Irony: Let's begin by looking at the last paragraph in the short "prologue": "In Uruk he built walls, a great rampart, and the temple of blessed Eanna for the . . . Look at it still today . .." (13). This is ironic since the speaker here assumes that the great cities of his civilization are still standing and that we the readers would be able to see these cities. But until the nineteenth century the remains of these once great walls were completely buried in the sand. An even greater irony and poignancy, if you will, is that the great lesson Gilgamesh learns is that "nothing is permanent." This is the message that is given to Gilgamesh at the end of the epic, and yet the composers of the epic have not learned the message. They thought their civilization was permanent. Perhaps this is a lesson hat mortals can never learn; perhaps it's not in our nature; perhaps it's not a good lesson to learn. Why?

Poetry and the Oral Tradition: As you were reading along, you probably noticed that many of the lines were repeated, word for word. Why? This is evidence of the epic's oral tradition, that is to say, that this epic was transmitted generation to generation by poets who memorized the stories. The stories of Gilgamesh and other great epics of the ancient world were committed to memory in a long tradition of storytelling before they were actually written down. If you had to memorize this whole thing wouldn't you want to repeat as much as you could? But this question of the oral tradition is a complex one, a question we won't have time to get into this semester. We are looking at the epic for clues to what these people were like. This text is virtually all we have, but it's a lot.

I The Problem of Kingship: A king should be a shepherd to his people, we are told, but G. is not behaving well. Why?

The answer to this is that he needs a fit companion. Anu creates Enkidu out of the firmament, the Earth.

Eventually, what makes Gilgamesh a good king?

II. The nature of the relationship between G. and Enkidu.

A. Gilgamesh's great love for Enkidu.

His grief: p. 30 (the worm fastens on him)

B. The erotic element:

1) G.'s dream of a meteor of the stuff of Anu,"and to me its attraction was like the love of woman"(15).

2) G.'s second dream: he dreams of an ax: "I saw it and was glad. I bent down, deeply drawn towards it; I loved it like a woman and wore it at my side" (15). Ninsun, his mother, tells him the dreams are of the comrade she is giving to him.

3) It's interesting too that just as G. is going to the bed of a new bride, Enkidu steps in his way and they begin to wrestle. There's a link of course between violence, aggression and sex. G. trades in his philandering with women and starts hanging out exclusively with Enkidu.

III Cultural Differences

What 's interesting here is that this is what everyone wants. What we're seeing here is a cultural difference in attitude towards homosexuality.

A. Love between Men

Why was homosexuality accepted in the ancient world, even encouraged in this case? Look at the role of women for that answer. Gilgamesh longs for an equal, but no one mentions a woman for that role. Why?

The role of warrior buddies:

B. Fear of Women

1) Ishtar and the anti-female metaphors G. uses against her: p. 24-25.

2) The wild beasts reject Enkidu when he has been with a woman, as if being with a woman is contaminating: "When next he comes down to drink at the wells she will be there, stripped naked; and when he sees her beckoning he will embrace her, and then the wild beasts will reject him" (14).

IV The Role of Women in the Ancient World

The reason the greatest emotional bonds were between men had a great deal to do with the role of women.

We can get a lot of information about the role of women from what's not in the text. Women aren't in this story; therefore, . . .?

What women do we see here? Are there any wives? Ninsun, who is a goddess, the Temple prostitute, Ishtar the goddess of love. Any normal women? No. Why?

Look at page 28-29 in the poem recited at Enkidu's death: There's a long list of mourners for E. After the servants who poured beer for E. comes a reference to a wife. She's pretty far down there on the list.

Did G. have a wife? Look at the mention of her on the very last page of the epic, 40: "For Gilgamesh, son of Ninsun, they weighed out their offerings; his dear wife, his son, his concubine, his musicians . . ." Not till the end to we hear of her. What can we extrapolate? Women aren't mentioned because . ..?

V Religion and The Afterlife:

Anu -- god of firmament

Ishtar -- sexual love

Shamash --sun

Adad -- storm

Aruru -- goddess of creation

Nisaba -- goddess of corn

Enlil -- father of gods

We can tell a lot about people from the gods they worship. Why would people worship sexual love, corn, sun, storm? These are all aspects of fertility; they worshipped gods devoted to fertility for survival. Sexual fertility was as important as agrarian fertility and even thought to be related.

An interesting question about religion: which comes first the chicken or the egg: does a system of beliefs, a religion come first, then the attitudes of the people? Or do the attitudes of the people shape and reflect religious belief?

What is man's relationship to these gods? Are they kind and loving gods?

Look at Ishtar's treatment of G. when he rejects her advances: p. 25. "My father, give me the Bull of Heaven to destroy Gilgamesh.

Anu, Enlil, Ea and Shames decide that because they killed Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven, one of the two must die-- Enkidu.

Why would people create gods that are so capricious, so uncaring of human life? What is it about this part of the world, the geographical position, the climate?

In Gilgamesh's grief for Enkidu is there another element. He grieves for his friend, but he grieves for something else. What is that?

Confrontation of Mortality. Why is the fear of death so great? Why doesn't their religion comfort them, bring them hope?

The Afterlife: p. 28. Why is it so gloomy? How does this contrast with the Christian afterlife?

The idea of mortality: "How can I rest, how can I be at peace?

Despair is in my heart. What my brother is now, that shall I be when I am dead" (30).

VI The Importance of Fame

Why is it so important for Gilgamesh to achieve fame? Does this have anything to do with religion?

G. to E.: "I have not established my name stamped on bricks as my destiny decreed . . . . "(18).

When E. is afraid for his friend, G. replies, "Only the gods live for ever with glorious Shamash, but as for us men, our days are numbered, our occupations are a breath of wind. . .. Then if I fall I leave behind me a name that endures; men will say of me . . . (17).

Look at p. 24: Gilgamesh speaks to Shamash, "I have looked over the wall and I see the bodies floating on the river, and that will be my lot also. . . . Therefore I would enter that country; because I have not established my name stamped on brick as my destiny decreed, I will go to the country where the cedar is cut. I will set up my name where the names of famous men are written . . ."(18).

The gods are credited with causing the desire of fame, so there is a religious rationalization which we'll see in Homer's Iliad.: "If this enterprise is not to be accomplished, why did you move me, Shamash, with the restless desire to perform it?" (18)

Fatalism: The idea seems to be that any idea that pops into your head must have come from the gods. What's the effect of that?

VII Shame and battle:

p. 28

VIII Gilgamesh's lesson:

A. Siduri tells him, p. 32

B. Utnapishtim: "There is no permanence. Do we build a house to stand for ever . . . (35).