Gilgamesh Intro + Tablets 1-3

Andrew Brown 004

It has been a long time (about 10 years) since I last read the Epic of Gilgamesh. The biggest difference I notice in rereading it is the wealth of information presented in the Introduction. While 40 pages is certainly a lot, the introduction goes a long, long way to help explain many of the lacunae in the tablets. Additionally, it is very helpful to get a historical context for the story and a bit of background on the Mesopotamian gods.
I found the explanation of the temple in the introduction very helpful. It goes a bit beyond Liverani’s exploration of the degree to which Southern Mesopotamians were subject to the religious influences of the temple. The assertion that multiple temples existed begs the question of “How?” It makes sense that the largest temple would be dedicated to the primary god, while smaller temples were for lesser gods. However, because George does not address the collection and redistribution of barley within Southern Mesopotamia, I wonder if every temple was involved in receiving barley or if certain temples were designated for other purposes.
Another interesting topic revealed in Gilgamesh’s introduction is the Uruk Wall that Gilgamesh, famously, rebuilt. It seems logical that a wall would be required for a large civilization with, perhaps, envious neighbors. However, I am a bit skeptical because Liverani makes no mention of a wall in Uruk and says, additionally, that war was infrequent. It seems that rebuilding the wall around Uruk was more important in linking Gilgamesh to the semi-divine elders that first built the wall; the wall is more important for explaining Gilgamesh’s importance than for its functional necessity.
Enkidu is created by the gods as a response to the complaints of the people of Uruk about Gilgamesh’s tyranny (droit de seigneur, relentless labor imposed on the men of Uruk, and ‘the games’). That is why I find it very interesting that Enkidu becomes Gilgamesh’s close companion; it is as if the gods created Enkidu to tame Gilgamesh, rather than defeat him.