Gilgamesh All Around

Due to my technological difficulties with the blog, you’re going to see a lot of me tonight. Now that I have access there’s no getting rid of me.

The deep reading of Gilgamesh that we completed a few weeks ago as a part of our investigation of shamanism was by far my favorite of the semester. With its simple language and straightforward plot, Gilgamesh is an epic that doesn’t quite feel like one. It is an incredible journey, just like the story of Odysseus and his long journey home, but it felt familiar and less overwhelming. We touched on this briefly in class, but I was fascinated by the universal religious themes in a work dating back to 2100 BC.

The depiction of God/gods is certainly very different in Gilgamesh than is seen in Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and others). However, parallels between this work and other religious texts are much more common. The symbol that stood out most obviously to me at first was the appearance of the snake who took eternal life from Gilgamesh. There is an obvious parallel to the snake who convinced Eve to eat fruit from the forbidden tree, thus taking away man’s innocence. And also a commentary on snakes as deeply misunderstood creatures.

Upon doing a little research, many other ‘modern’ religious undertones as we know them today are present in the work. Enkidu is very similar to Adam, coming from the Earth and running around with his goat friends sans clothing. The prostitute sent to find him is depicted like Eve, the female temptress who spoils his good time. It has also been hypothesized that the ‘flood story,’ present in multiple religions, most certainly comes from Mesopotamian cultures, on account of the similarities between the story of Noah’s ark and Gilgamesh. Most interestingly, Gilgamesh and parts of the Bible are written in similar languages (Hebrew and Akkadian). If language is culture, the similarities are endless. I could write even more extensively on the parallels between Gilgamesh and shamanism, as discussed in class.

On a historical or even spiritual level, it is fascinating to see similarities between religions that many would consider distinct and separate. But I think it says even more about human nature. We focus on our differences, rather than what we have in common. As people, we are so caught up in embodying ourselves as individuals or small groups, that we tend to dismiss the importance of larger, or even global communities. It’s all about perspective, really; and it might be time for ours to shift. Let’s embody the human within each other, not the engineer, the Christian, or the political affiliation. Because below the surface, there are hardly even six degrees of separation. It’s a demanding task, after all, we haven’t had much success thus far. I wonder how the role of engineers could aid this transition. Perhaps through technological augmentation that erases or vastly diminishes differences? Or other technologies that help us to see each other as brothers rather than enemies? How can we find identity in each other, rather than in ourselves?

P.S. I tried really hard to find a quick and easy scholarly article on Abrahamic undertones in Gilgamesh but those requirements proved too stringent, so here’s SparkNotes:

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gilgamesh/themes.html