Gilgamesh

[qwertyMike]

Anyone read it - or a commentary on it?

[Fredda Weinberg]

1. The epic? Yup

After reading Julian Jaynes I went to all the referenced texts ... it was fascinating to follow the evolution of self-awareness.

[qwertyMike]

4. Correct me

But I believe Gilgamesh was the first know written text???

[Fredda Weinberg]

5. As I recall, it's the oldest existing text in world of oral tradition

So yes, that statement would be accurate.

[Mabus]

11. I thought that distinction belonged to the Rig-Veda texts.

:shrug:

[qwertyMike]

2. I'm 62 and they have this course for innner-city low income folks

http://www.halifaxhumanities101.ca/

Next we spent 4 weeks on The Odyssey

Then 2 weeks on Plato's 'Republic" - tough going. bad translation

Thu and Tue Genesis and Exodus - not the religious crap.

[tech3149]

6. Nothing like jumping into the deep end of the pool! n/t

[qwertyMike]

8. I did not want my brain

to turn to Jello :)
Mike

[Sequoia]

14. Cool. How about "The Illiad"

I liked that story, it was sometimes very funny.

[Eurobabe]

3. Had to read it for a history course about 10 yrs. ago

Thought it was a bit dry. JMHO.

[qwertyMike]

7. It's an 8 month course

We go through the Ancients obviously, the in the new year, the Gohic, Middle Ages, Renaissince, right up to Stalin/Hitler

I probably missed a lot there.

Fun at 62

[Mabus]

9. In a science fiction class

My prof at the time was James Gunn. He included part of Gilgamesh Epic in one of his "The Road to Science Fiction" anthologies (which was required reading for his class). IIRC, it was the first story and Gunn considered the first work of science fiction.

[undergroundpanther]

10. I read it.

I think it's very interesting..


Here are some lines I found profound...
Gilgamesh is arrogant like Bush,
In his city where he is protected from struggle and accountability it said gilgamesh...
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" struts his power over the people like a wild bull."

Gilgamesh was roving about...
wearing a skin,...having the flesh of the gods in his body,
but sadness deep within him,
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For his denial has been broken he may have flesh of gods but he is no god ultimately he is a man and will die like all people do.
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looking like one who has been traveling a long distance.
The tavern-keeper was gazing off into the distance,
puzzling to herself, she said,
wondering to herself:"That fellow is surely a murderer(!)!
Where is he heading! ..."As soon as the tavern-keeper saw him, she bolted her door, bolted her gate, bolted the lock.
But at her noise Gilgamesh pricked up his ears,
lifted his chin (to look about) and then laid his eyes on her.
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Saw her fear and vulnerability and saw "prey" to take advantage of perhaps?
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Gilgamesh spoke to the tavern-keeper, saying:
"Tavern-keeper, what have you seen that made you bolt
your door,bolt your gate, bolt the lock! if you do not let me in I will break your door, and smash the lock!
... the wilderness."... Gilgamesh... gate

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Arrogant bulls do not respect consent, they just smash and bully until the door is forced open.
**********************************************************
Gilgamesh said to the tavern-keeper:
"I am Gilgamesh, I killed the Guardian!I destroyed Humbaba who lived in the Cedar Forest,I slew lions in the mountain passes!I grappled with the Bull that came down from heaven, and killed him."
******************************************************
And Gilgamesh did not do this himself
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The tavern-keeper spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:"lf you are Gilgamesh, who killed the Guardian,who destroyed Humbaba who lived in the Cedar Forest,who slew lions in the mountain passes who grappled with the Bull that came down from heaven, and killed him,why are your cheeks emaciated, your expression desolate! Why is your heart so wretched, your features so haggard!Why is there such sadness deep within you!Why do you look like one who has been traveling a long distance so that ice and heat have seared your face!
... you roam the wilderness!"
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You rip the mask of splendor and charisma off of a sociopath a "leader" and they are haggard emaciated psychic vampires
*********************************************************

Gilgamesh spoke to her, to the tavern-keeper he said:"Tavern-keeper, should not my cheeks be emaciated? Should my heart not be wretched, my features not haggard?
Should there not be sadness deep within me!
Should I not look like one who has been traveling a long
distance,and should ice and heat not have seared my face!
..., should I not roam the wilderness?
*snip*
......the fate of mankind has overtaken him.
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And this is what people like Bush fear going the most...
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to the house where those who enter do not come out,
along the road of no return,
to the house where those who dwell, do without light,
where dirt is their drink, their food is of clay,
where, like a bird, they wear garments of feathers,
and light cannot be seen, they dwell in the dark,
and upon the door and bolt, there lies dust.
On entering the House of Dust,
everywhere I looked there were royal crowns gathered in heaps,everywhere I listened, it was the bearers of crowns,
who, in the past, had ruled the land,

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This is what authority means, it is empty.Do not deny your essential self, do not accept a king and do not strive to be one for Death will remind you of your fate.

And this is why tyrants try so hard to get people to sacrfice for them, be like god to them.And live forever through a "legacy".Because they know they are bound to death to end ,to change like everyone else.

Timely observances of the way power corrupts even thousands of years later, if you look at it in creative ways...

[LWolf]

12. I've read some simplified versions.

Picking and choosing through versions that could be appropriate, and that my 6th graders could realistically handle. Since we do "ancient civilizations," including Mesopotamia, and early writing, I wanted and example of early literature.

Commentary? I have to very carefully walk a knife edge while discussing creation myths and dealing with the er...lustiness of pre-christian heroes, lol.

[Sequoia]

13. I read the latest hard cover version.

I read the intro part which ruined the story for me. But comparing it to Noah was right on it. Don't read the intro, just jump right in and then come back and read the intro.