishment for having slain the Bull of Heaven 46 They choose Enkidu and Enkidu soon grows sick 46 He has a dream of the Underworld and then he dies 46 Tablet VIII describes Gilgamesh s inconsolable grief over his friend s death 46 60 and the details of Enkidu s funeral 46 Tablets IX through XI relate how Gilgamesh driven by grief and fear of his own mortality travels a great distance and overcomes many obstacles to find the home of Utnapishtim the sole survivor of the Great Flood who was rewarded with immortality by the gods 46 60 Early Middle Assyrian cylinder seal impression dating between 1400 and 1200 BC showing a man with bird wings and a scorpion tail firing an arrow at a griffin on a hillock A scorpion man is among the creatures Gilgamesh encounters on his journey to the homeland of Utnapishtim 60 The journey to Utnapishtim involves a series of episodic challenges which probably originated as major independent adventures 60 but in the epic they are reduced to what Joseph Eddy Fontenrose calls fairly harmless incidents 60 First Gilgamesh encounters and slays lions in the mountain pass 60 Upon reaching the mountain of Mashu Gilgamesh encounters a scorpion man and his wife 60 their bodies flash with terrifying radiance 60 but once Gilgamesh tells them his purpose they allow him to pass 60 Gilgamesh wanders through darkness for twelve days before he finally comes into the light 60 He finds a beautiful garden by the sea in which he meets Siduri the divine Alewife 60 At first she tries to prevent Gilgamesh from entering the garden 60 but later she instead attempts to persuade him to accept death as inevitable and not journey beyond the waters 60 When Gilgamesh refuses to do this she directs him to Urshanabi the ferryman of the gods who ferries Gilgamesh across the sea to Utnapishtim s homeland 60 When Gilgamesh finally arrives at Utnapishtim s home Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that to become immortal he must defy sleep 46 Gilgamesh fails to do this and falls asleep for seven days without waking 46 Next Utnapishtim tells him that even if he cannot obtain immortality he can restore his youth using a plant with the power of rejuvenation 46 31 Gilgamesh takes the plant but leaves it on the shore while swimming and a snake steals it explaining why snakes are able to shed their skins 46 31 Despondent at this loss Gilgamesh returns to Uruk 46 and shows his city to the ferryman Urshanabi 46 It is at this point the epic stops being a coherent narrative 46 31 61 Tablet XII is an appendix corresponding to the Sumerian poem of Gilgamesh Enkidu and the Netherworld describing the loss of the pikku and mikku 46 31 61 Numerous elements within this narrative reveal lack of continuity with the earlier portions of the epic 61 At the beginning of Tablet XII Enkidu is still alive despite having previously died in Tablet VII 61 and Gilgamesh is kind to Ishtar despite the violent rivalry between them displayed in Tablet VI 61 Also while most of the parts of the epic are free adaptations of their respective Sumerian predecessors 62 Tablet XII is a literal word for word translation of the last part of Gilgamesh Enkidu and the Netherworld 62 For these reasons scholars conclude this narrative was probably relegated to the end of the epic because it did not fit the larger narrative 46 31 61 In it Gilgamesh sees a vision of Enkidu s ghost who promises to recover the lost items 46 36 and describes to his friend the abysmal condition of the Underworld 46 36 In Mesopotamian art Edit The Gilgamesh Dream tablet From Iraq Middle Babylonian Period First Sealand Dynasty 1732 1460 BCE Iraq Museum Baghdad This dream tablet recounts a part of the epic of Gilgamesh in which the hero Gilgamesh describes his dreams to his mother the goddess Ninsun who interprets them as announcing the arrival of a new friend who will become his companion Although stories about Gilgamesh were wildly popular throughout ancient Mesopotamia 63 authentic representations of him in ancient art are uncommon 63 Popular works often identify depictions of a hero with long hair containing four or six