The Creation (c. 1896–1902) painting by James Tissot
A creation myth (or cosmogonic myth) is a symbolicnarrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it. While in popular usage the term myth often refers to false or fanciful stories, members of cultures often ascribe varying degrees of truth to their creation myths. In the society in which it is told, a creation myth is usually regarded as conveying profound truths – metaphorically, symbolically, historically, or literally. They are commonly, although not always, considered cosmogonical myths – that is, they describe the ordering of the cosmos from a state of chaos or amorphousness.
Creation myths often share a number of features. They often are considered sacred accounts and can be found in nearly all known religious traditions. They are all stories with a plot and characters who are either deities, human-like figures, or animals, who often speak and transform easily. They are often set in a dim and nonspecific past that historian of religion Mircea Eliade termed in illo tempore ('at that time'). Creation myths address questions deeply meaningful to the society that shares them, revealing their central worldview and the framework for the self-identity of the culture and individual in a universal context.
Creation myths develop in oral traditions and therefore typically have multiple versions; found throughout human culture, they are the most common form of myth.
A "symbolic narrative of the beginning of the world as
understood in a particular tradition and community. Creation myths are
of central importance for the valuation of the world, for the
orientation of humans in the universe, and for the basic patterns of
life and culture."
"Creation myths tell us how things began. All cultures have creation
myths; they are our primary myths, the first stage in what might be
called the psychic life of the species. As cultures, we identify
ourselves through the collective dreams we call creation myths, or cosmogonies.
… Creation myths explain in metaphorical terms our sense of who we are
in the context of the world, and in so doing they reveal our real
priorities, as well as our real prejudices. Our images of creation say a
great deal about who we are."
A "philosophical and theological elaboration of the primal myth of
creation within a religious community. The term myth here refers to the
imaginative expression in narrative form of what is experienced or
apprehended as basic reality … The term creation refers to the beginning
of things, whether by the will and act of a transcendent being, by
emanation from some ultimate source, or in any other way."
Religion professor Mircea Eliade defined the word myth in terms of creation:
Myth narrates a sacred history; it relates an event that took place
in primordial Time, the fabled time of the "beginnings." In other words,
myth tells how, through the deeds of Supernatural Beings, a reality
came into existence, be it the whole of reality, the Cosmos, or only a
fragment of reality – an island, a species of plant, a particular kind
of human behavior, an institution.
Meaning and function
In Daoist creation myth,
"The Way gave birth to unity; unity gave birth to duality; duality gave
birth to trinity; trinity gave birth to the myriad creatures." (Daodejing, 4th century BCE)
All creation myths are in one sense etiological because they attempt to explain how the world was formed and where humanity came from. Myths attempt to explain the unknown and sometimes teach a lesson.
Ethnologists and anthropologists who study these myths say that in the modern context theologians try to discern humanity's meaning from revealed truths and scientists investigate cosmology with the tools of empiricism and rationality,
but creation myths define human reality in very different terms. In
the past historians of religion and other students of myth thought of
them as forms of primitive or early-stage science or religion and analyzed them in a literal
or logical sense. Today, however, they are seen as symbolic narratives
which must be understood in terms of their own cultural context.
Charles Long writes, "The beings referred to in the myth – gods,
animals, plants – are forms of power grasped existentially. The myths
should not be understood as attempts to work out a rational explanation
of deity."
While creation myths are not literal explications
they do serve to define an orientation of humanity in the world in
terms of a birth story. They are the basis of a worldview that reaffirms
and guides how people relate to the natural world, to any assumed
spiritual world, and to each other. The creation myth acts as a
cornerstone for distinguishing primary reality from relative reality,
the origin and nature of being from non-being. In this sense they serve as a philosophy of life but one expressed and conveyed through symbol rather than systematic reason. And in this sense they go beyond etiological myths
which mean to explain specific features in religious rites, natural
phenomena or cultural life. Creation myths also help to orient human
beings in the world, giving them a sense of their place in the world and
the regard that they must have for humans and nature.
Historian David Christian has summarised issues common to multiple creation myths:
Each beginning seems to presuppose an earlier beginning. ... Instead
of meeting a single starting point, we encounter an infinity of them,
each of which poses the same problem. ... There are no entirely
satisfactory solutions to this dilemma. What we have to find is not a
solution but some way of dealing with the mystery .... And we have to do
so using words. The words we reach for, from God to gravity,
are inadequate to the task. So we have to use language poetically or
symbolically; and such language, whether used by a scientist, a poet, or
a shaman, can easily be misunderstood.
Mythologists
have applied various schemes to classify creation myths found
throughout human cultures. Eliade and his colleague Charles Long
developed a classification based on some common motifs that reappear in stories the world over. The classification identifies five basic types:
Creation ex nihilo in which the creation is through the thought, word, dream or bodily secretions of a divine being.
Earth diver creation in which a diver, usually a bird or amphibian sent by a creator, plunges to the seabed through a primordial ocean to bring up sand or mud which develops into a terrestrial world.
Emergence myths in which progenitors pass through a series of worlds and metamorphoses until reaching the present world.
Creation by the dismemberment of a primordial being.
Creation by the splitting or ordering of a primordial unity such as the cracking of a cosmic egg or a bringing order from chaos.
Marta Weigle further developed and refined this typology to highlight nine themes, adding elements such as deus faber,
a creation crafted by a deity, creation from the work of two creators
working together or against each other, creation from sacrifice and
creation from division/conjugation, accretion/conjunction, or secretion.
An alternative system based on six recurring narrative themes was designed by Raymond Van Over:
Primeval abyss, an infinite expanse of waters or space.
Originator deity which is awakened or an eternal entity within the abyss.
The myth that Godcreated the world out of nothing – ex nihilo – is central today to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and the medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides felt it was the only concept that the three religions shared. Nonetheless, the concept is not found in the entire Hebrew Bible.
The authors of Genesis 1 were concerned not with the origins of matter
(the material which God formed into the habitable cosmos), but with
assigning roles so that the Cosmos should function.
In the early 2nd century CE, early Christian scholars were beginning to
see a tension between the idea of world-formation and the omnipotence
of God, and by the beginning of the 3rd century creation ex nihilo had become a fundamental tenet of Christian theology.
Ex nihilo creation is found in creation stories from ancient Egypt, the Rig Veda, and many animistic cultures in Africa, Asia, Oceania and North America.
In most of these stories, the world is brought into being by the
speech, dream, breath, or pure thought of a creator but creation ex
nihilo may also take place through a creator's bodily secretions.
The literal translation of the phrase ex nihilo is "from
nothing" but in many creation myths the line is blurred whether the
creative act would be better classified as a creation ex nihilo or creation from chaos. In ex nihilo
creation myths, the potential and the substance of creation springs
from within the creator. Such a creator may or may not be existing in
physical surroundings such as darkness or water, but does not create the
world from them, whereas in creation from chaos the substance used for
creation is pre-existing within the unformed void.
