 In literature, an epic is a long narrative poem that celebrates heroic achievements and themes of cultural significance. The epic of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia is the world's first recorded epic poem. Epics were written to commemorate the struggles and adventures of kings and warriors. Literary epics have large castes of characters but revolve around the achievements of a central hero. And the epic of Gilgamesh which was composed over 4,000 years ago tells the story of the life of an Assyrian king, Gilgamesh. The story is loosely based on a historical king named Gilgamesh who ruled the city of Uruk in modern day Iraq sometime between 2800 and 2500 BCE. Gilgamesh's name appears in the Sumerian list of kings compiled around 2000 BCE and for at least a thousand years after his death poems were written about Gilgamesh in various languages. The epic of Gilgamesh is a compilation of tales that were passed down orally and finally written down approximately 700 to a thousand years after the historical king's death. Sometime between 1300 and 1000 BCE a scribe named Sinleci Unini collected and edited the stories and created a unified literary work in Akkadian which was the main Semitic language of ancient Mesopotamia. This composition is what scholars call the standard version of the epic of Gilgamesh. The most notable characteristic of an epic is its sheer length. In its final and longest form the epic of Gilgamesh probably contained about 3,500 lines in the cuneiform system of writing and was preserved on clay tablets. We don't have a complete copy of Sinleci Unini's tablets, not all the clay tablets endured the passage of time and about 170 years ago in the mid 19th century a team of archaeologists found these clay tablets in ancient Nineveh. The reason why they found so many clay tablets in one area is because Asurbanipal the great Assyrian emperor of the 7th century had created the first world class library in Nineveh and these tablets were part of that library's collection. Stories about Gilgamesh circulated throughout the ancient Near East and a few second millennium versions have been found in other parts of Mesopotamia as well as in Syria. Over time the epic underwent many changes and assumed a number of different textual forms in the course of its development. Several new versions were created in other languages and the version that we have today is essentially a patchwork of texts created at various times and places in different languages. The epic of Gilgamesh is the story of the cycle of life. It begins with the description of any young adult not experienced but physically strong, bold and overconfident. Gilgamesh was the king of Uruk. He ruled for 126 years. His father was a king named Lugalbandar and his mother was a goddess named Ninson. Because of his mother's divine heritage Gilgamesh was considered a demigod. He was two-thirds god and one-third human and because of that Gilgamesh had powers beyond those of ordinary men. He was blessed with super strength, great courage and a much longer lifespan and Gilgamesh is described as a very tall, handsome, physically strong king. The city of Uruk is described as a beautiful high walled city in southern Mesopotamia. Gilgamesh built magnificent ziggurats or temple towers and laid out its orchards and fields. Historical evidence for Gilgamesh's construction projects can be found in inscriptions crediting him with the building of the Great Walls of Uruk. Although Gilgamesh was godlike in body and mind, he was not a popular king. He accomplished his massive building projects with forced labor and oppressed the people of Uruk. When young men got married, Gilgamesh insisted on the druad the senior meaning that Gilgamesh, instead of the groom, spent the wedding night with the bride. Gilgamesh was not a popular king because he was arrogant, impulsive and cruel. Eventually the people of Uruk complained to the gods about Gilgamesh's oppressive behavior. So the gods created a giant wild creature called Enkidu out of clay to curb Gilgamesh's arrogance. Enkidu is described much like an animal. His body was covered with hair and he ran on all fours with the gazelles and drank with them at the waterhole. Enkidu was very tall and strong but he lacked the beauty and charm of Gilgamesh. But Enkidu had human intelligence. He often released animals from traps laid by hunters in the forest. One day a hunter saw Enkidu releasing animals from his traps. The hunter was distressed and agitated. He then went to Uruk to find a sacred harlot to seduce the wild man which would lead the animals to reject him. The temple harlot Shamhat successfully carried out her mission. She seduced him and after his sexual experience with Shamhat, Enkidu found that the animals rejected him. Shamhat played an important role in humanizing Enkidu. Some scholars have suggested that Enkidu's progression from wild animal to civilized city man might be an allegory of the stages by which humans read civilization from being hunters and gatherers to becoming urban dwellers. Shamhat took Enkidu out of the wilderness, taught him to eat cooked food, drink alcohol, wear clothes and took him to the city and Shamhat helped Enkidu become a man with a sense of morality. When Enkidu heard about Gilgamesh's Dua the senior, he became very angry and went to Uruk to block Gilgamesh from entering a wedding. There Enkidu and Gilgamesh fought each other. Enkidu wrestled with Gilgamesh but he could not defeat the king. Finally, Enkidu and Gilgamesh ended their fight in a truce and recognized each other's great strength and after the quarrel, both Gilgamesh and Enkidu became good friends. Gilgamesh and Enkidu went on many adventures together including a trip to the