Enkidu Prior to Being Introduced to Civilized Arts Had Never Had Bread or
PART Ii: PSALMODY AND SUFFERING
Suffering in the Epic of Gilgamesh
Gerda de Villiers
University of Pretoria
ABSTRACT
This commodity examines moments of suffering in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Initially Gilgamesh himself causes much suffering by abusing his ability every bit king and tormenting his subjects day and night. Enkidu is created to curb the king's energy and to alleviate the distress of the people. Gilgamesh'south greatest joy in finding a true friend too turns into his greatest sorrow when Enkidu becomes sick and dies. Gilgamesh is inconsolable and his suffering drives him abroad from his palace and his city, in search of life everlasting. When a ophidian snatches abroad his final hope of living forever, he realises that life eternal is to be establish in life hither and now. The article concludes with some suggestions of appropriating Elizabeth Kubler Ross'five stages of grief to the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Keywords: Gilgamesh, Enkidu, Uruk, Suffering, Trauma, Grief, Death
A INTRODUCTION
During the recent 3 decades or so, the Ballsy of Gilgamesh has attracted the attention of several scholars for diverse reasons. Works from the ancient Greek and Roman world, like those of Homer, Hesiod and Virgil, were known for many ages and they inspired peculiarly the artists of the Renaissance menstruation. However, not much, if any noesis existed about ancient Mesopotamia and the great civilizations of Babylon and Assyria, except for the rather negative portrayal of these cultures in the Hebrew Bible. Interest in the Gilgamesh Epic was sparked only in 1872 when George Smith, a brilliant apprentice Assyriologist deciphered Tablet XI of the Ballsy, whilst working in the British Museum.1 To his astonishment Smith realised that what he was reading, was in fact the so-chosen Babylonian Alluvion narrative, which has remarkable resemblances with merely likewise shows pregnant differences from the biblical account of the Deluge (Gen 911). Its relationship to the Gilgamesh Epic became evident but some years after the discovery, decipherment and pasting together other fragments of the story. What emerged was not an epic of national scope and heroic victories, but a moving recount of 1 man'due south struggle with humanity's deepest existential question: the "grim struggle with death."2
B RATIONALE FOR THE Article
Although the Gilgamesh Epic is not primarily known as a narrative of suffering, like Ludlul Bël Nëmëqi or the Babylonian Task, for example, suffering is a prominent motif in the story: Tablets VII-X are all nigh agony and suffering. Whereas the Epic is also not a religious text as such, religious actions and conduct, and the human relationship between humans and the divine, are certainly important in the plot. Lastly, although the Gilgamesh Ballsy is not a hymn or a psalm, it is poetry. The whole of the Epic is in fact a long narrative poem. As Michael Schmidt remarks, in reference to a chat between Bill Griffiths and Paul Batchelor, the Gilgamesh Epic is "... basically a balanced line, like the Psalms, with a repetition of sense in the ii halves of the line: sense and rhythm."3
Since numerous synopses of the Gilgamesh Epic are available on the internet -admitting not ever equally informative-this article will refrain from providing ane. Rather moments of suffering volition exist examined in some particular, and the progress of the narrative will be outlined briefly. Unless otherwise indicated, the plot of the Standard Babylonian Gilgamesh Ballsy will exist followed.ivUnless otherwise indicated, all translations are from Andrew George, equally rendered in his major work of 2003: The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Tests. Volume 1. 5 References to Tablets will exist indicated with Roman numerals, followed by a colon and common numbers specifying the lines.
C SUFFERING IN THE GILGAMESH Ballsy
1 The townsfolk of Uruk
Tablet I of the Epic opens with an invitation to the reader and presents a view of the city of Uruk and its surroundings. Then King Gilgamesh is introduced as being partly human (ii-thirds), and partly divine (one-tertiary), a wise, merely and dauntless rex, equally may be expected from the monarch of a city. However, this was not always the case. Soon an big-headed young Gilgamesh appears on the scene who abuses his power rather brutally by tormenting his subjects day and dark, men and women alike.6 Thus, the very first instance of suffering in the Gilgamesh Ballsy is acquired past Gilgamesh himself (I:63-92).
