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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Gilgamesh Biography GILGAMESH, The name of the hero in a Babylonian epic, large portions of which have now been found among the cuneiform tablets constituting the "brick" library of King Asurbanipal. At first the name of the hero, written ideographically, was provisionally read Izdubar (or Gishdubar), which simply represented the sound of the three signs iz (or gish), du, and bar, with which the name was written. The phonetic reading "Gilgamesh" was discovered by T. G. Pinches in 1890. The Gilgamesh epic consisted originally of 12 tablets and comprised about 3000 lines. About half of it has been recovered. The epic is a composite production, many of the stories told about Gilgamesh being attached to him merely because he became the favorite hero of the Babylonians, whose adventures acquired great popularity. In the Gilgamesh epic dimmed historical traditions and pure myth are represented in about equal proportions. He is a deified hero. As a hero, he is primarily associated with the South Babylonian city Uruk (modern Warka), which he conquers; as a god, he is a solar deity who is introduced in incantations and hymns. Gilgamesh is a hero of irresistible strength and among his adventures is a fight against a tyrant, Khumbaba, who is represented as dwelling in a fortress situated in a grove of wonderful grandeur. This adventure probably recalls some historical event, but in the sixth tablet a mythical element is introduced. Ishtar, the goddess of fertility, has become enamored of Gilgarnesh and offers herself to the hero, who, however, refuses her and adds insult to injury by reprimanding the goddess for her cruelty to her former lovers. As a punishment, a mighty bull is sent out by Anu, the god of heaven, to kill Gilgamesh, but the latter successfully vanquishes the bull. Thereupon Gilgamesh is smitten with disease and begins a long series of wanderings in search of healing. This disease represents the decline of the year, when the sun (Gilgamesh), removing itself from the earth (Ishtar), is imagined to be deprived of its former strength. Associated with Gilgamesh is another hero, Engidu, of whom, likewise, stories were current, some of which were transferred to Gilgamesh. Engidu and Gilgamesh become associates, and the former is also punished by Ishtar and eventually dies, whereas Gilgainesh ultimately finds a remedy that at least partially restores him. In the course of his wanderings he has many adventures. He passes through dangerous regions, encounters scorpion men and lions before he reaches an ancestor, Ut-napishtim, who has survived a destructive deluge, and from whom Gilgamesh hopes to learn the secret of eternal life and also to obtain healing from disease. When he at last encounters Ut-napishtim, the latter tells him the story of the deluge (q.v.); and while Gilgamesh does not learn the secret of immortality, he is healed of his disease and returns to Uruk. It was formerly supposed that Gilgamesh was the counterpart of the biblical Nimrod, but this theory has now been abandoned. Gilgamesh bears a certain relationship to Samson and phases of the Gilgamesh epic are thought by Jensen and others to have passed on to the Greeks and to have been embodied in the Hercules epic. Again, in the legends which cluster in the Orient around Alexander the Great, certain elements have been introduced which can be traced back ultimately to the Babylonian tales of Gilgamesh. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. IX (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 760. |