curls as representations of Gilgamesh 63 but this identification is known to be incorrect 63 A few genuine ancient Mesopotamian representations of Gilgamesh do exist however 63 These representations are mostly found on clay plaques and cylinder seals 63 Generally it is only possible to identify a figure shown in art as Gilgamesh if the artistic work in question clearly depicts a scene from the Epic of Gilgamesh itself 63 One set of representations of Gilgamesh is found in scenes of two heroes fighting a demonic giant certainly Humbaba 63 Another set is found in scenes showing a similar pair of heroes confronting a giant winged bull certainly the Bull of Heaven 63 Later influence EditIn antiquity Edit The episode involving Odysseus s confrontation with Polyphemus in the Odyssey shown in this seventeenth century painting by Guido Reni bears similarities to Gilgamesh and Enkidu s battle with Humbaba in the Epic of Gilgamesh 64 Indus valley civilization seal with the Master of Animals motif of a man fighting two lions or tigers 2500 1500 BC similar to the Sumerian Gilgamesh motif an indicator of Indus Mesopotamia relations 65 66 The Epic of Gilgamesh exerted substantial influence on the Iliad and the Odyssey two epic poems written in ancient Greek during the eighth century BC 67 64 68 69 According to Barry B Powell an American classical scholar early Greeks were probably exposed to Mesopotamian oral traditions through their extensive connections to the civilizations of the ancient Near East 19 and this exposure resulted in the similarities that are seen between the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Homeric epics 19 Walter Burkert a German classicist observes that the scene in Tablet VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh in which Gilgamesh rejects Ishtar s advances and she complains before her mother Antu but is mildly rebuked by her father Anu is directly paralleled in Book V of the Iliad 70 In this scene Aphrodite the later Greek adaptation of Ishtar is wounded by the hero Diomedes and flees to Mount Olympus where she cries to her mother Dione and is mildly rebuked by her father Zeus 70 Powell observes the opening lines of the Odyssey seem to echo the opening lines of the Epic of Gilgamesh 50 The storyline of the Odyssey likewise bears many similarities to the Epic of Gilgamesh 71 72 Both Gilgamesh and Odysseus encounter a woman who can turn men into animals Ishtar for Gilgamesh and Circe for Odysseus 71 In the Odyssey Odysseus blinds a giant Cyclops named Polyphemus 64 an incident which bears similarities to Gilgamesh s slaying of Humbaba in the Epic of Gilgamesh 64 Both Gilgamesh and Odysseus visit the Underworld 71 and both find themselves unhappy whilst living in an otherworldly paradise in the presence of an attractive woman Siduri for Gilgamesh and Calypso for Odysseus 71 Finally both heroes have an opportunity for immortality but miss it Gilgamesh when he loses the plant and Odysseus when he leaves Calypso s island 71 In the Qumran scroll known as Book of Giants c 100 BC the names of Gilgamesh and Humbaba appear as two of the antediluvian giants 73 74 rendered in consonantal form as glgms and ḩwbbys This same text was later used in the Middle East by the Manichaean sects and the Arabic form Gilgamish Jiljamish survives as the name of a demon according to the Egyptian cleric Al Suyuti c 1500 73 The story of Gilgamesh s birth is not recorded in any extant Sumerian or Akkadian text 63 but a version of it is described in De Natura Animalium On the Nature of Animals 12 21 a commonplace book which was written in Greek sometime around 200 AD by the Hellenized Roman orator Aelian 75 63 According to Aelian s story an oracle told King Seuechoros Seyexoros of the Babylonians that his grandson Gilgamos would overthrow him 63 To prevent this Seuechoros kept his only daughter under close guard at the Acropolis of the city of Babylon 63 but she became pregnant nonetheless 63 Fearing the king s wrath the guards hurled the infant off the top of a tall tower 63 An eagle rescued the boy in mid flight and carried him to an orchard