The Epic of Gilgamesh
The idea of death and mortality surrounds The Epic of Gilgamesh. Here we see recurring themes surrounding both ideas. With this in mind, it also lets the readers view how the Sumerian culture viewed death and mortality at the same time. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, we see the discussion and examples regarding death and mortality throughout the book. We see one of these examples during the course and plan of Humbaba’s (servant of Enlil, protector of the forest of Cedar) death. The second time we see this is during Ishtar’s (the goddess of love and war) proposition to Gilgamesh in regards to him marrying her. The third time we see this occurrence is when Gilgamesh seeks Ut-napishtim to become immortal/ a god. Throughout this essay, I will be discussing Sumerian culture and their relationships with gods, demonstrating how gods are biased against mortals.
Gilgamesh’s obsession with immortality and wanting to possess the powers the gods had starts with his quest in the forest Cedar (George 22). During Gilgamesh’s journey, he intends to kill Humbaba with Enkidu and Shamash (God of the Sun) at his side. Gilgamesh wants to kill Humbaba for fame and glory (George 12). Killing Humbaba would bring Gilgamesh closer to being seen as a god, since anyone who tried to it was defeated and died (George 12). Beating an undefeatable man would be a god’s move in Gilgamesh’s eyes. In his eyes, fame and glory was the closest thing to being a God, immortal. Although Gilgamesh had help in the killing of Humbaba, he was the one that took Humbaba’s life by “smoting him in the neck” (George 45) Humbaba’s story is significant within the story of Gilgamesh because it brings him closer to being a god. In doing so, he feels very immortal, since popularity comes with immortality, or so Gilgamesh believed. The gods are timeless, and everyone knows about every one of them, which comes in the context of immortality and fame (George 18). Gilgamesh’s wish did come true after all, and Humbaba dying at the hands of Gilgamesh did indeed bring him fame and glory.
“Come Gilgamesh, be your bridegroom! Grant me fruits, O grant me! Be you, my husband, and I, your wife.” After Gilgamesh kills Humbaba, the Goddess Ishtar comes to him and proposes to him, but Gilgamesh turns her down (George 48) “You loved the speckled allalu-bird but struck him down and broke his wing: now he stands in the woods crying “My wing!
You loved the lion, perfect in strength, but for him, you dug seven pits and seven. You struck him into a wolf, now his very own shepherd boys chase away, and his dogs take bites at his haunches.” This is the reason Gilgamesh dismisses Ishtar. The awful things that Ishtar had done to her past suitors and the way she punished them me Gilgamesh all to cautious(George 49). Gilgamesh does not want Ishtar to put him through that. Ishtar coming to Gilgamesh is proof that killing Humbaba brought him fame. The goddess of love and war asked for his hand in marriage after killing Humbaba. This part also brings us to how gods think and how the Sumerian gods treated mortals. All of Ishtar’s previous suitors were mortals, which was why she treated them the way she did (George 48). However, given that Gilgamesh was two-third God, there was no guarantee that Ishtar would have treated him the same way. In the Sumerian culture, the gods tend to have favoritism over other gods, as discussed in the following sections.
Enkidu woke up from a nightmare foreshadowing his death. In this nightmare, Enkidu tells Gilgamesh, “And Enlil said: Let Enkidu die, but let not Gilgamesh die!” during these decisions Enlil, Anu, Ea, and Shamash were part of this council meeting. They decided to let Enkidu instead of Gilgamesh (George 54). This goes back to the point I was making with Gods favoring one another. Gilgamesh is part-God, Enkidu is not. They instead punish a mortal for what a God, Gilgamesh in this case, did.
After Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh was more scared of death than ever before (George 70). His fear also stemmed from the Sumerian culture which had never come to terms with the idea of death. Because of his fear, Gilgamesh went in search of Uta-napishti (the mortal who turned immortal and into a god). Gilgamesh went in search of the God because of his fear of death (George 70). After Enkidu’s death, he realized he never wanted to die either. Uta-napishti first told Gilgamesh that he had to forfeit sleep for six days, and seven continuous nights since gods do not sleep. He asked Ninusun to bake a pie each time Gilgamesh went to sleep for the seven days as proof that he did not fall asleep. However, Gilgamesh failed the task at hand. Uta-napishti decided to give him a second chance and provided him with a plant that would make him young forever (George 88). Gilgamesh found his plant, but then a snake stole it. With these tasks come nothing but failure (George 88)
Throughout this essay, I gave examples of death and mortality, but with each instance came a God and their intent to harm or see a mortal fail. Gilgamesh’s hunger for power and immortality failed once the gods saw how hungry he was for it. The Sumerian culture was afraid of the gods and death, and yet Gilgamesh wanted to become the very thing his culture was fearful of. That explained his detestable actions against innocent people, like raping women who were already married, doing other despicable things that the culture believed only gods were capable of. Enkidu’s death was a way to awaken Gilgamesh from these traits and make him a better person, but it did the exact opposite. With Enkidu at his Side, he became hungrier for power, which resulted in him not only raping women but killing servants of gods like Hambaba and the Bull of heaven. Even after Enkidu’s death, he still went to search for power, where he would fail all tasks at hand. The story of Uta-napishti reminded me of the story of Noah and the ark. When he talked about the flood, all the stories passed down through each religion and culture all have the same meaning behind it. When the snake stole the plant from Gilgamesh, it reminded me of the story of Adam and Eve when the snake got between them and immortality. It’s always a snake in each story and each culture based down. The same stories come from the same root and withhold the same meaning. In this story, the purpose and lesson Gilgamesh had to learn is that death is inescapable for any mortal. There is no other way around it, and the Sumerian people accepted this fate at some point, and that’s what Gilgamesh did at the very end. However, mortals are capable of a different kind of mortality by leaving behind lasting legacies before their demise.
Work cited
George, Andrew, and Andrew George. The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Classics). 31732nd ed., Penguin Classics, 2003.