While composed nearly five thousand years ago (2500-1500 BCE), Gilgamesh strikes me as very contemporary in its thematic concerns as it is alien in many of its cultural practices. Many of these themes emerge from a lost mythological tradition and a culture that is equally non-extant, the bonds of friendship, fear of death, and the quest for worldly renown still strike chords with us even in the twenty-first century.

Continue Reading

I have always been curious as to why that damn flood episode is in Gilgamesh. I mean, it seems so out of place and disrupts the unity of the narrative. I know that Utnapishtim’s immortality and wisdom has to be explained (it does, right?) in some way, but do we really need the whole flood narrative that links the epic to its Hebrew neighbors? I seem to have been on to something in an earlier entry, but it took an email form a colleague to crystallize it.

Continue Reading

While the epic of Gilgamesh is best known for its themes of friendship, worldly renown, and quest for immortality, it also seems to be concerned with the inexorable spread of humanity on this planet. While the epic upholds and even advocates the pioneering and trailblazing spirit of humanity, there seems to live within the lines of the text a sort of lament for the nature that is lost when civilization encroaches on the forests, the seas, and the mountains. And even while Enkidu and Gilgamesh are punished by their killing of Humbaba and subsequent slaying of the Bull of Heaven, humanity’s progress seems to take the forefront in this epic of heroic endeavors. Yet, the these ecological concerns seem to be linked to the greater fate of the heroes and the people that they represent, and sounds a note of caution about overstepping our bounds.

Continue Reading

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” . . . “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.” (Genesis 1:26 and 1:28)

Since the beginning, humans (why do I want to write “man” here?) have had divine sanction to do whatever it is they desire to the flora and fauna (“creeping things”) of the earth. Many have taken this to heart and continue to use the word of the God of Genesis as authority to rape, pillage, and squander all that the natural world has to offer. Indeed, much of what humanity has taken from the earth has directly led to our continued evolution through superior technological developments, but what is lost by a careless and prodigal waste of these god-given resources? The Judeo-Christian Old Testament is not the only work of literature that addresses the ecology; the Sumerian epic Gilgamesh also looks at humanity’s progress, but perhaps not so wantonly.

Continue Reading

The opening of Gilgamesh states that it is an old story “About a man who loved and lost a friend to death.” This statement also holds true for the Iliad; friendship and its loss represent both a motivating force and an important source for a happy life in both epics. Both Achilles and Gilgamesh lose their respective friends, Patroclus and Enkidu, through actions that they themselves precipitated. And once the heroes lose their soul mates they are victims of despair which cannot be alleviated by other distractions, even women.

Continue Reading

The following questions should help you begin thinking about the major themes, characters, and ideas in the primary text.

Continue Reading