where it carefully set him down 63 The caretaker of the orchard found the boy and raised him naming him Gilgamos Gilgamos 63 Eventually Gilgamos returned to Babylon and overthrew his grandfather proclaiming himself king 63 The birth narrative described by Aelian is in the same tradition as other Near Eastern birth legends 63 such as those of Sargon Moses and Cyrus 63 Theodore Bar Konai c AD 600 writing in Syriac also mentions a king Gligmos Gmigmos or Gamigos as last of a line of twelve kings who were contemporaneous with the patriarchs from Peleg to Abraham this occurrence is also considered a vestige of Gilgamesh s former memory 76 77 Modern rediscovery Edit In 1880 the English Assyriologist George Smith left published a translation of Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh right containing the Flood myth 78 which attracted immediate scholarly attention and controversy due to its similarity to the Genesis flood narrative 79 The Akkadian text of the Epic of Gilgamesh was first discovered in 1849 AD by the English archaeologist Austen Henry Layard in the Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh 21 49 27 95 Layard was seeking evidence to confirm the historicity of the events described in the Hebrew Bible i e the Christian Old Testament 21 which at the time was believed to contain the oldest texts in the world 21 Instead his excavations and those of others after him revealed the existence of much older Mesopotamian texts 21 and showed that many of the stories in the Old Testament may actually be derived from earlier myths told throughout the ancient Near East 21 The first translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh was produced in the early 1870s by George Smith a scholar at the British Museum 78 80 81 who published the Flood story from Tablet XI in 1880 under the title The Chaldean Account of Genesis 78 Gilgamesh s name was originally misread as Izdubar 78 82 83 Early interest in the Epic of Gilgamesh was almost exclusively on account of the flood story from Tablet XI 84 The flood story attracted enormous public attention and drew widespread scholarly controversy while the rest of the epic was largely ignored 84 Most attention towards the Epic of Gilgamesh in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries came from German speaking countries 85 where controversy raged over the relationship between Babel und Bibel Babylon and Bible 86 In January 1902 the German Assyriologist Friedrich Delitzsch gave a lecture at the Sing Akademie zu Berlin in front of the Kaiser and his wife in which he argued that the Flood story in the Book of Genesis was directly copied from the one in the Epic of Gilgamesh 84 Delitzsch s lecture was so controversial that by September 1903 he had managed to collect 1 350 short articles from newspapers and journals over 300 longer ones and twenty eight pamphlets all written in response to this lecture as well as another lecture about the relationship between the Code of Hammurabi and the Law of Moses in the Torah 87 These articles were overwhelmingly critical of Delitzsch 87 The Kaiser distanced himself from Delitzsch and his radical views 87 and in the fall of 1904 Delitzsch was forced to give his third lecture in Cologne and Frankfurt am Main rather than in Berlin 87 The putative relationship between the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Hebrew Bible later became a major part of Delitzsch s argument in his 1920 21 book Die grosse Tauschung The Great Deception that the Hebrew Bible was irredeemably contaminated by Babylonian influence 84 and that only by eliminating the human Old Testament entirely could Christians finally believe in the true Aryan message of the New Testament 84 Early modern interpretations Edit Illustration of Izdubar Gilgamesh in a scene from the book length poem Ishtar and Izdubar 1884 by Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton the first modern literary adaptation of the Epic of Gilgamesh 88 The first modern literary adaptation of the Epic of Gilgamesh was Ishtar and Izdubar 1884 by Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton