Introducing Gilgamesh

The epic of Gilgamesh was written down on clay tablets in cuneiform (wedge-shaped) script at least 1300 years before Homer wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey. However, the first of these tablets was not discovered until excavations at Nineveh, begun in 1845, uncovered the library of Ashurbanipal, the last great king of Assyria (668-627 B.C.). Among the 25,000 tablets was the Assyrian version of Gilgamesh.

The epic gained international importance in 1862, when an expert in cuneiform published an outline of Gilgamesh along with his translation of part of the Assyrian version of the flood. The similarity between the flood story in the Gilgamesh epic and the description of the flood in the Bible led archaeologists to intensify their search for more cuneiform tablets.

Today scholars have available tablets containing portions of the Gilgamesh epic from many of the ancient countries in the Middle East, dating from 2100 to 627 B.C. – including some recently found in the library of Ebla, the latest ancient kingdom to be discovered. Scholars believe that stories of the adventures of Gilgamesh that existed in the oral tradition of Sumer were first written down in approximately 2100 B.C.

Between 1600 and 1000 B.C., the epic had been inscribed in Akkadian (Babylonian), Hittite, and Hurrian translations, some following the Sumerian versions and some branching off into wider variations, but all keeping the Sumerian names of characters and gods. A priest by the name of Sin-leqi-unninni, who probably lived during this time, is given credit for creating the late Akkadian version of the epic. Scholars think that he took the available Sumerian tales and imposed a uniform focus upon them, so that a series of separate adventures became the dramatic story of Gilgamesh’s search for immortality. Sin-Leqi-unninni integrated the Sumerian flood story into the epic and also created the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

Gilgamesh apparently was a real king of Uruk, in southern Mesopotamia, sometime between 2700 and 2500 B.C. At that period Sumer had city-states, irrigation, laws, and various forms of literature. The writings of the time reveal that the people valued justice, freedom, and compassion. The strong walls of Uruk are attributed to Gilgamesh, and he may well have ventured into the wilderness in order to bring timber to his region, for wood was a valuable building material that this region lacked.

The Sumerian view of the gods as unpredictable and therefore frightening reflects the unpredictable and disturbing nature of the world in which they lived. For example, the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers often radically changed their paths from season to season, a phenomenon that must have wreaked havoc on the farms and cities in the area. The flood in Gilgamesh is probably the specific, catastrophic flood that scholars think occurred in southern Mesopotamia in approximately 2900 B.C. It became a popular subject in the literature of the time.

Traces of an earlier, matriarchal religion remain in Gilgamesh as well as in the Enuma elish, the Babylonian creation epic. For example, the Temple of Anu and Ishtar belongs to Ishtar alone. The priestess from the temple who is chosen to civilize Enkidu is highly esteemed in her society. Her role in the temple closely connects her with the Great Goddess or Mother Goddess and sanctifies her sexual relationships.

In addition, Gilgamesh depicts Ishtar as a Great Goddess. When she wants Gilgamesh to marry her, he refuses because he knows that marriage to the Great Goddess will bring him certain death. He further insults Ishtar by listing the ways she has killed many of her previous mates. Ishtar becomes furious with Gilgamesh and retaliates by contriving to cause his death. However, his friend Enkidu dies instead, unwittingly serving as a substitute sacred king.

Gilgamesh is an unusual hero in that his major quest has an intellectual purpose: the acquisition of knowledge. In addition to possessing courage, he must have great determination, patience, and fortitude in order to reach his destination. After enduring physical hazards, he must wage a battle against despair when he learns that he cannot become immortal. He must find experiences that make life worthwhile, and he must find ways of perpetuating his name. Later heroes start by accepting what Gilgamesh questions; they are born into societies that have already determined the acceptable ways in which a person can achieve fame and an immortal name.

Gilgamesh is the earliest major recorded work of literature, and Gilgamesh is the first human hero in literature. The epic has universal appeal among Western cultures because it reaffirms the similarities in human nature and human values across time and space. The epic reveals the importance of friendship and love, pride and honor, adventure and accomplishment, and also the fear of death and the wish for immortality. It speaks as clearly to us as it spoke to those who lived when it was written, almost 4,000 years ago.

Gilgamesh learns that the only type of immortality that he or any other mortal can achieve is lasting fame through performing great deeds and constructing lasting monuments. He also learns that life is precious and should be enjoyed to the fullest. What Gilgamesh discovers during his long and arduous journey, we too must learn in the course of our own lives. Like Gilgamesh, we must fight the despair of failure and death. Like Gilgamesh, we must choose what we will value in life and have the freedom to make those choices.

GILGAMESH: king of Uruk who searches for immortality

LUGALBANDA: heroid father of Gilgamesh; earlier king of Uruk.

NINSUN: goddess mother of Gilgamesh; priestess of Shamash.

ENKIDU: best friend of Gilgamesh.

HIMBABA: giant who guards the Cedar Forest of Lebanon.

SIDURI: fishwife whom Gilgamesh meets on his journey.

UTANAPISHTIM: king of Shurippak; survivor of the Sumerian flood.

