The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Epic of King Gilgamesh is perhaps the oldest literary work available to the modern reader today. Those writings are fascinating. They are the highlights of today’s post on the strange wall.

The Epic of Gilgamesh consists of a series of five Sumerian poems featuring the king of the ancient megacity of Uruk, located in present-day Iraq, east of the Euphrates River. In the 27th century, before the coming of Jesus Christ, King Gilgamesh’s city of Uruk was home to between 50,000 and 80,000 people, making it the largest city at the time.

Gilgamesh, the hero of these stories, is described as “supreme over other kings, stately in appearance, a gored wild bull.” The story attributes to the superhuman strength and courage of King Gilgamesh. According to history, no one dared to challenge the supremacy of the great Gilgamesh until one day Enkidu, described as the descendant of the mountains, finally made his appearance in the city of Uruk. The fight between Gilgamesh and Enkidu was violent and ended almost in a draw. Gilgamesh had never encountered such a worthy opponent. As a result, Gilgamesh and Enkidu became best friends and comrades in arms.

Together, the two great heroes decide to seek greater fame and renown by facing off and defeating a powerful demigod named Umbaba. They manage to kill Umbaba and return victorious to celebrate. This victory against such a powerful enemy greatly increases his fame and renown. As a result, the beautiful goddess Ishtar falls in love with Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh, on the other hand, rejects the goddess’s advances due to her mistreatment of previous lovers. As punishment for this rejection, the goddess releases the bull from heaven on earth, causing great devastation among the people. Gilgamesh and his companion once again prepare for battle and manage to kill the beast.

However, the death of the bull of heaven and the demigod Umbaba does not go unpunished. The gods decide to kill Gilgamesh’s companion, Enkidu, as retribution for the bull of heaven. Gilgamesh is devastated by the timely death of his friend and begins a quest to find immortality. The story has a tragic ending because King Gilgamesh fails to obtain the coveted immortality. Death turns out to be an adversary that the great king cannot defeat.

What is interesting about the Gilgamesh epic is the fact that many elements of its plot are very similar to the ancient biblical accounts of the Torah. Both the Bible and the Gilgamesh epics speak of a first man created by God from the dust of the earth, of a serpent that robs man of immortality, and of a universal flood that destroys the entire human population.

It is widely believed among scholars that the Torah and the Gilgamesh epics lie intimately together.