The Epic of Gilgamesh is regarded as the foundational text of the world. And why is this important? The epic would have told people in history who they were, where they came from, and what to believe. Moreover, the epic is a religious text talking about the nature of man and God and the relationship among man, gods and kings.
Welcome back to my channel and welcome to the Epic of Gilgamesh, tablets one to three. This video contains original illustrations from the Art of Woody for more information on those check out the description link below. Now on to the epic.
About 4 000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, what is roughly modern-day Iraq, Kuwait and parts of Syria, people were writing and transmitting a Babylonian epic, The Epic of Gilgamesh, which would have likely been passed on before then orally from generation to generation and was now being committed to writing on cuneiform clay tablets — cuneiform is the oldest form of writing known in human history or recorded history.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is regarded as the foundational text of the world. And why is this important? The epic would have told people in history who they were, where they came from, and what to believe. Moreover, the epic is a religious text talking about the nature of man and God and the relationship among man, gods and kings.
The epic follows the adventures of the supposedly semi-divine king Gilgamesh, king of city of Uruk in Sumer which is now in modern day Iraq. The epic was told in a time of human history where the first large urban spaces were being developed and this was around 4 000 to 3000 BC and Uruk was one of those large urban spaces housing tens of thousands of people, witnessing advanced technological developments and imposing architecture and monuments. The epic was at the brink of human civilization as we know it.
Did king Gilgamesh really exist? We don’t know for sure, though his name is included in the Sumerian kings list.
Before we get into the story of Gilgamesh it’s important to understand that we are dealing with the story of city dwellers, in what’s likely one of the first urban spaces in recorded history. There was ongoing discord at the time, between the country people and the city people. The country folks often considered those in the urban spaces to be morally compromised and were mostly suspicious of them. This epic is certainly on the side of the city dwellers, the more powerful people, politically and economically, with their semi-mythical king, Gilgamesh, behind them. The embodiment of a true, strong king.
Tablet 1 – The Coming of Enkidu
Translation in use: Myths of Mesopotamia
A new translation by Stephanie Dalley
Oxford World’s Classics
The epic is narrated by an unnamed third-person narrator. But we are invited to believe that Gilgamesh himself compiled the tales of his adventures.
Look for the copper tablet box,
Undo its bronze lock,
Open the door to its secret,
Lift out the lapis lazuli tablet and read it,
The story of that man Gilgamesh…
Gilgamesh is strong and powerful, described as a goring wild bull! At the start he’s credited with building high city walls, to protect his people; he’s the first to discover techniques for killing wild bulls, sailing ocean going craft and diving for coral.
A hero born of Uruk, a goring wild bull.
He marches at the front as a leader,
he goes behind, the supporter of his brother,
A strong net, the protector of his men…
He is also semi-divine on account of having the goddess Ninsun as his mother.
Gilgamesh was named from birth for fame.
Two-thirds of him divine, one-third mortal…
It is worth mentioning, that the ancient belief in a divinely appointed king, or one guided by the divine and personally accountable to the gods, allowed large groups of people to co-operate under one leader and build big cities.
But, Gilgamesh, despite his greatness, is a tyrannical ruler. He abuses his people, and they call out to the gods for help.
The young men of Uruk became dejected in their private quarters.
Gilgamesh would not leave any son alone for his father.
Day and night his behaviour was overbearing…
Gilgamesh would not leave young girls alone, the daughters of warriors,
The brides of young men.
The gods often heard their complaint.
Thus, the gods attempt to find a solution for the people, and make a human from clay, who is similar in strength. Here, we are introduced to another main character in the epic, Enkidu.
Aruru (goddess) washed her hands, pinched off a piece of clay,
cast it off into the open country.
She created primitive man, Enkidu…
Enkidu has grown in the wild, knowing neither people nor country. He’s dressed like the cattle, and grazes and eats vegetation with the gazelles.
We hear more about him from a perturbed hunter, who, having his hunt interrupted by Enkidu, goes to the city, and complains to the king.
I am too frightened to approach him.
He kept filling in the pits that I dug,
He kept pulling out the traps that I laid.
He kept helping cattle, wild beasts of open country,
to escape my grasp.
