Holding out for a hero: The Epic of Gilgamesh

from Gilgamesh the King by Ludmil Zeman

Q. Sounds like some fantasy nonsense
A. Considered to be the oldest known example of literature, the so-called Epic of Gilgamesh is more properly a cycle of shorter poems, the earliest of which were written down some time between 1250 and 1500 BC, though the story itself may be a thousand years older than that.

Q. That's older than the Homeric epics, then

A. Definitely. The Iliad and the Odyssey were probably composed around 1000 BC and not written down until around 500 years later.

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Q. What was Gilgamesh, then

A. More like who. The Gilgamesh of myth was King of Uruk and superhero and, according to a contemporary list of kings, he reigned for 162 years. If this seems improbable, the same list claims that his father, Lugulbanda, held the throne for over 1,200. (Methuselah, eat your heart out.)

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Q. Did he really exist

A. It seems there was a historical Gilgamesh, who�reigned in Uruk in southern Mesopotamia - now in Iraq - some time during the first half of the third millennium BC.

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Q. How has the tale survived the centuries

A. Many isolated scraps of the tale have survived, but there is no complete version of the cycle, nor is there even a complete collation. That which we do have comes from a variety of Middle-Eastern cultures, particularly the Sumerians, Assyrians and Semites. It was not translated until the 19th century, when the cuneiform alphabet was deciphered.

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The most complete surviving version is derived from twelve stone tablets in the Akkadian language, found in the ruins of the library of Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria between 669 and 633 BC, at Nineveh. The library was destroyed by the Persians in 612 BC, so all the tablets are damaged, but they are able to be read. The tablets actually name an author, which is extremely rare in the ancient world. This particular version of the story was written by one Shin-eqi-unninni, the oldest known human author.

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Q. So what's the story

A. A brief synopsis:

Gilgamesh, a particularly courageous and handsome lad, was created as two-parts god and one-part human. But, there was Enkidu, created by Aruru, the goddess of creation, to be the equal and competitor of Gilgamesh. He ate, slept and lived as the animals, until Gilgamesh sent a woman of loose morals to lure him to the city. When Gilgamesh met Enkidu they became inspearable.

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Gilgamesh, with Enkidu, is compelled to travel to the Cedar Forest to show his mettle. Gilgamesh prays to Shamash, the sun god, and then he and Enkidu set off on their quest. They enter the forest, cut down a cedar, and defeat the dreaded Humbaba, the guardian of the forest.

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Ishtar, goddess of love and war, is pretty impressed by this and asks Gilgamesh to marry her. He declines, recalling the fates that befell her previous lovers, who were variously turned into a bird with a broken wing, a mole and a wolf. Not one to take rejection lying down she summons the Bull of Heaven to kill him. Enkidu seizes the bull by the horns and Gilgamesh kills it.

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However, the gods are somewhat miffed about the death of their bull, so they decree that either Gilgamesh or Enkidu must be sacrificed to appease them, and Enkidu draws the short straw.

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After mourning his friend, Gilgamesh begins to ponder on his own mortality - and he finds that he doesn't like the idea. So, he goes in search the secret of eternal life by trying to find Utnapishtim, the only man whom the gods have decreed can live forever.

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After�overcoming a number of trials he reaches Garden of the Gods, where Siduri, the wine maker, tells him how to reach Utnapishtim. To do so he must cross the Ocean and the Water of Death, which, not surprisingly, he manages. When he finds Utnapishtim, he informs him of the reason for his immortality.

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Q. Which was

A. The gods had decided to put an end to mankind, as the earth was too loud and they were unable to sleep. One of the gods, Ea, warned Utnapishtim of this and instructed him to build a boat. Into this boat he took his family and the seed of each type of animal. The storm raged for six days and nights, but finally subsided and the boat came to rest on the mountain of Nisir. Utnapishtim and his wife were granted immortality for this.

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Q. Isn't that flood somewhat familiar

A. Like many cultures, the various Middle-Eastern peoples who wrote the Gilgamesh cycle all had their own versions of a cataclysmic flood that all but destroyed humanity. Utnapishtim here takes the place of Old-Testament Noah, Sumerian Ziusudra and Babylonian Atrahasis.

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Q. How come

A. There are two explanations for this common piece of folklore. Firstly, that it was a tale invented by one culture that by various means migrated across the Mediterranean world, picking up slight alterations as it was adapted by different people.

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The alternative is that there genuinely was a great flood and each society independently came up with these separate accounts. Although there is geological evidence for a huge rise in sea levels at the end of the last ice age, it occurred many millennia before the earliest evidence of literary civilisation. This does not rule out the possibility that it was, as are many tales, handed down from generation to generation and did not get written down until later.

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Q. And the end of the story

A. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh of a plant which, when eaten, can restore the beauty of youth. Gilgamesh returns to the Land of the Living, finds this plant, and goes on towards Uruk. Rather than eat it by himself he decides to share it with the elders of the city. Unfortunately for all concerned, as he is drinking from a well on his way home, a snake comes up, takes the plant and eats it.

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Gilgamesh heads back to Uruk, but the gods have decided it's time to call time on him.

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Ripping yarn, eh

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See also the answerbank articles on Homer and Agatha Christie in Mesopotamia

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For more on Arts & Literature click here

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by Simon Smith