The suffering of the townsfolk makes the women of Uruk cry out to Aruru, a creator goddess, to create a double for King Gilgamesh, someone to continue him busy so that the people of the city may have some peace (I:95-98). Aruru heeds their prayer. She washes her hands, pinches off a piece of dirt and throws it onto the steppe. Enkidu, who is to exist a match for Gilgamesh, and then, comes into beingness only he is not homo yet. He is big and hairy, eats grass and drinks h2o, and he frolics with the animals at the waterhole (I:109-112). In the concurrently, Gilgamesh is completely unaware of the existence of his companion-to-be on the steppe, yet he has foreign dreams of heavy heavenly objects falling beside him. His female parent, the goddess Ninsun, interprets these dreams-for Gilgamesh in that location will come a mighty companion, a human whom he will dear equally a married woman, whom he will caress and embrace (the dreams and interpretations are recorded in I:246-298).
The plot moves forwards. Enkidu is introduced to civilization by Shamhat, a prostitute, with whom he has sex activity for several days and nights (1:188-194). Consequently, he becomes estranged from his animal friends, but learns from Shamhat that he now must follow her to Uruk, to get the new friend of King Gilgamesh (I:197-212). On their way to the metropolis they spend some time at some shepherds' campsite, where Enkidu is at first quite bewildered when he is offered prepared food-breadstuff and beer (II:36-62). Here, Enkidu also becomes fully human, guarding the shepherds and their flock, and chasing abroad the wild animals that would harm them. He and Shamhat keep to Uruk, but on reaching the metropolis, a fight breaks out betwixt Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the doorway of a wedding house, presumably considering Enkidu prevents Gilgamesh from entering and claiming droit de seigneur at nuptials ceremonies. However, later on the fight, as Ninsun foresaw in her son's dreams, they kiss and form a friendship (Two:100-169).7 From this betoken onwards, Gilgamesh and Enkidu would become inseparable, literally, until "decease do them part".
From a narrative point of view and regarding the topic of suffering, the irony in the plot is that Enkidu was created to alleviate the suffering of the people of Uruk, which he has succeeded in doing. Gilgamesh'south attention at present shifts to Enkidu. Nevertheless, the attachment to Enkidu would also cause Gilgamesh's deepest suffering-Enkidu's untimely death.
2 Reasons: slaughtering divine beasts
The rest of Tablet II continues to tell of Enkidu's slight depression, obviously because he realises that he has no biological parents, and that he is losing some of his one-time force. Afterward, Gilgamesh suggests that they embark on a death-defying adventure-to slay Humbaba, the monstrous guardian of the divine Cedar Forest, appointed past no i else but the god Enlil. Gilgamesh turns a deaf ear to Enkidu's objections, and the monkeyshines most costs them their lives, had Shamash, the dominicus god not intervened. It appears that Ninsun had prayed to Shamash for the condom of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, and as the 2 men were staring death in the eyes, the god blinded the monster with tornado-like winds in order to help them overcome him (Tablets Three - V).
In Tablet VI, after returning to Uruk, the attractive Gilgamesh catches the eye of Ishtar, the goddess of love(?) and state of war. She eagerly proposes marriage to him and promises him everything a man can wish for-sexual activity, wealth and power. However, he turns downward her offering, reminding her of the cruel means she treated her onetime lovers, and implying that the aforementioned fate would await him. Livid with rage, Ishtar demands that the Bull of Heaven exist sent downwardly to smite Gilgamesh in his palace. Anu, the sky god who is also her father, is hesitant at first, but eventually gives in to her need. The Balderdash causes havoc in the city, killing several hundreds of people. Fortunately, Gilgamesh and Enkidu get in on the scene, and vanquish withal another heavenly brute. Tablet Half dozen ends with Gilgamesh and Enkidu jubilant their victory with the people of Uruk and making much merry in the palace. Nevertheless, as they lie down to slumber, Enkidu has an ominous dream; he sees the keen gods taking counsel.
Tablet 7 opens with a lacuna of 26 lines, but Andrew George fills in the gaps with a bitty Hittite version of the Ballsy.8 The gods taking counsel are the highest gods in the pantheon-Anu, Enlil, Ea and Shamash. Anu accuses Gilgamesh and Enkidu of slaying both Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. He therefore says that one of them must die, but why not both of them? The implication is that the two of them were so shut and killing them both would non really take a devastating effect. If one dies, nonetheless, the other will suffer the rest of his life, mourning the decease of his friend. Enlil decides that it is Enkidu who would die.