Gilgamesh comes up with a solution, or reiterates one the hunter had heard before. The king advises the hunter to have the harlot, Shamhat, seduce Enkidu. When he spots her, she must take off her clothes, and seduce him. Once he takes her, Enkidu’s animal friends would no dount abandon him. And the plan works.
Shamhat loosened her undergarments, opened her legs,
and he took in her attractions.
She did not pull away,
She took wind of him,
Spread open her garments, and he lay upon her.
She did for him, the primitive man, as women do.
His love-making he lavished upon her.
For six days and seven nights Enkidu was aroused and poured himself into Shamhat.
After their love making Enkidu’s animals no longer recognize him, and they abandon him, Shamhat then convinces Enkidu to go to the city to meet the king.
We learn that Gilgamesh has already had a prophetic dream about Enkidu, which his divine mother, Ninsun, interprets as good news of a strong friendship between the two men.
Tablet 2 – The Taming of Enkidu
Shamhat takes Enkidu to a shepherds’ camp where he learns to eat like a man. It’s here that he receives distressing information about the king Gilgamesh that sets him ablaze and sends him running off to meet the King.
That is, he hears about the wedding custom in Uruk, where every new bride must be given to the king, before she can sleep with her new husband. Enkidu is outraged by this custom. He goes to Uruk to stop the king from taking a young bride, and accosts the king at the doorstep, before he can enter the abode of the bride’s father in law.
Enkidu blocked his access at the door of the father-in-law’s house,
He would not allow Gilgamesh to enter.
They grappled at the door…
Wrestled in the street, in the public square.
Doorframes shook, walls quaked.
After the fight, as Gilgamesh barely wins, and Enkidu relents, the two heroes become firm friends. Restless for fame and glory, Gilgamesh says they would both go to the cedar forest and slay the king of the forest, Humbaba. Enkidu, the elders, and the great counsellors of Uruk, all try to dissuade Gilgamesh from this plan, but he is adamant.
Tablet 3 – Preparations for the Expedition
The great counsellors of Uruk impart advice, and outfit Gilgamesh and Enkidu. And, Ninsun (the goddess), and mother of Gilgamesh, enlists for the men, the help of the sun god Shamash.
She adopts Enkidu, and the heroes depart to face off with the ogre Humbaba.
Why is all this important?
The epic tells us how our world as we know it emerged. The city dwellers were asked to revere and be loyal to their king and to serve both king and gods. Civilization according to Babylonian mythology, was fashioned by the gods, who sent kingship from heaven. Thus, people needed to obey their king, and by extension the will of the gods. In fact, the very purpose of the human race was to be in service to the gods.
There was also this idea of the ideal king, as a man of perfect beauty, bold and proud, ready for battle, and to conquer the world. And this we see depicted in Gilgamesh.
But Gilgamesh was a flawed king, and at the end of the third tablet, when he and Enkidu set out to cedar forest, to face Humbaba, despite the misgivings of Uruk’s elders – once sees a reckless king in search of fame and glory, and finally immortality. (But we will get to that soon enough).
Enkidu, made from clay, to help the people of Uruk, has become sufficiently “civilized” and prepared to go forth with Gilgamesh to the forest, despite his own misgivings. Despite being a good friend to Gilgamesh, he has not done much to help the people. The irony is that he who had protected the wild, would now come to defile it. Some scholars refer to this as the “tragedy of Enkidu”.
Later in the Epic of Gilgamesh, which we’d discuss in greater detail in parts 2 & 3, we see that the heroes do defeat Humbaba in the forest. But, after a few incidents, the gods decree that Enkidu would die as punishment.
When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh, conscious of his own mortality travels to a distant land to meet the one man who has survived the great flood on a boat, and can tell him the secrets of immortality. Some of the last scenes in Gilgamesh, actually, closely parallel those of the flood story in the Bible.
Keep in mind that the epic we’ve been discussing is the modern version of an older tale. It is based on an older Babylonian story, and an even older set of loose Sumerian poems. Some parts are still missing, and therefore the story is not fully complete. I hope you’ve enjoyed this video; join us for the second instalment of this series – The Epic of Gilgamesh. Peace. 🙂
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