No contemporary information is known about Gilgamesh, who, if he was in fact an historical person, would have lived around B. Nor is there any preserved early third-millennium version of the poem. During the twenty-first century B. He sponsored a revival of older literature and established academies of scholars at his capital Ur and at the holy city of Nippur.
Shulgi claimed Lugalbanda as his father and Gilgamesh as his brother. Although little of the courtly literature of the Shulgi academies survives, and Sumerian ceased to be a spoken language soon after the end of his dynasty, Sumerian literature continued to be studied in the scribal schools of the following Old Babylonian period.
Five Sumerian stories about Gilgamesh were copied in these schools. These tales, which were not part of an epic cycle, were originally oral narratives sung at the royal court of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Seeking revenge, the goddess sends the Bull of Heaven to kill Gilgamesh, but the hero, with the assistance of Enkidu, slays the monster.
Enkidu descends into the depths to find them and, upon his return to life, describes the horrid fate that awaits the dead. They decide that he, like all of humankind, shall not be granted eternal life.
In addition to the Sumerian compositions, young scribes studying in the Old Babylonian schools made copies of different oral stories about the hero Gilgamesh.
One noteworthy tale was sung in Akkadian rather than in Sumerian. Only fragments of this composition survive. By the end of the eighteenth century B. A shift in political power and culture took place under the newly ascendant Babylonian dynasties centered north of Sumer. Hundreds of years later, toward the end of the second millennium B. Differing versions of classic compositions, including the Akkadian Gilgamesh story, proliferated, and translations and adaptations were made by poets in various lands to reflect local concerns.
This is the oldest written story, period, anywhere, known to exist. The oldest existing versions of this poem date to c BC, in Sumerian cuneiform. The more complete versions date to c. The standard, first "complete" version, which includes the flood myth, is dated to c. The invention of writing took place here c. By way of comparison: Abraham, the first of the Jewish Prophets the first "Jew" , is believed to have have lived around BC.
Belet-seri: an underworld goddess responsible for recording the dead entering the underworld. Known as the scribe of the Earth. The Seven Sages also known as Apkallu : legendary half-fish, half-men who founded civilisation at the beginning of time and taught humans to read, count, build cities and to adopt laws. Humbaba: guardian of the Cedar Forest of Lebanon. Sometimes they are referred to as his sons, sometimes as supernatural auras. I think people enjoy being surprised by it. I find that enormously gratifying.
At one point in the story, Enkidu lays into Shamhat, a temple harlot who tamed him through repeated sexual intercourse. May the earth soil your best outfit, and the drunk drag your gown through the dust. May the bed where you find your pleasure be a bench, may your home be a crossroads, may you sleep amongst ruins, may you shelter in the shadow of the city ramparts. May thicket and thorn tear at your feet, may drunk and sober alike slap at your face, may filthy mobs crowd your public house, may there be fisticuffs in your inn.
Gilgamesh also tells the story of a great flood that swept all of Babylon away. And when, in , 12 clay tablets inscribed with the Gilgamesh epic were discovered in Iraq, the fact that it told a flood story similar to the one in the Bible was seen as evidence that such an event had actually taken place.
No, I think that the flood is a myth that was widespread in the region, and that both Gilgamesh and the Bible have co-opted it. There, you typically see the gods taking a while to get the things they create under control.
Helle offers an interpretation. The Babylonians refer to the time before the flood and the time after the flood the same way we refer to history and pre-history.
For the Babylonians, the city was at the centre of their understanding of what culture was; they equated cities with culture, so there was no before and after when it came to cities.
It was culture that began anew. The myth of the flood was also a way for Babylonians to understand their culture in terms of the frequent political changes in the region. The fifth of the 12 cuneiform tablets bearing the story of Gilgamesh. Discovered in , the tablets are estimated to be 4, years old. Another explanation is that floods, at that time, would have wiped out historical records, which were written on clay tablets. Add water, and they, along with the history they bear witness to, disappear.
Gilgamesh offers us optimism,« Helle says. The passages can be found in Danish in the original version of this article.
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