THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH

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20 Jan 2024

In the land of Sumer, around 2600 B.C., Gilgamesh Became a Legend.

It was only a hundred years after his death, during the time when Egyptian kings were striving to establish their divine authority, that the Sumerian king Gilgamesh became a legendary hero. He had slain the giant, thwarted the Bull of Heaven, rejected the romantic advances of the goddess Inanna, and reached the divine garden where the scent of his mortality even confounded the sun god. Thanks to the Epic of Gilgamesh (the oldest known heroic tale), the historical personality of Gilgamesh resonated with us for 5,000 years after his death.

The difference between the literary and historical Gilgamesh is no different from that between Shakespeare's Macbeth and Maormor Macbeda, who paid for murdering his king and close male kin in the year 1056. Real life serves as a trampoline for creating an epic, where a man's core lives, grows, distorts, but fundamentally remains true. Distinguishing historical echoes in Macbeth is easier. For one, the real life of Maormor Macbeda is documented in other sources. However, outside the epic, Gilgamesh's life is only narrated in a few inscriptions, the Sumerian king list, and one or two poems.
The copies we have date back to around 2100 B.C., from the time when a scribe of the Ur king was tasked with writing the adventures of Gilgamesh. The king, a gentleman named Shulgi, wanted to keep a record of the great king because he claimed Gilgamesh was his ancestor (which likely means Shulgi was a usurper with no actual connection to Gilgamesh). These poems are from a time very close to Gilgamesh's life, so, cautiously, we can say that they convey some facts about the historical king's actions.

Themes of the Epic of Gilgamesh

The epic is similar, but extracting these themes is a more complex task. In your local bookstore, flip through the Epic of Gilgamesh, and you'll see that, like six interconnected stories forming a novel, this epic consists of six interrelated stories. First, there is "The Story of Enkidu," where Gilgamesh befriends the monster sent by the gods to tame him; second, the "Journey to the Cedar Forest," where he defeats Humbaba; third, "The Bull of Heaven," where Gilgamesh angers the goddess Inanna and Enkidu suffers for it; fourth, "The Journey of Gilgamesh," where he reaches the land of the immortal Utnapishtim, the Sumerian Noah figure, living there since the Great Flood; fifth, "The Story of the Flood," as narrated by Utnapishtim to Gilgamesh; and finally, Gilgamesh's futile attempt to find eternal life - or restored youth - and his failure in "Gilgamesh's Quest." Then, in a short epilogue, Gilgamesh's death is lamented.

This clear, six-part version of Gilgamesh's adventures is more than just a disappointment. The epic has been copied many times onto clay tablets, which, like all clay tablets, have been fragmented. The pieces scattered throughout the ancient Near East are written in a variety of languages, from Sumerian to Assyrian, between 2100 and 612 B.C. The oldest Sumerian copies from Shulgi's scribe only include the first two stories and the closing lament. Some parts of the third and fourth stories titled "The Bull of Heaven" and "The Journey of Gilgamesh" have been found translated into Akkadian (the language spoken by the people who occupied the river plain as the Sumerian cities declined) on tablets dating from around 1800-1500 B.C.

Gilgamesh in the Time of the Assyrians

Around 1000 B.C., four stories are found scattered along the Mediterranean coast and in Anatolia. The flood story, existing in various versions long before 2000 B.C., like the fifth story, was clearly added to the Gilgamesh narrative at least a thousand years after Gilgamesh's death. (Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh, "Sit down, and I will tell you a story," as if he hasn't had much opportunity to tell it since getting off the boat.) The only thing we can say about "Gilgamesh's Quest," the story of Gilgamesh finding and losing the plant of eternal life, is that it was added to the rest of the epic in 626 B.C.

This is the date of the oldest known copy containing the entire six-story epic. It comes from the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, who had a librarian's spirit. Ashurbanipal became king in 668 B.C. During his over thirty-year rule, he destroyed Babylon, killed his own brother (the king of Babylon), and took issue with Jonah, a Jewish prophet who insisted that the disaster would befall Ashurbanipal's capital, Nineveh. When he died in 626 B.C., Ashurbanipal had collected twenty-two thousand clay tablets in the world's first true library. Among these tablets, twelve contain roughly the version of the Epic of Gilgamesh we have today.

Therefore, only the first two stories can reliably be placed close to the time when Gilgamesh lived. The troubles caused by Gilgamesh's immense energy in his people, his journey to the north, and the funeral lament: These, even if distorted, could be seen as reflecting some historical truths. Furthermore, these serve as the undeniable centerpiece of the world's first epic, where death comes both as destruction and salvation.

In the first story, "The Story of Enkidu," the people of Uruk complain:
Gilgamesh makes war for his amusement,
He does not respect any boundaries,
Neither night nor day:
Instead of being a shepherd to his people like a king should be
He separates sons from their fathers.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu

The kingship bestowed upon the land of Sumer by the gods, a powerful authority that helped cities survive, leaned towards tyranny. The people of Uruk prayed to the gods for salvation. In response, the gods created a creature named Enkidu from clay and sent him to the untamed lands of Sumer. Enkidu,

Knew no cultivated fields,
Nor civilized people and their ways of life.

Nor did he know about the walled cities, the central hub of Sumerian culture. He was a powerful man, god-like, but behaved like a beast running in the fields, eating grass, and living among animals; in fact, he was a caricature of the nomads who couldn't get along with city dwellers.

When Gilgamesh heard about this newcomer, he sent a prostitute to seduce and civilize him. (The poem says, "He stripped himself naked.") Enkidu, defeated by this rather direct strategy, spent six days and seven nights in physical satisfaction. Finally, when he wanted to return to his life among the animals, they fled from him; he was now human.

