The Epic of Gilgamesh

Question 1

Prior to writing, stories full of repetition, why?

Answer 1

Made stories easier to remember and repeat via oral tradition. Preserved cultural memory. Modern day form present in lessons from cliches.

Question 2

Invention of Writing

Answer 2

Around 3,300 to 2,900 BCE in Mesopotamia in between Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Question 3

When was Epic of Gilgamesh composed? Why is it considered an epic?

Answer 3

Composed as early as 2,100 BCE, but continued to evolve gradually. Considered an epic because an epic is a long poem which possesses elevated lanaguage and describes a panoramic sweep of action. Often, this spans the devine and human worlds. Repetition of lines and rhetoric of parallels and contrasts.

Question 4

Gilgamesh is “like a wild bull”, why?

Answer 4

Headstrong and aggressive nature. Own boundaries for interaction, territorial, and powerful. Perhaps also a hint at his sleeping with numerous women as bull is symbol of sexual prowess.

Question 5

Gilgamesh Before Enkidu

Answer 5

Forceful king whose “weapons had no equal”. Proud with no remorse in his actions. Use of superhuman strength against his own people. Seperated families, taking sons to war, taking daughters to rape and use. Cruel tyrant. Society on the verge of collapse because of Gilgamesh’s bad behavior. Sarcasm, “this was the shepherd”. Gilgamesh is much more of a wolf in a sheeo pen than a shepherd guarding a flock.

Question 6

Enkidu Before Gilgamesh

Answer 6

Handsome man of strong physique. Perhaps looking for companionship in that “he yearned for one to know his heart”. Pure and untainted with his own sort of moral compass. Purity in absence of power, naivety in lack of knowledge of human culture. Not mortal, vast sexual prowess and strength.

Question 7

Enkidu’s Relation to Gilgamesh

Answer 7

Essentially Gilgamesh’s exact opposite. Created by the gods to be solution to the “Gilgamesh problem”. Enkidu is wild animal’s shepherd while Gilgamesh preys on his own society like a wild animal.

Question 8

Enkidu’s Humanization

Answer 8

Sleeps with Shamhat for seven days and nights. Potential indicator of a woman’s humanizing effect on a man. Gains awareness, concept of nakedness. Clothes himself.

Question 9

Evolution of Enkidu to Civilized

Answer 9

Bread and beer eaten with the shepherds. Important because they are both grain based and require permanent settlements for cultivation. Bathing and oil also used and are a result of agriculture. Becomes advocate of humanity when he becomes shepherd of the shepherds. “Super shepherd” mirrors cultural evolution of humanity.

Question 10

Enkidu’s Implications

Answer 10

Cultures adapt to change through stories. Enkidu is a means of grappling with change from hunter gatherer society to established and settled communities. Animalistic nature to civility. Evolution of human society in his awareness of being naked. Bread and beer grain based, so only possible through permanent settlements.

Question 11

Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s First Meeting

Answer 11

A fight. Enkidu keeps Gilgamesh from going into the bed chamber of a girl that was just wed and is awaiting her husband. Both possess superhuman strength. During fight, they shatter the doorpost of the door. This is most stable part of the door and built incredibly strong during these times so would have taken huge amount of force.

Question 12

Humbaba

Answer 12

Monster living in forest fo cedars. Guards the forest for the god Enlil.

Question 13

Death of Humbaba

Answer 13

Shamash, god of winds, helps Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill Humbaba by blinding Humbaba with the thirteen winds. Shamash interferes because of Ninsun (goddess and Gilgamesh’s mom)’s prayers. Shamash tells them that Humbaba is only wearing one of his seven glories (makes him easier to kill). Gilgamesh is out to kill Humababa because of his own desire to leave a legacy.

Question 14

Shamash

Answer 14

God of Winds. Likely a huge deal to the culture of origin as winds are very powerful in the desert.

Question 15

Celebration of Humbaba’s Death

Answer 15

Gilgamesh and Enkidu make a huge door out of the cedars in the forest and say they will send it down the Euphratesto Nippur, the sanctuary of Enlil.

Question 16

Ishtar

Answer 16

A goddess whose father is Anu. Anu holds great power in the Heaven’s. She is also a momentary love interest of Gilgamesh who becomes scorned.

Question 17

Ishtar’s Offer

Answer 17

She offers her hand in marriage to Gilgamesh, who not so nicely rejects her, citing all of her past errors and evil acts against her lovers (often resulting in death or entrapment) and explaining that he does not want to be another of those. A display of Gilgamesh’s immaturity in improperly dealing with the situation and “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”.

