Comments on: Gilgamesh and Enkidu

By: Edwin

Edwin — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 04:16:19 +0000

As an Assyrian, let me tell you that gilgamesh is an assyrian god and king. only take the word of those who the story is made in their tongue.

By: Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson — Sun, 23 Jan 2005 05:58:12 +0000

Have you studied the direct translations or are you only an enthusiast for author embellishments for the story. I am a great fan of the Epic of Gilgamesh *and Enkidu too.

Unfortunately, I am not a scholar (per say), but my findings from the direct translations relay a message of how we are our own worst enemy. What I found is that the story may reference an earlier Sumerian story (Exploits of Ninurta and Ninurta and the Turtle).

Ninurta = Bull of Heaven (Gilgamesh)
Asag Demon = Humbaba (Enkidu)

If this is correct, there is a lot more to the Epic of Gilgamesh – if seen in metaphor and symbolic system.

Have you ever wondered why this story is in Babylonian, Hittite, Assyrian temples and libraries? These are supposed disparate religions.

If I decoded it right, it even transmutes Hebrew and Judea/Christian lore as well.

By: Tom G. Palmer

Tom G. Palmer — Sat, 11 Dec 2004 07:16:33 +0000

I haven’t! I shall have to do a little research and find it. (One plan this weekend is to read the two new versions I’ve been given.) And I share your view on Gilgamesh/Alexander. But how anyone could film Gilgamesh in the historical setting is beyond me. (Now, maybe if it were reworked and set in a hispanic neighborhood in Los Angeles….)

By: Wirkman Virkkala

Wirkman Virkkala — Sat, 11 Dec 2004 04:39:06 +0000

Have you heard Bohuslav Martinu’s oratorio on the subject? “The Epic of Gilgamesh” is not exactly up there with his later symphonies, but it is nevertheless quite good.

The Gilgamesh story could make a great movie, if done right. Oddly, a few of the themes of Oliver Stone’s “Alexander” are in the story, but more impressively treated in the Babylonian epic. Gilgamesh learns something. Alexander merely dies – with Anthony Hopkins (I mean Ptolemy) learning something….

By: Tom G. Palmer

Tom G. Palmer — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 03:09:47 +0000

I’ll have to wait until I’ve read the two I just received before I utter an opinion, and even then I should stress that I’m not a scholar of ancient middle eastern texts. But I’ll let you know which one I think is the better English poem. So, until next week….

By: Magdalena Modrzejewska

Magdalena Modrzejewska — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 08:56:42 +0000

I am deeply impressed by your fascination of the Gilgamesh story. I have read only a Polish translation of the “Giglamesh”. I loved it, and I think that this book reveals the most primal human emotions. Thanks to you I’ve just get to know about the edition in cuneiform.
Which one of the English edition is the best? Could you recomend me one of them?