D HUMAN-DIVINE RELATIONSHIPS
Louise Pryke observes that Mesopotamian narrative literature frequently explores "themes involving bloodshed and immortality, power and authority, creation and destruction."nine The plot of the narrative is structured past means of relationships and interactions between gods and humans which may exist on the one manus mutually rewarding, but on the other paw destructive and dissentious. Good relationships between humans and gods are fostered when both parties keep to their deal-divine blessing in response to human obedience. Relationships suffer when humans either neglect their responsibilities to the gods or transgress divine orders. The other side of the money is when the gods remain silent to homo suffering, apparently when the humans exercise everything, they were supposed to do to maintain practiced relationships betwixt the "hither" and "there." Undeserved cataclysm inflicted past gods to an obedient supplicant is called "theodicy." Benjamin Clark explores theodicy literature in ancient Mesopotamia and State of israel and discusses 3 texts namely the biblical book of Chore, the Babylonian Theodicy and Ludlul Bël Nëmeqi.10
How so practice these observations utilize to the Epic of Gilgamesh?
In Enkidu'south dream, the relationships and interactions between humans and deities are particularly destructive and damaging. They are not innocent sufferers. They transgressed their human boundaries past killing off two heavenly beasts. One may add that Gilgamesh has insulted a goddess by a very impolite rejection of her proposal. Of form, they deserve some penalisation.
However, the gods are also not without blame. Earlier Gilgamesh and Enkidu embark on the journey to the Cedar Wood, Ninsun prays to Shamash to protect them, just her plea is somewhat an accusation. Ninsun asks Shamash (III:46-48; 53-54):
46 Why did you assign (and) inflict a restless spirit on [my] son Gilgamesh?
47 For at present yous have touched him, and he volition travel
48 the afar path to where Humbaba is.
53 until he slays ferocious Humbaba,
54 and annihilates from the country the Evil Thing that you hate, Thus, the slaying of Humbaba may be of divine inspiration.
As well, Gilgamesh rejection of Ishtar's spousal relationship proposal appears to be insulting, but he has expert reasons for doing and then. He is very well aware of how she had treated her onetime lovers, one by 1 condemning them to some unhappy fate. In addition, Tzvi Abusch closely analyses the dialogue betwixt Ishtar and Gilgamesh and significantly observes that Ishtar's proposal does in fact subtly hint towards funeral rites and the netherworld.11 Thus, Ishtar does not propose to Gilgamesh a "matrimony made in heaven," on the contrary, she entices him into entering the "firm of no render."
Regarding the slaying of the Bull of Sky, Ishtar is straight to be blamed. She proposes to Gilgamesh, perchance with some hidden agenda. He senses the ruse, refuses her, and insists that the Bull be sent down to earth, where information technology then causes the decease of several hundreds of people. 1 may say that Gilgamesh and Enkidu do not deed only in self-defence, they likewise prevent the heavenly monster from killing more humans.
As indicated above, theodicy is commonly understood as undeserved punishment inflicted by a deity, simply did Gilgamesh and Enkidu actually deserve to exist punished for slaying Humbaba and the expiry of Balderdash of Sky? Perhaps their instance may exist one of theodicy after all, albeit in an 'inverted' way! Authors Michela Piccin and Martin Worthington analyse the schizophrenic traits of the god Marduk in Ludlul Bël Nëmëqi and in the opening lines of their commodity they refer to the incident betwixt Gilgamesh and Ishtar, thus, "Among the many cultural puzzles left us by the Akkadian-speaking world, i of the most intriguing is that of how the gods comport, and why."12 Indeed, in the Gilgamesh Epic, the gods appear to be scheming backside each other'south backs, and this is evident, specially in Tablet 11, the account of the Deluge.13
E THE DEATH OF ENKIDU
Enkidu knows that he is dying. In Tablet VII, he becomes delirious, probably with fever and fear. He recalls his past, remembering but besides blasphemous everyone that played a office in his life. He has grim visions of the netherworld where he knows that he is heading, and then, towards the stop of his life, he cries out, "My god has spurned me!" (Vii:263), which may vaguely remind i of Psalm 22. The 1999 translation of Georgefourteen indicates that Enkidu wished that he had died in battle, in honour, in order to make an everlasting proper name. Dying in disease ways dying in shame.
The whole of Tablet VIII consists of Gilgamesh's lament for Enkidu. He calls upon all of humanity and nature to mourn his friend, expressing his ache in harrowing words (8:59-64):15
He covered (his) friend, (veiling) his confront similar a helpmate,
circumvoluted around him like an eagle.