Enkidu diminished,

Weakened, and wild creatures ran away from him;

But at the same time, he expanded,

For wisdom had now come to him,

Now he had the mind of a man.

Now possessing the mind of a man, Enkidu had to go to the city, the right place for him to live. The prostitute suggested taking him to "Uruk, where Gilgamesh lords over his people like a wild bull, and to the strong-walled Uruk."

The Friendship of Gilgamesh and Enkidu

Upon their arrival in Uruk, Gilgamesh was disturbing a wedding by claiming his lordship right. He had been using this right comfortably for years: The epic stated, "The king of Uruk, by virtue of his birthright," it said, "wished to be the first with the bride." Enkidu, displeased by the abuse of power, confronted him as he headed towards the bride's bedroom. They wrestled, and it was an evenly matched struggle, more balanced than Gilgamesh had ever experienced. Although the king emerged victorious, he was so impressed by Enkidu's strength that they swore an oath of friendship. This act pacified Gilgamesh's tyrannical tendencies, and the people of Uruk breathed a sigh of relief as peace returned to their streets.

The wrestling match was not just a wrestling match; it reflected the Sumerians' reservations about kingship. Kingship is considered a gift from the gods for human survival; it is assumed that kings will bring justice and prevent the powerful from dragging the weak into poverty and hunger. Clearly, the king needed to be strong enough to enforce his will and administer justice.

However, this power was also dangerous as it could lead to tyranny. When this happened, the fabric of the Sumerian city began to deteriorate. In Uruk, if the king existed and if the king himself became corrupt, the nature of the law would be corrupted. It was frightening enough to require an indirect approach. Gilgamesh was not fighting with himself but with a creature from beyond the walls. The wrestling match in front of the bride's door was a primitive reflection of an uncivilized image; after all, Enkidu was created in his likeness,
Just like him, in his image,

A second self, as the equal of his stormy heart,

Had been made.

Let them fight,

And let them leave the city in peace.

Gilgamesh's Struggle with the Giant

Gilgamesh's journey to the cedar forest is not much different from this. Gilgamesh tends to blindly pursue his own desires.

I will defeat the demon,

I will perpetuate my fame eternally.

He says this to the elders' council of Uruk, who try to restrain his ambitions:
Gilgamesh, you are young.

Your heart is dragging you.

The demon is not like mortal men.

But in the face of Gilgamesh's insistence, the elders step back. Gilgamesh and Enkidu go to fight the giant, and the elders have entrusted Enkidu with protecting the king.

Gilgamesh's journey to the north arises from the same passion that leads him to fame and compels him to send his people to war. But once again, the danger threatening the peace of Uruk is portrayed as an external force. Evil is not in the king's soul but roams in the northern forests.

There is another danger lurking there. In the oldest version of the story, Gilgamesh was troubled by death. Before embarking on the journey, he contemplates his own mortality. He seems to have accepted the inevitability:

Who ascends to the sky?

Only the gods live forever.

The days of man are numbered.

But even if I am defeated, I will gain fame,

Fame remains eternal...

But the possibility of dying in battle crosses his mind. As he goes to fight the demon Humbaba, he dreams three times, waking up shouting in each one, "A god passed by, my skin shivered!" The third dream is the most terrifying:

Daylight ceased, darkness swelled,

Lightning struck, fire broke out,

Death rained down.

He becomes fearful enough to consider turning back, but Enkidu persuades him to continue. Then, on the eve of the battle with Humbaba, Gilgamesh falls into such a deep sleep that Enkidu barely wakes him up to fight.

The Quest for Immortality

Despite prophecies, death is averted. In the end, Uruk is safe, and the Giant lies dead. However, Gilgamesh acknowledging that his days are numbered and the fears arising from his mortality become the core that later shapes the Epic. Wherever meanings transform into a story, there is always a thought of death and an increasing determination to overcome it. Gilgamesh goes to the gods' garden with the hope of somehow bringing the fallen Enkidu back from death; he hears the story of the flood while searching for the reasons for immortality; he succeeds in finding the plant that will delay death, but then allows a serpent to take it. In the struggle to escape death, he plans, travels, pleads, searches, but he cannot succeed.

For the Sumerians, it turns out that this is a good thing. The funeral lamentations that conclude the Epic have been a part of the story from the earliest days. They are not present in Ashurbanipal's copy; apparently, the Assyrians found this certainty too unsettling, especially juxtaposed with the previous quest for immortality. But the lamentations encapsulate the Sumerians' concerns about kingship in a very direct way with a series of lines.

Kingship was bestowed upon you,

Eternal life was not your destiny,

You had the power to unite and divide,

Your superiority over the people,

Victory in war.

But do not misuse this power.

Treat your servants in the palace justly.

The king humbled himself,

Went to the mountains;

He will not return.

An enemy without hands or feet,

Not drinking water or eating meat,

The enemy attacked him.

In Sumer, surprisingly shortly after his death, Gilgamesh began to be seen as a god. But his divinity, as far as one can tell, was limited to death through the tremendous efforts he expended on behalf of his city (after all, protecting and enlarging cities is both the king's and the god's duty). Like Baldur in later Norse mythology, Gilgamesh was divine, but it was not somehow linked to immortality.

In fact, Gilgamesh's tremendous energy made death even more vital. Even if he remained as evil, his power would eventually end. The enemy without hands and feet, limiting the terrifying power that could be on both sides of his people, was crucial. In the world's first epic, as in Sumer, the king Gilgamesh defeated every opponent he faced, either with his strength, patience, or persuasive power, except the last one.

Thank you for reading.

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