Gilgamesh
by Donald E. Hester
on Saturday, 27 December 2008
Book Reviews
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Donald E. Hester
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The Epic of Gilgamesh is, perhaps, the oldest written story on Earth. It comes to us from Ancient Sumeria, and was originally written on 12 clay tablets in cunieform script. It is about the adventures of the historical King of Uruk.
In every myth I think there is always an element of truth to the story, if only symbolically. I don’t think that stories can become popular without some element of truth to them. In fact, some of the best stories are ‘fish’ stories. Yes, someone did catch a fish, but it wasn’t that big. So, as I begin to read to I planned to keep that in mind.
I have made the following notes from the book.
Enkidu
I am noting similarities of types in the Gilgamesh story to other ancient stories.
I noticed that Enkidu was made of clay by a god, lived naked with the animals, and was a herbivore, until his knowledge grew.
This sounds similar in substance with the story of Adam. Some say that the forbidden fruit talked about in Geneses is really a metaphor for sex. In that case the story in book 1 of Gilgamesh does align Adam with Enkidu as well.
Enkidu grew in knowledge, left the animals, and put on a robe after he had intercourse with the temple harlot who seduced him which in turn civilized him.
Gilgamesh has similarities as well. He is a larger man, larger than normal, half man and half god (2/3rds god). Sounds like the Nephilim in the book of Geneses as well. The cross breading of gods and men with super human abilities is like the Greek Titians.
I have just finished the book and have started listening to the translator’s essay.
The translator in his essay also sees the same parallel that I did between Adam and Enkidu at the beginning of the story.
Humbaba
One of the most interesting parts of this story is the monster Humbaba, or should I say dragon or more accurately a dinosaur, which was the first thing that came to my mind. The connection between dragons and dinosaurs is obvious, but what I never understood is this fascination with the dragon’s fire breath. Even in this old story that was lost for 2000 years has fire-breathing dragons. Which leads me to wonder is there a dinosaur that could breathe fire?
So I Googled the question and found some sites.
I think there has to be some validity to these accounts as they are in many cultures, which gets back to my premise that there are elements of truth to mythology.By a preponderance of evidence I would suggest that dinosaurs lived contemporaneously with man and that at least one type could breathe fire.
It could be some type of bioelectric ignition of methane gas.
http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CH/CH712_1.html
http://www.creationworldview.org/Articles/Article%2043.htm
http://www.creationworldview.org/Articles/Article%2043.htm
The Flood
The story talks about the Flood of Noah and states the story happens after the flood.
Utnapishtim is apparently Noah in the story. Gilgamesh seeks him out because he was immortal, which to me seems to elude to two different people, Enoch and Noah. So it seems like this Utnapishtim is a composite of both Noah and Enoch, but more Noah. I have seen some websites that say the story of the flood in Gilgamesh and the story in Genesis are similar. That is an understatement. It is uncanny how similar they are. Is this really an independent corroboration of the historicity of the Genesis account?
The Snake
In the story of Gilgamesh a snake is instrumental in stealing the source of eternal life from man. Symbolically this is similar to the story of the fall of man in Genesis.
Marriage and Homosexuality
This story does give us a look at marriage at the time of Gilgamesh over 4000 years ago. Given that this is not a Jewish, Christian or Muslim story and that it has the same elements of marriage that they have. This gives us a new perspective on current debates over what a marriage really is. The fact that Gilgamesh had to be the man who took the virginity from all the wives to be also reminds me of the Nephilim in Genesis.
As I listened to the story I could not help but get the impression that Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s relationship reminded me of Alexander and Hephaestion’s relationship.
The translator mentions that in book 12, which was not included in the audio book, the homosexual relationship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh is more explicate. So both Alexander and Gilgamesh have a male lover who dies young and they are filled with grief and inconsolable. Given that Alexander was conquering the same area, I wonder if he heard the story of Gilgamesh or was it lost by then?
Final Thoughts
This grand epic has all the elements of humanity, life, death, love, a great journey and beer.
Here are some other websites with additional information:
http://novaonline.nv.cc.va.us/eli/eng251/gilgameshstudy.htm
http://www.abiblestudy.com/babel.html
http://momentin.com/revstudy/chap02pergamos.html#pergamos
http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/Sumer.html
http://www.jameswbell.com/geo001noteindex.html
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Sumerians/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Giants
http://www.abiblestudy.com/babel.html
http://momentin.com/revstudy/chap02pergamos.html#pergamos
http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/Sumer.html
http://www.jameswbell.com/geo001noteindex.html
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Sumerians/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Giants