The Epic of Gilgamesh

So, I have just finished reading tablets 1-12 of the Epic of Gilgamesh, and I’ll say right off the bat going into the reading I thought I was going to absolutely loathe this text. I have to say though that I really enjoyed the epic of Gilgamesh. Not only am I thrilled that this was part of the curriculum for Mosaics, but I feel like I have become a more knowledgeable person from this ancient text.

                Now my goal for this blog post is to explore a theme that I noticed throughout the tablets and while there are apparent themes of nature, love and leadership the theme I want to explore is the Human-like Gods and the God-like humans. The tale of Gilgamesh features King Gilgamesh who is 2/3 God. He is told to be God-like in all ways, he is the strongest in the land, he is the ruler and there is none greater than Gilgamesh. Then there is Gilgamesh’s best friend/adopted brother Enkidu, who is made by the Gods for Gilgamesh. Enkidu is from the wild and is strong as a rock and like Gilgamesh in strength. The two are put on high pedestals and for human beings are made to seem like Gods from their adventures. Another example of glorifying humans would be Uta-napishti who survived the Great Deluge and was given immortality by the Gods. Now glorifying humans is not uncommon in today’s society, for example take a look at celebrities and athletes, in some cases they seem to be treated like Gods. The theme I find most interesting is how the Gods are made to seem human-like with flaws. In the Christian church God is seen as all good and all pure, and everyone should strive to be better people so they can one day join God in heaven. There are tales of humans and their faults but never tales of God’s faults. In the Epic of Gilgamesh there are many Gods that have huge character flaws.

                Ishtar, the daughter of Anu, the goddess of sexual love and war approaches Gilgamesh and wishes to be his wife. Gilgamesh refuses based on the history of her past lovers and embarrasses her and ridicules her. In a very human-like way Ishtar is filled with rage and storms off to daddy asking him to give her permission to use the bull of heaven to fight Gilgamesh. Now Anu is father of the Gods, so you would think that Anu would not let a silly thing like that happen because his daughter is upset, but Anu gives in to Ishtar and grants her the bull of heaven.  Gilgamesh being so God-like kills the bull of heaven to Ishtar’s dismay. Now let’s examine this, the God Ishtar is jealous and gets filled with rage when she is rejected just like normal humans. Anu the father despite knowing that the idea isn’t intelligent, gives in to his daughter due to her dismay. These do not sound like wonderful traits of the Gods you worship. I think the most human-like God is by far Enlil. Enlil is the God who decided for Enkidu to die instead of Gilgamesh even though Gilgamesh is the one who killed Enlil’s Humbaba and the bull of heaven. Enlil is always filled with rage and has a short temper. When the Uta-napishti survives the Great deluge Enlil is furious. Should a God that is worshiped have such a short temper?

                What is the reasoning behind the human-like Gods and the God-like humans? The writers of the tablets probably want to show that Gods are not perfect, and obviously no human is perfect as well. I think the God-like humans are there to inspire people to be the best they can be and give them a level of perfection that they can strive for. The human-like Gods are shown to be human like to show that the Gods don’t have everything together, they are not always making the right decisions which is why bad things do happen. I think of the saying everything happens for a reason but I think the writers of the tablets want to show that sometimes bad things just happen and the Gods aren’t doing it intentionally. I think the connection between Gods and humans is quite a major theme throughout this epic and I have am a new found fan of the epic of Gilgamesh.