GILGAMESH (Lectures 12-13)

sacred mythlegendfolktale WORLDinflexiblesomewhat flexible, generally hostile highly flexible CAUSALITYhard determinism rigid laws, fateful determinism, some room for human choice chance and luck; in the extreme, fairytale wish-fulfillment STANCEabsolute resignationacquiescence and endurance optimism and opportunism MORALITYirrelevant: good = divine will irrelevant: moral character NOT = quality of experience relevant: moral character = quality of experience

Hero Pattern BIRTHMixed Statusdivine + human parents CHILDHOOD Signs of Election Separation Education superior abilities as child/teen removal from home due to threat mysterious teacher DEPARTURE Call Sidekick Journey Exploits Encounters desire for glory / urgent mission double unexplored terrain monsters (cosmogonic) young woman/old woman/old man RETURN / DEATH Failure Reconciliation Death death of sidekick bond with others heroic funeral MEMORIALIZATIONMyth & Ritualcenter of community

Gilgamesh Chronology Historical King Gilgamesh of Uruk, 2 nd Early Dynastic Period Oral tradition: "Gilgamesh & the Land of the Living"; "Gilgamesh, Enkidu & the Netherworld"; "The Death of Gilgamesh"; "Gilgamesh & the Bull of Heaven"; "The Deluge" Akkadian Gilgamesh epic based on Sumerian and Akkadian (Atrahasis) sources Internationalization of epic. Prologue, Flood Tale, Tablet XII added.

Gilgamesh Pattern BIRTHMixed Status2/3 divine: Lugalbanda + Ninsun CHILDHOOD Signs of Election Separation Education [rescue by eagle] [raised by gardener] [narrative missing] DEPARTURE Call Sidekick Exploits Gilgamesh the bad king vision of corpse desire for heroic glory Enkidu Huwawa, Ishtar, Bull of Heaven RETURN Failure Reconciliation death of Enkidu; vision of Afterworld journey to meet Uta-napishtim rejection by Uta-napishtim return to Uruk building of wall; inscription of narrative death of Gilgamesh

Synopsis IGilgamesh bad king. Gods create wildman Enkidu. Lured into intercourse, Enkidu becomes "civilized.” IIEnkidu and Gilgamesh fight to a stalemate. IIIVision of corpse. Gilgamesh plans expedition to the Cedar Forest. IVJourney to Cedar Forest. Admonitory dreams. VDefeat of Huwawa. Cedars cut down for door of temple. VIGilgamesh rejects advances of Inanna. Bull of Heaven destroyed. Enkidu insults Inanna, VIIOn deathbed Enkidu has vision of Land of Ereshkigal, Queen of the Dead. VIIILamentation over Enkidu. IXGilgamesh wanders the earth in search of immortal Uta-napishtim, once mortal. XGilgamesh crosses Waters of Death to visit Uta-napishtim. XIUtnapishtim tells Flood story. Gilgamesh fails test. On return journey, loses plant of rejuvenation. Returns to Uruk, builds wall, inscribes adventures, dies.

Cosmogony, Anthropogony, & The Fall COSMOGONYANTHROPOGONY union of primal parents in undifferentiated harmony initial harmony between human and divine and/or human and nature split or separation of parents and/or body of female parent rupture of harmony, either through (a) accident, or (b) transgression loss of unity in the rapidly dividing and divisive world resulting disharmony, from (a) separation of human and divine, and (in case of transgression) (b) punishment of the transgressor rupture as origin of worldly evil: work, pain, disease, death

Fall of Enkidu Fall of Adam Gilgamesh (Sumer, ca BCE) Genesis (Syria-Palestine, ca BCE) Enkidu in natural state nakedness sexual innocence food: grass, animal milk Adam and Eve in Eden nakedness sexual innocence food: fruit Enkidu seduced by Shamhat sex for six days and seven nights Eve tricked by serpent* // Adam “seduced” by Eve eating of “forbidden fruit” Enkidu “fallen” loss of strength and speed rejection by animals “wisdom” (“thoughts of a man”) godlikeness Adam and Eve “fallen” self-consciousness and shame rejection by Yahweh knowledge of good and evil godlikeness (“the man has become like one of us”) nature  culture Enkidu eats bread and drinks wine Enkidu becomes drunk** clothing bathing and grooming hunting of animals (sickness) (death) nature  culture clothing childbirth pain work and suffering frustration sexual desire male dominance over female death *Later in Gilgamesh, a serpent steals the plant of rejuvenation and swallows it. **Compare the later account of Noah's drunkenness (also linked with nakedness and shame) after cultivating the first grapevine.

SPECIE S CHARACTERFOODCLOTHINGCONDITIONDISPOSITION animalEnkidu Gilgamesh rawnonemortal: unconscious of death serenity humanGilgamesh Enkidu cookedskins/perishable clothmortal: conscious of death despair/joy divineUta-napishtim gods mineral (?)immaculate clothimmortalserenity