Creation from chaos
In creation from chaos myths, initially there is nothing but a
formless, shapeless expanse. In these stories the word "chaos" means
"disorder", and this formless expanse, which is also sometimes called a
void or an abyss, contains the material with which the created world
will be made. Chaos may be described as having the consistency of vapor
or water, dimensionless, and sometimes salty or muddy. These myths
associate chaos with evil and oblivion, in contrast to "order" (cosmos)
which is the good. The act of creation is the bringing of order from
disorder, and in many of these cultures it is believed that at some
point the forces preserving order and form will weaken and the world
will once again be engulfed into the abyss. One example is the Genesis creation narrative from the first chapter of the Book of Genesis.
There are two types of world parent myths, both describing a
separation or splitting of a primeval entity, the world parent or
parents. One form describes the primeval state as an eternal union of
two parents, and the creation takes place when the two are pulled apart.
The two parents are commonly identified as Sky (usually male) and
Earth (usually female), who in the primeval state were so tightly bound
to each other that no offspring could emerge. These myths often depict
creation as the result of a sexual union and serve as genealogical
record of the deities born from it.
In the second form of world parent myths, creation itself springs
from dismembered parts of the body of the primeval being. Often, in
these stories, the limbs, hair, blood, bones, or organs of the primeval
being are somehow severed or sacrificed to transform into sky, earth,
animal or plant life, and other worldly features. These myths tend to
emphasize creative forces as animistic in nature rather than sexual, and
depict the sacred as the elemental and integral component of the
natural world. One example of this is the Norse creation myth described in Völuspá, the first poem of Gylfaginning.
Emergence
In
emergence myths, humanity emerges from another world into the one they
currently inhabit. The previous world is often considered the womb of
the earth mother,
and the process of emergence is likened to the act of giving birth.
The role of midwife is usually played by a female deity, like the spider
woman of several mythologies of Indigenous peoples in the Americas.
Male characters rarely figure into these stories, and scholars often
consider them in counterpoint to male-oriented creation myths, like
those of the ex nihilo variety.
Emergence myths commonly describe the creation of people and/or supernatural beings as a staged ascent or metamorphosis
from nascent forms through a series of subterranean worlds to arrive at
their current place and form. Often the passage from one world or
stage to the next is impelled by inner forces, a process of germination
or gestation from earlier, embryonic forms.
The genre is most commonly found in Native American cultures where the
myths frequently link the final emergence of people from a hole opening
to the underworld to stories about their subsequent migrations and
eventual settlement in their current homelands.
Earth-diver
The
earth-diver is a common character in various traditional creation
myths. In these stories a supreme being usually sends an animal into the
primal waters to find bits of sand or mud with which to build habitable
land. Some scholars interpret these myths psychologically while others interpret them cosmogonically. In both cases emphasis is placed on beginnings emanating from the depths.
Motif distribution
Earth-diver myths are common in Native American folklore but can be found among the Chukchi and Yukaghir, the Tatars and many Finno-Ugrian traditions, as well as the Buryat and the Samoyed.
In addition, the earth-diver motif also exists in narratives from
Eastern Europe, namely Romanian, Bulgarian, Polish, Ukrainian,
Belarusian and Lithuanian mythological traditions. The pattern of distribution of these stories suggest they have a common origin in the eastern Asiatic coastal region, spreading as peoples migrated west into Siberia and east to the North American continent.
However, there are examples of this mytheme found well outside of
this boreal distribution pattern, for example the West African Yoruba creation myth of Obatala and Oduduwa.
Native American narrative
Characteristic
of many Native American myths, earth-diver creation stories begin as
beings and potential forms linger asleep or suspended in the primordial
realm. The earth-diver is among the first of them to awaken and lay the
necessary groundwork by building suitable lands where the coming
creation will be able to live. In many cases, these stories will
describe a series of failed attempts to make land before the solution is
found.
It is divisible into two parts, the primeval history (chapters 1–11) and the ancestral history (chapters 12–50).
The primeval history sets out the author's concepts of the nature of
the deity and of humankind's relationship with its maker: God creates a
world which is good and fit for mankind, but when man corrupts it with
sin God decides to destroy his creation, sparing only the righteous Noah and his family to reestablish the relationship between man and God. The ancestral history (chapters 12–50) tells of the prehistory of Israel, God's chosen people. At God's command, Noah's descendant Abraham journeys from his birthplace (described as Ur of the Chaldeans and whose identification with Sumerian Ur is tentative in modern scholarship) into the God-given land of Canaan, where he dwells as a sojourner, as does his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob. Jacob's name is changed to "Israel", and through the agency of his son Joseph, the children of Israel
descend into Egypt, 70 people in all with their households and God
promises them a future of greatness. Genesis ends with Israel in Egypt,
ready for the coming of Moses and the Exodus. The narrative is punctuated by a series of covenants with God, successively narrowing in scope from all mankind (the covenant with Noah) to a special relationship with one people alone (Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob).
Tradition credits Moses as the author of Genesis, as well as the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and most of Deuteronomy,
but modern scholars, especially from the 19th century onward, see them
as being written hundreds of years after Moses is supposed to have
lived, in the 6th and 5th centuries BC.
Based on scientific interpretation of archaeological, genetic, and
linguistic evidence, most scholars consider Genesis to be primarily mythological rather than historical. Biblical literalists do interpret it as actual history, giving rise to beliefs such as Young Earth creationism.
Structure
Genesis appears to be structured around the recurring phrase elleh toledot,
meaning "these are the generations," with the first use of the phrase
referring to the "generations of heaven and earth" and the remainder
marking individuals—Noah, the "sons of Noah", Shem, etc., down to Jacob. The toledot
formula, occurring eleven times in the book of Genesis, delineating its
sections and shaping its structure, serves as a heading which marks a
transition to a new subject:
Genesis 2:4 (narrative) Toledot of Heaven and Earth
Genesis 5:1 (genealogy) Toledot of Adam
Genesis 6:9 (narrative) Toledot of Noah
Genesis 10:1 (genealogy) Toledot of Shem, Ham, and Japheth
Genesis 11:1 (narrative without toledot) The tower of Babel
Genesis 11:10 (genealogy) Toledot of Shem
Genesis 11:27 (narrative) Toledot of Terach
Genesis 25:12 (genealogy) Toledot of Ishmael
Genesis 25:19 (narrative) Toledot of Isaac
Genesis 36:1 & 36:9 (genealogy) Toledot of Esau
Genesis 37:2 (narrative) Toledot of Jacob
It is not clear, however, what this meant to the original authors,
and most modern commentators divide it into two parts based on the
subject matter, a "primeval history" (chapters 1–11) and a "patriarchal
history" (chapters 12–50).
While the first is far shorter than the second, it sets out the basic
themes and provides an interpretive key for understanding the entire
book.
