Genesis, Nietzsche, and Boyfriends! Oh my!
Spencer Wood
Throughout these chapters, I have found many correlations to the book of Genesis. Starting at the beginning, when the plan to be rid of Enkidu from the forest came to fruition, the punishment seemed familiar to that of Adam and Eve.
-Succumbing to sin (pleasures of man or knowledge of God)
-Sent away from home (forest or eden)
-Severed relationship (the beasts of the field or God)
Also, later we hear Enkidu say "Do not go down into the forest; when I opened the gate my hand lost its strength." I may just be grasping at nothing here, but when I read this my first thought was, 'could they have found Eden?' I know it's improbable and there is no mention of the flaming sword who guards the gate, but wouldn’t it be cool if they did find it? Finally my last draw to Genesis is a warning given from Anu to Ishtar. Anu warns her that a seven year drought would occur if he set loose the Bull of Heaven on Uruk. Again I have no idea about what the timeline looks like between Gilgamesh and Genesis, but Egypt also had a seven year famine as professed by Joseph.
Finally, what would any story with a super strong main character be without a good old Nietzche power struggle? Friedrich Nietzche was a German philosopher/atheist who defined, in my eyes, modern atheism. His idea was that because there is no God, there must be someone who is the strongest and then they themselves become the most powerful man, or in Nietzche’s words the Übermensch. Then, as the Übermensch, they would justify the existence of the human race. Knowing this, we can see that Gilgamesh is trying to fill a similar role of the most powerful human, and he has been doing pretty well so far.
A question I would like to pose is: Are the gods human?
On page 74, we see Ninsun changing her clothes for when she appeals to Shamash on behalf of Gilgamesh. This is weird because Ninsun is the goddess of cows. Now you might be saying, “Spencer, why would anyone impersonate a god?” And if you said such things I would point you to Xerxes who claimed to be a god-king and then led Persia to rule the conquer the world. Because of Ecclesiastes 1:9, I believe that the gods of Gilgamesh’s time could have very well been people.
(I know that we can’t prove Xerxes thought that he was a god, but it still is a possibility and the 2006 film 300 displays this thought)
I commented on Philip na d Anna Kate
I commented on Philip na d Anna Kate
I did not notice the correlations between what happened in the garden of eden and what happened to Enkidu, but I did notice the similarities between the seven year drought Anu warned about and the famine in the bible. It probably would be hard to find out if they are related but it does line up with what the introduction speculates about the flood. I don't really think that any of the gods of Gilgamesh`s time were any physical people that everyone just elevated. The people in that time period came up with explanations for what was happening around them. The stories became more detailed as more people believed. As more people believe some people found a way to get more power by saying they heard from the gods or that they were descended from a god.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I can understand where Gilgamesh is coming from in his quest for eternal life. After all, he is two-thirds god. It is quite unfortunate that the last third of him is what holds him back from joining the ranks of the gods. Secondly, have you ever read Perelandra by C.S. Lewis? I think you would find his theory on pagan gods' roles in existence interesting.
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