an American lawyer and businessman 88 Hamilton had rudimentary knowledge of Akkadian which he had learned from Archibald Sayce s 1872 Assyrian Grammar for Comparative Purposes 89 Hamilton s book relied heavily on Smith s translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh 89 but also made major changes 89 For instance Hamilton omitted the famous flood story entirely 89 and instead focused on the romantic relationship between Ishtar and Gilgamesh 89 Ishtar and Izdubar expanded the original roughly 3 000 lines of the Epic of Gilgamesh to roughly 6 000 lines of rhyming couplets grouped into forty eight cantos 89 Hamilton significantly altered most of the characters and introduced entirely new episodes not found in the original epic 89 Significantly influenced by Edward FitzGerald s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and Edwin Arnold s The Light of Asia 89 Hamilton s characters dress more like nineteenth century Turks than ancient Babylonians 90 Hamilton also changed the tone of the epic from the grim realism and ironic tragedy of the original to a cheery optimism filled with the sweet strains of love and harmony 91 In his 1904 book Das Alte Testament im Lichte des alten Orients the German Assyriologist Alfred Jeremias equated Gilgamesh with the king Nimrod from the Book of Genesis 92 and argued Gilgamesh s strength must come from his hair like the hero Samson in the Book of Judges 92 and that he must have performed Twelve Labors like the hero Heracles in Greek mythology 92 In his 1906 book Das Gilgamesch Epos in der Weltliteratur the Orientalist Peter Jensen declared that the Epic of Gilgamesh was the source behind nearly all the stories in the Old Testament 92 arguing that Moses is the Gilgamesh of Exodus who saves the children of Israel from precisely the same situation faced by the inhabitants of Erech at the beginning of the Babylonian epic 92 He then proceeded to argue that Abraham Isaac Samson David and various other biblical figures are all nothing more than exact copies of Gilgamesh 92 Finally he declared that even Jesus is nothing but an Israelite Gilgamesh Nothing but an adjunct to Abraham Moses and countless other figures in the saga 92 This ideology became known as Panbabylonianism 93 and was almost immediately rejected by mainstream scholars 93 The most stalwart critics of Panbabylonianism were those associated with the emerging Religionsgeschichtliche Schule 94 Hermann Gunkel dismissed most of Jensen s purported parallels between Gilgamesh and biblical figures as mere baseless sensationalism 94 He concluded that Jensen and other Assyriologists like him had failed to understand the complexities of Old Testament scholarship 93 and had confused scholars with conspicuous mistakes and remarkable aberrations 93 In English speaking countries the prevailing scholarly interpretation during the early twentieth century was one originally proposed by Sir Henry Rawlinson 1st Baronet 95 which held that Gilgamesh is a solar hero whose actions represent the movements of the sun 95 and that the twelve tablets of his epic represent the twelve signs of the Babylonian zodiac 95 The Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud drawing on the theories of James George Frazer and Paul Ehrenreich interpreted Gilgamesh and Eabani the earlier misreading for Enkidu as representing man and crude sensuality respectively 96 97 He compared them to other brother figures in world mythology 97 remarking One is always weaker than the other and dies sooner In Gilgamesh this ages old motif of the unequal pair of brothers served to represent the relationship between a man and his libido 97 He also saw Enkidu as representing the placenta the weaker twin who dies shortly after birth 98 Freud s friend and pupil Carl Jung frequently discusses Gilgamesh in his early work Symbole der Wandlung 1911 1912 99 He for instance cites Ishtar s sexual attraction to Gilgamesh as an example of the mother s incestuous desire for her son 99 Humbaba as an example of an oppressive father figure whom Gilgamesh must overcome 99 and Gilgamesh himself