The Epic of Gilgamesh, also known as the oldest uncovered story in the world (circa 2600 BC) tells the tale of a king that tried to acquire immortality, yet failed. The charm of the story is the very fact that it is so old, thus promising a sort of natural wisdom and intuition of the secrets of life, as understood by the ancient Sumer society, so very long ago. The most famous scene of the story is where Gilgamesh, finally finding the coral plant that would renew his life, leaves it unwatched while bathing, which leads to the plant being eaten by a snake.
The main idea of the epic does seem to be the claim that trying to seek immortality or even greatness is of no use to the human life and soul. Instead of this grand quest, a new purpose is revealed, especially towards the end of the poem. Gilgamesh, an unrivaled demigod king, initially spends his life in neverending celebrations and by taking for himself what belongs to his people. He is at the time a tyrant and brings only sorrow to his city, Uruk. The Sumerian gods, acting as the justice of the Universe or karma, create an equal able to defeat Gilgamesh in battle, by the name of Enkidu, and place him in the wild. Enkidu is brought to the city, losing his natural connection with the wild, a life of serenity and harmony, by making the choice to join the cultured society and opposes Gilgamesh, eventually defeating him in battle. Because of this, Gilgamesh discovers a new purpose for his life. He finally found an equal, and makes a friend of him, together they wish to embark on a quest for greatness, the kind that will make them immortal in the writings of history. They wish to be forever remembered as great men that did the impossible, and to be thus forever raised to a place of glory and reverence by everyone else. The greatest quest they could think of is one of bloody conquest, to kill the forest god, Humbaba, and use the forest's sacred cedar wood to create a tribute and offering to the gods. Enkidu initially rejects the idea, having shared a part of the wild with Humbaba, however the king's ambition is unstoppable. They do complete this quest, mostly by appealing to some gods that Gilgamesh was especially favored by, and return gloriously to the city. However, Gilgamesh attracts the attention of the goddess Ishtar, the goddess of love and war. When he refuses her advances by explaining how all her lovers met a cruel fate, she is insulted and tried to destroy him with a great celestial monster, the Bull of Heaven. Could have Gilgamesh avoided this, it is not explained, however the course of the epic seems to imply that Gilgamesh appetite for war and conquest preceded the encounter with the goddess and her offer, and it is Ishtar's nature to be both a deity of destruction and of passion. Perhaps had he refused her in a more humble way, it could have averted her anger. Gilgamesh and Enkidu destroy the celestial bull, saving themselves and the city from its rampage, but their deeds are brought forward in the gods' council and their fates are discussed. Because of their life desecrating actions, by killing the forest god - the protector of nature, and cutting the sacred cedar forest just to create an elaborate palace or temple door, and by destroying the Bull of Heaven, another beloved heavenly creature, they must pay the ultimate price, which is death. Gilgamesh is forgiven this once, but Enkidu, the wild man, who perhaps should have known better and was after all created for the purpose of diverting the king from his destructive ways, is sentenced to death.
Gilgamesh is traumatized by his friend's death, knowing that as a demigod and thus part mortal, he will have to meet it as well at some point. He cannot remove the concept of death from his mind, he forsakes his city and wanders the wilds, seeking the legendary Utnapishtim, the only man said to be immortal and have survived the great flood of old. After a long journey and several battles, Gilgamesh speaks with Utnapishtim, who lives at the end of the world's waters, perhaps symbolizing the depth of the human subconscious and heart. He explains to Gilgamesh that his immortality has been granted as a gift from the gods, after one of them favored him and his wife in particular, so that he may save his family and the world's animals from being destroyed. It is a one time event that cannot be repeated. Gilgamesh is however told of a coral plant that he could pick from the ocean's depths. As said in the beginning of the poem, Gilgamesh loses this plant, despairing over his mortal life and failure to achieve something truly great.
The turning point seems to be in the last chapter, often not mentioned in tellings of the tale. Gilgamesh discovers the secrets of the underworld and the afterlife, speaking with the shade of his friend, Enkidu. The souls that have the greatest rewards are those that have built a big family and have been diligent in their work. He is also later told that his death will arrive soon, but he will be rewarded for deeds that he has disregarded so far. After returning from the wise man Utanapishtim, Gilgamesh brought ancient knowledge back to his city, long lost after the flood. He built and fortified a great wall around the city, he reinstalled ancient rites and rituals that benefit both humans and gods, the most common ones being the rites of mouth washing and hand washing, suggesting purity and renewal, perhaps metaphorically too and not only physically. He enriched his culture and city with a vast and old and sacred information, and brought his people to a better way of life. For these deeds, he is rewarded the fate of a king and a judge in the afterlife. The underworld may as well be a symbol of the individual's own conscience, the judge of the self, the emotional and ethic rewards that one feels at the end of the day and at the end of his life, when he looks back at what he did for himself but more importantly, what he did for the whole of humanity. The conscience may act as a self punishing entity, by judging its usefulness and contribution to existence in general. The old wise man's advice for Gilgamesh is also important, as when they discuss immortality, he ostracizes the king for forsaking his city and his family, and embarking on foolish quests of glory and battle. The days of man seem to be measured by his ability to rejoice in the people he loves - his wife, children, friends, society, and by being a figure of protection, love and kindness to those he cares about. Learning to appreciate the small things such as food, fine clothes and other gifts of life is also advised by the old Utnapishtim to be of value.