The "primeval history" has a symmetrical structure hinging on chapters
6–9, the flood story, with the events before the flood mirrored by the
events after; the "ancestral history" is structured around the three patriarchs Abraham, Jacob and Joseph. (The stories of Isaac do not make up a coherent cycle of stories and function as a bridge between the cycles of Abraham and Jacob.)
There are two distinct versions of God's creation of the world in Genesis. Godcreates the world in six days and consecrates the seventh as a day of rest (which would then be known as Sabbath in Jewish culture). God creates the first humans, Adam and Eve, and all the animals in the Garden of Eden but instructs them not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They promise not to, but a talking serpent, portrayed as a deceptive creature or trickster,
convinces Eve into eating it against God's wishes, and she convinces
Adam, whereupon God throws them out and curses both of them — Adam was
cursed with getting what he needs only by sweat and work, and Eve to
giving birth in pain. This is interpreted by Christians as the fall of humanity. Eve bears two sons, Cain and Abel.
Cain works in the garden, and Abel works with meat; they both offer
offerings to God one day, and Cain kills Abel after God liked Abel's
offering more than Cain's. God then curses Cain. Eve bears another son, Seth, to take Abel's place.
After many generations of Adam have passed from the lines of Cain and Seth, the world becomes corrupted by human sin and Nephilim, and God wants to wipe out humanity for their wickedness. However, Noah is the only good human; so first, he instructs the righteous Noah and his family to build an ark and put examples of all the animals on it, seven pairs of every clean animal and one pair of every unclean. Then God sends a great flood
to wipe out the rest of the world. When the waters recede, God promises
he will never destroy the world with water again, making a rainbow as a symbol of his promise. God sees mankind cooperating to build a great tower city, the Tower of Babel, and divides humanity with many languages and sets them apart with confusion.
From a long family tree down from Noah to a man named Abram, God instructs the man Abram to travel from his home in Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan.
There, God makes a promise to Abram, promising that his descendants
shall be as numerous as the stars, but that people will suffer
oppression in a foreign land for four hundred years, after which they
will inherit the land "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates". Abram's name is changed to 'Abraham' (father of many) and that of his wife Sarai to Sarah (princess), and God says that all males should be circumcised as a sign of his promise to Abraham. Due to her old age, Sarah tells Abraham to take her Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar, as a second wife (to bear a child). Through Hagar, Abraham fathers Ishmael.
God then plans to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
for the sins of their people. Abraham protests but fails to get God to
agree not to destroy the cities (his reasoning being that everybody
there is evil, except for Abraham's nephew Lot). Angels save Abraham's
nephew Lot (who was living there at the same time) and his family, but his wife
looks back on the destruction, (even though God commanded not to) and
turned into a pillar of salt for going against his word. Lot's
daughters, concerned that they are fugitives who will never find
husbands, get Lot drunk so they can become pregnant by him, and give
birth to the ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites.
Abraham and Sarah go to the Philistine town of Gerar,
pretending to be brother and sister (they are half-siblings). The King
of Gerar takes Sarah for his wife, but God warns him to return her
(because she's really Abraham's wife), and he obeys. God sends Sarah a
son and tells her she should name him Isaac;
through him will be the establishment of the covenant (promise). Sarah
then drives Ishmael and his mother Hagar out into the wilderness
(because Ishmael is not her real son and Hagar is a slave), but God
saves them and promises to make Ishmael a great nation.
The Angel Hinders the Offering of Isaac (Rembrandt, 1635)
Then, God tests Abraham by demanding that he sacrifice Isaac.
As Abraham is about to lay the knife upon his son, God restrains him,
promising him numberless descendants (again). On the death of Sarah,
Abraham purchases Machpelah (believed to be modern Hebron)
for a family tomb and sends his servant to Mesopotamia to find among
his relations a wife for Isaac; after proving herself worthy, Rebekah
becomes Isaac's betrothed. Keturah, Abraham's other wife, births more children, among whose descendants are the Midianites. Abraham dies at a prosperous old age and his family lays him to rest in Hebron (Machpelah).
Isaac's wife Rebecca gives birth to the twins Esau (meaning velvet), father of the Edomites, and Jacob
(meaning supplanter or follower). Esau was a couple of seconds older as
he had come out of the womb first, and was going to become the heir;
however, through carelessness, he sold his birthright to Jacob for a
bowl of stew. His mother, Rebecca, ensures Jacob rightly gains his
father's blessing as the firstborn son and inheritor. At 77 years of
age, Jacob leaves his parents and later seeks a wife and meets Rachel at
a well. He goes to her father, his uncle, where he works for a total of 14 years to earn his wives, Rachel and Leah.
Jacob's name is changed to 'Israel', and by his wives and their
handmaidens he has twelve sons, the ancestors of the twelve tribes of
the children of Israel, and a daughter, Dinah.
Joseph,
Jacob's favourite son of the twelve, makes his brothers jealous
(especially because of special gifts Jacob gave him) and because of that
jealousy they sell Joseph into slavery in Egypt.
Joseph endures many trials including being innocently sentenced to jail
but he stays faithful to God. After several years, he prospers there
after the pharaoh of Egypt asks him to interpret a dream he had about an
upcoming famine, which Joseph does through God. He is then made second
in command of Egypt by the grateful pharaoh, and later on, he is
reunited with his father and brothers, who fail to recognize him and
plead for food. After much manipulation to see if they still hate him,
Joseph reveals himself, forgives them for their actions, and lets them
and their households into Egypt, where Pharaoh assigns to them the land of Goshen. Jacob calls his sons to his bedside and reveals their future
before he dies. Joseph lives to old age and tells his brothers that if
God leads them out of the country, then they should take his bones with
them.
Genesis takes its Hebrew title from the first word of the first sentence, Bereshit, meaning "In [the] beginning [of]"; in the Greek Septuagint it was called Genesis, from the phrase "the generations of heaven and earth". There are four major textual witnesses to the book: the Masoretic Text, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint, and fragments of Genesis found at Qumran.
The Qumran group provides the oldest manuscripts but covers only a
small proportion of the book; in general, the Masoretic Text is well
preserved and reliable, but there are many individual instances where
the other versions preserve a superior reading.
Origins
For much of the 20th century most scholars agreed that the five books of the Pentateuch—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy—came from four sources, the Yahwist, the Elohist, the Deuteronomist and the Priestly source, each telling the same basic story, and joined together by various editors.
Since the 1970s there has been a revolution leading scholars to view
the Elohist source as no more than a variation on the Yahwist, and the
Priestly source as a body of revisions and expansions to the Yahwist (or
"non-Priestly") material. (The Deuteronomistic source does not appear
in Genesis.)
Scholars use examples of repeated and duplicate stories to
identify separate sources. In Genesis, these include three different
accounts of a Patriarch claiming that his wife was his sister, the two
creation stories, and the two versions of Abraham sending Hagar and
Ishmael into the desert.
This leaves the question of when these works were created.