Like a lioness whose cubs (are) in pits,xvi
he kept turning near, this manner and that.
He was pulling out his curly [tresses] and letting them fall in a heap,
fierce off his finery and casting it abroad, [. . . like] something taboo.
After laying his friend to rest, Gilgamesh vows (Eight:xc-91):17 "And I, subsequently you accept gone, [I shall have] myself [bear the matted pilus of mourning,] I shall don the peel of a [lion] and [go roaming the wild.]"
Gilgamesh prepares a g burying for Enkidu with plentiful and elaborate gifts to the deities of the netherworld, praying to them that they may welcome his friend favourably. Nevertheless, he cannot be consoled. Tablet IX:1-five opens:eighteen
For his friend Enkidu Gilgames
was weeping bitterly as he roamed the wild:
"I shall die, and shall I not then be like Enkidu?
Sorrow has entered my center.
I became agape of expiry, so go roaming the wild,
to Uta-napisti, son of Ubär-Tutu ..."
Kathleen Smithxix states that:
Grieving people often feel that they have lost their sense of safety and control in life, and they find themselves panicking or worrying excessively virtually what or whom else they could lose in the future. They also may have trouble sleeping or taking intendance of themselves, which tin put them at higher chance for anxiety.
Grief subsequently some form of personal loss is normal but grieving that continues for a prolonged and indefinite time, for instance, for more than than six months later on a loss, results in what Smith20 calls complicated grief. This is a serious feet disorder that also interferes with everyday life activities. Excessive worry and specific phobias and panic attacks are some of the symptoms listed by Smith.
Gilgamesh seems to exist a classic case of "complicated grief." He ceases to take care of himself; he rips out his hair, tears off his fine dress and dons the peel of a panthera leo. His listen is focused on death; his panic, his phobia of death prevents him from carrying on his duties equally male monarch of the city Uruk. He leaves his city and his palace and goes roaming in the wild. He is agape that he may die and become like Enkidu, only quite ironically, he now becomes exactly similar Enkidu whilst he is withal wild and untamed.21 All the same, unlike Enkidu who, presumably similar all animals, was unaware and therefore unafraid of Expiry, Gilgamesh is panic stricken at the very idea of death. He is intensely aware of his mortality, that his days are numbered and that he too, like all humans, will die.
Still, there is i man who escaped this final destination and managed to live forever-Uta-napishti, son of Ubar-Tutu. Gilgamesh's obsessive fear of Death drives him to seek and find this man, hoping to learn from him the secret of life everlasting, so that he, Gilgamesh may also live forever. Yet, Uta-napishti lives beyond the borders of the world, beyond the Waters of Decease that environment information technology. In order to reach Uta-napishti, Gilgamesh has to travel first to the Twin Mountains at the terminate of the world; there, the sun rises and sets every day in crossing its heavenly path by mean solar day and travelling through a deep nighttime tunnel by night. Thereafter he has to cantankerous the Waters of Death to find Uta-napishti, the Afar (see prototype below).
The Path of the Sun is guarded by fearsome Scorpion People, who seem both surprised and curious on Gilgamesh's arrival. Afterwards questioning him, they permit him to travel the Path of the Sun, the office that consists of the dark tunnel below the world,22 but warn him that no human being had done this earlier. He must race against time; he must consummate the journeying and come out at the other finish before the dominicus does. After twelve double-hours of gruelling through thick darkness, Gilgamesh comes out on the other side, and finds himself on the seashore of the Waters of Expiry, midst a paradise with trees that bear leaves and fruit of semi-precious stones.
Here lives Siduri, the sabitum, commonly translated as "female person brewer/alehouse keeper,"23 only she is shrouded in some mystery, every bit her pot stands appear to be vats of gold, and she is covered in veils.24 When she sees his haggard appearance, she initially mistakes him for someone who may have bad intentions and confined her gates, just Gilgamesh insists on entering and explains his plight (X:46-71):25
Gilgamesh spoke to her, to the ale-wife
Why should my cheeks not be hollow, my face up not sunken,
my mood not wretched, my features non wasted?
Should there not exist sorrow in my eye,
and my face non be like i who has travelled a distant road?
Should my face not be burnt by frost and sunshine
and should I not roam the wild got up similar a lion?
My friend, a mule on the run
donkey of the uplands, panther of the wild,
My friend Enkidu, a mule on the run,
donkey of the uplands, panther of the wild,
my friend whom I love then securely,
who with me went through every danger:
the doom of mankind overtook him,
for six days and seven nights I wept over him.