cedar forest. According to the earlier Sumerian versions of the epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh traveled east to the cedar forest in Iran. But later versions placed the cedar forest west in Lebanon. The cedar forests were the glorious realm of the gods. Cedar wood was special for many reasons. Cedar trees grow very tall and straight and long timbers were used for roof beams and doors in temples and palaces. The wood was also good for building because it lasted many many years without decaying and the rich smell of the cedar wood in the palaces and temples was very pleasant. So the cedar forest was guarded by Humbaba and Humbaba was no ordinary guard. He was a huge and strong monster. He had the face of a lion and he had seven auras in which he could wrap himself and send out as means of defense. However, Gilgamesh and Enkidu were both confident that they could defeat Humbaba in battle and harvest some cedar wood for construction projects in Europe. As Gilgamesh and Enkidu approached the cedar forest, Humbaba threatened them but Gilgamesh and Enkidu succeeded in beheading Humbaba. Then Gilgamesh and Enkidu cut down several giant cedars, built a raft and sailed back to Europe. After Gilgamesh returned to his palace in Europe, he took a shower and put on clean clothes and air dried his long hair. The goddess of love, Goddess Ishtar had been watching Gilgamesh and she was enamoured by his physical beauty. So she made sexual advances towards Gilgamesh and proposed to him. In her marriage proposal, Ishtar asked Gilgamesh to bestow upon her his fruit. In return, she offered him a marvellous chariot drawn by powerful steeds, the fragrance of cedar upon his entrance into their new home. But Gilgamesh rejected Ishtar's marriage proposal and criticised her treatment of her previous lovers. Ishtar was a goddess and her offer seemed very attractive. So why did Gilgamesh reject Ishtar's proposal and rebuke her? Let's understand Ishtar's proposal. When Ishtar asked Gilgamesh to marry her and move to a new home, she was actually requesting Gilgamesh to depart from this world and take up permanent residence in the netherworld. The chariot that she mentioned actually referred to the process by which Gilgamesh would be transported to his tomb by means of a chariot of lapis and gold. The chariot was part of the funeral ceremony that would take Gilgamesh to his new home, the netherworld. The fragrance of cedar was part of the Assyrian funeral ritual. And as he entered his new home, Gilgamesh would be greeted by priests and rulers who would submit to him by offering tributes and gifts. In other words, Gilgamesh would become the ruler of the netherworld. And Ishtar tried to deceive Gilgamesh by offering him honor, power and wealth. Ishtar was cunning. What she was really offering Gilgamesh was a one-way ticket to the netherworld. She invited Gilgamesh to assume the role that would eventually be his to become a ruler of the netherworld. Why did she do that? Both wedding and funeral ceremonies had similar rituals. Both marriage and death involved separation from kin and joining a new family. Both wedding and funeral ceremonies invoke symbols of sexuality and fertility. But Gilgamesh was not deceived. Gilgamesh understood Ishtar's proposal and rejected it because he realized that Ishtar's offer would lead to his death. So the conversation between Ishtar and Gilgamesh was really about mortality and death. Gilgamesh had to eventually die. And the epic of Gilgamesh is a story of a powerful human who does not accept the inevitability of death. Ishtar was humiliated by Gilgamesh's rejection. So she went straight to heaven and asked her father to send the bull of heaven to avenge her humiliation. The bull of heaven along with Ishtar descended upon Uruk to punish Gilgamesh. With the bull's first snort, the earth opened up and a hundred people fell into it. With the second snort, another pit opened up and two hundred people fell into it. On the third snort, Enkidu fell into a hole but only up to his waist because he was a giant. Enkidu managed to grasp the bull by the horns while Gilgamesh stabbed it in the neck and killed the bull. Enkidu and Gilgamesh then washed their hands in the Euphrates River and returned in triumph to the palace. The city of Uruk celebrated this great victory but this victory was short-lived. The gods decided to punish Gilgamesh and Enkidu for the acts of hubris. That night, Enkidu had a dream that to atone for the crime of murdering the bull of heaven, he would die. Soon, Enkidu fell ill and as he lay on his deathbed, he described his descent into the horrific dark house of dust where the dead wore feathers like birds and ate clay. The death of Enkidu was an act of divine retribution and one of the lessons in the epic of Gilgamesh was that the gods were powerful and if humans did not obey and praise them, they would face dire consequences. Now with the death of Enkidu, everything changed. Gilgamesh was devastated by Enkidu's death both because of the loss of his dearest friend but also because he now feared his own death. Also love motivates. The death of a loved one is the most powerful experience in our lives. We respond with questions, why me, why now and try to find answers. Gilgamesh also sought answers after the death of his dearest friend and Gilgamesh even offered gifts to the gods in the hope that they would revive him. Gilgamesh ordered the people of Uruk to also mourn the death of Enkidu and ordered statues of Enkidu to be built. Gilgamesh was so full of grief and sorrow that he refused to bury his friend immediately after death. The outcome of preventing Enkidu's burial was ironic because leaving the dead unburied was actually disrespectful and