Scholars in the first half of the 20th century concluded that the
Yahwist is a product of the monarchic period, specifically at the court
of Solomon, 10th century BC, and the Priestly work in the middle of the 5th century BC (with claims that the author is Ezra), but more recent thinking is that the Yahwist is from either just before or during the Babylonian exile of the 6th century BC, and the Priestly final edition was made late in the Exilic period or soon after.
As for why the book was created, a theory which has gained
considerable interest, although still controversial, is "Persian
imperial authorisation." This proposes that the Persians of the Achaemenid Empire,
after their conquest of Babylon in 539 BC agreed to grant Jerusalem a
large measure of local autonomy within the empire but required the local
authorities to produce a single law code accepted by the entire
community. The two powerful groups making up the community—the priestly
families who controlled the Temple and who traced their origin
to Moses and the wilderness wanderings, and the major landowning
families who made up the "elders" and who traced their own origins to
Abraham, who had "given" them the land—were in conflict over many
issues, and each had its own "history of origins", but the Persian
promise of greatly increased local autonomy for all provided a powerful
incentive to cooperate in producing a single text.
Genre
Genesis is an example of a creation myth,
a type of literature telling of the first appearance of humans, the
stories of ancestors and heroes, and the origins of culture, cities and
so forth.
The most notable examples are found in the work of Greek historians of
the 6th century BC: their intention was to connect notable families of
their own day to a distant and heroic past, and in doing so they did not
distinguish between myth, legend, and facts. Professor Jean-Louis Ska of the Pontifical Biblical Institute calls the basic rule of the antiquarian historian the "law of conservation": everything old is valuable, nothing is eliminated.
Ska also points out the purpose behind such antiquarian histories:
antiquity is needed to prove the worth of Israel's traditions to the
nations (the neighbours of the Jews in early Persian Palestine), and to
reconcile and unite the various factions within Israel itself.
Themes
Joseph Recognized by His Brothers (Léon Pierre Urban Bourgeois, 1863)
Promises to the ancestors
In 1978 David Clines published his influential The Theme of the Pentateuch
– influential because he was one of the first to take up the question
of the theme of the entire five books. Clines' conclusion was that the
overall theme is "the partial fulfilment – which implies also the
partial nonfulfillment – of the promise to or blessing of the
Patriarchs". (By calling the fulfilment "partial" Clines was drawing
attention to the fact that at the end of Deuteronomy the people are
still outside Canaan).
The patriarchs, or ancestors, are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with their wives (Joseph is normally excluded). Since the name YHWH had not been revealed to them, they worshipped El in his various manifestations.
(It is, however, worth noting that in the Jahwist source, the
patriarchs refer to deity by the name YHWH, for example in Genesis 15.)
Through the patriarchs, God announces the election of Israel, that is,
he chooses Israel to be his special people and commits himself to their
future.
God tells the patriarchs that he will be faithful to their descendants
(i.e. to Israel), and Israel is expected to have faith in God and his
promise. ("Faith" in the context of Genesis and the Hebrew Bible means
an agreement to the promissory relationship, not a body of a belief.)
The promise itself has three parts: offspring, blessings, and land.
The fulfilment of the promise to each patriarch depends on having a
male heir, and the story is constantly complicated by the fact that each
prospective mother – Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel
– is barren. The ancestors, however, retain their faith in God and God
in each case gives a son – in Jacob's case, twelve sons, the foundation
of the chosen Israelites.
Each succeeding generation of the three promises attains a more rich
fulfilment, until through Joseph "all the world" attains salvation from
famine, and by bringing the children of Israel down to Egypt he becomes the means through which the promise can be fulfilled.
God's chosen people
Scholars
generally agree that the theme of divine promise unites the patriarchal
cycles, but many would dispute the efficacy of trying to examine
Genesis' theology by pursuing a single overarching theme, instead citing
as more productive the analysis of the Abraham cycle, the Jacob cycle,
and the Joseph cycle, and the Yahwist and Priestly sources. The problem lies in finding a way to unite the patriarchal theme of the divine promise to the stories of Genesis 1–11 (the primeval history) with their theme of God's forgiveness in the face of man's evil nature. One solution is to see the patriarchal stories as resulting from God's decision not to remain alienated from mankind: God creates the world and mankind, mankind rebels, and God "elects" (chooses) Abraham.
To this basic plot (which comes from the Yahwist) the Priestly source has added a series of covenants dividing history into stages, each with its own distinctive "sign". The first covenant
is between God and all living creatures, and is marked by the sign of
the rainbow; the second is with the descendants of Abraham (Ishmaelites and others as well as Israelites), and its sign is circumcision; and the last, which does not appear until the Book of Exodus, is with Israel alone, and its sign is Sabbath. A great leader mediates each covenant (Noah, Abraham, Moses), and at each stage God progressively reveals himself by his name (Elohim with Noah, El Shaddai with Abraham, Yahweh with Moses).
Judaism's weekly Torah portions in the Book of Genesis
It is a custom among religious Jewish communities for a weekly Torah portion, popularly referred to as a parashah, to be read during Jewish prayer services on Saturdays, Mondays and Thursdays. The full name, Hebrew: פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ Parashat ha-Shavua, is popularly abbreviated to parashah (also parshah/pɑːrʃə/ or parsha), and is also known as a Sidra (or Sedra/sɛdrə/).
The parashah is a section of the Torah (Five Books of Moses) used in Jewish liturgy during a particular week. There are 54 weekly parshas, or parashiyot in Hebrew, and the full cycle is read over the course of one Jewish year.
The first 12 of the 54 come from the Book of Genesis, and they are:
The Epic of Gilgamesh (/ˈɡɪlɡəmɛʃ/) is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about Bilgamesh (Sumerian for "Gilgamesh"), king of Uruk, dating from the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2100 BC). These independent stories were later used as source material for a combined epic in Akkadian.
The first surviving version of this combined epic, known as the "Old
Babylonian" version, dates to the 18th century BC and is titled after
its incipit, Shūtur eli sharrī ("Surpassing All Other Kings"). Only a few tablets of it have survived. The later Standard Babylonian version compiled by Sîn-lēqi-unninni dates from the 13th to the 10th centuries BC and bears the incipit Sha naqba īmuru
("He who Saw the Abyss", in modern terms: "He who Sees the Unknown").
Approximately two-thirds of this longer, twelve-tablet version have been
recovered. Some of the best copies were discovered in the library ruins of the 7th-century BC Assyrian kingAshurbanipal.
The first half of the story discusses Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, and Enkidu,
a wild man created by the gods to stop Gilgamesh from oppressing the
people of Uruk. After Enkidu becomes civilized through sexual initiation
with a prostitute, he travels to Uruk, where he challenges Gilgamesh to
a test of strength. Gilgamesh wins the contest; nonetheless, the two
become friends. Together, they make a six-day journey to the legendary Cedar Forest, where they plan to slay the Guardian, Humbaba the Terrible, and cut down the sacred Cedar. The goddess Ishtar sends the Bull of Heaven
to punish Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. Gilgamesh and Enkidu
kill the Bull of Heaven after which the gods decide to sentence Enkidu
to death and kill him.
