Gilgamesh Summary

Some thoughts here...

first, keep in mind how old these still-existing tablets are...

tablet 1:
so, Gilgamesh is 2/3 god and 1/3rd human. the first tablet reminds me of the story of adam and eve (if it had been edited for content and to fit your TV)... specifically, she offered her apple to him, he gave his snake to her, she took him away from his eden (where he was naked) and he gained knowledge and understanding and became weaker.

tablet 3... Shamash is the sun-god.

the fourth tablet...ok, the words themselves remind me of revelations, but there is more here... specifically, it is all about a great battle between good an evil, the demon has 7 coats of armor (like the 7 or 9 [depending on source] layers of hell)...

table five... they touch on pride, sun-god helping him defeat evil, temptation

tablet six... Ishtar threatens her father (sky-god Anu) that she will open the gates of hell if he doesn't let her demolish Gilgamesh with the Bull of Heaven. Ok, that at first reminded me of the golden bull, but then of the Last Unicorn ;)

tablet 7 is interesting... in describing hell, we see that there is a tablet of names (but for entrance into hell, not heaven), that there are priests of purification AND priests of ecstasy there, as well as all the priests of the great gods...

tablet 9.... we see a mortal preserved during the Flood, Gilgamesh wanting eternal life, two scorpions as guardians (I love scorpions), 'the land of Night', and a garden of gems....

tablet 10... we see what appears to be the River Styx, the Ferryman who serves the 'Noah' figure from tablet 9, and some reference to using 'stone things' to travel...

tablet 11 goes further to confirm my earlier suspicion that the Utnapishtim character is Noah... I find it interesting that one the gods, that helped create the humans, broke the spirit if not the word of the orders (telling the walls, not the guy on the other side)... it continues to not only mention 7 days and 7 nights (as opposed to 40 of each), but that all humans have been turned to stone, the releasing of a dove, etc. then there is the bit about all men being liars, not trusting things, and Gilgamesh helping the snake.


All in all, an interesting read... and the oldest known record to actually name the author... very interesting..