The Epic Of Gilgamesh, And How Ancient Literature Maintained Its Relevance In Today’s World
Divided into 11 tablets, the Epic of Gilgamesh is one filled with morals, analogies, and themes. Among many others, it explores the concepts of purpose, arrogance, companionship, loss, life, and death in very poetic ways, allowing us to compare the romanticized events of the life of Gilgamesh to our own. I personally really enjoyed reading the tablets because of two things: One, they provide a lot of first-person perspective of the practices and values of a civilization as old as writing itself. And two, the characters in this epic show a wide variety of qualities, and personal growth making it so much more satisfying to read than a lot of modern media with very one-dimensional characters. While reading the Epic of Gilgamesh, it quickly became clear to me that it was leading me to draw a lot of different analogies between the events in his story and my own, and so I will focus this essay around the different comparisons I drew between the texts my life. One of the main themes that Sin-Leqi-Unninni covers in this epic is companionship. The course of Gilgamesh’ friendship with Enkidu begins with Enkidu preventing Gilgamesh from entering a bride’s marital chamber and they fight. This is something that I found extremely relatable.
When I was younger, I was a problematic kid. One day I had a spat with a boy who, instead of letting me push them around like everyone else pushed me back. When the dust had settled, all it took was one hour of detention for us to become such close friends that now, 13 years later we still see each other every day. I learned the valuable lesson that not everything that starts with conflict ends with conflict - and I’m sure that a lot of the readers of Gilgamesh can draw the same conclusion from their meeting. The relationship between the two protagonists of this story portrays the many aspects of partnership that everyone at some point in their life will encounter, and I believe that this is why their experiences are so analogous to our own. There are so many lessons that can be learned from the chapters in which they confront Humbaba about the importance of allowing yourself to rely on those close to you, as well as allowing them to rely on yourself - something that is so hard for some people in this day and age, yet it enriches our lives so much to have someone you can count on through thick and thin.
Another theme that is incredibly important in the Epic of Gilgamesh is that of life and death. When Enkidu passes away, Gilgamesh is grief stricken. I have been fortunate enough that I have never had to experience the death of a friend, but still get a strong impression of Gilgamesh’ anguish through the extensive mourning he goes through. In the days leading up to Enkidu’s death, he becomes extremely weak and sickly. Unfortunately, the personal analogy I drew earlier between Enkidu and Gilgamesh can also be applied here. My friend, when he was young, was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy. M. D. is an inherited disease that deteriorates the lining of your muscles, and as the years have gone by, I have had to watch him slowly get weak to the point where he can no longer feed himself. The emotions the author conveys through Gilgamesh both while he watches his brother grow so fragile, and thereafter are very realistic. I really appreciated the way Sin-Leqi-Unninni approaches the concept of platonic love
in a setting of sorrow and loss, which is something I rarely see come across so genuinely as he has managed. The continuous analogies that are present in the epic can be compared to countless of today’s proverbs. In my reading notes, I made mention of several of these including: Two heads are better than one, which shares a strong relation to Enkidu’s involvement in Gilgamesh’ life, The grass is always greener on the other side, which refers to the conversation Utnapishtim and Gilgamesh share about immortality and material wealth, and It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have lost at all which of course is in reference to Gilgamesh’ tragic loss of his friend and brother. I believe that the reason so many of these sayings coincide with the morals of Gilgamesh is because, as one of the earliest pieces of literature, this epic helped shape the moral views of today. I feel that as we have evolved and grown in intellectual strength, it became easier and easier to brush aside the teachings in ancient mythology because it is not based on scientific facts.
I find it ironic that, like Gilgamesh in tablet 1, the arrogance that stems from our success has made us forget the brilliance endowed upon us by our ancestors. To conclude, I have to say that I highly recommend the epic of Gilgamesh to anyone who is vaguely interested in mythology. The way the author invokes feelings of emotion and humanity (I find his method of conveying what makes us human beautifully done, and suggest you read the 9th point I made on tablet 11) through text alone is impressive, and the morals of his story remain relevant to this day. As I have done, I implore future readers to go through the text with an appreciation for the details the author manages to paint using context and relation, and that they read with the intent to learn about where our morals, customs, and culture came from.