In the second half of the epic, distress over Enkidu's death
causes Gilgamesh to undertake a long and perilous journey to discover
the secret of eternal life. He eventually learns that "Life, which you
look for, you will never find. For when the gods created man, they let
death be his share, and life withheld in their own hands". Nevertheless, because of his great building projects, his account of Siduri's advice, and what the immortal man Utnapishtim told him about the Great Flood, Gilgamesh's fame survived well after his death with expanding interest in the Gilgamesh story which has been translated into many languages and is featured in works of popular fiction.
History
Ancient Assyrian statue currently in the Louvre, possibly representing Gilgamesh
Distinct sources exist from over a 2000-year timeframe. The earliest Sumerian poems are now generally considered to be distinct stories, rather than parts of a single epic. They date from as early as the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2100 BC). The Old Babylonian tablets (c. 1800 BC), are the earliest surviving tablets for a single Epic of Gilgamesh narrative. The older Old Babylonian tablets and later Akkadian version are important sources for modern translations, with the earlier texts mainly used to fill in gaps (lacunae)
in the later texts. Although several revised versions based on new
discoveries have been published, the epic remains incomplete. Analysis of the Old Babylonian text has been used to reconstruct possible earlier forms of the epic.
The most recent Akkadian version, also referred to as the Standard
Babylonian version, consists of twelve tablets and was edited by Sîn-lēqi-unninni, who is thought to have lived sometime between 1300 BC and 1000 BC.
...this discovery is
evidently destined to excite a lively controversy. For the present the
orthodox people are in great delight, and are very much prepossessed by
the corroboration which it affords to Biblical history. It is possible,
however, as has been pointed out, that the Chaldean inscription, if
genuine, may be regarded as a confirmation of the statement that there
are various traditions of the deluge apart from the Biblical one, which
is perhaps legendary like the rest
Enkidu, Gilgamesh's friend. From Ur, Iraq, 2027-1763 BCE. Iraq Museum
Some 15,000 fragments of Assyrian cuneiform tablets were discovered in the Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh by Austen Henry Layard, his assistant Hormuzd Rassam, and W. K. Loftus in the early 1850s. Late in the following decade, the British Museum hired George Smith to study these; in 1872, Smith read translated fragments before the Society of Biblical Archaeology, and in 1875 and 1876 he published fuller translations, the latter of which was published as The Chaldaean Account of Genesis. The central character of Gilgamesh was initially reintroduced to the world as "Izdubar", before the cuneiform logographs in his name could be pronounced accurately.
In 1891, Paul Haupt collected the cuneiform text, and nine years later, Peter Jensen provided a comprehensive edition; R. Campbell Thompson updated both of their work in 1930. Over the next two decades, Samuel Noah Kramer reassembled the Sumerian poems.
In 1998, American AssyriologistTheodore Kwasman
discovered a piece believed to have contained the first lines of the
epic in the storeroom of the British Museum, the fragment, found in 1878
and dated to between 600 BC and 100 BC, had remained unexamined by
experts for more than a century since its recovery.
The fragment read "He who saw all, who was the foundation of the land,
who knew (everything), was wise in all matters: Gilgamesh."
The discovery of artifacts (c. 2600 BC) associated with Enmebaragesi of Kish,
mentioned in the legends as the father of one of Gilgamesh's
adversaries, has lent credibility to the historical existence of
Gilgamesh.
In 2019 the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, which had been illegally imported into the United States, was seized by US officials.
Versions
From
the diverse sources found, two main versions of the epic have been
partially reconstructed: the Standard Babylonian version, or He who saw the deep, and the Old Babylonian version, or Surpassing all other kings. Five earlier Sumerian
poems about Gilgamesh have been partially recovered, some with
primitive versions of specific episodes in the Babylonian version,
others with unrelated stories.
Standard Babylonian version
The Standard Babylonian version was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in the library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh in 1853. "Standard Babylonian" refers to a literary style that was used for literary purposes. This version was compiled by Sin-liqe-unninni sometime between 1300 and 1000 BC from earlier texts.
The Standard Babylonian version has different opening words, or incipit,
from the older version. The older version begins with the words
"Surpassing all other kings", while the Standard Babylonian version has
"He who saw the deep" (ša naqba īmuru), "deep" referring to the mysteries of the information brought back by Gilgamesh from his meeting with Uta-Napishti (Utnapishtim) about Ea, the fountain of wisdom.
Gilgamesh was given knowledge of how to worship the gods, why death was
ordained for human beings, what makes a good king, and how to live a
good life. The story of Utnapishtim, the hero of the flood myth, can also be found in the Babylonian epic of Atra-Hasis.
The 12th tablet is a sequel to the original 11, and was probably appended at a later date.
It bears little relation to the well-crafted 11-tablet epic; the lines
at the beginning of the first tablet are quoted at the end of the 11th
tablet, giving it circularity and finality. Tablet 12 is a near copy of
an earlier Sumerian tale, a prequel, in which Gilgamesh sends Enkidu to
retrieve some objects of his from the Underworld, and he returns in the
form of a spirit to relate the nature of the Underworld to Gilgamesh.
In terms of form, the poetic conventions followed in the Standard
Babylonian version appear to be inconsistent and are still
controversial among scholars. There is, however, extensive use of parallelism across sets of two or three adjacent lines, much like in the Hebrew Psalms.
Content of the Standard Babylonian version tablets
This summary is based on Andrew George's translation.
Tablet one
The story introduces Gilgamesh, king of Uruk.
Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and one-third man, is oppressing his people,
who cry out to the gods for help. For the young women of Uruk this
oppression takes the form of a droit du seigneur,
or "lord's right", to sleep with brides on their wedding night. For the
young men (the tablet is damaged at this point) it is conjectured that
Gilgamesh exhausts them through games, tests of strength, or perhaps
forced labour on building projects. The gods respond to the people's
pleas by creating an equal to Gilgamesh who will be able to stop his
oppression. This is the primitive man, Enkidu,
who is covered in hair and lives in the wild with the animals. He is
spotted by a trapper, whose livelihood is being ruined because Enkidu is
uprooting his traps. The trapper tells the sun-god Shamash about the man, and it is arranged for Enkidu to be seduced by Shamhat, a temple prostitute, his first step towards being tamed. After six days and seven nights (or two weeks, according to more recent scholarship)
of lovemaking and teaching Enkidu about the ways of civilization, she
takes Enkidu to a shepherd's camp to learn how to be civilized.
Gilgamesh, meanwhile, has been having dreams about the imminent arrival
of a beloved new companion and asks his mother, Ninsun, to help interpret these dreams.
Tablet two
Fragment of Tablet II of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq
Shamhat brings Enkidu to the shepherds' camp, where he is introduced
to a human diet and becomes the night watchman. Learning from a passing
stranger about Gilgamesh's treatment of new brides, Enkidu is incensed
and travels to Uruk to intervene at a wedding. When Gilgamesh attempts
to visit the wedding chamber, Enkidu blocks his way, and they fight.
