Mark John Ace Flores

BSIT 2-2
A.
“The Epic of Gilgamesh”

Characters
Gilgamesh- King of Uruk, the strongest of men
Enkidu- Companion and friend of Gilgamesh. Hairy-bodied and brawny
Shamhat- The temple prostitute who tames Enkidu by seducing him away from his natural state
Utnapishtim- A king and priest of Shurrupak, whose name translates as “He Who Saw Life.”
Urshanabi- The guardian of the mysterious “stone things.” Urshanabi pilots a small ferryboat
across the Waters of Death to the Far Away place where Utnapishtim lives.
Ninsun- The mother of Gilgamesh, also called the Lady Wildcow Ninsun. She is a minor
goddess.
Humbaba- The fearsome demon who guards the Cedar Forest forbidden to mortals.
Ishtar- The goddess of love and fertility, as well as the goddess of war.
Anu- The father of the gods and the god of the firmament.
Siduri- The goddess of wine-making and brewing. Siduri is the veiled tavern keeper who
comforts Gilgamesh.
Enlil- God of earth, wind, and air. A superior deity, Enlil is not very fond of humankind..
Lugalbanda- Third king of Uruk after the deluge (Gilgamesh is the fifth).
Aruru- A goddess of creation who fashioned Enkidu from clay and her spittle.
Sin- The god of moon.
Nergal-Lord of the underworld
Sumuqan- The god of cattle
Ninurta-The god of war
Shamash- The sun god, brother of Ishtar, patron of Gilgamesh. Shamash is a wise judge and
lawgiver.
Summary
Gilgamesh king of Uruk, a demi-god son of a goddess named Ninsun and a priest named
Lugulbanda. Gilgamesh is a tyrant who does whatever he wants to do because he is the king.
The old men of Uruk complain to God, and the gods heed so Aruru makes a man who is big in
size and covered in hair and he names it Enkidu. Enkidu behaves like a wild animal he eats and
lives like one until the huntsman discovers him, the huntsman tries to seduce him using a girl
named Shamhat to lure him. They make love for so long after that Enkidu was avoided by the
animals, so he went back to Shamhat. She told Enkidu about their tyrant king, Enkidu wants to
meet him someday hoping to be the king’s friend and companion. Shamhat grooms Enkidu and
went on a journey to meet Gilgamesh. While on their way they stop at a shepherd’s camp. The
shepherds were astonished as they see Enkidu, they served him beers and food. As days have
passed a stranger stop in their camp, the stranger is wearing fancy clothes they asked him
where he heads to the stranger, on the other hand, is about to go to Uruk to attend a wedding
for Gilgamesh will lie to the bride before the husband. Hearing this, Enkidu furiously stated that
he will stop Gilgamesh's tyranny. They went to Uruk challenging Gilgamesh as the battle ended
Gilgamesh won. Ninsun said that Enkidu is a homeless man he is loyal so they became friends.
They challenge Humbaba a guardian of the cedar forest. Enkidu having a 2nd thought about
fighting the guardian but Gilgamesh on the other hand changes his mind and both of them went
to Cedar forest and fights Humbaba while Ninsun prays to Ziggurat to bless and guard the two
brave man who is fighting Humbaba. As they went on their journey Gilgamesh prays to the god
Shamash to help them defeat Humbaba. Shamash shows him a lot of different things and
Enkidu told Gilgamesh that he dreamed about defeating Humbaba. As they arrived at the Cedar
Forest they met Humbaba and they battled. As the battle goes on Gilgamesh and Enkidu prays
to Shamash to help them. Shamash helps them to defeat Humbaba. Scared of getting killed he
offered to Gilgamesh his loyalty if Gilgamesh will not kill him. Enkidu on the other hand told
Gilgamesh to kill Humbaba to show the world their victory. Before Humbaba dies he threatens
them and said that Enlil will seek revenge if Enlil will know that they kill him, but they didn’t
listen. They cut the biggest tree in the Cedar forest to make a new gate for Uruk, they went back
carrying a new gate and having Humbaba’s head with them. As they arrive Gilgamesh bathed
while Ishtar a goddess full of lust proposes to Gilgamesh that if he impregnates her she will give
Gilgamesh anything he wants. Gilgamesh declines the offer for he learned of what happened to
those lovers of Ishtar. Ishtar full of anger tells her father Anu about how Gilgamesh declined her
offer. Anu on the other hand agrees of what Gilgamesh said is true. Ishtar was more angered
and tells her father that she will summon the dead to the earth if her father won’t punish
Gilgamesh. They kill the bull of heaven and they threatened Ishtar. The Gods gather together to
decide if someone will be punished because of what happened to Humbaba and the killing of
the bull of heaven. They decided to punish Enkidu, Enkidu weakens and die after 12 days of
suffering
Gilgamesh was upset because of pf Enkidu’s death. Gilgamesh decides to build Enkidu a statue
