Gilgamesj mythe

(1) Div., “Das Gilgamesch-epos”, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1977 – Benno Landsberger, “Einleitung in das Gilgames-Epos“ [1960]; “In the treatment of the Gilgamesh material we can distinguish three stages of development: a) The Sumerian version, about 2000 B.C. It has come upon us only in pieces and difficult to understand. The material is not covered in a single epic, but Gilgamesh's various adventures are told separately. One of these epics tells us that Gilgamesh was lord of Uru in southern Babylonia and waged war against Agga, the king of the city of Kish in northern Babylonia. In later versions this view of Gilgamesh as a historical personality is no longer found, but his firm attachment to Uruk is also a constant feature. He is considered the builder of the city walls of Uruk. The poet of the last version demands the audience to view this artistic wall and read the text of Gilgamesh on the wall, thereby proving that his hero really lived. In the rest, however, Gilgamesh stands in a completely mythological world. … b) The old-Babylonian version. She is the age of Hammurabi [ca. 1800 B.C.] originated and came down to us incompletely, namely only in the three tables. But even in their inadequacy these tables are sufficient to give us a clear understanding of the second stage in the development of the epic. Using the Sumerian conception and popular fairy tales, the poet freely created the epic of Gilgamesh's quest for eternal life.

(2) Passim: In the hand of this genius poet, the Epic of Gilgamesh has retained what we call the Faustic streak, the character of a problematic poem. The epic was written to answer the question of the value of life that transcends the toils and struggles of human existence. The answer is completely pessimistic: all effort is for nothing. The only thing that emerges from all intermingled human life is that friendship, which, in contrast to the despicable love of women, has a high value. Unfortunately, this value is also perishable, because the power of the god-directed, but subject to an eternal order, friendship, which itself cannot abolish death, and belief in fate, which makes men always strive in vain, the some positive points in the sad atmosphere of the epic. / The depth of this thought is in direct contrast to the form into which the poet has poured his substance. The epic shows the style of the simplest folk poem, the poet has used the six-footed verse. The construction of the epic is transparent, the course of the episodes follows a series of dramatic lines. At the moment where the heroes in the excess of their strength exceed the limits of every size, they see their fortune suddenly turned. The last act enters after the slaying of the bull of heaven; this is followed by Enku's death and Gilgamesh's pardonable quest for eternal life. / The fundamental idea which governs the epic, and the form in which it is cast, the Old Babylonian poet invented as well as the episodes which occur in the land of the action, the special character of persons and the nature as they play with and against each other. /

(3) Passim: c) The date of the last version cannot be stated with certainty. If we turn to the year 1250 B.C., we do so with a view to the canonization of Babylonian literature and science, which took its solid, definitive form around 1250. / The last poet of the Gilgamesh claim is a Kassite-era artist names Sin-lqe-unnunni; he has dissolved the work from its deliberately simple form and turned it into an extremely artistic form. The modernization of the epic continued in such a way that the intentions of the older poets remained assured on all sides, but the treatment of the material was enriched and refined. It is unknown whether the latter poet added new motifs to the work. He may have added to the epic the story of the flood in the 11th tablet: he may have borrowed this substance from another ancient Babylonian poem, the Atramhasis epic. Babylonian Noah, after being rescued from the flood, obtained eternal life, became wholly spiritual property of the Sumerians… to smell the savor of the long-missed smoke-offering. As for the goddess Istar, she sits swearing like an old woman and shews thoughtless mischief, which is only turned away from Eas by cunning. The gods are ennobled in two factions, between which god Enlil plays an arbitrary role of mediator. The only god of whom the poet is to be esteemed, the sun-god, who guides Gilgamesh. In reverent anguish the poet speaks of the immutable laws and rules, which gods in primitive times themselves and men have imposed, but the views he puts forward about it are nothing more than a free bitterness marked by bitter ridicule. As in Homer, the gods from above guide the actions of men, but are themselves governed by desire and intrigue. /

(4) Passim: In contrast, the human heroes Gilgamesh and Enkidu act as innocent children, acting out of hubris, as something subservient. When the poet has achieved his goal, all these persons leave the scene and do not perform anymore. Even the mother, who carefully sends her son Gilgamesh on her way with all the advice and good wishes, no longer appears when the son returns. Thus the Epic of Gilgamesh proves itself as a mirror of the life of a single great man, as a symbol of human life.”