after a week, Enkidu's body began to disintegrate. Gilgamesh could not preserve the body of his friend. Gilgamesh was determined to avoid Enkidu's fate and set out on a dangerous quest for immortality. What is evident is that Gilgamesh was not ready to accept his reality. Grief, fear, regret and a broken heart pushed Gilgamesh to discover and understand life. The epic of Gilgamesh is not only a tale about a powerful warrior king who showed his metal in battle but also a story about personal growth, change, human suffering, human limitations, death and ultimately the meaning of life. Without Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh would not have sought personal growth and Gilgamesh's quest for immortality was the mechanism for change but the depth of Enkidu was the catalyst for that change. Gilgamesh had heard of Utnapishtim and his wife, the only humans who survived the Great Flood and who were granted immortality by the gods. Hoping to discover the secret of everlasting life, Gilgamesh travelled far from Uruk, crossed great rivers and oceans and mountains and slade, mountain lions, bears and other beasts to find Utnapishtim. In the course of his wanderings, Gilgamesh met Siduri, a divine tavern keeper at the edge of the world. Gilgamesh described to her the loss of his beloved friend Enkidu and his quest for immortality. After Gilgamesh met Siduri, he wanted to stay with her because Siduri was a goddess and he hoped to achieve immortality through her. Siduri refused to provide a home for Gilgamesh and advised him instead to return to his own home in Uruk but Gilgamesh did not heed her advice. One of the things that we learn about Gilgamesh is that he was eager to achieve immortality and seek answers but he was not ready to learn and accept reality. And this was one of his biggest weaknesses. Now after a number of adventures, Gilgamesh reached the island of Dilman to get the secret of immortality from Utnapishtim. And Utnapishtim explained that the gods had granted immortality only once on that one and never repeatable occasion when they assembled after the flood. Siduri advised Gilgamesh to accept his fate as immortal and Utnapishtim told Gilgamesh that even the unique warrior must die one day. Utnapishtim then recounted how a great storm and flood was brought to the world by the god Enlil who wanted to destroy all of mankind for the sake of immortality. Because Utnapishtim had been forewarned, he built a boat and took refuge with his wife, some animals, grains and seeds of all living things. When the rains came, the whole world was covered with water and killed everything except Utnapishtim and everything on his boat. The boat came to rest on the tip of a mountain and on the seventh day after the water subsided, Utnapishtim first released a dove, then a swallow and then a raven to check for dry land. Utnapishtim then offered sacrifices to the gods in gratitude. At first Enlil was angry that someone had survived his flood but later blessed Utnapishtim and his wife and granted them everlasting life and took them to live in the land of the gods on the island of Dilman. Some aspects of this flood story are similar to the story of Noah's Ark. Although Utnapishtim knew that humans could not achieve immortality, he reluctantly offered Gilgamesh a chance and challenged Gilgamesh to stay away for six consecutive days and seven nights. Gilgamesh was not able to do it, he fell asleep. So when he woke up, Utnapishtim ridiculed his failure and asked Gilgamesh to return back to Uru. Gilgamesh was disappointed and as he got up to leave, Utnapishtim's wife asked her husband to give Gilgamesh a farewell gift. Instead of immortality, Utnapishtim revealed a secret to Gilgamesh and told him about a plant that grew at the bottom of the ocean that could restore his youth and strength. Gilgamesh managed to get the plant by binding stones to his feet to allow him to walk on the ocean bed. On the way back to Uru, Gilgamesh took a break near a lake. He was exhausted from his long journey and he set down the plant on the lake shore before wading in to bathe. In the meantime, a snake ate the plant. After eating the magical plant, the snake shed its old skin and got a new shiny youthful skin. And so this idea of rejuvenation and its symbolic association with the snake's ability to shed its skin can be found in many cultures. Gilgamesh's attempts to attain immortality had failed. Gilgamesh finally returned to his own city of Uruk. He resumed his role as king, brought back the wisdom and lessons that he learned in the course of his exhausting wanderings. And the wisdom that he gained about life and death formed the basis of the text that he wrote and the epic poet has written for us. Gilgamesh, the king, made an inscription based on his experience, a royal inscription intended for the instruction of future generations, especially the kings who came after him. And one of the most important lessons is that life is an epic battle between searching for life and simply living it. Death is the fate of all humans. Life is short. At the end of the story, it is not entirely clear if Gilgamesh found peace within himself or still feared death. But in time, Gilgamesh also died and the people of Uruk mourned his passing. In April 2003, German archaeologists claimed to have discovered the tomb of Gilgamesh. Interestingly, they were able to locate the garden enclosures, specific buildings, and Gilgamesh's tomb described in the epic of Gilgamesh. And one interpretation is that humans may achieve immortality through their lasting contributions to their society. So I hope you enjoyed this video about the epic of Gilgamesh. Please check the description box below for the links and list of references. Thank you.