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Gilgamesh 1/25/11
These include the handout in class plus extra notes taken. - Visit notehall.c...
From Notehall
Found at Khorsabad,
this eighth century BCstone relief is identifiedas Gilgamesh. Thebest-known of ancientMesopotamian heroes,Gilgamesh was king of Uruk in southernMesopotamia. His storyis known in the poeticGilgamesh Epic, but thereis no historical evidence
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Who Was Nimrod?
by Dr. David Livingston
"Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. He was amight hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter beforethe LORD. " The centers of his kingdom were
Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh
in Shinar.(Genesis 10:8-10) Many consider this to be a positive, complimentary testimony about Nimrod. It is just the opposite! First, a little background study is necessary.
Cultural Connections in the Ancient Near East
Besides the stories of the Creation and
Flood
in the Bible, thereought to be similar
stories on clay tablets
found in the cultures near and around the true believers. These tablets may have a reaction,or twisted version, in their accounts of the Creation and Flood. Inthe
post-Flood genealogical records
of Genesis 10, we note that thesons of Ham were: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan. Mizraimbecame the Egyptians. No one is sure where Put went to live. Andit is obvious who the Canaanites were. Cush lived in the "land of Shinar," which most scholars consider to be Sumer. There theydeveloped the first civilization after the Flood. The sons of Shem --the Semites -- were also mixed, to some extent, with theSumerians.We suggest that Sumerian Kish, the first city established inMesopotamia after the Flood,
took its name from the man known in theBible as Cush
. The first kingdom established after the Flood wasKish, and the name "Kish" appears often on clay tablets. The earlypost-Flood Sumerian king lists (not found in the Bible) say that"kingship descended from heaven to Kish" after the Flood. (TheHebrew name "Cush" was much later moved to present-dayEthiopia as migrations took place from Mesopotamia to other places.)The Sumerians, very early, developed a
religio-politico state
whichwas extremely binding on all who lived in it (except for the rulers,who were a law unto themselves). This system was to influencethe Ancient Near East for over 3000 years. Other cultures whichfollowed the Sumerian system were Accad, Babylon, Assyria, andPersia, which
became the basis
of Greece and Rome's system of rule. Founded by Cush, the Sumerians were very important
for his exploits in thestory. He is described aspart god and part man, agreat builder and warrior,and a wise man in thestory. Not mentioned inthe Bible, the author suggests Gilgamesh is tobe identified with BiblicalNimrod in Genesis10:8-12.
Nimrod started his kingdom at Babylon(Genesis 10:10).
Babylon later reached its zenithunder Nebuchadnezzar (sixth century BC). Picturedare mudbrick ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's city alongwith ancient wall lines and canals.
historically and Biblically.
Was "Nimrod" Godly or Evil?
First, what does thename Nimrod mean?It comes from theHebrew verb
marad
,meaning "rebel."Adding an "n" beforethe "m" it becomes aninfinitive construct, "Nimrod." (see Kautzsch1910: 137 2b; also BDB 1962: 597). Themeaning then is "The Rebel." Thus "Nimrod"may not be the character's name at all. It ismore likely a derisive term of a type, arepresentative, of a system that is epitomizedin rebellion against the Creator, the one trueGod.
Rebellion
began soon after the Flood ascivilizations were restored. At that time thisperson became very prominent.In Genesis 10:8-11 we learn that "Nimrod"established a kingdom. Therefore, one wouldexpect to find also, in the literature of the ancient Near East, a person who was a type, or example, for other people to follow. And there was. It is a well-known tale, common inSumerian literature, of a man who fits the description. In addition to the Sumerians, theBabylonians wrote about this person; the Assyrians likewise; and the Hittites. Even inPalestine, tablets have been found with this man's name on them. He was obviously themost popular hero in the Ancient Near East.
Part of Nimrod's kingdom (Genesis 10:11)
, Nineveh along the Tigris River continued to be a major city in ancient Assyria. Today adjacent to modern Mosul, the ruins of ancient Nineveh are centered ontwo mounds, the acropolis at Kuyunjik and Nebi Yunis (Arabic "Prophet Jonah"). Pictured isSennacherib's "Palace without a rival" on Kuyunjik, constructed at the end of the seventh century BCand excavated by Henry Layard in the early 20th century.
The Gilgamesh Epic
The Babylonian Flood Story
is toldon the 11th tablet of the GilgameshEpic, almost 200 lines of poetry on 12clay tablets inscribed in cuneiformscript. A number of different versionsof the Gilgamesh Epic have beenfound around the ancient Near East,most dating to the seventh centuryBC. The most complete version camefrom the library of Ashurbanipal atNineveh. Commentators agree that thestory comes from a much earlier period, not too long after the Flood asdescribed in the story.Model of ancient ziggurat.
The person we are referring to, found in extra-Biblicalliterature, was Gilgamesh. The first clay tablets naminghim were found among the ruins of the temple library of the god Nabu (Biblical Nebo) and the palace library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh. Many others have been foundsince in a number of excavations. The author of the besttreatise on the Gilgamesh Epic says,The date of the composition of the Gilgamesh Epiccan therefore be fixed at about 2000 BC. But thematerial contained on these tablets is undoubtedlymuch older, as we can infer from the mere factthat the epic consists of numerous originallyindependent episodes, which, of course, did notspring into existence at the time of the compositionof our poem but must have been current longbefore they were compiled and woven together toform our epic (Heidel 1963: 15).Yet his arrogance, ruthlessness and depravitywere a subject of grave concern for the citizens of Uruk (his kingdom). They complained to the greatgod Anu, and Anu instructed the goddess Aruru tocreate another wild ox, a double of Gilgamesh,who would challenge him and distract his mindfrom the
warrior's daughter and the noblemen's spouse
, whom it appears he wouldnot leave in peace (Roux 1966: 114).The Epic of Gilgamesh has some very indecent sections. Alexander Heidel, first translator of the epic, had the decency to translate the vilest parts into Latin. Spieser, however, gaveit to us "straight" ( Pritchard 1955: 72). With this kind of literature in the palace, who needspornography? Gilgamesh was a vile, filthy, man. Yet the myth says of him that he was "2/3god and 1/3 man."
Gilgamesh is Nimrod
How does Gilgamesh compare with "Nimrod?"Josephus says of Nimrod,Now it was Nimrod who excited them to suchan affront and contempt of God. He was thegrandson of Ham, the son of Noah -- a boldman, and of great strength of hand. Hepersuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if itwere through his means they were happy, butto believe that it was their own courage whichprocured that happiness. He also graduallychanged the government into tyranny -- seeingno other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence upon his own power. Healso said he would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown theworld again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to be able toreach! and that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers(
Ant
. 1: iv: 2)
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The Gilgamesh Epic did not create the Bible
Some people think that the Holy scripture found their history from the Epic of Gilgamesh, or other ancient Mesopotamian stories...This assumption is completely incorrect. What w...
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