as an example of a man who forgets his dependence on the unconscious and is punished by the gods who represent it 99 Modern interpretations and cultural significance Edit Main article Gilgamesh in the arts and popular culture Existential angst during the aftermath of World War II significantly contributed to Gilgamesh s rise in popularity in the middle of the twentieth century 81 For instance the German novelist Hermann Kasack used Enkidu s vision of the Underworld from the Epic of Gilgamesh as a metaphor for the bombed out city of Hamburg pictured above in his 1947 novel Die Stadt hinter dem Strom 81 In the years following World War II Gilgamesh formerly an obscure figure known only by a few scholars gradually became increasingly popular with modern audiences 100 81 The Epic of Gilgamesh s existential themes made it particularly appealing to German authors in the years following the war 81 In his 1947 existentialist novel Die Stadt hinter dem Strom the German novelist Hermann Kasack adapted elements of the epic into a metaphor for the aftermath of the destruction of World War II in Germany 81 portraying the bombed out city of Hamburg as resembling the frightening Underworld seen by Enkidu in his dream 81 In Hans Henny Jahnn s magnum opus River Without Shores 1949 1950 the middle section of the trilogy centers around a composer whose twenty year long homoerotic relationship with a friend mirrors that of Gilgamesh with Enkidu 81 and whose masterpiece turns out to be a symphony about Gilgamesh 81 The Quest of Gilgamesh a 1953 radio play by Douglas Geoffrey Bridson helped popularize the epic in Britain 81 In the United States Charles Olson praised the epic in his poems and essays 81 and Gregory Corso believed that it contained ancient virtues capable of curing what he viewed as modern moral degeneracy 81 The 1966 postfigurative novel Gilgamesch by Guido Bachmann became a classic of German queer literature 81 and set a decades long international literary trend of portraying Gilgamesh and Enkidu as homosexual lovers 81 This trend proved so popular that the Epic of Gilgamesh itself is included in The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature 1998 as a major early work of that genre 81 In the 1970s and 1980s feminist literary critics analyzed the Epic of Gilgamesh as showing evidence for a transition from the original matriarchy of all humanity to modern patriarchy 81 As the Green Movement expanded in Europe Gilgamesh s story began to be seen through an environmentalist lens 81 with Enkidu s death symbolizing man s separation from nature 81 A modern statue of Gilgamesh stands at the University of Sydney 101 Theodore Ziolkowski a scholar of modern literature states that unlike most other figures from myth literature and history Gilgamesh has established himself as an autonomous entity or simply a name often independent of the epic context in which he originally became known As analogous examples one might think for instance of the Minotaur or Frankenstein s monster 102 The Epic of Gilgamesh has been translated into many major world languages 103 and has become a staple of American world literature classes 104 Many contemporary authors and novelists have drawn inspiration from it including an American avant garde theater collective called The Gilgamesh Group 105 and Joan London in her novel Gilgamesh 2001 105 81 The Great American Novel 1973 by Philip Roth features a character named Gil Gamesh 105 who is the star pitcher of a fictional 1930s baseball team called the Patriot League 105 Starting in the late twentieth century the Epic of Gilgamesh began to be read again in Iraq 103 Saddam Hussein the former President of Iraq had a lifelong fascination with Gilgamesh 106 Saddam s first novel Zabibah and the King 2000 is an allegory for the Gulf War set in ancient Assyria that blends elements of the Epic of Gilgamesh and the One Thousand and One Nights 107 Like Gilgamesh the king at the beginning of the novel is a brutal tyrant who misuses his power and oppresses his people 108 but through the aid of a commoner woman named Zabibah he grows into a