I did not requite him upwards for burial,26
until a maggot vicious from his nostril.
Then I was afraid ...
I grew fearful of death, and so roam the wild.
The case of my friend was too much for me to bear
and then on a distant road I roam the wild.
The case of my friend Enkidu was as well much for me to bear,
and so on a distant path I roam the wild.
For how could I stay silent? How could I stay repose?
My friend whom I live, has turned to dirt,
my friend Enkidu whom I love, has turned to clay.
Shall not I exist like him and likewise lie down,
never to ascension again, through all eternity?
Without hesitating, he asks for directions to Uta-napishtim, and although Siduri warns him almost the dangers, she directs him to Ur-shanabi, Uta-napishtim's boatsman. He and his strange companions, the Rock Ones (who seem to play a role in ferrying the gunkhole across the Waters of Death) are stripping a cedar amidst the forest. Gilgamesh takes the boatsman past surprise and smashes the Rock Ones. Notwithstanding, just like Siduri, Ur-shanabi notices Gilgamesh'due south worn appearance, and asks questions. To the boatsman, Gilgamesh also repeats his lament (10:119-148) in exactly the aforementioned words he addressed to Siduri (encounter higher up), demanding that Ur-shanabi ferries him across the Waters of Death. The boatsman agrees, but Gilgamesh has to compensate him for smashing the Stone Ones past cutting three hundred punting poles to help them cantankerous the primeval bounding main.
At concluding, Gilgamesh reaches what is seemingly his goal. Similar Siduri, and like Ur-shanabi, this mortal who has managed to live forever, asks questions most Gilgamesh'southward run-downward looks, and Gilgamesh one time once more provides the aforementioned answer (X:219-248). It is important to note that this heart-rending lament occurs three times in Tablet X, but before discussing suffering and trauma inside the complaining itself, a brief synopsis of the remainder of the plot may exist informative.
Uta-napishtim agrees to disembalm to Gilgamesh how he managed to be the sole survivor of a great Deluge, and how the gods have blessed him with everlasting life (run across fn. xiii above for the plot). However, for Gilgamesh, there will not be another Drench; the just style for him to obtain life everlasting would be if he succeeds in staying awake for six days and seven nights. Needless to say, Gilgamesh fails this test miserably. Uta-napishtim instructs Urshanabi to take Gilgamesh back to where he came from, to Uruk. However, his married woman persuades him to give their weary guest a departing gift-a shrub that grows on the bottom of the sea that too has rejuvenating capacities: whoever eats from it, will never grow older. Gilgamesh retrieves the found but decides to try it out first on the senior citizens of Uruk. As he and Urshanabi intermission campsite for the night, he goes for a dip in a pool of absurd water, leaving rather carelessly the precious plant unguarded. A serpent is lured by its sugariness odours, and every bit Gilgamesh comes out of the water, he is just in time to see the creature snatch away the plant, sloughing its sometime skin and sailing abroad immature and new. Gilgamesh breaks down and cries. All his efforts are in vain.
Gilgamesh returns with Urshanabi to Uruk and is speaking from its walls to the boatsman in exactly the same words of the opening lines of the Epic. Notwithstanding, he is now addressing Urshanabi, boasting about the splendour of the city and its surroundings (XI:322-328).27 He does non appear to be depressed or downcast. On the contrary, he seems to exist equanimous and rather proud. He may have realised at last that no human being, regardless of how potent or powerful he is, tin can live forever, merely, as Andrew George concludes, "there will always be men on this earth, for life itself is eternal.28 And in Gilgamesh the interest is in the living."29
F TRAUMA AND SUFFERING
Every bit noted above (fn. 25), Tzvi Abusch compares the Sometime Babylonian Version of the Epic to the Standard Babylonian 1. For the purpose of this article, his literary assay of the differences between the two texts is not important, but his observations on Gilgamesh's anguish are. Here the insertion in the Old Babylonian Version of Gilgamesh'south cry that his friend may wake upwards and speak to him, is pregnant. Abusch notices that the rhythm of the poem itself appears to be "broken and tense,"30 thereby reflecting Gilgamesh'southward distressed mood. Furthermore, the cry that Enkidu may wake upwardly is of course unrealistic, even delusional. The stark reality, which is also documented in the Standard Epic, is that after several days, a maggot dropped from Enkidu'due south nose. In other words, the body has reached some stage of decay, before Gilgamesh accepts that his friend is dead.