URSHANABI: Utanapishtim’s boatman.

Tablet Eleven

Gilgamesh said to the Faraway, "I know that you can live for days without end, Utanapishtim, but your features look the same as my own. Nothing about you looks strange; you resemble me in every way. I had expected that you would wish to do battle, but here you are, lying lazily upon your back. You appear to feel as I do, no longer interested in contests with the sword or with the bow. Tell me, how did you acquire everlasting life? How did you join the assembly of the heavenly gods?"

Utanapishtim replied, "Gilgamesh, I will reveal to you a secret of the gods." And so he began his tale.

You are familiar with the city of Shuruppak, on the banks of the Euphrates River. When both the city itself and the gods within it were already old, the gods decided to bring forth a great flood. Enlil, ruler of all the gods, called them together in assembly.

"The people who live upon the broad earth have become numerous beyond count, and they are too noisy," he complained. "The earth bellows like a heard of wild oxen. The clamor of human beings disturbs my sleep. Therefore, I want Adad to cause heavy rains to pour down upon the earth, both day and night. I want a great flood to come like a thief upon the earth, steal the food of these people, and destroy their lives."

Ishtar supported Enlil in his wish to destroy all of humanity, and then all the other gods agreed with his plan. However, Ea did not agree in his heart. He had helped human beings to survive upon the earth by creating rich pastures and farmland. He had taught them how to plow the land and how to grow grain. Because he loved them, he devised a clever scheme.

When Ea heard Enlil’s plan, he appeared to me in a dream and said, "Stand by the wall of your reed hut, and I will speak with you there. Accept my words and listen carefully to my instructions. I will reveal a task for you."

I found myself wide awake, with Ea’s message clearly etched in my mind. So I went down to the reed hut and stood with my ear to the wall as the god had commanded. "Utanapishtim, king of Shuruppak," a voice said. "Listen to my words, and consider them carefully! The heavenly gods have decreed that a great rainstorm will cause a mighty flood. This flood will engulf the cult-centers and destroy all human beings. Both the kings and the people whom they rule will come to a disastrous end. By the command of Enlil, the assembly of the gods has made this decision.

"Therefore," Ea continued, "I want you to abandon your worldly possessions in order to preserve your life. You must dismantle your house and construct a giant ship, an ark that you should call Preserver of Life."

"Make sure the ship’s dimensions are equal in length and width," Ea counseled. "Build it of solid timber so the rays of Shamash will not shine into it. Take care to seal the structure well. Take aboard your wife, your family, your relatives, and the craftspeople of your city. Bring your grain and all of your possessions and goods. Take the seed of all living things, both the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, aboard the ship. Later, I will tell you when to board the ship and seal the door."

I replied, "Ea, my lord, I will do as you have ordered. However, I have never built a ship. Draw a design of this ark on the ground for me, so that I can follow your plan. And when the people of Shuruppak ask be what I am doing, how shall I respond?"

Ea then replied to me, his servant, "I am drawing the design of the ship upon the ground for you as you have asked. As for the people of Shurruppak, tell the, ‘I have learned that Enlil hates me so that I can no longer live in your city, nor can I place my feet anywhere in the god’s territory. Therefore, I will go down to the deep and live with my lord Ea. However, Enlil intends to shower you with abundance. After a stormy evening, you will find the most unusual birds and fish, and your land will be filled with rich harvests.’"

With the first glow of dawn, I began to construct my giant ship. The people of Shuruppak gathered about me with great interest. The little children carried the sealing materials, while the others brought wood and everything else I would need. By the end of the fifth day of hard labor, I had constructed the framework for my ship. The floor space measured an entire acre. The length, width, and height each measured 200 feet.

I divided the height of the ark so that the interior had seven floors, and I divided each level into nine sections. I hammered water plugs into it and stored supplies. I made the craft watertight. Every day I killed cattle and sheep for the people and feasted the workers with red wine, white wine, and oil as though they were water from the Euphrates. We celebrated each day as if it were a great holiday!

Finally, on the seventh day I completed my preparations and moved the ship into the water. When two-thirds of the ship had entered the water, I loaded into it whatever remained that I intended to take with me. This included what silver and gold I possessed and what living things I had. I put aboard my family and relatives. I put aboard all of the craftspeople. I put aboard animals of the field, both wild and tame.

Ea had given me a time by which I had to be ready to depart. He had said to me, "When Adad causes the heavens to darken with terrible storm clouds, board the ship and seal the entrance."

So I watched the heavens carefully. When they looked awesome with the gloom of an impending storm, I boarded the ship and sealed the entrance with clay. Long before the storm began to rage upon us, we cast off our ship’s cables and prepared to let the sea carry us wherever it would.

The people of the land watched, bewildered and quiet, as Adad turned all that had been light into darkness. The powerful south wind blew at his side, uniting the hurricane, the tornado, and the thunderstorm. It blew for a full day, increasing speed as it traveled, and shattered the land like a clay pot.