more just ruler 109 When the United States tried to pressure Saddam to step down in February 2003 Saddam gave a speech to a group of his generals posing the idea in a positive light by comparing himself to the epic hero 103 Scholars like Susan Ackerman and Wayne R Dynes have noted that the language used to describe Gilgamesh s relationship with Enkidu seems to have homoerotic implications 110 111 112 Ackerman notes that when Gilgamesh veils Enkidu s body Enkidu is compared to a bride 110 Ackerman states that Gilgamesh according to both versions will love Enkidu like a wife may further imply sexual intercourse 110 In 2000 a modern statue of Gilgamesh by the Assyrian sculptor Lewis Batros was unveiled at the University of Sydney in Australia 101 See also EditAtra Hasis Ziusudra Enuma Elis Gilgamesh A New English Version Ancient literatureReferences EditInformational notes Edit ˈ ɡ ɪ l ɡ e m ɛ ʃ 8 ɡ ɪ l ˈ ɡ ɑː m ɛ ʃ 9 𒄑𒂅𒈦 Gilgames originally Bilgames Sumerian 𒀭𒄑𒉋𒂵𒎌 His name translates roughly as The Ancestor is a Young man 10 from Bil ga Ancestor Elder 11 33 and Mes Mesh3 Young Man 11 174 See also The Electronic Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary U Penn archived from the original on 24 September 2018 retrieved 7 August 2014 Citations Edit Delorme 1981 p 55 George A R 2003 The Epic of Gilgamesh The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian Penguin Books p lxi ISBN 978 0 14044919 8 Isakhan Benjamin 13 May 2016 Democracy in Iraq History Politics Discourse Taylor amp Francis p 200 ISBN 978 1 31715309 2 Marchesi Gianni 2004 Who Was Buried in the Royal Tombs of Ur The Epigraphic and Textual Data Orientalia 73 2 197 Pournelle Jennifer 2003 Marshland of Cities Deltaic Landscapes and the Evolution of Early Mesopotamian Civilization San Diego p 268 Pre dynastic architecture UA1 and UA2 Artefacts Berlin DE A R George ed 2003 The Babylonian Gilgamesh epic introduction critical edition and cuneiform texts Translated by A R George Oxford Oxford University Press pp 71 77 ISBN 0 19 814922 0 OCLC 51668477 Gilgamesh Random House Webster s Unabridged Dictionary George Andrew R 2010 2003 The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic Introduction Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts in English and Akkadian Vol 1 2 reprint ed Oxford Oxford University Press p 163 ISBN 978 0 19814922 4 OCLC 819941336 Hayes J L A Manual of Sumerian Grammar and Texts PDF Enenuru Archived from the original PDF on 22 May 2018 Retrieved 21 May 2018 a b Halloran J Sum Lexicon Gilgamesh Enkidu and the nether world translation etcsl Oxford Retrieved 18 March 2021 Gonzalo Rubio Reading Sumerian Names II Gilgames Journal of Cuneiform Studies vol 64 The American Schools of Oriental Research 2012 pp 3 16 https doi org 10 5615 jcunestud 64 0003 Hall H R Harry Reginald Woolley Leonard Legrain Leon 1900 Ur excavations Trustees of the Two Museums by the aid of a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York p 312 a b Image of a Mesanepada seal in Legrain Leon 1936 Ur Excavations Volume III Archaic Seal Impressions PDF The Trustees of the Two Museums by the Aid of a Grant from the Carnagie Corporation of New York p 44 seal 518 for description Plate 30 seal 518 for image a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Black amp Green 1992 p 89 a b c Dalley 1989 p 40 a b Kramer 1963 pp 45 46 a b c Powell 2012 p 338 Marchesi Gianni 2004 Who Was Buried in the Royal Tombs of Ur The Epigraphic and Textual Data Orientalia 73 2 153 197 ISSN 0030 5367 JSTOR 43076896 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Mark 2018 Kramer 1963 p 46 Gilgamesh tomb believed found BBC News 29 April 2003 Retrieved 12 October 2017 Sandars N K 1972 Introduction The Epic of Gilgamesh Penguin a b Kramer 1963 p 45 George 2003b p 141 a b The Norton Anthology of World Literature Vol A 3rd ed W W Norton amp Company 2012 Kramer 1961 p 30 ETCSL 1 8 1 4 a b c d Kramer 1961 p 33 a b c d e f g h i j k Fontenrose 1980 p 172 Kramer 1961 pp 33 34 Wolkstein amp Kramer 1983 p 140 Kramer 1961 p 34 Wolkstein amp Kramer 1983 p 9 a b c d Fontenrose 1980 pp 172 173 a b