An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh EpicJastrow, Morris
General
An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic
Jastrow, Morris
Epic poetry, Assyro-Babylonian
Now, to be sure, this Enkidu has little in common with the Enkidu
who is described as a powerful warrior, a Hercules, who kills lions,
overcomes the giant Huwawa, and dispatches a great bull, but it is
the nature of folklore everywhere to attach to traditions about
a favorite hero all kinds of tales with which originally he had
nothing to do. Enkidu, as such a favorite, is viewed also as the
type of primitive man, [111] and so there arose gradually an Epic
which began with his birth, pictured him as half-animal half-man,
told how he emerged from this state, how he became civilized, was
clothed, learned to eat food and drink wine, how he shaved off the
hair with which his body was covered, [112] anointed himself--in short,
"He became manlike." [113]
Thereupon he is taught his duties as a husband, is introduced to
the work of building, and to laying aside supplies, and the like. The
fully-developed and full-fledged hero then engages in various exploits,
of which _some_ are now embodied in the Gilgamesh Epic. Who this Enkidu
was, we are not in a position to determine, but the suggestion has
been thrown out above that he is a personage foreign to Babylonia,
that his home appears to be in the undefined Amurru district, and
that he conquers that district. The original tale of Enkidu, if this
view be correct, must therefore have been carried to the Euphrates
Valley, at a very remote period, with one of the migratory waves that
brought a western people as invaders into Babylonia. Here the tale
was combined with stories current of another hero, Gilgamesh--perhaps
also of Western origin--whose conquest of Erech likewise represents
an invasion of Babylonia. The center of the Gilgamesh tale was Erech,
and in the process of combining the stories of Enkidu and Gilgamesh,
Enkidu is brought to Erech and the two perform exploits in common. In
such a combination, the aim would be to utilize all the incidents of
_both_ tales. The woman who accompanies Enkidu, therefore, becomes
the medium of bringing the two heroes together. The story of the
evolution of primitive man to civilized life is transformed into the
tale of Enkidu's removal to Erech, and elaborated with all kinds of
details, among which we have, as perhaps embodying a genuine historical
tradition, the encounter of the two heroes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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