Due Feb 4
Mesopotamian Epic 2
Reading: Gilgamesh, the hero's quest for immortality, Tablets VII-XI (pp48-73).
Writing: Post 1-2 sentences in response to one of the following prompts:
- Seems to me this epic just gets weirder as it goes along. Quote a line or cite a plot event from the second half of the epic that strikes you as a good starting point for discussion—and comment on why it's puzzling.
- Gilgamesh's quest for immortality takes him beyond the mortal plane. Quote a line or cite a plot event that strikes you as suggestive for understanding this culture's conception of the cosmos beyond—and comment on what it suggests.
Oddities
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One of the quote that i found that puzzle me is “Look there! The man, the youth who wanted (eternal) life! Sleep, like a fog, blew over him.” on the second half of the Gilamesh. After been through such extraordinary journey and mortal realm surviving the darkness and even going through the Water of Death, Gilgamesh was challenged by Utnapishtim to try not to sleep as an exam of his worthiness and qualification for the immortality, yet lose it in an almost silly and ridiculous way as he fall asleep right away. This quote by Utnapishtim lessen Gilgamesh struggle into something silly and fragile. Even after all his experience of surviving monsters and boundaries of cosmic, the hero is unfulfilled by something so ordinary which is sleeping. This creates a wonder about if the epic is stripping away heroic greatness on purpose in order to highlight how essential human nature, limited of Gilgamesh remains. This is very weird since it shows how immortality might not be lost through extreme downfall, yet through the most subtle yet inevitable of the human body and nature.
I agree that this scene purposely weakens Gilgamesh’s heroic image. After surviving monsters and cosmic dangers, he fails at the most normal human act, staying awake. When Utnapishtim says, “Sleep, like a fog, blew over him,” it makes the loss of immortality feel easy and unavoidable, not dramatic. It shows that no matter how great Gilgamesh is, his human body, with its need for rest and limits, still controls him, and true understanding comes from accepting that.
That which lies beyond mortal ken
—what Hamlet called “The undiscovered country from whose bourn / No traveller returns”)
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When Enkidu dreams of death and the afterlife, he dreams of “…the road wherefrom there can be no returning. Unto the house whose tenants are ever bereft of daylight. There, dust is their sustenance and mud is their food. In that place, feathers are their garments, like unto birds. Yea, there they view no light, but exist in darkness. And, on the door and on the bolt, lies a thick layer of grime,” (Davis 51). When Gilgamesh explains his grief and distress to Siduri, he says that “He whom I loved has become unto dust,” (Davis 62). This motif of dust repeats various times throughout this part of the epic. Death is described repeatedly in bleak and permanent terms, a sunless slumber for all eternity. Unlike the Christian afterlife, the ancient Mesopotamian afterlife seems bleak. There is no concept of it being a “life after death” or as an impermanent state. This is a very culturally interesting idea, as it suggests that Mesopotamians must live their lives to the fullest without expectation of reward or punishment in the hereafter. Indeed, this is what Siduri instructs Gilgamesh to do, telling him to fill his days with joy and goodness instead of lamenting his inevitable demise (Davis 62).
Yes, I completely agree, it does seem that they believe everyone goes to the same afterlife, regardless of your life on earth, which would encourage them to live life as fully as they could. And because they believe in this bleak afterlife it makes sense why Gilgamesh and the Mesopotamian society might be more interested in the concept of immortality, wanting to escape this eternal afterlife. So, there are several other stories detailing concepts of immortality in Mesopotamian society.