Fontenrose 1980 p 173 ETCSL 1 8 1 1 Fontenrose 1980 p 167 ETCSL 1 8 1 5 a b Tigay 2002 p 24 ETCSL 1 8 1 2 a b c d Tigay 2002 pp 24 25 ETCSL 1 8 1 3 Black amp Green 1992 p 109 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac Black amp Green 1992 p 90 Powell 2012 p 342 Powell 2012 pp 341 343 a b c Rybka 2011 pp 257 258 a b c Powell 2012 p 339 Black amp Green 1992 pp 89 90 a b c d e f Fontenrose 1980 p 168 a b Pryke 2017 pp 140 159 a b Dalley 1989 pp 81 82 a b c Fontenrose 1980 pp 168 169 a b c d e Dalley 1989 p 82 a b c d e Fontenrose 1980 p 169 George 2003b p 88 Dalley 1989 p 82 83 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Fontenrose 1980 p 171 a b c d e f Tigay 2002 pp 26 27 a b Tigay 2002 p 26 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Black amp Green 1992 p 91 a b c d Anderson 2000 pp 127 128 Possehl Gregory L 2002 The Indus Civilization A Contemporary Perspective Rowman Altamira p 146 ISBN 978 0759116429 Kosambi Damodar Dharmanand 1975 An Introduction to the Study of Indian History Popular Prakashan p 64 ISBN 978 8171540389 West 1997 pp 334 402 Burkert 2005 pp 297 301 Powell 2012 pp 338 339 a b Burkert 2005 pp 299 300 a b c d e Anderson 2000 p 127 Burkert 2005 pp 299 301 a b George 2003b p 60 Burkert 2005 p 295 Burkert Walter 1992 The Orientalizing Revolution p 33 note 32 George 2003b p 61 Tigay The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic p 252 a b c d Ziolkowski 2012 pp 1 25 Ziolkowski 2012 pp 20 28 Rybka 2011 p 257 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Ziolkowski 2011 Smith George 1872 3 December 1872 The Chaldean Account of the Deluge Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology Volumes 1 2 Vol 2 London Society of Biblical Archaeology pp 213 214 Retrieved 12 October 2017 Jeremias Alfred 1891 Izdubar Nimrod eine altbabylonische Heldensage in German Leipzig Teubner Retrieved 12 October 2017 a b c d e Ziolkowski 2012 pp 23 25 Ziolkowski 2012 pp 28 29 Ziolkowski 2012 pp 23 25 28 29 a b c d Ziolkowski 2012 p 25 a b Ziolkowski 2012 pp 20 21 a b c d e f g h Ziolkowski 2012 p 21 Ziolkowski 2012 pp 22 23 Ziolkowski 2012 p 23 a b c d e f g Ziolkowski 2012 p 26 a b c d Ziolkowski 2012 pp 26 27 a b Ziolkowski 2012 p 27 a b c Ziolkowski 2012 p 28 Freud Sigmund William McGuire Ralph Manheim R F C Hull Alan McGlashan and C G Jung Freud Jung Letters The Correspondence between Sigmund Freud and C G Jung Princeton N J Princeton University Press 1994 at 199 a b c Ziolkowski 2012 p 29 Ziolkowski 2012 pp 29 30 a b c d Ziolkowski 2012 p 30 Ziolkowski 2012 p xii a b Stone 2012 Ziolkowski 2012 pp xii xiii a b c Damrosch 2006 p 254 Damrosch 2006 pp 254 255 a b c d Damrosch 2006 p 255 Damrosch 2006 pp 254 257 Damrosch 2006 p 257 Damrosch 2006 pp 259 260 Damrosch 2006 p 260 a b c Ackerman 2005 p 82 Haggerty George 2013 Encyclopedia of Gay Histories and Cultures Routledge p 929 ISBN 978 1 135 58513 6 Retrieved 19 March 2020 Dynes Wayne R 2016 Encyclopedia of Homosexuality Volume I Routledge p 479 ISBN 978 1317368151 Retrieved 19 March 2020 Bibliography Edit Ackerman Susan 2005 When Heroes Love The Ambiguity of Eros in the Stories of Gilgamesh and David New York City Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0 231 50725 7 Anderson Graham 2000 Fairytale in the Ancient World New York City and London Routledge pp 127 131 ISBN 978 0 415 23702 4 Black Jeremy Green Anthony 1992 Gods Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia An Illustrated Dictionary Austin University of Texas Press pp 166 168 ISBN 978 0 7141 1705 8 Burkert Walter 2005 Chapter Twenty Near Eastern Connections in Foley John Miles ed A Companion to Ancient Epic New York City and London Blackwell Publishing ISBN 978 1 4051 0524 8 Dalley Stephanie 1989 Myths from Mesopotamia Creation the Flood Gilgamesh and Others Oxford Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 283589 5 Damrosch David 2006 The Buried Book The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh New York City Henry Holt and Company ISBN 978 0 8050 8029 2 Delorme Jean 1981 1964 The Ancient World in Dunan Marcel Bowle John eds The Larousse Encyclopedia