Would anyone please tell me about the story of Gilgamesh?

Answer 1

Gilgamesh, according to the Sumerian king list, was the fifth king of Uruk (Early Dynastic II, first dynasty of Uruk), the son of Lugalbanda, ruling circa 2650 BCE. Legend has it that his mother was Ninsun, a goddess.

According to another document, known as the "History of Tummal", Gilgamesh, and eventually his son Urlugal, rebuilt the sanctuary of the goddess Ninlil, located in Tummal, a block of the Nippur city. In Mesopotamian mythology Gilgamesh is credited to have been a demi-god of superhuman strength, a mythological equivalent to Hercules, who built a great wall in Iraq to defend his people from outer harm.

Answer 2

Mesopotamian myth called "The Epic of Gilgamesh". It predates the Bible and was written on a series of stone tablets. Most of the tables have been recovered but there are still parts of the story missing.

It tells the story of a King, Gilgamesh who goes on journeys, encounters trials, etc. Contained within it are a creation story similar to what is in the Bible. Since it predates the Bible it is quite possible that the Mesopotamian people were the ancestors of the Israelites of the Old Testament.

The narrative of the story can also be seen as a symbolic "Hero's Journey", representing the soul's journey to enlightenment, or as a Jungian metaphor in which the various parts of the psyche are integrated to arrive at wholeness.

It's only a hundred pages long or so and you can probably find a translation on the web if you search for it.

Answer 3

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Babylonia and is arguably the oldest known work of literature. A series of Sumerian legends and poems about the mythologized hero-king Gilgamesh, thought to be a ruler of the 3rd millennium BC, were gathered into a longer Akkadian poem long afterward, with the most complete version extant today preserved on eleven clay tablets in the library collection of the 7th century BC Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.

The epic appears to have been widely known in ancient times, and to have influenced literature from India to Europe. One of the stories included in the epic relates to the deluge thought to be the same as referred to in the Old Testament (story of Noah and the Ark). The essential story revolves around the relationship between Gilgamesh, a king who has become distracted and disheartened by his rule, and a friend, Enkidu, who is half-wild and who undertakes dangerous quests with Gilgamesh. Much of the epic focuses on Gilgamesh's feelings of loss following Enkidu's death.

The epic is widely read in translation, and the hero, Gilgamesh has become an icon of popular culture.

And I think kdog may have committed some copyright infringement...

Answer 4

Gilgamesh was a king or Uruk in Babylonia, millennia ago. According to the story, he accomplished many feats on Earth, outsmarting gods and goddesses, and was the greatest man alive. He had a friend, Enkidu, who was born in the wild. When Enkidu died, Gilgamesh was so heartbroken that he gave up his position as king and set off into the world, trying to find a way to achieve immortality. He eventually found Uta-napishti, the only human ever to have achieved immortality. He is told that Uta-napishti was granted immortality by the gods for having survived the Deluge (a Babylonian Great Flood which destroyed the world) and rebuilding civilization after it. Gilgamesh is told that it is man's lot to die, and that no one save Uta-napishti will ever be granted immortality.

Answer 5

Gilgamesh is the first work of world literature and remains one of the most important. Written in ancient Mesopotamia in the second millennium BC, it predates the Iliad by roughly 1,000 years. Lost for almost two millennia, the eleven clay tables on which the epic was inscribed were discovered in 1850 in the ruins of Nineveh, and the text was not deciphered and fully translated until the end of the century.

The epic is the story of literature’s first hero - the king of Uruk in what is present-day Iraq - and his journey of self-discovery. In giving voice to grief and the fear of death, in portraying love and vulnerability and the ego’s hopeless striving for immortality, Gilgamesh has touched millions of readers in dozens of languages.

Although there have been many scholarly translations, until now there has not been a version that is a superlative literary text in its own right. Poet and pre-eminent translator Stephen Mitchell’s vivid rendering allows one to discover the ancient masterpiece as if for the first time, to see how startlingly beautiful and alive it is. His introduction provides a historical and cultural context for this ancient epic, showing that Gilgamesh is more potent and fascinating than ever.