Furthermore, Enkidu should have been buried much earlier. Burying practices in the aboriginal Near East demanded that a body be buried every bit shortly as possible after death, only then a menses of mourning, perhaps seven days would follow. In fact, says Abusch,31 Gilgamesh reverses the burying and mourning rites, and even worse, instead of honouring his friend, he dishonours him in a rather gross manner, by leaving the body to decompose and to become infested by maggots.
Gilgamesh appears delusional, ridden past cluttered thoughts and behaviour that persist for several days. Emotionally, he has disintegrated completely; his "land of mind is 1 of confusion and disorder, and his grasp on reality is weakened."32
Now, because he fails to accept Enkidu'south death and bury him in time, he starts to fearfulness his own death. He cannot face the reality that he is fragile, finite, and will die like all other human beings.
These "recurring intrusive memories regarding Enkidu'due south expiry" and the request of "numerous questions regarding his ain death," are according to scholars Tomasz Kucmin, Adriana Kucmin, Adam Nogalski, Sebastian Sojczuk and Mariusz Jojczuk typical symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).33 Their article provides an overview of this very human condition and the means it has been expressed through diverse literary works since antiquity. They mainly focus on victims of war. Unfortunately, they assume incorrectly that Gilgamesh was a "legendary king of Uruk whose companion Enkidu was killed in battle and died a violent decease".34 In fact, quite the opposite happens, Enkidu dies of some painful ailment. However, ane may concord with them that Gilgamesh does seem to suffer from PTSD, given the ways that his thoughts and behaviour are described in the Epic. Their observations also hold with an online article that refers to "unresolved grief," that is "a grief experience which takes longer than what is common for a person's social or cultural background."35 Anxiety, irritability, low and other emotional disturbances are all symptoms of prolonged grief over the loss of a beloved.
Most articles on grief, bereavement, suffering after loss of someone or something, may signal the same symptoms, and all would exist appropriate to describe Gilgamesh'south situation. He loves his friend deeply. He could not have and come to terms with his death. His grief exceeds the normal period of mourning. Consequently, he develops an obsessive fear of dying himself, but also to having delusions that there must be a possibility for him to live forever. Irrational thoughts and behaviour are all part of prolonged suffering and grief, long earlier these symptoms were diagnosed clinically and treatment was made bachelor. At the end of the Epic, however, Gilgamesh seems to have found quiescence.
In this regard, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross' five stages of grief may exist illuminative.
Thousand ELIZABETH ROSS' FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF AND THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH
Ii manufactures aim to appropriate Elizabeth Kübler-Ross' v stages of grief to the Gilgamesh Epic but either the scenarios do not quite apply to the stages of grief36or the references to item anecdotes are wrong.37 In this article, I propose that the five stages exist applied as follow:
• Denial: Gilgamesh showtime experiences the denial of Enkidu's death. Thereafter he starts to deny his own mortality and goes in search of life everlasting.
• Depression: He is clad in the peel of a king of beasts, neglects his personal advent, and roams the plains in search of life everlasting.
• Anger: His fear of expiry and obsession to observe the secret to everlasting life crusade him to threaten to strike Siduri'south door and intermission the commodities if she does non let him in (X:22). Acrimony and his fervency to cross the Waters of Death may as well have driven him towards overcoming Urshanabi and smashing the Stone Ones (X:92-206).
• Bargaining: The whole run into with Uta-napishtim seems to be marked past bargaining. He learns that there will not be a 2nd Deluge for him, and then accepts the impossible challenge of staying awake for vi days and seven nights. The retrieving of the rejuvenating institute at the bottom of the ocean is his final chance.
• Acceptance: After the ophidian snatches the plant, he realises that he cannot escape his own bloodshed. He returns to Uruk, standing on "the walls that will be his enduring monument."38 Gilgamesh comes to the "fell realization of his own mortal inadequacy. And aware at last of his own capabilities he becomes reconciled to his lot, and wise."39
Scholars like Jeffrey Tigay and Anthony Westenberg40 agree that Gilgamesh ultimately learns to take his mortality instead of wasting the rest of his life in his vain struggle against death. Equally Tigay observes, Gilgamesh has non completely given up on immortality, just it is immortality that is imbedded in life itself. He accepts that he must die, similar all human beings, but consequently strives to constitute for himself the immortal name of a adept king. The opening lines of the Epic adjure to Gilgamesh's interests in Uruk; Tablet 11 ends with his own testimony of the pride he takes in his city to Urshanabi. Eventually, his investment in Uruk and his operation as a good male monarch volition bring him the immortality and fame that he had hoped for.
