the epic tales of uric a place widely regarded as one of the world's first cities were either about
diplomacy or of the military efforts made by its people to safeguard their valuable
natural resources from the distant iranian city of arata however the legend of king gilgamesh
is an exception to such tales it tests the limits of creative imagination and pushes the limits of
western civilization during the ancient times it was thought that telling stories was essential
to human health this was because they provided an overview of local culture as well as the history
of a country gilgamesh's myth is one such story it was written in cuneiform script the world's oldest
known script and is mentioned in the hebrew bible and what exactly did this story tell
hi and welcome back to our channel and today we'll be talking about the myth of gilgamesh
one of mesopotamia's most well-known legends but before we dive into it and follow the king of uric
on a series of risky adventures in his quest for immortality make sure you like this video
and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss any of our future uploads now without further
ado let's get started so the most complete and existing text of the gilgamesh epic is in the
12 unfinished acadian language tablets the second oldest religious text after the pyramid texts but
how they were found is an interesting story in the year 1849 archaeologists started digging through
dusty remnants of the ancient city of nineveh in iraq trying to find records to prove that bible
stories were true instead they discovered a 4 000 year old story written on crumbling clay tablets
and this story was of the king of uric gilgamesh it was so fascinating that the first person to
translate it began to strip with excitement two main versions of the epic the standard babylonian
version and the old babylonian version have been discovered from the various sources the first half
of the story is about gilgamesh the ruler an enkidu a god-made wild man who was created to
stop him from oppressing europe's people while the second half depicts how being sad and broken by
enkidu's death gilgamesh starts his own journey in order to find immortality and avoid death forever
after having done so he returns to take the throne of uric and it is believed that he then lived and
ruled for almost 126 years now let's dive into it in detail gilgamesh was a two-thirds god and
one-third man the math underlying the mix of his godly roots is unknown but what's sure is that he
had godly parental origins he constructed majestic temple towers erected high walls around his city
and planned its orchards in farms in his entire depiction he was portrayed as a good looking
strong and intelligent man but despite his godlike appearance and wisdom he was known to
be a cruel king who raped any woman he desired uric's residents were enraged by his behavior
and they prayed to anew the great god of heaven for assistance in dealing with their ruler the
god heard their cries for help and decided to keep him in control by creating in kidu
a wild man as majestic as gilgamesh ankidu had a life among animals and forests and he did not know
how to live like a human being he was horrified by gilgamesh's actions and traveled to europe to
challenge him when gilgamesh was about to storm into a bride's wedding chamber ankidu stopped his
way by stepping into the doorway and this led to a fierce battle between the two that was eventually
won by gilgamesh following that they became friends and set off to find an adventure to share
so they made plans to take trees from a remote cedar grove that was off limits to mortals it
was guarded by humbamba a fearsome demon who served enlil the god of earth wind in air both
the men decided to travel in the forest to find and kill that monster they took help of sun god
shamash and defeated the beast then they cut down the forbidden trees turned the tallest tree into
a great gate for the gods and made a raft out of the rest to return to uric seeing all this ishtar
the goddess of love was attracted to gilgamesh and proposed him but due to her having ex-lovers
gilgamesh rejected her this offended the goddess who then requested her father the sky god anu to
send the bowl of heaven to punish him and this bull brought seven years of hunger when he came
down to earth but even without the assistance of the gods gilgamesh and enkidu slayed the beast and
sacrificed its heart to shamash and enkidu did not stop there he then flung the bull's legs in the
face of an angry ishtar so the gods gathered in court and determined that one of the two friends
must be punished for their crime leading to the decision of enkidu's death as a result enkidu
became ill suffered greatly and told others about his visions of the underworld gilgamesh could not
overcome akiru's death and was also worried about his own death as a way of grieving in kiru he sold
his royal clothes for animal skins and went out into the desert to find yunna pushed him
who was granted endless life by the gods after the flood he thought that you know pushed him
may tell him how he can avoid death as well his quest took him to mashu a twin peaked mountain
where the sun sets in one direction at night and rises in the opposite direction in the morning you
not pushed and lived beyond that mountain and it was well guarded by giant scorpion-like creatures
they refused gilgamesh to enter the tunnel that runs through it but allowed him after he pleaded
after having walked a rough road through darkness he then emerged into a beautiful garden by the sea
where he found saduri the goddess of wine and brewing at first sadhuri thought he was a killer
based on his disheveled appearance and tried to talk him out of his mission she told him that
pursuing immortality is pointless and that he should be content with the pleasures of his life
when she was unable to discourage him from his purpose she referred him to urshinabi the fairy
men who took him to yunnan pushed him by crossing the waters of death on a boat having reached
there you not pushed him explained to gilgamesh about the flood and how the gods sat in council
and decided to wipe off humanity he also said that he was warned about the god's plan by enki
the god of knowledge who also instructed him on how to build a massive boat in which his family
and the seed of every living creature might escape you now pushed him received eternal life as a gift
but towards the end of their meeting and despite his doubts about why the god should receive
gilgamesh the same honors himself the flood hero yuna pushed him reluctantly agreed to give him
immortality given that he could stay up for six days and seven nights but gilgamesh fell asleep
almost immediately after unipushed him completed a speech and after seven days of his sleep
he woke him up mocked his failure and sent him back to uric however when he was about to leave
y'know pushed him's wife begged him to have mercy on gilgamesh because of his long journey and so he
informed him about a plant that grew at the bottom of the ocean that could give him immortality
gilgamesh collected the plant by strapping stones to his feet allowing him to walk on the seabed he
intended to use the flower to revitalize the city of europe's elderly men before using it himself
but unfortunately when he was bathing he left the plant on the shore of a lake where it was grabbed
by a snake who lost its old skin and became young again gilgamesh cursed his failure at both
attempts at immortality and returned with sadness to the huge walls of his own city of europe
accepting his own fate of being mortal just like everyone else but he also realized that humanity
has to stay immortal and brought this reflection into the way he ruled his kingdom from there on
so this was the myth of gilgamesh if you enjoyed listening to it make sure you hit the like and
subscribe button we'll see you next time with another interesting myth until then goodbye