Answer 6

Basically, this all-mighty hero Gilgamesh fears death -- so he wants to be immortal. Through much questing, he finds a god who can help him. He pleas with the god Utnapishtim for eternal life. Utnapishtim tells him to stay awake for a week. Gilgamesh stays awake, kept up by the fear of death. Utnapishtim shows Gilgamesh a rose at the bottom of the sea that will give him eternal life. Through much trials, Gilgamesh gets the rose. He travels a full twenty leagues, then he's attacked by a big snake and loses the rose. Sweet ending.

Answer 7

Too long to tell here, but I vaguely remember that I loved Enkidu and the part where Gilgamesh knocks a goddess off of a wall by throwing a cow at her. At least I think that happened (um, it was about 10 years ago). Fun to read if you ever get a chance.

Answer 8

The story of Gilgamesh, similar to that of Noah and the Great Flood, is a story that comes from ancient Babylonia. The link below is one that I have used with my students for several years.

Answer 9

Contents of the eleven clay tablets

Gilgamesh and Enkidu on a cylinder seal from Ur IIIGilgamesh of Uruk, the greatest king on earth, two-thirds god and one-third human, is the strongest super-human who ever existed. When his people complain that he is too harsh the sky-god Anu creates the wild-man Enkidu, a worthy rival as well as distraction. Enkidu is tamed by the seduction of priestess (a hierodule) Shamhat.
Enkidu challenges Gilgamesh. After a mighty battle, Gilgamesh breaks off from the fight (this portion is missing from the Standard Babylonian version but is supplied from other versions). Gilgamesh proposes an adventure in the Cedar Forest to kill a demon.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu prepare to adventure to the Cedar Forest, with support from many including the sun-god Shamash.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu journey to the Cedar Forest.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu, with help from Shamash, kill Humbaba, the demon guardian of the trees, then cut down the trees which they float as a raft back to Uruk.
Gilgamesh rejects the sexual advances of Anu's daughter, the goddess Ishtar. Ishtar asks her father to send the "Bull of Heaven" to avenge the rejected sexual advances. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the bull.
The gods decide that somebody has to be punished for killing the Bull of Heaven, and they condemn Enkidu. Enkidu becomes ill and describes the Netherworld as he is dying. Stephen Mitchell and others interpret the punishment as being for the killing of Humbaba, as it was ordered to guard the Cedar Forest by the gods.
Gilgamesh delivers a lamentation for Enkidu.
Gilgamesh sets out to avoid Enkidu's fate and makes a perilous journey to visit Utnapishtim and his wife, the only humans to have survived the Great Flood who were granted immortality by the gods, in the hope that he too can attain immortality. Along the way, Gilgamesh encounters the alewyfe Siduri who attempts to dissuade him from his quest.
Gilgamesh punts across the Waters of Death with Urshanabi, the ferryman, completing the journey.
Gilgamesh meets Utnapishtim, who tells him about the great flood and reluctantly gives him a chance for immortality. He tells Gilgamesh that if he can stay awake for six days and seven nights he will become immortal. However, Gilgamesh falls asleep and Utnapishtim tells his wife to bake a loaf of bread for every day he is asleep so that Gilgamesh cannot deny his failure. When Gilgamesh wakes up, Utnapishtim decides to tell him about a plant that will rejuvenate him. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that if he can obtain the plant from the bottom of the sea and eat it he will be rejuvenated, be a younger man again. Gilgamesh obtains the plant, but doesn't eat it immediately because he wants to share it with other elders of Uruk. He places the plant on the shore of a lake while he bathes and it is stolen by a snake. Gilgamesh, having failed both chances, returns to Uruk, where the sight of its massive walls provokes him to praise this enduring work of mortal men. Gilgamesh realizes that the way mortals can achieve immortality is through lasting works of civilization and culture.

Answer 10

Buy me a bottle of good vodka, let's get a couple of glasses, and I'll tell you.

Meanwhile, go get the book. I'll tell you Gilgamesh was a noble, brave, questing man. He went through much suffering to get back his good friend.

Now you do the footwork, and quest, in the spirit of Gilgamesh.