The Epic of Gilgamesh - Essay Example

The Political, Aesthetic and Intellectual Dimensions of Pre-Islamic Arabic Poetry It might serve as an elusive concept for some people, given the dynamics unfolding in the Middle East today; but there was a time when Middle Eastern culture, most notably Babylonian culture, was considered quite sophisticated in its exotic pre-Islamic traditions. That time, according to antiquity, commences around the latter part of the Second Millennium when written cuneiform versions of the poetic epic of Gilgamesh were created (Jaeger 2001, p.1). The oral telling of the epic is estimated to date back even farther, to around the Third Millennium (p.1). However, of the many facts that are foreground in the Babylonian 1750 BC telling of the epic is that it comes out of a time when Kings ruled and when human fascination and curiosity with nature and their own environment lacked science and was therefore credited to Gods. The Persian Empire had not yet conquered most of what is today the Middle East, and, because Gilgamesh predates Islam and can be traced as far back as the Third Millennium, it therefore lends insight into pre-Islamic life in Babylonia. Gilgamesh, the epic itself referred to as “the birth of poetry,” begins with a hymn in praise of Gilgamesh, a king of bold deeds, beauty, and semi-divine ancestry (Kovacs 1989, p. 2).” The story goes to describe how the people, having no other recourse, make their case before the Gods to intervene on their behalf with their King, Gilgamesh, whose behavior has become one of thug more so than that of a King (p. 2). Here, is evident the line denoting class distinction, the ruler and the ruled. To whom would the ruled over turn to when the king that rules them becomes tyrannical and abusive towards his own people; they turn to Gods, who are immortals and responsible for all that is good and bad on the earth and have domain over man and nature alike. The Gods heed the plea of the people, and set about to put into action their plan, which will bring Gilgamesh humility, without humiliation since it would serve no purpose to humiliate a mortal king. The Gods’ plan is one of “confrontation of civilization against nature (p. 2).” A being, Enkidu, is created by the Gods to, first, succumb to the temptations of mankind, and, second, to cause Gilgamesh to have to solve a problem that distracts the king from his normal rampage of terror against the people he rules. Now, faced with the creature Enkidu, Gilgamesh is forced to resolve the threat of this creature on behalf of a trapper (p. 2). The plot that Gilgamesh devises is to lure Enkidu away from nature is to use a harlot to entice the creature, and once Enkidu has sexual relations with a human, he will, then, be rejected by nature and can be captured (p. 2). The ploy is successful, and its success extends itself to Gilgamesh’s own character when the King is visited in a dream by his mother who tells him that he will meet one who at first seems a “competitor,” but will then become a friend (p. 2). Until that point, in reading the epic, Gilgamesh has no close friends, his heart has not been open to love, not even to that of a woman, and based on the pleas of the people to the Gods, it is clear that Gilgamesh used women randomly to satisfy his more base needs, but did not form relationships with those women. Gilgamesh and Enkidu, who was in fact rejected by nature and must move in the human world, become fast friends. However, the plans of the Gods have not yet been fulfilled. Enkidu will serve to bring out the humanity in Gilgamesh when, upon Enkidu’s pre-designed death, Gilgamesh becomes overwhelmed with sorrow over the loss of his friend (p. 2). Here, the King has connected with a spirit beyond himself that has taught him companionship, friendship and trust. It is to the benefit of the people who have suffered the King’s lack of these feelings that the Gods have put into motion their plan to create awareness in the mind and senses of Gilgamesh. Up to this point, glimpses into the social structure within which people of the early Babylonian culture lived have been provided. The lives of the people are such that they support the royalty, but the ruling entity has a responsibility to the people and it is not acceptable for the ruling king to behave tyrannically. While there are social divides between the people and the royalty, there is too a relationship that must exist wherein the ruled feel appreciated by the ruling royalty. The post Enkidu portion of the epic poem finds Gilgamesh so overwhelmed by Enkidu’s death, and obsessed with death, that he sets out to discover the secret of immortality (Jaeger 2001, p. 1). What is fascinating about the epic at this point is that it introduces the reader to a “flood story,” that predates the Bible by thousands of years. While the Gods help Gilgamesh survive the flood, and Gilgamesh becomes the semidivine human who regenerates mankind on earth, there is, too, a Noah character and his wife, and together they build an ark based on instructions and dimensions given them by the God Enki, who is God of water and wisdom (p. 1). Gilgamesh survives the flood by being lifted above the waters by the Gods until the waters recede, at which time Gilgamesh becomes the mechanism for rebirth of mankind (p. 1). Gilgamesh, through his experiences in this long poetic epic, has won favor (salvation) with the Gods, ensured that mankind will survive on earth (rebirth), and has found humanity in himself which allows him to become a kind