Question 18

The Bull of Heaven

Answer 18

Ishtar requests this from her father, Anu, after being humiliated by Gilgamesh. Ishtar uses this to level Uruk and attempt to kill Enkidu and Gilgamesh. Enkidu and Gilgamesh kill the bull. Enkidu then throws the haunch of the bull (probably the testicles) at the upset Ishtar. A great insult to a goddess.

Question 19

Ishtar’s Rage

Answer 19

Asks gods to kill Enkidu after the Bull of Heaven is slain and they do.

Question 20

Enkidu’s Death

Answer 20

Enkidu falls ill and is bed-ridden for twelve days. Condtion never improves and he dies due to this illness. Dying by sickness is ultimately an insult to his strength. Was not allowed an honorable death in battle, instead got an inglorious one.

Question 21

Gilgamesh Honoring Enkidu

Answer 21

Gilgamesh commands metal workers, gem carvers, and other specialists to erect a statue/burial site “unlike any other”. Gives Enkidu gifts for Ninshunhulha and Bibbu to aid Enkidu in the Netherworld. Vows to dress ragged, unkempt, and animalistic in his travels as Enkidu once did.

Question 22

Impact of Enkidu’s Death on Gilgamesh

Answer 22

Happens close to him, to someone he loves and cares for, a friend. Hyper aware of the permanence of Enkidu’s absence. Gives Gilgamesh a crisis with regard to death. “Oh that was unexpected”. Face to face with mortality. The one person that was his equal just bit the dust in an inglorious way = “that could be me” moment. Gilgamesh has become afraid of death.

Question 23

Scorpion Monsters

Answer 23

Challenge Gilgamesh at the mountains (Twin Peaks called Mashum). Ask Gilgamesh who he is and why he is there. Gives Gilgamesh a chance to explain his actions up to this point to the audience. Narrative tactic to place gatekeepers to ask questions to get character’s to explanations for events.

Question 24

Beginning of Gilgamesh’s Journey

Answer 24

Kills lions and dons their skin. Direct shout out to Enkidu. Putting- on of lion skin and journey makes this an epic poem because of long journey covered. Every epic is, at core, a quest (adventure or journey with goal). Every action brings character closer or further away from ultimate goal. Journey and lion skin are a rejection of civilization. Goes from apex of civilization to becoming a hunter gatherer. Enkidu’s loss dehumanizes him, leads to the regression of Gilgamesh.

Question 25

The Darkness of the Tunnel and the Garden of the Gods

Answer 25

Occurs after scorpion monsters. Apparent that he possesses a fear going through the tunnel. Tunnel could be his point of no return. Darkness is “dark night of the soul”, Gilgamesh’s depression. Tunnel also an explanation of how the sun journeys on a flat earth. At the end of the tunnel, trees grow gems in the garden of the gods.

Question 26

Siduri

Answer 26

Goddess of Alcohol that lives in a tavern at the end of the Earth (probably just the edge of the sea). Helps Gilgamesh get to Ur-Shanabi to get to Utanapishtim. Used to explain change in people when they consume alcohol and the difficult process of alcohol, done just right in appeasement to the gods, so as not to get vinegar instead.

Question 27

Siduri’s Initial Reaction

Answer 27

Initially conflicted by his arrival. Men traveled in this time for only a few reasons (merchant, missionary, soldier, or exile). Gilgamesh is haggard, has the worn and weathered face of a traveler that has seen too much(gaunt, dirty, sunburned, hallowed), and is wearing a lion skin. Siduri bars her door and mounts her roof as if to escape and evade Gilgamesh.

Question 28

Siduri’s Speech

Answer 28

Gilgamesh, wherefore do you wander?
The eternal life you are seeking you shall not find.
When the gods created mankind,
They established death for mankind,
And withheld eternal life for themselves.
As for you, Gilgamesh, let your stomach be full,
Always be happy, night and day.
Make every day a delight,
Night and day play and dance.
Your clothes should be clean,
Your head should be washed,
You should bathe in water,
Look proudly on the little one holding your hand,
Let your mate be always blissful in your loins,
This, then, is the work of mankind.

Question 29

Ur-Shanabi

Answer 29

Utanapishtim’s boatman/servant. Job is to cross the ocean and waters of death to trim pine trees in the forest. Possesses stone charms that allow him to cross the waters of death.

Question 30

Translation of Siduri’s Speech

Answer 30

As a human, death is inevitable. Live life to the fullest while you still have it. Don’t dwell on what you’ve lost, but try to find happiness in each day, no matter how small. Be thankful for what you have. Get fulfillment through being a parent and having a child. Suggests he should be civilized, thus, “you really should bathe”. Focuses on Gilgamesh’s social life.