H CONCLUSION
The Ballsy of Gilgamesh is the oldest extant text that can exist described as a "literary composition", that is, a text with an interest in humanity. The main characters are not deities, and the topic is non creation or overcoming anarchy. The main character is Gilgamesh whose whole life is transformed first by the coming of his friend, Enkidu, and then by Enkidu'southward tragic death. A suffering Gilgamesh exhibits symptoms and behaviour which are only millennia subsequently described and diagnosed in clinical terminology that are used today. Furthermore, it seems that Gilgamesh besides progressed through the "5 stages of grief" determined past Elizabeth Kubler Ross. It may be observed that suffering, trauma and grief are as old as humanity itself, and fate that causes devastating loss cannot be avoided. As Westenberg concludes, The Gilgamesh Epic is:
... a story of how a man comes to accept his mortality. The ballsy shows this through the repetition of the opening lines, and through its concurrent theme that to struggle confronting mortality and fate is a poor determination, one that causes harm to those effectually Gilgamesh and causes him to suffer. Mortality within the mod mindset is thus something against which humanity tin fight, and one's fate is something that ane can, and perhaps should, seek to change.41
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Piccin, Michela and Martin Worthington. "Schizophrenia and the Problem of Suffering in the Ludlul Hymn to Marduk." Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale 109/1 (2015): 113-124. [ Links ]
Pryke, Louise. "Religion and Humanity in Mesopotamian Myth and Ballsy. " No Pages. Cited 2020. Cited on 05/05/2020. Online: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.247 . [ Links ]
Smith, Kathleen. "Grief and Anxiety." No Pages. Cited on 05/05/2020.Online: https://www.psycom.net/anxiety-complicated-grief/ 2019. [ Links ]
Schmidt, Michael. The Life of a Poem: Gilgamesh. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019. [ Links ]
Tigay, Jeffrey H. The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982. [ Links ]
Westenberg, Anthony. "Fate and Mortality in the Epic of Gilgamesh. " No Pages. Cited 22 Apr 2020. Online: https://world wide web.academia.edu/9233304/Fate_and_Mortality_in_the_Epic_of_Gilgamesh?email_work_card=view-paper. Cyberspace sources - no author [ Links ]
"The Physical Symptoms of Grief." n.p. https://obittree.com/funeral-advice/grief-manufactures/physical-grief-symptoms.php. Last edited 2016. "Gilgamesh and the 5 Stages of Grief." n.p. https://quizlet.com/95009728/gilgamesh-and-the-five-stages-of-grief-wink-cards/. [ Links ]
"Kübler-Ross' Stages of Grief in Job and Gilgamesh." n.p. https://writer.tools/subjects/p/psychology/kubler-ross-stages-of-grief. [ Links ] .
Submitted: 09/11/2020
Peer-reviewed: 02/12/2020
Accepted: 04/12/2020
Dr Gerda de Villiers. Section of Erstwhile Attestation and Hebrew of Scriptures, Faculty of Theology and Religion. University of Pretoria. Eastward-mail: gerdadev@mweb.co.za. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4391-8722.
1 Andrew R. George, The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation (Suffolk: Barnes & Noble, 1999), xxiii.
2 Andrew R. George, The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic. Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Tests (vol. I Oxford: Oxford University Printing, 2003), 33. See also Tzvi Abusch, "The Development and Meaning of the Ballsy of Gilgamesh: An Interpretative Essay," Journal of the American Oriental Social club 121/4 (2001): 614-622 (614) Online: https://www.jstor.org.
iii Michael Schmidt, The Life of a Poem: Gilgamesh (Princeton: Princeton Academy Press, 2019), 38.
4 The One-time Babylonian Gilgamesh Ballsy has also been reconstructed. The plot is like the Standard Version, but with some omissions and some editions which are pregnant. Abusch, "The Development and Meaning," 614-622 discusses 3 versions of the Epic namely, the Sometime Babylonain Version, The Standard Babylonian Version ending with Tablet XI, and the Standard Babylonian Version with the addition of Tablet XII. He notes the added passages in each version and indicates significant interpretative shifts.
v George, The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic.