After a fierce battle, Enkidu acknowledges Gilgamesh's superior strength
and they become friends. Gilgamesh proposes a journey to the Cedar
Forest to slay the monstrous demi-god Humbaba in order to gain fame and renown. Despite warnings from Enkidu and the council of elders, Gilgamesh is not deterred.
Tablet three
The elders give Gilgamesh advice for his journey. Gilgamesh visits his mother, the goddess Ninsun, who seeks the support and protection of the sun-god Shamash
for their adventure. Ninsun adopts Enkidu as her son, and Gilgamesh
leaves instructions for the governance of Uruk in his absence.
Tablet four
The
second dream of Gilgamesh on the journey to the Forest of Cedar. Epic
of Gilgamesh tablet from Hattusa, Turkey. 13th century BCE. Neues
Museum, Germany
Gilgamesh and Enkidu journey to the Cedar Forest.
Every few days they camp on a mountain, and perform a dream ritual.
Gilgamesh has five terrifying dreams about falling mountains,
thunderstorms, wild bulls, and a thunderbird that breathes fire. Despite
similarities between his dream figures and earlier descriptions of
Humbaba, Enkidu interprets these dreams as good omens, and denies that
the frightening images represent the forest guardian. As they approach
the cedar mountain, they hear Humbaba bellowing, and have to encourage
each other not to be afraid.
Tablet five
Tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh
Reverse side of the newly discovered tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh. It dates back to the old Babylonian period, 2003–1595 BC and is currently housed in the Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq
The heroes enter the cedar forest. Humbaba,
the guardian of the Cedar Forest, insults and threatens them. He
accuses Enkidu of betrayal, and vows to disembowel Gilgamesh and feed
his flesh to the birds. Gilgamesh is afraid, but with some encouraging
words from Enkidu the battle commences. The mountains quake with the
tumult and the sky turns black. The god Shamash
sends 13 winds to bind Humbaba, and he is captured. Humbaba pleads for
his life, and Gilgamesh pities him. He offers to make Gilgamesh king of
the forest, to cut the trees for him, and to be his slave. Enkidu,
however, argues that Gilgamesh should kill Humbaba to establish his
reputation forever. Humbaba curses them both and Gilgamesh dispatches
him with a blow to the neck, as well as killing his seven sons. The two heroes cut down many cedars, including a gigantic tree that Enkidu plans to fashion into a gate for the temple of Enlil. They build a raft and return home along the Euphrates with the giant tree and (possibly) the head of Humbaba.
Tablet six
Gilgamesh rejects the advances of the goddess Ishtar because of her mistreatment of previous lovers like Dumuzi. Ishtar asks her father Anu to send the Bull of Heaven to avenge her. When Anu rejects her complaints, Ishtar threatens to raise the dead
who will "outnumber the living" and "devour them". Anu states that if
he gives her the Bull of Heaven, Uruk will face 7 years of famine.
Ishtar provides him with provisions for 7 years in exchange for the
bull. Ishtar leads the Bull of Heaven to Uruk, and it causes widespread
devastation. It lowers the level of the Euphrates river, and dries up
the marshes. It opens up huge pits that swallow 300 men. Without any
divine assistance, Enkidu and Gilgamesh attack and slay it, and offer up
its heart to Shamash. When Ishtar cries out, Enkidu hurls one of the
hindquarters of the bull at her. The city of Uruk celebrates, but Enkidu
has an ominous dream about his future failure.
Tablet seven
In
Enkidu's dream, the gods decide that one of the heroes must die because
they killed Humbaba and Gugalanna. Despite the protestations of
Shamash, Enkidu is marked for death. Enkidu curses the great door he has
fashioned for Enlil's temple. He also curses the trapper and Shamhat
for removing him from the wild. Shamash reminds Enkidu of how Shamhat
fed and clothed him, and introduced him to Gilgamesh. Shamash tells him
that Gilgamesh will bestow great honors upon him at his funeral, and
will wander into the wild consumed with grief. Enkidu regrets his curses
and blesses Shamhat instead. In a second dream, however, he sees
himself being taken captive to the Netherworld
by a terrifying Angel of Death. The underworld is a "house of dust" and
darkness whose inhabitants eat clay, and are clothed in bird feathers,
supervised by terrifying beings. For 12 days, Enkidu's condition
worsens. Finally, after a lament that he could not meet a heroic death
in battle, he dies. In a famous line from the epic, Gilgamesh clings to
Enkidu's body and denies that he has died until a maggot drops from the
corpse's nose.
Tablet eight
Gilgamesh
delivers a lament for Enkidu, in which he calls upon mountains,
forests, fields, rivers, wild animals, and all of Uruk to mourn for his
friend. Recalling their adventures together, Gilgamesh tears at his hair
and clothes in grief. He commissions a funerary statue, and provides
grave gifts from his treasury to ensure that Enkidu has a favourable
reception in the realm of the dead. A great banquet is held where the
treasures are offered to the gods of the Netherworld. Just before a
break in the text there is a suggestion that a river is being dammed,
indicating a burial in a river bed, as in the corresponding Sumerian
poem, The Death of Gilgamesh.
Tablet nine
Tablet
nine opens with Gilgamesh roaming the wild wearing animal skins,
grieving for Enkidu. Having now become fearful of his own death, he
decides to seek Utnapishtim
("the Faraway"), and learn the secret of eternal life. Among the few
survivors of the Great Flood, Utnapishtim and his wife are the only
humans to have been granted immortality by the gods. Gilgamesh crosses a
mountain pass at night and encounters a pride of lions. Before sleeping
he prays for protection to the moon god Sin.
Then, waking from an encouraging dream, he kills the lions and uses
their skins for clothing. After a long and perilous journey, Gilgamesh
arrives at the twin peaks of Mount Mashu at the end of the earth. He comes across a tunnel, which no man has ever entered, guarded by two scorpion monsters,
who appear to be a married couple. The husband tries to dissuade
Gilgamesh from passing, but the wife intervenes, expresses sympathy for
Gilgamesh, and (according to the poem's editor Benjamin Foster) allows
his passage.
He passes under the mountains along the Road of the Sun. In complete
darkness he follows the road for 12 "double hours", managing to complete
the trip before the Sun catches up with him. He arrives at the Garden
of the gods, a paradise full of jewel-laden trees.
Tablet ten
Gilgamesh meets alewifeSiduri,
who assumes that he is a murderer or thief because of his disheveled
appearance. Gilgamesh tells her about the purpose of his journey. She
attempts to dissuade him from his quest, but sends him to Urshanabi
the ferryman, who will help him cross the sea to Utnapishtim.
Gilgamesh, out of spontaneous rage, destroys the stone charms that
Urshanabi keeps with him. He tells him his story, but when he asks for
his help, Urshanabi informs him that he has just destroyed the objects
that can help them cross the Waters of Death, which are deadly to the
touch. Urshanabi instructs Gilgamesh to cut down 120 trees and fashion
them into punting poles. When they reach the island where Utnapishtim
lives, Gilgamesh recounts his story, asking him for his help.
