Epic of Gilgamesh - Book Report/Review Example

Epic of Gilgamesh Introduction There are a number of themes that could be chosen when discussing the ancient piece of writing known as ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’. We live in very different times to the ancient people, who were only just beginning to settle in cities as opposed to being wandering hunter gatherers. They had only the barest knowledge of technology, knew nothing about DNA or plant chemistry. Science was more or less a closed book to them, or indeed a book as yet unwritten. Yet from then until now many themes can be seen to be consistent over time despite the passing of centuries when it to the human state and the problems it faces - the search for adventure, the place of women in society, the changes that maturity brings and others. This essay will look at the topic of seeking after eternal youth an obvious one in Gilgamesh and still a common theme for authors as well as others. Journalist Roger Highfield wrote in ‘The Telegraph’ ( 23rd May 2008) under the banner headline ‘Scientists Discover the Secret of Eternal Youth’. If he had been around in the middle east all those thousands of year sago he might well have written “Gilgamesh discovers the secret of eternal life”. Oscar Wilde a century earlier had written ‘The Picture of Dorian Grey’ with the same theme and just one of several possible examples. In the Preface to that work Wilde wrote, “The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.” so once again there is the idea of creatures being unable to face up to their own mortality. Background Gilgamesh is the main character and the hero of the Assyro-Babylonian myth “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” His story was written on clay tablets some centuries after the death of this real life king of what is now part of Iraq who lived around 2,500 – 2,700 years B.C.E.. It is a story written on clay tablets that is generally considered to be the earliest literary work that is currently known. Gilgamesh was probably the ruler of a city who lived between 2,500 and 2,700 B.C.E. The story must have begun as a tale told orally for several generations before being committed to writing. The story was rediscovered in the middle of the 19th century on tablets which were part of the library of Ninevehs King Assurbanipal, King of Ninevah, who ruled in the 7th century B.C.E. The tablets that were discovered at that time are believed to be copies of the 11 or 12 original tablets as inscribed recorded by the Babylonian writer Sin-leqi-unninni in about 1,200 B.C. The Story This consists of a series of adventures that Gilgamesh has with his companion Enkidu. These two are very different – one representing the urbanite sophisticate and the other more of a ‘wild man of the woods’. Enkidu’s death causes Gilgamesh great grief, but also makes him reflect upon his own immortality. He believes that there is a secret to immortality and sets out to discover it. In a far country he meets with Utnapishtim, a character who has been linked with the legend of Noah and the ark, and who was supposed to be the only person ever granted immortality. Finally Gilgamesh realizes that he must accept his own mortality and make the best of the time that he does have on earth. Today Modern man obviously realizes that he will not live forever. He is bombarded with media stories of war, famine or even the fatal consequences of individual folly. Yet someone he suppresses this in favor of believing ‘It won’t happen to me.’ and so he continues to smoke cigarettes, fight against impossible odds, drink too much or break the rules of safe driving. At the same time this is in balance with his desire to stop the clock as far as aging is concerned. And so the media is full of advertisements for such things as ’Viagra’ to restore youthful sexual prowess or stories of actresses who have retained their youthful looks in some amazing way – almost always by extreme and/or artificial means. Books such as Bill Gotlieb’s (2000) ‘Alternative Cures’ fill the book store shelves. Both men and women color their hair to hide grey hairs and there is a whole industry, for those who can afford it, of plastic surgeons, hair implants, spa treatments to rejuvenate and all the rest. Despite this at some point most people, just like Gilgamesh, realize that they really are mortal, and begin to appreciate what they do have. Tablet 11 opens with Gilgamesh’s words to Utanapishtim, the supposedly immortal “"I have been looking at you, but your appearance is not strange--you are like me! You yourself are not different--you are like me!” Later on the same tablet Gilgamesh is told of a strange plant. “If your hands reach that plant you will become a young man again.” He does find the plant, but is unable to make use of it. The plant is taken from him by a snake – perhaps an explanation of how a snake apparently rejuvenates itself by sloughing off its old skin. Is the story so very different from advertisements such as that put out by the “Intimate Rejuvenation and Innovative Surgery Center” which offer hormone therapies and rejuvenation? This one of many such wonder cures supposedly available to modern man – many based upon plant life as was the ‘cure’ offered to Gilgamesh, and just as unlikely to make any long term difference to the lifespan. Conclusion J.R.Porter in ‘World Mythology’ describes ‘Gilgamesh’ as ‘The Great Epic of Mortality’. He tells how Gilgamesh is ( page 60) described as ‘two thirds God and one third man’ – yet , as we shall all do one day, he proved to be totally mortal in the end. In another ancient text, the Old Testament, the psalmist pleads with God ( Psalm 90 v 12 ) ‘Teach us how short our life is that we might become wise’. In the New Testament Paul in 2nd Corinthians 5 describes the human body as a tent which will one day be torn down. Adrian Room, the writer of ‘Brewer’s Dictionary of Names, People , Places and Things’ ( page 207) says that in one version the name is written as ‘Bil-gam-es’ which means ‘Ancestor hero’. He was certainly an ancestor, and could be described as a hero, but despite all he was merely a man, with a man’s life span, just like all the rest. Many myths seek to explain the human condition. Although we know who wrote this one down authorship is another matter. Many tellers of tales would have each made their individual contribution before the myth reached the final redaction. In other mythologies there are also stories, with unknown and almost certainly multiple authors, all seeking to explain life and death. Often death is associated with the coming of woman or perhaps a struggle between supernatural beings as in the story of Prometheus and Zeus, Prometheus being, like Gilgamesh, the promoter of civilization. At the same time there are many stories from all around the world, about the possibility of immortality as in the Egyptian legend of Isis (World Mythology, page 43) Mankind has an obvious need to come up with explanations for the situations in which he finds himself. At the same time he is capable of ignoring all the abounding around him, until forced, as Gilgamesh was, to admit the truth of his own mortality. Works Cited Bible, Good News Version, The Bible Societies, London 1976 Gotlieb, Bill, Alternative Cures, Rodale, United States of America, 2000 Highfield, Rodger, Scientist’s Discover the Secret of Eternal Youth, The Telegraph, London, 23rd May 2008, Porter, J.R., The Middle East, World Mythology Willis, Roy, ( General Editor), World Mythology, BCA, New York, 1993 Room, Adrian, Brewer’s Dictionary of Names, People, Places and Things, Cassell Publishers, Oxford 1992 Wilde, Oscar, The Picture of Dorian Grey, 1891 Electronic Sources Carnahan, Timothy, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Academy for Ancient Texts, 7th June 2001, 28th October 2009, http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/ Intimate Rejuvenation and Innovative Surgery Center 2006, 28th October 2009, http://www.iriscenters.com/ Read More