CAS RN 106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Enkidu, Tyrant, Humbaba
15 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
Originates from sumerian poems and stories, started as an oral story but was written down in 2000 bc by a babylonian priest. Discovered in 1853 in the ruins of a royal library in ninevah. Presents gilgamesh as an archetypal god king. Describes his biggest achievement: the great wall, he built this wall centuries ago and it still stands strong, the wall symbolizes coming out of the wild and into civilization- gilgamesh was a civilization maker. Gilgamesh is a tyrant, his subjects complain to the gods and they create a wild man (not civilized like gilgamesh) to control gilgamesh. Gilgamesh begins to have dreams (liminal state) about the coming of enkidu. Gilgamesh and enkidu fight, enkidu blocks the door with his foot so gilgamesh cannot enter the wedding (ritual event), physically is stopping the liminal stage. Wants to kill humbaba, the guardian of the cedar forest (cedar was a very expensive wood- killing him would be a great step towards colonization)