Gilgamesh is initially living a toxic life of abusing others and indulging in an excess of destructive pleasure, then is wrongly inspired by his powers and the powers of his friend into a warmongering life of destroying others, followed by a hermit life of isolation and nihilism after his friend's death and divine punishment. Lastly, he devotes his life to a single fantastic purpose that can never be achieved, the purpose of immortality, only to fail this purpose and arrive to genuine wisdom, of enjoying the gifts of life and humanity in a healthy and productive way, seeking to improve the world and improve the lives and hearts of those he cares about and those he is responsible for, as a king. This will grant him peace in the underworld, the realm of the gods or of his own mind, making him a wise king and judge of shades, ensuring that the right and good law of the gods is established and imposed upon all. This is implied to be the law of the Universe and of existence, of rewards those that contribute and connect to it, and punishing those that move against it, a law that asks humans to dwell in love and growth and gratitude, and to live responsibly in their growth of power. We may as well consider that we are all kings and queens, influencing the actions of the world through our deeds, acting as role models to others when they look at our way of life, and being in the position of harming or enhancing nature and humanity. We can be a part of it, connected to it, like Enkidu is in the beginning, or we can wrongly seek to destroy life and its forests and protectors. Another aspect is the search for knowledge, a defining trait of mankind, a perpetual motivation to innovate and move our lifestyle forward, to bring us into balance with life and into peace with death, to allow us to live our lives to the fullest, this is the promise of knowledge, represented by the restoration of sacred rites by Gilgamesh when he returns from world's end.
What is then, of true worth, and value? The epic seems to imply that humanity's greatest challenge is coming to terms of peace with the notion of death, for that will mark how an individual will live the rest of his life. Knowing that one may die soon can make an individual destructive, wishing to abuse and control life, or it can make one productive and protective, treasuring every moment and contributing to its growth and subsequently, improving oneself through that action and experience. Society seems to reveal the same thing, that life rewards those that bring innovation, knowledge and seek to protect and increase the good things in the world, making them loved and wealthy, and life also punishes those that seek to harm the world and lower it to destructive levels, making them hated, despised, imprisoned, fought against. Karma acts through celestial beasts or illnesses in Gilgamesh's world, as Enkidu falls ill shortly after the gods decide he must be punished, and Enkidu's creation is the gods' pantheon response to the cries of the king's abused subjects. Another example is in an event where Gilgamesh creates a special ball that makes the men of the city forsake their lives, split in teams and play the new ball game day and night, a sort of virtual, unreal endeavor that tires the women of the city that constantly try to refresh the men, and keeps the men idle and essentially unproductive. The gods respond again as a regulating force to injustice and the ball falls into the Netherworld and is never again recovered, restoring the city's focus to its usual responsibilities. It is of course a great debate whether such a regulating force would exist in life, to reward the productive and punish the destructive, but it is at least a concept worth considering - what if it is true? And if it is not true, then one's conscience may very well be that regulating force, torturing the psyche with guilt and self hatred, or rewarding it with self appreciation, serenity and optimism about the world. The great waters that stand between Gilgamesh and the wise man Utnapishtim, as the old man lives at the end of the world, may symbolise the emotional realm of the psyche into which one must dive to achieve wisdom, as water is a known symbol of emotion and the ocean is a symbol of the psyche or soul. Furthermore, the wise man is even described to be living past the 'waters of death', perhaps suggesting the heaviness and bitterness of the personal experiences that Gilgamesh must pass in order to reach the wisdom he desires. The plant of immortality that he lost also is found in the sands of the ocean's depths, implying the richness of the waters of the soul and its potential of self renewal through emotional nourishment and perhaps an almost spiritual or mystical way of being. The great waters may also represent the nature of fate and life, shifting and turning at every step, with calm currents or turbulent tides. Gilgamesh's title at the beginning of the epic is 'he who saw the deep', therefore one who has known the depth of oneself to the fullest, perhaps.
