effulgentpoet:

mythology aesthetics

GILGAMESH & ENKIDU

Gilgamesh is the semi-mythic King of Uruk best known from The Epic of Gilgamesh (written c. 2150-1400 BCE) the great Sumerian/Babylonian poetic work which pre-dates Homer’s writing by 1500 years and, therefore, stands as the oldest piece of epic western literature…. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the great king is thought to be too
proud and arrogant by the gods and so they decide to teach him a lesson
by sending the wild man, Enkidu, to humble him. Enkidu and Gilgamesh,
after a fierce battle in
which neither are bested, become friends and embark on adventures
together. When Enkidu is struck with death, Gilgamesh falls into a deep
grief and, recognizing his own mortality through the death of his
friend, questions the meaning of life and the value of human
accomplishment in the face of ultimate extinction. Casting away all of
his old vanity and pride, Gilgamesh sets out on a quest to find the
meaning of life and, finally, some way of defeating death. In doing so,
he becomes the first epic hero in world literature. The grief of
Gilgamesh, and the questions his friend’s death evoke, resonate with
every human being who has wrestled with the meaning of life in the face
of death. Although Gilgamesh ultimately fails to win immortality in the
story, his deeds live on through the written word and, so, does he..

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