Did you know that the oldest story in the world,
"The Epic of Gilgamesh," contains tales that influenced the Bible?
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the semi-mythical king of Uruk, Gilgamesh. Don't forget the easiest way to support us is by giving
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Gilgamesh is a semi-mythical king of Uruk, an ancient city of Mesopotamia
and is best known as the star of the first epic poem ever written: "The Epic
of "Gilgamesh." Gilgamesh is said to have had a mortal father: the Priest-King Lugalbanda
and the goddess Ninsun as his mother, which makes him a demigod or half-mortal, half-god.
According to the Sumerian King List, his reign lasted for 126 years and he was believed to have
possessed super strength, all thanks to his divine lineage. Evidence for the historical king can also
be found in inscriptions that credit him with the building of the great walls of Uruk (modern-day
Warka, Iraq). Even though this figure has taken on a legendary status, it is widely agreed that
Gilgamesh was a historical person and the fifth king of Uruk, who reigned in the 26th-century BCE.
His influence was profound and myths of the king developed and ultimately led to the
"Epic of Gilgamesh," written between 700 and 1,000 years after the life of the historical Gilgamesh;
which much like Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey" which come some thousand years later, existed
in oral form before being committed to tablet. Later, Gilgamesh was invoked by other kings and
associated their lineage with his; most notably Shulgi of Ur who reigned between 2029 and 1982
BCE. He is considered a great king of Ur and went so far as to say his parents were also Lugalbanda
and Ninsun, which made Gilgamesh his brother and would have elevated the status of his reign.
In the mid-19th century, archaeologists were working in Mesopotamia looking for physical
evidence to corroborate the stories from the Old Testament of the Bible. Instead, they
found ancient Mesopotamian texts on clay tablets that proved that many of the tales in the Bible,
which was considered completely original and the oldest book in the world up until this discovery,
had actually been drawn from these much older Mesopotamian myths. It was at the
ruins of Nineveh, one of the later capitals of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, that the Akkadian version of
the "Epic of Gilgamesh" was found in 1849 by the archaeologist Austin Henry Layard, among many
other tablets in what is known as the Library of Ashurbanipal. This version of the epic is
the fullest surviving example. It was written down at some point between 1300 and 1000 in Akkadian by
the Babylonian writer Shin-Leqi-Unninni. By the time the epic was written down,
Gilgamesh would have already been a popular hero figure and Shin-Leqi-Unninni drew on the Sumerian
sources for the legendary king of which there probably would have been many to create his story.
There are different versions of this story and new cuneiform tablets with previously missing
parts of the story are still being discovered, so the story of Gilgamesh hasn't been fully told yet.
In a Sumerian tale called "Inanna and the Huluppu Tree," Gilgamesh helps the goddess Inanna,
the goddess of love and war, kill a snake that had infested a tree she had planted in her garden,
that she wanted to use one day to make a chair and a bed from. After killing the snake,
the female demon Lilitu and the Anzu bird that were also living in the tree fled. Gilgamesh used
the trunk of the tree to build Inanna her bed and her chair but he keeps the branches for himself.
This tale is believed to be the earliest appearance of Gilgamesh
and he is already in a position to help a powerful goddess. Gilgamesh was also seen as the brother of
Inanna; who was one of the most popular goddesses in Mesopotamia, and as a judge in the Underworld;
understood from surviving clay tablets addressed to Gilgamesh in the afterlife.
These early Sumerian stories inspired the later and greater "Epic of Gilgamesh."
At the start of the story, Gilgamesh is the tyrannical king of Uruk; he is arrogant and cruel,
he sleeps with every bride before her wedding and his people are complaining. These complaints
reach the gods who send down a counterpart to Gilgamesh - the wild man Enkidu, who lives with
the animals in the forests, beyond the walls of the city. Gilgamesh sends a prostitute
to seduce and civilise Enkidu, after which the animals stop accepting him as one of their own.
The wild man takes another step towards being civilised, as he is taught how to drink beer,
is shaved and clothed, and given a club as a weapon. Enkidu is told of Gilgamesh's tyranny
and so he meets him to fight, and although they are almost perfectly matched, Gilgamesh just beats
Enkidu and afterwards they become best friends. Enkidu and Gilgamesh, now inseparable, decide
to travel to the Cedar Forest and confront the creature Humbaba. They reach the Cedar Forest and
marvel at the trees before they battle Humbaba, who, just before being beheaded, curses Enkidu.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu cut down some of the sacred trees, make a raft and return home down the
Euphrates River with the head of Humbaba. Upon returning home to Uruk, Gilgamesh attracts the
attention of the goddess Ishtar, also known as Inanna, who proposes they marry, but Gilgamesh
is all too aware of how unhappy her previous love has ended up so he refuses. This infuriates the
goddess who sends down the Bull of Heaven to cause mayhem in the city and ultimately get
revenge against Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh and Enkidu work together to kill the bull and in retaliation,
since the gods are pretty offended by the two men who killed their heavenly bull, they kill Enkidu.
Gilgamesh is absolutely distraught over the death of his friend and doesn't want to meet the same
fate and so his quest for immortality and ultimate meaning in life begins. Gilgamesh abandons Uruk
in search of Utnapishtim, the only human to have been made immortal after he survived a
great flood that had wiped out humankind, except for his family, skilled men and animals that he
had taken on his boat and saved. Sound familiar? That's because this very ancient legend inspired
the story of Noah's Ark in the Bible. Okay, back to Gilgamesh. On his travels to find Utnapishtim,
he passes scorpion men and trees laden with gemstones until he arrives in a magnificent
garden at the edge of the world and the beginning of the ocean, where the goddess Siduri
has a tavern. Siduri tells him the only way he can cross the ocean is to find Utnapishtim's ferryman,
Urshanabi, who can be found on the shore with his magic stone ones. Gilgamesh runs to the shore
and smashes the stone ones, which was a mistake since Urshanabi needed them to cross the ocean.
Ultimately, they cross the water Gilgamesh meets Utnapishtim and asks him how he can escape death
and become immortal. Utnapishtim says if Gilgamesh can stay awake for six days and
six nights he will become immortal, but he fails. The second way is if he protects a
magic plant which he also fails to do when a snake eats it. Gilgamesh fails to attain
immortality and so he is rowed home to Uruk by Urshanabi and then writes down his story.
The "Epic of Gilgamesh" is a tale that grapples with the meaning of life and the fear, not so
much of death, but of meaninglessness. Gilgamesh grappling with the death of his friend and the
questions it evokes resonates with every human who has wrestled with the meaning of life when faced
with death, although inevitably the character of Gilgamesh does not achieve immortality, his quest
gives his life meaning and the fact that we're still talking about him 4,000 years later proves
that he did, in fact, attain immortality. How does the oldest known story in the world resonate
with you? Does it make you feel connected to your ancestors who lived over 4,000 years ago? Let us
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