made of gold and the people of Uruk mourn Enkidu’s death. Gilgamesh pray to Shamash, he
told him that he knows the secret of immortality and look for Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim is
immortal for he survives the flood of the earth. Gilgamesh looks for Utnapishtim to know the
secret of immortality. He travels to the end of the world a place where is mortals are forbidden.
Gilgamesh prays to Sin the mood god to guide him. Gilgamesh arrives at Mount Mashu and a
scorpion man was guarding the mountain he asks Gilgamesh where he’s about to go Gilgamesh
answered that he wishes to find Utnapishtim. The guard warned him that it is too dangerous, but
Gilgamesh was inspired to know the truth about immortality. He went to a dark cave and he
walks for 24 hours with danger surrounding him until he finds the end of the tunnel only to find a
light and he saw a sea.
A barmaid named Siduri saw Gilgamesh and got scared of its appearance, she quickly hides in
the bar. Gilgamesh threatens Siduri that he will destroy the gate. Siduri asks who he is and
Gilgamesh introduces himself and told Siduri that he is the King of Uruk, Siduri on the other
hand serves Gilgamesh food and drinks. Siduri asks him what he is doing on the island and
Gilgamesh said that he wants to find the secret of Immortality. Siduri said that it is impossible
because of how life-threatening the challenges of finding Utnapshim, but Gilgamesh is not
wavering so Siduri said that he needs to ask Urshanabi as a boatman that can help him cross
the waters of death to get to Utnapishtim. He went to the house and unfortunately it is guarded
by a lot of monsters. He kills all of them and see Urshanabi and ask him if he can take him to
Utnapishtim. They build a boat to cross the waters of death they saw an island and a man
starring at them. Gilgamesh told the man about his story and about his dead friend Enkidu. The
man told Enkidu that the gods are responsible for every humanities death, they are the one who
decides when is someone is going to die. He said that death is a destiny of every person that
we cannot escape, even if we do not know when it will happen. Gilgamish doesn’t that the man
is Utnapishtim himself. Shocked of disbelief Gilgamesh doesn’t expect hoping he’ll see a young
and stronger man, not an old man. Utnapishtim is once a king but the gods got mad at him and
send them rain and floods for seven days but Ea a god told Utnapishtim told him to build a boat
and tell him to carry all kinds of living things inside the boat. He asks Ea why it all happened Ea
answered him that the gods are so mad that they created lots of rain and floods and send it to
earth, they survived and the gods gave them immortality. Utnapishtim challenges Gilgamesh to
don’t sleep for 6 and 7 nights and he accepts it. A mist showed up in the ocean and it makes
him sleep, they put a loaf of bread on his side for the remaining days to prove that he sleeps.
Gilgamesh wakes up and saw the beard and he was demoralized. Utnapishtim told Urshanabi
to leave and never come back. The wife of Utnapishtim told her husband to give something to
Gilgamesh so his travel won’t go to waste Utnapishtim told Gilgamesh to go to the bottom of the
sea and look for a plant, the plant has magic that will give him back his youngness Gilgamesh
saw the plant and return to Uruk. On their way back they saw a spring they took a break and
bathed on it while taking a bath a snake showed up and ate the plant Gilgamesh on the other
hand was once again devastated because of what happened they went back to Uruk
disappointed.

We must be contended of what surrounds us don’t wish for more in fact cherish the things we
have and don’t force those things that we cannot have to be ours because all it leads is
disappointment and give importance to what we already have because it might slip its way or we
might lose it.
B. Choose a poem from the Sumerian poems mentioned above and interpret the meaning of
this poem according to your own personal critic. You may search from the google net the lyrics
of the poem, copy and paste and please react on it. (Choose only one (1) poem for you to
interpret

The Debate between Winter and Summer

The two seasons are personified as brothers, born after Enlil copulates with a "hursag" (hill).
The destinies of Summer and Winter are then described, Summer founding towns and villages
with plentiful harvests, Winter to bring the Spring floods.

The two brothers soon decide to take their gifts to Enlil's "house of life", the E-namtila, where
they begin a debate about their relative merits.

Enlil eventually intervenes and declares Winter the winner of the debate and there is a scene of
reconciliation. Winter prevails over Summer, because Winter provides the water that was so
essential to agriculture in the hot climate of ancient Mesopotamia.