of Ancient and Medieval History New York City Excaliber Books ISBN 978 0 89673 083 0 Fontenrose Joseph Eddy 1980 1959 Python A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins Berkeley Los Angeles and London The University of California Press ISBN 978 0 520 04106 6 George Andrew R 2003a 1999 2000 The Epic of Gilgamesh The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian Penguin Classics Third ed London Penguin Books ISBN 978 0 14 044919 8 OCLC 901129328 George Andrew R 2003b The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic Introduction Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts vol 1 Oxford University Press Kramer Samuel Noah 1961 Sumerian Mythology A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B C Revised Edition Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press ISBN 978 0 8122 1047 7 Kramer Samuel Noah 1963 The Sumerians Their History Culture and Character Chicago University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 226 45238 8 Mark Joshua J 29 March 2018 Gilgamesh World History Encyclopedia Powell Barry B 2012 2004 Gilgamesh Heroic Myth Classical Myth Seventh ed London Pearson pp 336 350 ISBN 978 0 205 17607 6 Pryke Louise M 2017 Ishtar New York City and London England Routledge ISBN 978 1 315 71632 9 Rybka F James 2011 The Epic of Gilgamesh Bohuslav Martinu The Compulsion to Compose Lanham Maryland Scarecrow Press Inc ISBN 978 0 8108 7762 7 Tigay Jeffrey H 2002 1982 The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic Wauconda Illinois Bolchazzy Carucci Publishers Inc ISBN 978 0 86516 546 5 Stone D 2012 The Epic of Gilgamesh Statue brings ancient tale to life PDF MUSE no 12 2781 p 28 archived PDF from the original on 29 May 2018 West M L 1997 The East Face of Helicon West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth Oxford England Clarendon Press ISBN 978 0 19 815221 7 Wolkstein Diane Kramer Samuel Noah 1983 Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer New York City New York Harper amp Row Publishers ISBN 978 0 06 090854 6 Ziolkowski Theodore 1 November 2011 Gilgamesh An Epic Obsession Berfrois Ziolkowski Theodore 2012 Gilgamesh among Us Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic Ithaca NY and London Cornell University Press ISBN 978 0 8014 5035 8Further reading Edit Narratives featuring Gilgames Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature Retrieved 8 October 2017 Gmirkin Russell E 2006 Berossus and Genesis Manetho and Exodus New York T amp T Clark International Foster Benjamin R ed 2001 The Epic of Gilgamesh Translated by Foster Benjamin R New York W W Norton amp Company ISBN 978 0 393 97516 1 Hammond D Jablow A 1987 Gilgamesh and the Sundance Kid the Myth of Male Friendship In Brod H ed The Making of Masculinities The New Men s Studies Boston pp 241 258 Jackson Danny 1997 The Epic of Gilgamesh Wauconda IL Bolchazy Carducci Publishers ISBN 978 0 86516 352 2 Kluger Rivkah Sch 1991 The Archetypal significance of Gilgamesh a modern ancient hero Switzerland Daimon ISBN 978 3 85630 523 9 Kovacs Maureen Gallery trans 1989 1985 The Epic of Gilgamesh Stanford California Stanford University Press ISBN 978 0 8047 1711 3 Maier John R 2018 Gilgamesh and the Great Goddess of Uruk Suny Brockport Ebooks Mitchell Stephen 2004 Gilgamesh A New English Version New York Free Press ISBN 978 0 7432 6164 7 Oberhuber K ed 1977 Das Gilgamesch Epos Darmstadt Wege der Forschung Parpola Simo Mikko Luuko Kalle Fabritius 1997 The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh The Neo Assyrian Text Corpus Project ISBN 978 9514577604 Pettinato Giovanni 1992 La saga di Gilgamesh Milan Rusconi Libri ISBN 978 88 18 88028 1 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gilgamesh Quotations related to Gilgamesh at Wikiquote The dictionary definition of gilgamesh at WiktionaryRegnal titlesPreceded byDumuzid the Fisherman En of Urukc 2900 2700 BC Succeeded byUr Nungal Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Gilgamesh amp oldid 1153189090, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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