Epic of Gilgamesh Themes Echoing Life in Mesopotamia

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The Epic of Gilgamesh, written c. 2100 B.C.E., is an epic poem detailing stories of gods and kings, of wild men and great beasts, of brotherly comradery and intense sadness. The tale follows Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk in Mesopotamia, along an intense journey where he must deal with a wild man named Enkidu who was sent by the unpredictable gods to stop his oppressive behavior. The two eventually become friends, but when Enkidu is killed by a bull sent from heaven, Gilgamesh questions the futility of life and must rely on himself to continue on.

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The story was born in ancient Mesopotamia where the peoples there struggled with unpredictable and ever-changing environments and had to depend on themselves to create new technologies necessary for their survival in the brutal surroundings even when it seemed useless. The Epic of Gilgamesh confirms the argument of Western Civilization that the people of Mesopotamia had gods that were capricious and dangerous, they questioned whether all their efforts to survive was worth it, and they realized how vital self-reliance and cooperation was to their livelihoods.

Gilgamesh and the people of Mesopotamia cannot foretell or prepare for the gods’ erratic behavior. In Mesopotamia, the peoples there had to deal with harsh environmental conditions they believed to be caused by the unpredictable gods. Western Civilizations says “Neither their gods nor their environment were trustworthy”1, talking about the Mesopotamians. The flooding of the rivers could not be predictable, nor could dry spells and lack of rain; due to these ever-changing conditions, the people could not prepare for all eventualities and blamed their gods, characterizing them as “capricious forces of the natural world”.

1 These characteristics of the gods are paralleled in the Epic of Gilgamesh where the gods deceive the people about an imminent catastrophic flood.

Utanapishtim, a leader, asks the gods what to tell the people about the flood they are sending, they tell him to say, “upon you he shall shower down in abundance / A windfall of birds, a surprise of fishes, / He shall pour upon you a harvest of riches”.2 The gods are saying that a surplus of birds, fishes, riches will come to the people, when in reality great destruction is on its way. The gods are not allowing the peoples to prepare, they are sending something no person could foretell showing how erratic and unpredictable they are. The mother goddess says Enlil should apologize “for he, irrationally, brought on the flood”.2 She says “irrationally” because the flood is unreasonable and only happened because the gods are irrational beings. This unpredictability of the Mesopotamian gods can lead to major disasters.

The theme of the gods being demanding and bringing horrible disasters is seen in Western Civilizations and the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Mesopotamian peoples were used by the gods to gain praise and sustenance. Western Civilizations says “humans exist merely to work for the gods, to provide them with food, clothing, and luxuries”.1 The gods only see the Mesopotamians as a source of their needs and demand whatever they want. If the peoples do not comply with these demands from the gods, disaster occurs. The gods had an even higher price for kings who had to supply them with “offerings, sacrifices, festivals, and massive building projects”.1 Some kings who thought they were above these gifts to the gods, brought disasters to their people. “Kings who neglected these duties, or who exalted themselves at the expense of the gods, were likely to bring disaster on themselves and their people”

These disasters could come in many forms; the disaster seen in the Epic of Gilgamesh is a terrifying flood even the gods are scared of. “The gods became frightened of the deluge, / they shrank back, went up to Anu’s highest heaven. / The gods cowered like dogs, crouching outside”
Even the mighty and powerful gods must hide from the horrible disaster they have sent. In both Western Civilizations and the Epic of Gilgamesh the gods are demanding and bring disasters when unsatisfied. These challenges of life can lead some to wonder if it is worth it.

The death of Enkidu and the constant reminders in Mesopotamia remind Gilgamesh and the people there that life is futile, and death is certain. Kings were the most powerful humans in Mesopotamia, but even they were destined for death. Western Civilizations says “Even kings could not evade death, when the human body returned to clay and the soul crossed into the underworld, a place of silent darkness”

The phrase “returned to clay” means that humans were created out of clay and are always destined to return to that form. When Enkidu is killed, Gilgamesh comes to a similar conclusion about death. “My friend whom I so loved, who went with me through every hardship, / Enkidu, whom I ever so loved, who went with me through every hardship, / The fate of mankind has overtaken him”.
Gilgamesh realizes that the fate of all mankind is to return to the clay like Enkidu and die. He then questions whether all this hardship is worth it, whether he should continue on or succumb to his fate. “Enkidu, my friend whom I loved, is turned into clay! / Shall I too not lie down like him, / And never get up, forever and ever?”2 Gilgamesh feels that life is futile and possibly not worth living anymore because his best friend is dead, and he know he has the same fate. The Mesopotamians and Gilgamesh both conclude that eventually they will return to the clay where they came from.