Another interesting metaphor is the association of many characters with the cow or bull animal. Gilgamesh's mother is called the 'wild cow' goddess, Ninsun, his friend Enkidu and himself call themselves 'wild bulls on a rampage'. This could represent the gifts and force of individuals, being aware of their own strength and potential, but also of their possible limitations of instability and mindlessness, lacking the required strategy and general self awareness and being too immersed into their own fury or ambition, and too proud and thus ruthless with their power. Referring to Gilgamesh's title as king, and the true question of the epic - what is of value, what brings true satisfaction and reward? - we may see how all his power and wealth cannot satisfy him in the beginning, when his grip as a tyrant becomes stronger and heavier, his ambition neverending, his appetite for combat and conquest unquenched. Only later is Gilgamesh advised and realizes that the satisfaction of being a king, or of power and influence and free will, is to use it to protect his own, judge those who do wrong and seek to enhance the wellbeing of his family and his realm. Only then does ambition seem to be satisfied or at least controlled, and those he rules over praise him and glorify him, ironically he achieves immortality in the history of his culture not because he managed to kill great beings, conquer vast forests and build great tributes at the cost of nature, but because he focused on being useful and loving and thus improved his kingdom, fame and immortality being an indirect cause of his good actions. This idea fits the concept that true satisfaction comes from within, from channeling one's gifts and efforts and giving, instead of being focused on what one can extract and possess in the outside world. Among other curious elements that I have not focused on but that are part of the greater meaning of the poem is the constant effort of Gilgamesh to appease the gods and gaining their favor by offering tributes and rituals, perhaps an ancient way of seeing the idea of charity or of building one's trust in one's success and self by connecting and allowing space to what one considers to be divine or superior in their life, as the Sumerian gods have various attributes, such as the god of knowledge, of bravery, of vitality and so on.
Another ancient practice is how Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu summon the guidance of the god of dreams, and then try to interpret the gifted dreams for about seven times. Gilgamesh describes terrible and frightening dreams where he seems to lose against the forest god, yet Enkidu encourages him by interpreting the dream in a positive way, that would speak of victory and divine assistance and not defeat. He repeatedly does this for every dream. This comes to pass as they are assisted by the sun god in their battle. The meaning of it would be that a constant effort to have a positive outlook and visualization of the future and of challenges can encourage individuals to go on and find the energy and bravery to win their own battles and persevere. Enkidu as one initially connected with the wild, the harmonious way of existence, would know this better than Gilgamesh, although they use it for a destructive purpose, which is defeating the forest god. In the first part of the story, Gilgamesh often uses his birth and fate advantages to abuse others. His mother goddess is clever and wins him favor with some of the gods even though his actions are considered to be wrong by the pantheon, her divinity gave him superhuman strength and beauty, and his inherited kingdom gave him comfort and influence. These gifts help him for a short while but they do not protect him from eventual judgment or sorrow if his deeds continue to be unjust, just as Enkidu, although adopted by the mother goddess before his journey as her own son, cannot appease the gods and is still convicted to die.
The female and male roles seem to be somewhat different, Enkidu is lured into the city by Shamhat, a prostitute that may be as well a priestess of Ishtar, as prostitution had a cult ritual in many ancient societies. Everyday concepts like dreams, sexuality or hunting would be consecrated and allow one to transcend ordinary existence by being connected to various deities of the Sumerian pantheon. As a woman, Shamhat represents the softness and sophistication of life, the complexity and beauty of civilization, while Enkidu as a man represents the vitality and boundlessness of life, the energy, ease and richness of the wilds. It is perhaps another way of symbolising the importance of uniting raw potential and drive with advanced craft and gentleness in order to achieve individual growth.
As observed, the story of Gilgamesh speaks of many themes - life, death, power, love, friendship, conflict, fate, justice, responsibility, divinity, happiness, ethics. These are the answers of the civilization of Sumer to the dilemmas and sufferings of life, and they seem to resemble psychology's new theories upon happiness and the structure and purpose of existence. The story is enchanting not only through its wisdom, but also because of its verses, it being told as a heroic poem, and it is essentially the journey of the hero. The emotional way the characters express themselves and their reverence for various mystical beings or events give the reading experience a special allure of being part of a vast world where anything is possible and limitations are relative. The scenery is also inviting to reverie as Gilgamesh's city is described as being impressive and full of life and celebration, the nature in which Enkidu is living is sometimes seen as mysterious, dark and terrible or other times as open, calm and warm, its beasts being friendly and protective with those that are part of the wild. The world of Gilgamesh is vast, beyond the wilds there are plains and deserts, high mountains guarded by magical creatures and nearly undending oceans and mysterious beaches where hermit deities live. The rituals of oil pouring and washing and adorning oneself with fine garments and jewelry are entertaining and they are often connected to a stage where one must meet the gods. It is a reading experience that can be challenging as it is quite different from a novel, yet it is entertaining and impressive with its many lessons and charming images and curious practices.
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