In order to observe the catastrophe the heavenly gods lifted up their torches so that the land might blaze with light. But the storm wind raged furiously over the land like a battle. It brought forth a flood that buried the mountains and shrouded the people. No person could see another, and the gods looking down from heaven could not find them either. Its attack ravaged the earth, killing all living creatures and crushing whatever else remained.

As the heavenly gods watched the flood waters pour forth upon the land and destroy everything that inhabited the earth, they too became frightened. They took refuge in their highest heaven, the heaven of Anu. There they crouched against the outer wall, trembling with fear like dogs. Nintu, the Mother Goddess, wept for the people who lived on the earth.

The goddess Ishtar cried out for the victims of the flood like a woman in labor. "All that used to exist upon the earth in days of old has now been turned to clay," she moaned, "and all because I added my voice to Enlil’s in the assembly. How could I agree with the order to attack and destroy my people when I myself gave birth to them? Now the bodies of my people fill the sea like fish eggs!"

Humbled by the enormity of their deed, the heavenly gods wept with Ishtar. For seven days and seven nights the stormy south wind raged over the land, blowing the great flood across the face of the earth. Each day and each night, the windstorms tossed my giant ship wildly about upon the tumultuous sea of flood waters. On the eighth day, the flood-bearing south wind retreated, and the flood waters becalm. Radiant Shamash ventured forth once again. He spread his sunlight upon the heavens above and the earth below and revealed the devastation.

When my ship had rocked quietly for awhile, I thought that it would be safe to open a hatch and see what had happened. The world was completely still, and the surface of the sea was a level as a flat roof. All humanity except us had returned to clay. I scanned the expanse of the flood waters for a coastline, but without success.

As Shamash brought his rays of light and warmth inside my ship, I bowed my face to the ground before the powers of the universe. They had destroyed the world, but they has saved my ship. I knelt in submission and respect before Shamash, who nourishes human beings with his healing rays. In gratitude for our survival, I sacrificed an ox and a sheep to the heavenly gods. Then I sat and wept, letting my tears course freely down my face.

My ship floated upon the waters for twelve days. When I next opened the hatch and looked outside, far in the distance in each of the fourteen regions a mountain range had emerged from the surrounding waters. In time my ship came to rest, secure and stable, upon the slopes of Mount Nisir.

For the first seven days, Mount Nisir held my ship fast, allowing no motion. On the seventh day, I set free a dove and sent it forth. The dove could find no place to alight and rest, so it returned to the ship. Next I set free a swallow and sent it forth. The swallow could find no place to alight and rest, so it too returned to the ship. Then I set free a raven and sent it forth. The raven could see that the waters had receded, so it circled but did not return to my ship.

Then I set free all living things and offered a sacrifice to the heavenly gods. I set up fourteen cult-vessels on top of the mountain. I heaped cane, cedarwood, and myrtle upon their pot-stands, and I poured out a libation to the gods. They smelled the sweet aroma and gathered around me like flies. I prostrated myself before Anu and Enlil.

Then Ishtar arrived. She lifted up the necklace of great jewels that her father, Anu, had created to please her and said, "Heavenly gods, as surely as this jeweled necklace hangs upon my neck, I will never forget these days of the great flood. Let all of the gods except Enlil come to the offering. Enlil may not come, for without reason he brought forth the flood that destroyed my people."

When Enlil saw my ship, he became furious with the other gods. "Has some human being escaped?" he cried. "No one was supposed to survive the flood! Who permitted this?"

Ninurta, the warrior god, said to Enlil, "Do not be angry with us. Only Ea knows everything. Only he could have devised such a scheme!:

Ea then said to Enlil, "You are the ruler of the gods and are wise. How could you bring on such a flood without a reason? Hold the sinner responsible for his sin’ punish the person who transgresses. But be lenient, so that he does not perish! Instead of causing the flood, it would have been better if you had caused a lion or a wolf to attack human beings and decrease their number! Instead of causing the flood, it would have been better if you had caused disease to attack human beings and decrease their number! Instead of causing the flood, it would have been better if you had caused famine to conquer the land. That would have weakened human beings and decreased their number!

"It was not I who revealed the secret of the great gods," Ea said craftily. "Utanapishtim, the most wise, had a dream in which he discovered how to survive your flood. So now, Enlil, think of what to do with him!"

I bowed my face to the earth in fear and submission before Enlil. He took my hand, and together we boarded my ship. Then Enlil took my wife aboard the ship and made her kneel at my side. He placed himself between us and touched our foreheads to bless us.

"Until now," Enlil said, "Utanapishtim and his wife have been human beings. From this time foreward, they will live like the heavenly gods. I have brought down for them everlasting breath so that, like the gods, they may continue to live for days without end. Utanapishtim, the king of Shuruppak, has preserved the seeds of humanity and of plant and animal life. He and his wife will live far to the east, where the sun rises, at the mouth of the river in the mountainous land of Dilmun."

Utanapishtim concluded the story of his adventure. "That is how it came to pass that my wife and I became like the heavenly gods and will live for days without end. Enlil himself conferred everlasting life upon us. But Gilgamesh, king of strong-walled Uruk though you are, who will call the heavenly gods to assembly for your sake so that you can find the everlasting life you are seeking?"