Utnapishtim reprimands him, declaring that fighting the common fate of
humans is futile and diminishes life's joys.
Tablet eleven
George Smith transliterated and read the "Babylonian Flood Story" of Tablet XI
Gilgamesh observes that Utnapishtim seems no different from himself,
and asks him how he obtained his immortality. Utnapishtim explains that
the gods decided to send a great flood. To save Utnapishtim the god Enki told him to build a boat. He gave him precise dimensions, and it was sealed with pitch and bitumen.
His entire family went aboard together with his craftsmen and "all the
animals of the field". A violent storm then arose which caused the
terrified gods to retreat to the heavens. Ishtar lamented the wholesale
destruction of humanity, and the other gods wept beside her. The storm
lasted six days and nights, after which "all the human beings turned to
clay". Utnapishtim weeps when he sees the destruction. His boat lodges
on a mountain, and he releases a dove, a swallow, and a raven. When the
raven fails to return, he opens the ark and frees its inhabitants.
Utnapishtim offers a sacrifice to the gods, who smell the sweet savor
and gather around. Ishtar vows that just as she will never forget the
brilliant necklace that hangs around her neck, she will always remember
this time. When Enlil arrives, angry that there are survivors, she
condemns him for instigating the flood. Enki also castigates him for
sending a disproportionate punishment. Enlil blesses Utnapishtim and his
wife, and rewards them with eternal life. This account largely matches
the flood story that concludes the Epic of Atra-Hasis.
The main point seems to be that when Enlil granted eternal life
it was a unique gift. As if to demonstrate this point, Utnapishtim
challenges Gilgamesh to stay awake for six days and seven nights.
Gilgamesh falls asleep, and Utnapishtim instructs his wife to bake a
loaf of bread on each of the days he is asleep, so that he cannot deny
his failure to keep awake. Gilgamesh, who is seeking to overcome death,
cannot even conquer sleep. After instructing Urshanabi, the ferryman, to
wash Gilgamesh and clothe him in royal robes, they depart for Uruk.
As they are leaving, Utnapishtim's wife asks her husband to offer a
parting gift. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that at the bottom of the sea
there lives a boxthorn-like
plant that will make him young again. Gilgamesh, by binding stones to
his feet so he can walk on the bottom, manages to obtain the plant.
Gilgamesh proposes to investigate if the plant has the hypothesized
rejuvenation ability by testing it on an old man once he returns to
Uruk.
When Gilgamesh stops to bathe, it is stolen by a serpent,
who sheds its skin as it departs. Gilgamesh weeps at the futility of
his efforts, because he has now lost all chance of immortality. He
returns to Uruk, where the sight of its massive walls prompts him to
praise this enduring work to Urshanabi.
Tablet twelve
This tablet is mainly an Akkadian translation of an earlier Sumerian poem, "Gilgamesh and the Netherworld" (also known as "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld" and variants), although it has been suggested that it is derived from an unknown version of that story.
The contents of this last tablet are inconsistent with previous ones:
Enkidu is still alive, despite having died earlier in the epic. Because
of this, its lack of integration with the other tablets, and the fact
that it is almost a copy of an earlier version, it has been referred to
as an 'inorganic appendage' to the epic.
Alternatively, it has been suggested that "its purpose, though crudely
handled, is to explain to Gilgamesh (and the reader) the various fates
of the dead in the Afterlife" and in "an awkward attempt to bring
closure", it both connects the Gilgamesh of the epic with the Gilgamesh who is the King of the Netherworld,
and is "a dramatic capstone whereby the twelve-tablet epic ends on one
and the same theme, that of "seeing" (= understanding, discovery, etc.),
with which it began."
Gilgamesh complains to Enkidu that various of his possessions
(the tablet is unclear exactly what – different translations include a
drum and a ball) have fallen into the underworld. Enkidu offers to bring
them back. Delighted, Gilgamesh tells Enkidu what he must and must not
do in the underworld if he is to return. Enkidu does everything which he
was told not to do. The underworld keeps him. Gilgamesh prays to the
gods to give him back his friend. Enlil and Suen
don't reply, but Enki and Shamash decide to help. Shamash makes a crack
in the earth, and Enkidu's ghost jumps out of it. The tablet ends with
Gilgamesh questioning Enkidu about what he has seen in the underworld.
Old Babylonian versions
This version of the epic, called in some fragments Surpassing all other kings, is composed of tablets and fragments from diverse origins and states of conservation. It remains incomplete in its majority, with several tablets missing and big lacunae in those found. They are named after their current location or the place where they were found.
Pennsylvania tablet
Surpassing all other kings
Tablet II, greatly correlates with tablets I–II of the Standard
Babylonian version.
Gilgamesh tells his mother Ninsun about two dreams he had. His mother
explains that they mean that a new companion will soon arrive at Uruk.
In the meanwhile the wild Enkidu and the priestess (here called
Shamkatum) have sex. She tames him in company of the shepherds by
offering him bread and beer. Enkidu helps the shepherds by guarding the
sheep. They travel to Uruk to confront Gilgamesh and stop his abuses.
Enkidu and Gilgamesh battle but Gilgamesh breaks off the fight. Enkidu
praises Gilgamesh.
Yale tablet
Surpassing all other kings
Tablet III, partially matches tablets II–III of the Standard Babylonian
version.
For reasons unknown (the tablet is partially broken) Enkidu is in a sad
mood. In order to cheer him up Gilgamesh suggests going to the Pine
Forest to cut down trees and kill Humbaba (known here as Huwawa). Enkidu
protests, as he knows Huwawa and is aware of his power. Gilgamesh talks
Enkidu into it with some words of encouragement, but Enkidu remains
reluctant. They prepare, and call for the elders. The elders also
protest, but after Gilgamesh talks to them, they agree to let him go.
After Gilgamesh asks his god (Shamash) for protection, and both he and
Enkidu equip themselves, they leave with the elders' blessing and
counsel.
Philadelphia fragment
Possibly another version of the contents of the Yale Tablet, practically irrecoverable.
Nippur school tablet
In the journey to the cedar forest and Huwawa, Enkidu interprets one of Gilgamesh's dreams.
Tell Harmal tablets
Fragments
from two different versions/tablets tell how Enkidu interprets one of
Gilgamesh's dreams on the way to the Forest of Cedar, and their
conversation when entering the forest.
Ishchali tablet
After
defeating Huwawa, Gilgamesh refrains from slaying him, and urges Enkidu
to hunt Huwawa's "seven auras". Enkidu convinces him to smite their
enemy. After killing Huwawa and the auras, they chop down part of the
forest and discover the gods' secret abode. The rest of the tablet is
broken.
The auras are not referred to in the Standard Babylonian version, but are in one of the Sumerian poems.
