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He goes on several quests throughout the poem. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” ( Eccl 4:9-12).The Epic of Gilgamesh (/ˈɡɪlɡəmɛʃ/) is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts.Īn epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia and written by an unknown author, The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest surviving piece of notable literature the second-oldest religious text in history, second only to the Pyramid Texts. Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. Similarly, Ecclesiastes tells us, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work…. Earlier in the story, Gilgamesh persuaded Enkidu that two are stronger than one in a speech containing the phrase, “A three-stranded cord is hardest to break” (Standard Babylonian Version, IV, iv). Whatever he may achieve, it is only wind” (Yale Tablet, Old Babylonian Version). The author of Ecclesiastes frequently laments the futility of “chasing after the wind” (for example, Eccl 1:6, Eccl 1:14, Eccl 1:17, Eccl 2:11, Eccl 2:17, Eccl 2:26, Eccl 5:16, etc.), a notion reminiscent of Gilgamesh’s advice to the dying Enkidu: “Mankind can number his days. The closest parallel between a biblical text and the Epic of Gilgamesh is seen in the wording of several passages in Ecclesiastes, where a strong argument can be made for direct copying. In Gilgamesh, when Enkidu becomes estranged from the animals, Shamhat tells him that he has become “like a god.” Later, on his deathbed, Enkidu laments his removal from a state of nature, only to be reminded by the god Shamash that while civilized life is more fraught with difficulty and the knowledge of one’s own mortality, it is a worthwhile price for cultural knowledge and awareness. In Genesis, once Adam has eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge, he covers his nudity and is sentenced to a life of cultivating food by harsh labor. Once Enkidu is rejected by the animal world, the woman Shamhat gives him clothing and teaches him to drink beer and eat bread-all technological developments that separate humans from animals. In both stories, a woman is responsible for the transition of a man who had once eaten and drunk with the animals to a state of estrangement from nature.
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There are particularly interesting similarities between the Garden of Eden story in Genesis and the story of Enkidu’s movement from nature to culture and civilization. In the Epic, the gods create Enkidu, who runs wild with the animals in the open country, as a companion for Gilgamesh. Likewise, the idea that it is mortality-the impetus behind Gilgamesh’s quest-that separates gods and humans is found in other Mesopotamian and Egyptian writings, as well as in Gen 3:22. So when Joseph dreamed of sheaves of corn and bowing stars ( Gen 37:5-11), the author was probably not copying Gilgamesh’s oracular dreams. For example, it was widely believed that dreams could be divinely inspired, cryptic forecasts of the future. Because of this, it is difficult to state with any certainty that the Epic directly influenced the stories of the Bible.
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It shares many motifs and ideas (such as the Flood) with other ancient Near Eastern texts. The Gilgamesh Epic was familiar in the biblical world: copies have been found at Megiddo, Emar, Northern Anatolia, and Nineveh. But the Epic also includes a character whose story bears even more similarities to stories in the Hebrew Bible: Gilgamesh’s possession of a plant of immortality is thwarted by a serpent (compare Gen 3), he wrestles in the night with a divinely appointed assailant who proclaims the hero’s identity and predicts that he will prevail over all others (compare Gen 32:23-32), and he is taught that the greatest response to mortality is to live life in appreciation of those things which make us truly human (compare Eccl 9:7-10). Of these, the best-known is probably the Epic’s flood story, which reads a lot like the biblical tale of Noah’s ark ( Gen 6-9). The Epic of Gilgamesh, a literary product of Mesopotamia, contains many of the same themes and motifs as the Hebrew Bible.