Gigamesh

A detailed Summary of Gigamesh

Like all epics, Gilgamesh contains both historical and mythic elements in all its versions, and is meant to be interpreted on several levels. In addition to its very human themes of friendship, courage, the problem of death, and the meaning of life, it is also an initiatory tale about the quest for enlightenment, the revelation of divine mysteries, the duality of man, and the evolutionary unfolding of our spiritual nature. The physical composition of the Babylonian recension discloses an intentional number symbolism: 12 tablets, each containing about 300 lines divided into 6 columns. More importantly, Gilgamesh is meant to be read as an extended metaphor, a spiritual biography as much about ourselves as about the Sumerian hero-king. Calling across nearly 5,000 years, it is a potent reminder of the timelessness and relevance of the ancient spiritual path.

Here I will adopt a definition offered by Finnish folklorist Lauri Honko. He summarize four criteria of myth with respect to form (narrative of sacred origin), content (cosmogonic in terms of cultural origin or existential condition), function (model for human activity), and context (in the sense that myth provides "the ideological content for a sacred form of behavior"). It is

Example of Context - The story given suggests that the initial fight is brought to an end by mutual agreement: None of the material names a winner, but Gilgamesh "bent his knees" and "planted his foot in the ground" indicates a successful bonding. Enkidu's acknowledgment and friendly embrace with Gilgamesh confirm their acceptance of the relationship.The language of Gilgamesh, from his dreams "I loved Enkidu and embraced him as a wife" to the bridal bed. Gilgamesh clearly refers to a "sacred marriage": the spiritual union or blending of the inner and outer man.

Example of Content - Enkidu's story raises questions about the nature of man. Created of clay and water he was dropped into the wilderness, Enkidu is pure knowing nothing of cultivated land. He lives with the beasts until a trapper sees that Enkidu destroying the traps and helping the beasts escape. The trapper wants to tame Enkidu just as the people of Uruk wants to tame Gilgamesh. Civilization is a process, the alteration from primitive. Without the primitive, civilization would cease to exist. The Epic of Gilgamesh helps us see past the traditional classifications of "civilized" and "primitive" so that we might remember what each of us gains and loses in developing from one state of being to another.

The Epic of Gilgamesh , translation. by Maureen Gallery Kovacs, Stanford University Press.

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Approximate Word count = 1130
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Religion

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