Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [76]
Following the discovery of the tablets, in 1872, George Smith delivered a paper before the London Society of Biblical Archaeology which included a partial translation of the cuneiform texts, along with an analysis of several episodes in the Gilgamesh epic, especially its flood narrative. The material rocked the world of biblical scholarship, suggesting that the story of Noah and the flood, as recorded in Genesis, might have been “borrowed” from this earlier—and worse, “pagan”—source.
Was the Gilgamesha work of “faction”?
The Gilgamesh story has it all. Sex, love, monsters, whores, friendship, battles, more sex, more battles, the search for immortality—and, finally, disillusioning truth. Although it is filled with Mesopotamian mythology, the Gilgamesh epic may also be based on some misty history.
The notion that myths are based in real events (“euhemerism”) is an old idea. But the story of Gilgamesh may be one of the earliest examples of that possibility. Here are a few reasons why:
The character of Gilgamesh was apparently based on a real king who ruled the city-state of Uruk around 2600 BCE.
The Sumerian King Lists, discovered among the tablets in Nineveh, record him as the fifth ruler in Uruk’s First Dynasty.
He was known as the builder of the wall of Uruk; his mother was said to be the goddess Ninsun, and his real father was, according to the King Lists, a high priest.
Then again, harsh facts do intrude on the legend. Although the poem credits Gilgamesh with building Uruk’s walls, these walls actually predate his lifetime by at least one thousand years, according to archaeological evidence. That means Gilgamesh may have also been the first politician given credit for something he hadn’t actually done. Isn’t that novel!
Who came first, Gilgamesh or Noah?
Apart from the significance of Gilgamesh as one of humanity’s first works of literature, one aspect of this epic has caused great controversy since its translation into English: its inclusion of a flood story that is remarkably similar to the biblical story of Noah.
During his adventures, Gilgamesh goes to visit his ancestor Utnapishtim, who possesses the secret of immortality, given to him by the gods. In Gilgamesh, the gods are annoyed by the humans and their growing numbers and all the noise they make, so they decide to send a flood to destroy humanity. The water god Enki is forbidden to reveal this plan to humans, but he realizes that if there are no humans, there will be no sacrifices to the gods and no people to do all the work. Enki cleverly reveals the plan of the coming flood to Utnapishtim, and instructs him to build a boat and fill it with the seeds of all living things. After a storm that lasts six days and seven nights, the boat comes to rest on a mountaintop and, like the biblical Noah, Utnapishtim releases birds to see if there is any dry land. When the birds do not return, Utnapishtim knows the floodwaters have receded. While many points between the Sumerian legend and Hebrew Bible diverge, the close parallels in details seem more than coincidental. The description of the boat and the storm, the coming to rest on the mountains, and the release of birds are all highly similar narrative features.
Complicating matters is the fact that the flood story of Utnapishtim is not the only deluge account in Mesopotamian myth. There are actually two other stories of a great destructive flood. One is an old Sumerian tale about Ziusudra, who is told that the gods plan to destroy all mankind. The details of this old story are unclear, as a complete version has never been found. But it is very similar in feeling to both Gilgamesh and another flood tale, about a