and compassionate king and ruler. That the story of Gilgamesh speaks about tyrannical kings gives evidence that the creator of the story was familiar with the notion of a tyrannical leader. The people, when they turn to the Gods, seek relief from that which they know to be grater than themselves and greater than their tyrannical king. The Gods serve to create an equal playing field between the classes on earth. We find, too, that there are numerous parallels in the story of Gilgamesh and the story of later Judaism and Christianity and even Islam. The story carries the caution that when a ruler loses his humanity and compassion for those over whom he rules, that which is greater than himself shall serve to remind him of his mortality and, in so doing, humble him before the ruled. “It turns out that the same Sumerian and Babylonia principles that maintained harmonious relations between the divine and the human realm also served to hold together a family, a neighborhood or a city (p. 1).” The Story of Gilgamesh reflects, too, that which is known about Persian and Babylonian life prior to Islam. The early writings of the Persepolis Fortification texts show that society was structured with a ruling king, but that the place of women was one of reverence and, as pertains to the work force, nearly equal in nature. Royal women had greater roles and royal mothers, as mentioned in the Gilgamesh epic, were given respect and honor by their ruling sons (Brosius 1998, p. 186). It is no surprise then that Gilgamesh’s mother’s words to him during his dream about her were taken to heart, since “The terms ‘mother of the king’ and ‘wife of the king’ imply that there existed a hierarchal order among female members of the royal family (186).” Mothers of the kings were known to possess a great amount of power, and they had the right to intervene in matters of great importance, even matters that involved saving or condemning the life of others. However, in the poem, except to say that Gilgamesh abused his right as king by using the daughters of his people, there is no mention of women except as mothers, or as Gods. Once again, this emphasizes the role of the royal mother, and probably the role of mothers in the non-royal hierarchy as well. Other poetry that comes from Babylonian antiquity has parallels to Jewish traditions. There is, for instance, a creation story that while the source has drawn debate amongst scholars, the Greek writers who recorded the story attribute its origins to a Chaldean priest (Jastrow 1914, p. 68). The poem, which talks about the unnamed waters, skies and things of the earth, reflects a kind of lineage of the Gods; there are, as indicated by the poem, 12 God (p. 68). The poem serves to answer the question that would have been asked in the community regarding the origins of man himself. As with the poetic epic of Gilgamesh, the creation poem is, too, reflective a patriarchal hierarchy amongst the Gods and man (p. 70). The male element, heaven, located above the female element, earth, denotes the respective perceived places of both genders in the ancient society (p. 71). “All this points to the tendency both among the Greeks and Babylonians to give to the pantheon an astral character; in other words, to project the Gods, quite independently of their original character, on to the heavens (p. 71).” Just as the creation poem established the lineage of the Gods, it demonstrates too the hierarchy between mortal men and women. There unfolds not only distinct parallels between poetic stories of the polytheistic Babylonian society, and the monotheistic Jewish tradition as is told in the Old Testament. It is not unreasonable to conclude that the poems appearing in the Old Testament are the same stories as existed in the Babylonian and Arab world at large, reflective of the revised belief in one God as opposed to Gods (111-112). The poems, whether from the polytheistic Babylonian period, or the later monotheistic period of the Jews, serve to address the concerns of the community for whom the words were written. The poems resolve questions and problems that came from within the community for which they were seemingly written. They serve, too, to establish an order so as to eliminate chaos. The Gilgamesh poem stands alone in that it is not a blending of Arab/Jewish identity and that it attempts to answer all the questions that might arise within the community at the time it was written. Gilgamesh gives the Gods domain over all that is on earth, develops a heavenly hierarchy, and sets the stage the people to be governed by a royal family. It does not, however, allow abuse of the people who are ruled. The poem, too, shows the early Babylonian’s quest to understand death and immortality. Works Cited Brosius, Maria. Women in Ancient Persia, 559-331 B.C. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. Questia. 13 Aug. 2006 . Brown, Jonathan A.C. "The Social Context of Pre-Islamic Poetry: Poetic Imagery and Social Reality in the Mu C Allaqat." Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) 25.3 (2003): 29+. Questia. 13 Aug. 2006 . Jager, Bernd. "The Birth of Poetry and the Creation of a Human World: An Exploration of the Epic of Gilgamesh." Journal of Phenomenological Psychology 32.2 (2001): 131+. Questia. 13 Aug. 2006 . Jastrow, Morris. Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions: The Haskell Lectures, Delivered at Oberlin College in 1913 and since Rev. and Enl., by Morris Jastrow. New York: C. Scribners Sons, 1914. Questia. 13 Aug. 2006 . Read More