Genesis

One of the differences between The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis is that Genesis actually has a backstory that is quite extensive. To be fair, almost the entirety of Genesis is backstory, though. However, The Epic of Gilgamesh has a little bit of backstory mixed in with the story, but there really isn’t a whole lot. Genesis dumps everything on you all at once, although not in a bad way. Genesis literally spells everything out step by step.

Gilgamesh was praised almost incessantly by the writer and by other characters within the story; however, Adam and Eve are not made out to be perfect. They are never made out to be something that they are not, and they both make the same mistake. They ate from the tree, even though God said, “You shall not eat from it and you shall not touch it, lest you die.” They both seem infinitely more human than Gilgamesh, who seems almost untouchable. The only negative thing that really happens to him is that he loses his best friend.

The Epic of Gilgamesh seems to be a lot more action, whereas Genesis is almost always consistently cause and effect. God says [insert phrase here] and something happens. When people listen to God, everything works out, and when they don’t, bad things happen. It seems pretty simple.

This happens time and time again; first with Adam, then with Noah, then with Abraham and his wife, Sarah. All these people listened to God and were blessed, and when they did not, there were consequences. However, this should not make it seem like God is not merciful, though. God talks to Abraham, and he wants to wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham tries to fight for the town’s survival. He talks God from saving the town if there are only 50 people who are innocent down to only 10 innocent people, and God still sparing the city. This clearly shows that God is merciful.

Genesis gets more and more in-depth the farther you get within it. The stories start out shorter and simpler, and then they proceed to get more and more complex. You delve more into everyone’s lives the farther you get into the story of Genesis. By the time you get to Jacob, it seems like we learn about almost his entire life.

Another similarity seems to be in relation to how people (in Genesis) are described and how gods (in The Epic of Gilgamesh) are described. In Genesis, there is generally a long drawn out explanation about who is descended from whom, and when the gods are described, there is a long drawn out explanation about who they are related to and what they can do (what they are the god of).

I am enjoying this translation far more than I thought I would. It is not as dense as most things in relation to Genesis. The notes are also surprisingly interesting and helpful.

1. Genesis mentions Nephilim, and in class it was brought up that Gilgamesh could have been a descendant of the Nephilim. Do you think this is still a possibility?

2. Which character seems to have the best life or make the least amount of mistakes in Genesis? It seems like almost all of the characters do something stupid at one point or another in time: again, they all seem incredibly human, unlike Gilgamesh.

3. Do you think the blessings God gives seem to make the commands to follow worth it? This is obviously up for debate, but good things happen when people listen. However, every once in a while people argue with God about whether or not he can actually provide what he says he will.

The Epic of Gilgamesh

I think the travels of Gilgamesh and Enkidu were probably the least interesting part of this section. It was a small section, but they did almost the exact same thing every day. In general, when someone goes on a journey there’s danger and fighting, but this was very simple. The dreams were the most exciting part of this, and they were just kind of intense.

I really like the descriptions used throughout this epic. Everything seems vibrant and full of life. There’s also a surprising amount of specificity. There’s a lot of specificity mentioned in relation to distances and heights, but what surprises me is that there are also general descriptions, with scenery and color.

Enkidu and Gilgamesh have an excellent sense of teamwork. I think is obvious in many different ways: when they are traveling to take down Humbaba, when they are traveling to take down Ishtar, and the actual combat with Ishtar. They both communicate while they are attempting to bring Ishtar down. They also plan out how to destroy him before they actually make it that far.

It’s really interesting that as interested in treasure and glory as Gilgamesh is, Enkidu never really has that same kind of drive. It seems like he could honestly care less whether or not he has anything of the same things Gilgamesh seems to crave.

Enkidu is kind of dramatic. He spends multiple pages basically romanticizing his death. So far, I believe that’s the most anyone has talked at one time throughout this epic. I was expecting a dramatic battle to the death, but I certainly wasn’t expecting Enkidu to simply drop dead from illness. That makes his monologue significantly more dramatic. Also, it’s kind of depressing that he doesn’t die in battle, because as he says, no one will remember him. I’m impressed, however, by how much Gilgamesh mourns his friend. The second longest amount of time is spent with Gilgamesh incessantly praising his dead friend. Gilgamesh also is dramatic, so it doesn’t seem quite as unexpected as it was when Enkidu did the exact same thing.

I think it shows how much Gilgamesh appreciated his friend in relation to how after he’s done mourning, Gilgamesh decides to wander aimlessly for a while. However, it’s probably not a good idea for this scorpion thing to continue to compliment Gilgamesh, as it already seems whatever anyone says goes to his head. However, as much as every single person Gilgamesh seems to mention about how amazing he is seems to give substantial evidence that he is probably as impressive as everyone makes him out to be.

I’m kind of wondering about the significance of lapis lazuli. This is something incredibly specific that they’ve mentioned many times.

I’m slightly concerned about how willing Gilgamesh is to listen to this person, just so he doesn’t have to worry about death, at least temporarily, and hopefully in the long run. I am impressed, however, with how much of a hard worker Gilgamesh is. He does all this work on his own, with no guarantee of an outcome of immortality. He obvious really wants immortality, but if the main reason is because of Enkidu dying, then at least that is slightly redeeming. If the only reason he wants it, however, is because he wants to be immortal and is using Enkidu’s death as an excuse, then there is absolutely nothing redeeming about that whatsoever.

I’m disappointed with how the most exciting parts are when all that is happening is excessive monologue. I’m interested to see where this goes from here. The title for the next section seems like an interesting segue.