The Epic of Gilgamesh and its Cultural Effects

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a story about a Mesopotamian king named Gilgamesh who, along with his dear friend Enkidu, set off to find materials (i.e. trees) that will be used to enhance the king's glory and the various temples and buildings within his city. However, as the journey wears on, Gilgamesh becomes more and more obsessed with his ego and the fact that he is mortal, so he embarks on a second journey of sorts to find everlasting life. This dry, often-repetitive piece of fiction is dated as being written around the 3rd millennium BCE and the first translation of the book I read was published in 1960. It is hard to determine when the first version of the story was created, but translators and historians have found clues that point to that particular time. Some locations and the mention of some names in the story, such as Gilgamesh, reveal that the story has some historically-accurate implications as well; depending on one's beliefs, this story could be even more factual because of the chapter about the giant flood that engulfs earth and only one man lives through it, along with his family and the "seed of all living creatures" (108).

The story begins by describing Gilgamesh, a two-thirds god, one-third man who is the king in the city of Uruk. He has built the city and made it extremely large, including a magnificent wall surrounding the city. Despite his numerous accomplishments, he is not well-liked by the people of his city because he is an oppressive king. Gilgamesh believes that he cannot be beaten by anybody on the earth (which is true), so the gods decide to tone down his ego and essentially create his equal in the wilderness at the request of one of the citizens' son.

The name of the man created in the wilderness is Enkidu, a man who is as strong as Gilgamesh but is being raised by the animals of the forest. A trapper notices that this full-grown man is roaming around with the animals and helping them escape the traps, so he wants Enkidu to leave the pastures so he can continue trapping animals. The trapper's father sends him to Gilgamesh so he can provide the trapper with a harlot to lure Enkidu away from the animals of the wilderness. The plan works: Enkidu falls for the trapper's, well, trap and the animals reject him.

He heads to Uruk to find Gilgamesh and the two get into a massive fight when they meet. Buildings are on the verge of crumbling but the two stop in time before any real damage is done. They decide to become the best of friends because they are equal in power. Both men decide to embark on a journey to cut down all the cedar trees in the Great Cedar Forest to help build up the city of Uruk. It turns out to be a very harrowing adventure because they must defeat Humbaba, the guardian of the forest, in order to get out of there with the cedar wood. Ishtar, the goddess of love, sees this and asks Gilgamesh to marry her. He scoffs at the offer, describing in detail her past relationships and how she treated those men. Ishtar becomes infuriated with this exchange and sends the Bull of Heaven down to kill both of the men. This also proves to be a fruitless endeavor for Ishtar because Enkidu and Gilgamesh manage to kill this beast as well.

Finally, Enkidu has a dream that the gods have conspired to kill him and, as the story goes on, it comes true. Enkidu grows sicker by the day and eventually he dies, leaving Gilgamesh as an emotional mess. At this point, Gilgamesh begins to realize that no mortal man lives forever so he becomes hell-bent on finding a way to gain everlasting life and avoid the horrific ordeal that is death. He wanders for days in the forest, looking for an answer, that is, until he meets Urshanabi, the ferryman for Utnapishtim the Faraway. Gilgamesh takes this ferry with Urshanabi (but not before destroying it in anger first and then helping him rebuild it) to meet Utnapishtim because he has received everlasting life from the gods.

The two arrive on the island where Utnapishtim resides and he explains his story. A long time ago, the gods decided to flood the earth and destroy the human race. Ea, one of the creators of mankind and the god of the sweet waters, informs Utnapishtim about the flood and helps him survive it by instructing him to build a boat. Gilgamesh is then informed by Utnapishtim of a plant that grows underwater that will grant everlasting life to the person who owns it. Gilgamesh finds one of these plants and makes it back to land safely. However, after setting the plant down for a moment, a serpent slithers up and eats it, effectively cementing Gilgamesh's destiny that he will die a mortal death.

This story was mainly about two men, and the main mortal female character was merely a harlot. There were female deities, so women were probably not looked at too unfavorably, but they certainly did not have a place in society that was even close to rivaling that of men. The men were also depicted as being extremely strong and the writer (or writers) of The Epic of Gilgamesh considered men capable of battling even something the gods could throw at them.

Religion played a major role throughout the story as it essentially determined the fate of each character. Enkidu died because Gilgamesh insulted Ishtar and Gilgamesh died because his destiny was predetermined by the gods to be that he would have kingship, but he would never receive everlasting life. Religion continues to play a major role in today's society; although the extent of our knowledge about religion has continued to grow through the advances in science and research, many people still rely on a god (or gods) for good fortune and a successful life.

The overall theme formed late in the story and really picked up steam after Enkidu died. Gilgamesh was one of the most powerful humans on earth and he was a very successful king (whether or not his people cared to admit it), but he would never be able to live forever. This ate away at Gilgamesh for the entire duration of the story, this theme that one can never escape one's destiny, no matter how hard one tries. A minor theme of friendship and the importance of it is found in Enkidu and Gilgamesh's relationship, but more importantly, the negative effects of arrogance and disrespect to religious leaders (especially the gods) are outlined in greater detail in the story and reveal that they can bring serious consequences to anybody.

I was not sure what to expect when I started reading the story, but I must say that it is impressive for being one of the earliest known forms of writing in the world. It was an exciting adventure tale, but I will admit that I began getting fairly annoyed with the constant repetition of paragraphs as Gilgamesh explained his situation to various people. Most of the time the writing was dry and there were places where certain plot points did not necessarily fit together, but I cannot complain much considering how old the story is and the fact that it was written on clay tablets and some of the writing is still missing.

Ultimately, it was an enjoyable read. It was particularly appealing to me because I could see that the basis for many adventure tales mirror that of The Epic of Gilgamesh, especially the battle between man and the larger-than-life beasts. I would highly recommend this book solely because of the story of the flood. It resembles the flood of the Bible so closely that it is worth mentioning in any conversation that revolves around this adventure tale. This old (just a bit of an understatement) text is not only an entertaining read, but it is a great tool to help one further understand the world's history and where certain practices, themes, writing styles, and values originated from.

Bibliography

Sanders, N.K. The Epic of Gilgamesh (Reading: Penguin Books, 1960), 128 pages