The Epic of Gilgamesh: Introduction, Tablets I, II, and III

Amazing. This word sums up my reaction in reading the introduction and the first three tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The epic indeed seems to have become more “perfected” over the generations as the story was told from one generation to another, each probably altering the story slightly to make it more interesting. Nonetheless, as Andrew George, the translator of this particular version, suggests, we should not entirely treat this as a myth. While many parts of the stories—regarding the gods or some legends—are obviously mythical, King Gilgamesh was possibly a real king during the period of Uruk. The first three tablets were in fact very entertaining but unfortunate because the original tablets are damaged, and we could not completely decipher the missing parts. This, too, reminds me of how ancient and distant the story actually is. The epic survived over four millennia, a definitely amazing time span, so we should rather be grateful that we could find—and translate—the tablets in spite of their antiquity. What fascinates me the most is the purpose of the epic is not only to tell the myths of the period down to future generations, but also to be “a document of ancient humanism”, as put by the Assyoriologist William L. Moran. The story of Gilgamesh’s journey clearly intends to show a struggle of an “unwise” man to defeat mortality and end up wise in knowing there is no escape it.

Moreover, the epic also draws parallels with many other ancient, classical literatures, such as those Greek and Latin masterpieces, or even the Bible. I found this to be very interesting as, for instances, both the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible refer to the flood that obliterated much of mankind, or both have similar teachings (for example, advice to “do your duty in the embrace of your woman”). The existence of different gods for certain aspects, such as the supreme triad—the Sky God Any, Enlil, and Ea—are very similar to, but not exactly the same as, the ancient Greek gods Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. This parallelism and common themes interest me because they suggest the influence of one literature on another, and though each had its own original characteristics, there exists continuity in the people over the millennia.