6 The nature of the tyranny is non articulate and may include forced labour, athletic contests, wrestling games, sexual harassment. See George, The Babylonian Gilgamesh Ballsy, 449.
7 George, Epic of Gilgamesh, 12-17 fills in the lacunae of the Standard Babylonian Version in with fragments of other tablets.
8 George, Epic of Gilgamesh, 54-55.
9 Louise Pryke, "Religion and Humanity in Mesopotamian Myth and Epic," Online publication, August 2016, northward.p. https://dx.doi.org/x.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.247.
x Benjamin Clarke, "Misery Loves Company: A Comparative Analysis of Theodicy Literature in Aboriginal Mesopotamia and Israel," Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies 2/one (2010): 77-92 (79), https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/imwjournal/vol2/iss1/v.
xi Tzvi Abusch, "Ishtar'due south Proposal and Gilgamesh'southward Refusal: An Interpretation of 'The Gilgamesh Ballsy', Tablet half-dozen, Lines 1-79," History of Religions 26/2 (1986): 148161.
12 Michela Piccin and Martin Worthington, "Schizophrenia and the Problem of Suffering in the Ludlul Hymn to Marduk," Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale 109/1 (2015): 113.
13 The gods determine to wipe out all of humanity with a Flood. The god Ea discloses this divine surreptitious to a mortal, Utanapishtim and instructs him to build a boat. Utanapishtim survives the Deluge, but Enlil is overcome with rage; no homo existence should have escaped. Ea keeps silent about his doings, and instead claims that Atrahasis (Utanapishtim) has a dream. Whereupon Enlil is and then impressed that he blesses Utanapishtim and his wife with everlasting life.
fourteen George, Epic of Gilgamesh, 62.
xv George, Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic, 655, 657.
16 Ibid., 657, fn. 11.
17 Ibid., 657.
18 Ibid., 667.
xix Kathleen Smith, "Grief and Anxiety," (2019): n.p. Online: https://www.psycom.net/feet-complicated-grief/.
20 Smith, "Grief and Anxiety."
21 Keith Dickson, "Looking at the Other in Gilgamesh," JAOS 127/two (2007): 177 -179.
22 That part unfortunately cannot exist seen in the paradigm in a higher place.
23 Jeremy Black, Andrew George and Nicolas Postgate, eds., A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian (2d corrected printing; Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz Verlag, 2000), 390.
24 George, Epic of Gilgamesh, 76.
25 George, Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic, 681, 683.
26 Hither Tzvi Abush draws attending to an additional line in the Old Babylonian Version which is omitted in the Standard Babylonian version, (saying) "my friend mayhap will rising upward to me and cry ..." Tzvi Abusch, "Gilgamesh's Request and Siduri's Denial. Part II. An Analysis and Interpretation of an Sometime Babylonian Fragment virtually Mourning and Commemoration," Journal of the Ancient near Eastern Social club (1993): 3-19, 7. The significance of this line will be discussed later on in the article.
27 George, Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic, 725.
28 Ibid., 528.
29 Ibid., 526.
xxx Abusch, "Gilgamesh's Request," 6.
31 Ibid.," viii.
32 Ibid.," x.
33 Tomasz Kucmin, Adriana Kucmin, Adam Nogalski, Sebastian Sojczuk and Mariusz Jojczuk, "History of Trauma and Posttraumatic Disorders in Literature," Psychiatry. Political leader. fifty/one (2016): 269-281, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.12740/PP/43039.
34 Kucmin, et al., "History of Trauma," 271.
35 No author, "The Physical Symptoms of Grief," n.p., https://obittree.com/funeral-advice/grief-articles/physical-grief-symptoms.php, terminal edited 2016.
36 No writer, "Gilgamesh and the Five Stages of Grief," n.p., https://quizlet.com/95009728/gilgamesh-and-the-v-stages-of-grief-flash-cards/.
37 No author, "Kübler-Ross' Stages of Grief in Task and Gilgamesh," northward.p., https://author.tools/subjects/p/psychology/kubler-ross-stages-of-grief.
38 George, Gilgamesh Epic, 88.
39 Ibid. , xlvi.
40 Jeffrey H. Tigay, The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Ballsy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982), 249-250; Anthony Westenberg, "Fate and Mortality in the Epic of Gilgamesh." https://www.academia.edu/9233304/Fate_and_Mortality_in_the_Epic_of_Gilgamesh?email_work_card=view-paper.
41 Westenberg, 2020, n.p.
Source: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1010-99192020000300018
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