Partial fragment in Baghdad
Partially overlapping the felling of the trees from the Ishchali tablet.
Sippar tablet
Partially
overlapping the Standard Babylonian version tablets IX–X.
Gilgamesh mourns the death of Enkidu wandering in his quest for
immortality. Gilgamesh argues with Shamash about the futility of his
quest. After a lacuna, Gilgamesh talks to Siduri
about his quest and his journey to meet Utnapishtim (here called
Uta-na'ishtim). Siduri attempts to dissuade Gilgamesh in his quest for
immortality, urging him to be content with the simple pleasures of life.
After one more lacuna, Gilgamesh smashes the "stone ones" and talks to
the ferryman Urshanabi (here called Sur-sunabu). After a short
discussion, Sur-sunabu asks him to carve 300 oars so that they may cross
the waters of death without needing the "stone ones". The rest of the
tablet is missing.
The text on the Old Babylonian Meissner fragment (the larger
surviving fragment of the Sippar tablet) has been used to reconstruct
possible earlier forms of the Epic of Gilgamesh, and it has been
suggested that a "prior form of the story – earlier even than that
preserved on the Old Babylonian fragment – may well have ended with
Siduri sending Gilgamesh back to Uruk..." and "Utnapistim was not
originally part of the tale."
Sumerian poems
There are five extant Gilgamesh stories in the form of older poems in Sumerian.
These probably circulated independently, rather than being in the form
of a unified epic. Some of the names of the main characters in these
poems differ slightly from later Akkadian names; for example,
"Bilgamesh" is written instead of "Gilgamesh", and there are some
differences in the underlying stories such as the fact that Enkidu is
Gilgamesh's servant in the Sumerian version:
The lord to the Living One's Mountain and Ho, hurrah! correspond to the Cedar Forest
episode (Standard Babylonian version tablets II–V). Gilgamesh and
Enkidu travel with other men to the Forest of Cedar. There, trapped by
Huwawa, Gilgamesh tricks him (with Enkidu's assistance in one of the
versions) into giving up his auras, thus losing his power.
Hero in battle corresponds to the Bull of Heaven
episode (Standard Babylonian version tablet VI) in the Akkadian
version. The Bull's voracious appetite causes drought and hardship in
the land while Gilgamesh feasts. Lugalbanda convinces him to face the beast and fights it alongside Enkidu.
The envoys of Akka
has no corresponding episode in the epic, but the themes of whether to
show mercy to captives, and counsel from the city elders, also occur in
the Standard Babylonian version of the Humbaba story. In the poem, Uruk
faces a siege from a Kish army led by King Akka, whom Gilgamesh defeats and forgives.
In those days, in those far-off days, otherwise known as Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld,
is the source for the Akkadian translation included as tablet XII in
the Standard Babylonian version, telling of Enkidu's journey to the
Netherworld. It is also the main source of information for the Sumerian creation myth and the story of "Inanna and the Huluppu Tree".
The great wild bull is lying down, a poem about Gilgamesh's
death, burial and consecration as a semigod, reigning and giving
judgement over the dead. After dreaming of how the gods decide his fate
after death, Gilgamesh takes counsel, prepares his funeral and offers
gifts to the gods. Once deceased, he is buried under the Euphrates,
taken off its course and later returned to it.
Translations
The first direct Arabic translation from the original tablets was published in the 1960s by Iraqi archaeologist Taha Baqir.
The definitive modern translation is a two-volume critical work by Andrew George, published by Oxford University Press
in 2003. A book review by Cambridge scholar Eleanor Robson claims that
George's is the most significant critical work on Gilgamesh in the last
70 years. George discusses the state of the surviving material, and provides a tablet-by-tablet exegesis, with a dual language side-by-side translation.
In 2004, Stephen Mitchell
supplied a controversial version that takes many liberties with the
text and includes modernized allusions and commentary relating to the Iraq War of 2003.
The parallels between the stories of Enkidu/Shamhat and Adam/Eve have been long recognized by scholars.
In both, a man is created from the soil by a god, and lives in a
natural setting amongst the animals. He is introduced to a woman who
tempts him. In both stories the man accepts food from the woman, covers
his nakedness, and must leave his former realm, unable to return. The
presence of a snake that steals a plant of immortality from the hero
later in the epic is another point of similarity.
Advice from Ecclesiastes
Several scholars suggest direct borrowing of Siduri's advice by the author of Ecclesiastes.
A rare proverb about the strength of a triple-stranded rope, "a
triple-stranded rope is not easily broken", is common to both books.
Noah's flood
Andrew George submits that the Genesis flood narrative matches that in Gilgamesh so closely that "few doubt" that it derives from a Mesopotamian account. What is particularly noticeable is the way the Genesis flood story follows the Gilgamesh flood tale "point by point and in the same order", even when the story permits other alternatives. In a 2001 Torah commentary released on behalf of the Conservative Movement of Judaism, rabbinic scholar Robert Wexler
stated: "The most likely assumption we can make is that both Genesis
and Gilgamesh drew their material from a common tradition about the
flood that existed in Mesopotamia. These stories then diverged in the
retelling." Ziusudra, Utnapishtim and Noah are the respective heroes of the Sumerian, Akkadian and biblical flood legends of the ancient Near East.
Additional biblical parallels
Matthias Henze suggests that Nebuchadnezzar's madness in the biblical Book of Daniel draws on the Epic of Gilgamesh.
He claims that the author uses elements from the description of Enkidu
to paint a sarcastic and mocking portrait of the king of Babylon.
Many characters in the Epic have mythical biblical parallels, most notably Ninti, the Sumerian goddess of life, was created from Enki's rib to heal him after he had eaten forbidden flowers. It is suggested that this story served as the basis for the story of Eve created from Adam's rib in the Book of Genesis.
Esther J. Hamori, in Echoes of Gilgamesh in the Jacob Story, also claims that the myth of Jacob and Esau is paralleled with the wrestling match between Gilgamesh and Enkidu.
Book of Giants
Gilgamesh is mentioned in one version of The Book of Giants which is related to the Book of Enoch.
The Book of Giants version found at Qumran mentions the Sumerian hero
Gilgamesh and the monster Humbaba with the Watchers and giants.
Influence on Homer
Numerous scholars have drawn attention to various themes, episodes, and verses, indicating that the Epic of Gilgamesh had a substantial influence on both of the epic poems ascribed to Homer. These influences are detailed by Martin Litchfield West in The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth. According to Tzvi Abusch of Brandeis University, the poem "combines the power and tragedy of the Iliad with the wanderings and marvels of the Odyssey. It is a work of adventure, but is no less a meditation on some fundamental issues of human existence."
In popular culture
The Epic of Gilgamesh has inspired many works of literature, art, and music, as Theodore Ziolkowski points out in his book Gilgamesh Among Us: Modern Encounters With the Ancient Epic (2011). It was only after World War I that the Gilgamesh epic reached a modern audience, and only after World War II that it was featured in a variety of genres.
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