Question 31

Stone Charms

Answer 31

Gilgamesh destroys them in a fit of rage. Forces a collaboration between Ur-Shanabi and Gilgamesh to get across the waters of death, so, perhaps strategic.

Question 32

Utanapishtim’s Speech

Answer 32

Why, O Gilgamesh, did you prolong woe,
You who are formed of the flesh of gods and mankind,
You for whom the gods acted like fathers and mothers?
When was it, Gilgamesh, you began to act like a fool?
You strive ceaselessly, what do you gain?
When you wear out your strength in ceaseless striving,
When you torture your limbs with pain,
You hasten the distant end of your days.
Mankind, whose descendants are snappled off like reed in a canebrake!
The handsome young man, the lovely young woman, death
No one sees death,
No one sees the face of death,
But cruel death cuts off mankind.
Do we build a house forever?
Do we make a home forever?
Do brothers divide an inheritance forever?
Do disputes prevail in the land forever?
Do rivers rise in flood forever?
Dragonflies drift downstream on a river,
Their faces staring at the sun,
Then, suddenly, there is nothing.
The sleeper and the dead, how alike they are!
They limn not death’s image,
No one dead has ever greeted a human in this world.
The supreme gods, she who creates destinies, ordaining destinies with them,
They established death and life,
They did not reveal the time of death.

Question 33

Translation of Utanapishtim’s Speech

Answer 33

You’re going to die. Undoubtedly and most certaintly that is your fate. Don’t use your time on Earth to worry. Worrying about death only brings it closer. You never know when it will get you. “Death is coming whether you like it or not”. Nothing physical will last. You are a helpless bug caught in the stream of time. The gods preordain life and it cannot be changed.

Question 34

Utanapishtim

Answer 34

The only man to ever become immortal. Made immortal by Enlil after he angered all the other gods by wiping out humanity (their only source of sacrifices) with a flood. A way to make amends and make sure the gods always have someone to feed them.

Question 35

Enlil

Answer 35

God that brought on the flood that wiped out humanity. Similar to the story of Noah’s Ark.

Question 36

Ea

Answer 36

God that warns Utanapishtim of the flood and tells him to make a boat and let aboard a “seed of all living things”. Utanapishtim gets the materials to make the boat from his own house.

Question 37

Gods during the Flood

Answer 37

Weeping and have dry lips. Sad that they don’t have any sacrifices and the being created in their image is essentially gone. But most importantly, no one to sacrifice, make offerings, or pray to them.

Question 38

Use of Birds during Flood

Answer 38

Doves sent out first. Cannot fly far, so land would be close if they did not return. Sparrow sent out next. Could fly further, so land would be further out. Raven sent out last. Can fly furthest and in the direction of land, not just straight like dove and sparrow. Ability to see exact length and location of land based on their return or lack there of.

Question 39

Gods and the First Sacrifice

Answer 39

Compares gods to flies. Makes gods sound dependent on mortals. Points to gods as a nuisance. Flies are lowly, shows how diminished the gods have become following the flood.

Question 40

Utanapishtim’s Challenge

Answer 40

Gilgamesh can’t sleep for six days and seven nights. Gilgamesh does the exact opposite of what he was supposed to do and falls into a sleep coma for seven days. The length of time that he sleeps shows how hard he has pushed himself on his journey.

Question 41

The Bread Evidence

Answer 41

Seven loaves placed in front of Gilgamesh. One freshly cooked and placed each day. Stages of decay of bread show evidence of timeline of sleep coma. Relates back to civilized society as bread arises from grain which takes a settled communtiy to cultivate.

Question 42

Prickly Plant

Answer 42

Despite failing, Utanapishtim tells Gilgamesh of the location of a plant which, if does not make him immortal, will at least revert him back to a younger version of himself. It cures heartache.

Question 43

Snake Takes Prickly Plant

Answer 43

Snake almost immediately sheds its skin. Shows that plant did actually work. Gilgamesh is shown to have matured in his reaction. Before this happens, offers to let an old man have a try before him. Willing to give something. Snake a symbol of reincarnation.

Question 44

Evolution of Gilgamesh

Answer 44

Travel and death of a friend changed him. No longer all about himself, now all about his city. Psychological transformation. Brags about the beauty of Uruk, plans delayed gratification in not taking the plany first. No longer a tyrant, maybe now actually a good and thoughful king.