For Gilgamesh and the Mesopotamians, when life is difficult, and nothing goes right, death seems ever looming. The Mesopotamians connect with the story of Gilgamesh because of the struggles he must contend with and the broader message readers are left with. After describing the story of Gilgamesh, Western Civilizations says “in the end, he is forced to confront the futility of all human effort.…The larger message seems to be that not even civilization can shield humans from the forces of nature and the inevitability of death”.1 The difficulties in Gilgamesh’s journey show him that his efforts were futile and that he will die like all others. This “larger message” of the Epic of Gilgamesh grows out of feelings Mesopotamians had that were paralleled in the story.

An example of Gilgamesh realizing his efforts were futile is when he obtains a magic plant that would give him his youth back, but a snake eats it before he can use it. Greatly discouraged, Gilgamesh says “For whom, Ur-Shanabi, have my hands been tolling? / For whom has my heart’s blood been poured out? / For myself I have obtained no benefit, / I have done a good deed for a reptile!”2 Gilgamesh is saying he worked so hard and all that came out of it was a good deed for a snake. He realizes that his efforts were all for naught and echoes the sentiment of the Mesopotamians that the struggles of humans are futile. In all these struggles, Gilgamesh and the Mesopotamians must count on themselves to get through it together.

The tough lives of the Mesopotamians forced them to be resilient together and invent new technologies, a theme echoed in Gilgamesh. The peoples of Mesopotamia forged new inventions out of the hardships they faced, like bronze metallurgy and the wheel. Western Civilizations says “Along with writing and the making of bronze, the invention of the wheel was a fundamental technological achievement of this era. The Sumerians were using potter’s wheels by the middle of the fourth millennium B.C.E. and could produce high-quality clay vessels in greater quantity than ever before”

The need for self-reliance is evident in Mesopotamia and the people there created the new technologies of bronze metallurgy and the wheel in order to survive. Another example of Mesopotamians working together to survive is everyone working together to build a reed “arc” in the Epic of Gilgamesh. “The carpenter carried his axe, / The reed cutter carried his stone, / The old men brought the cordage, … In five days I had planked her hull”
The people are coming together to prepare for the flood, an example of being resilient in the face of a challenge, much like the Mesopotamians had to do in times of hardship.

The theme of self-reliance is shown in the journey of Mesopotamians and Gilgamesh who sought out trade and treasures. Due to the fact that their homeland was not rich with resources, Mesopotamians had to journey elsewhere to find what they needed. “Sumerian pioneers traced routes up and down the rivers and into the hinterlands of Mesopotamia … By sea, they traded with the peoples of the Persian Gulf and, directly or indirectly, with the civilizations of the Indus Valley”

These trade routes supplied the Mesopotamians with enough to face their challenges of lack of resources and the ever-changing environment. Gilgamesh also must journey away from his home to seek a magical plant. When he gives up, he asks the people he is with what they will give him for his journey homeward, they give him instructions to get the plant. “He tied heavy stones to his feet, / They pulled him down into the watery depths. / He took the plant though it pricked his hand”
Gilgamesh must go on this extensive journey to finally get what he was searching for, the magical plant. Very similar to the Mesopotamians journeying to access trade routes, Gilgamesh had to leave his home for what he sought showing how they both had to rely on self-reliance to survive.

The Epic of Gilgamesh reinforces the narrative Western Civilization paints of Mesopotamians as having unpredictable and demanding gods, an unconvinced attitude towards whether their effort to survive is worth it, and the realization that they must work together and rely on themselves to survive. This epic poem and its themes grew out of Mesopotamia and the people there; it is a story of people. A story of resilience and survival by a man ever challenged by the erratic gods who give nothing to humans for free. In the end, the conclusion is that maybe all of Gilgamesh’s effort was not worth it for what he accomplished, maybe it was all futile. However, perhaps Mesopotamians heard of all that Gilgamesh went through and saw his persistence when all seemed lost; perhaps they were inspired by Gilgamesh and because of that, saw that the challenges in their own lives were not futile, but worthwhile.

Cole, Joshua, and Carol Symes. Western Civilizations: Their History & Their Culture. 19th ed., vol. 1, W.W. Norton & Company, 2014., 14-16
The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation, Analogues, Criticism, translated by Benjamin R. Foster (New York: Norton, 2001), pp. 77, 81-82, 84-91, quoted in Brophy, James, et al. Western Civilization + Perspectives from the Past, Vol. 1. 6th ed., vol. 1, W W Norton & Co Inc, 2016, 10-18