King of heroes Gilgamesh. Meaning of the word Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh, the legendary ruler of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk in the South. Mesopotamia ca. 1st half of 3 thousand BC and the hero of the epic of the same name, one of the most famous lit. works of Dr. East. The epic tells of G.'s attempts to achieve an impossible goal - immortality; it contains a story about the flood, very similar to the biblical story of Noah.

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GILGAMESH

noise. and Akkadian mythoepic. hero, was the fifth ruler of the 1st dynasty of Uruk in Sumer (late 27th - early 26th centuries BC). Obviously, soon after G.'s death he was deified; his name with determiners (determinative signs) of the deity of meetings. already in texts from Fara (26th century BC). In the “royal list” of the III dynasty of Ur, G. appears as a myth. personality; will continue. his rule 126 years old, G.’s father is a demon (lila). In epic in the texts G. is the son of Uruk. the ruler of Lugalbanda and the goddess Ninsun (perhaps the origin of G. was the son of a ruler and a priestess who represented the goddess in the rite of a sacred marriage). From the 2nd millennium BC G. began to count. judge to the grave. world, protector of people from demons. In the official in the cult, he, however, plays almost no role (although the kings of the III dynasty of Ur, in particular Ur-Nammu, the founder of the dynasty, trace their family to G.). G. is the most popular. hero from among the heroes of Uruk. circle (Enmerkar, Lugalbanda, G.). Save five Sumerian epics. songs about G.

[𒂆 ) - ensi of the Sumerian city of Uruk, ruled at the end of the 27th - beginning of the 26th centuries BC. e. He became a character in Sumerian legends and the Akkadian epic - one of the greatest works of literature of the Ancient East.

The name Gilgamesh is mentioned not only in Mesopotamian texts, but also in the Qumran manuscripts: fragment 13 Q450 of the Book of Giants contains the name Gilgamesh next to a passage translated as “...everything is against his soul...”. These same texts were used by the Middle Eastern Manichaean sects. Claudius Aelianus around 200 AD. e. tells about Gilgamesh (Γίλγαμος) a modified legend about Sargon of Akkad: the oracle predicted the death of the Babylonian king at the hands of his own grandson, he got scared and threw the child from the tower, but the prince was saved by an eagle and raised by a gardener. Assyrian theologian of the Church of the East Theodore Bar Konai around 600 AD. e. names Gilgamesh (Gligmos) in the list of 12 kings who were contemporaries of the patriarchs from Peleg to Abraham.

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Literature

• History of the Ancient East. The origins of the most ancient class societies and the first centers of slave-owning civilization. Part 1. Mesopotamia / Edited by I. M. Dyakonov. - M.: Main editorial office of oriental literature of the publishing house "Science", 1983. - 534 p. - 25,050 copies.
• Kramer Samuel. Sumerians. The first civilization on Earth / Trans. from English A. V. Miloserdova. - M.: ZAO Tsentrpoligraf, 2002. - 384 p. - (Mysteries of ancient civilizations). - 7,000 copies. - ISBN 5-9524-0160-0.
• Bertman Stephen. Mesopotamia: Encyclopedic reference book / Trans. from English A. A. Pomogaibo; comment V. I. Gulyaev. - M.: Veche, 2007. - 414 p. - (Library of World History). - ISBN 5-9533191-6-4.
• Belitsky Marian./ Per. from Polish. - M.: Veche, 2000. - 432 p. - (Secrets of ancient civilizations). - 10,000 copies. - ISBN 5-7838-0774-5.
• . // / Author-compiler V. V. Erlikhman. - T. 1.
• Emelyanov V.V. Gilgamesh. Biography of a legend. - M.: Young Guard, 2015. - 358 p. - (Small series ZhZL). - ISBN 978-5-235-03800-4.

Links

• Emelyanov V.. PostScience. Retrieved March 14, 2015.

Fiction

• The Epic of Gilgamesh - the original epic
• Robert Silverberg. "King Gilgamesh." (In Silverberg, Gilgamesh is the son of Lugalbanda.
• Roman Svetlov. "Gilgamesh"
• Markov Alexander - "Apsu"

Excerpt describing Gilgamesh

At the guardhouse where Pierre was taken, the officer and soldiers who took him treated him with hostility, but at the same time with respect. One could still feel in their attitude towards him doubt about who he was (whether he was a very important person), and hostility due to their still fresh personal struggle with him.
But when, on the morning of another day, the shift came, Pierre felt that for the new guard - for the officers and soldiers - it no longer had the meaning that it had for those who took him. And indeed, in this big, fat man in a peasant’s caftan, the guards of the next day no longer saw that living man who so desperately fought with the marauder and with the escort soldiers and said a solemn phrase about saving the child, but saw only the seventeenth of those being held for some reason, by by order of the highest authorities, the captured Russians. If there was anything special about Pierre, it was only his timid, intently thoughtful appearance and the French language, in which, surprisingly for the French, he spoke well. Despite the fact that on the same day Pierre was connected with other suspected suspects, since the separate room he occupied was needed by an officer.
All the Russians kept with Pierre were people of the lowest rank. And all of them, recognizing Pierre as a master, shunned him, especially since he spoke French. Pierre heard with sadness the ridicule of himself.
The next evening, Pierre learned that all of these prisoners (and probably himself included) were to be tried for arson. On the third day, Pierre was taken with others to a house where a French general with a white mustache, two colonels and other Frenchmen with scarves on their hands were sitting. Pierre, along with others, was asked questions about who he was with the precision and certainty with which defendants are usually treated, supposedly exceeding human weaknesses. where he was? for what purpose? and so on.
These questions, leaving aside the essence of the life matter and excluding the possibility of revealing this essence, like all questions asked in courts, had the goal only of setting up the groove along which the judges wanted the defendant’s answers to flow and lead him to the desired goal, that is to the accusation. As soon as he began to say something that did not satisfy the purpose of the accusation, they took a groove, and the water could flow wherever it wanted. In addition, Pierre experienced the same thing that a defendant experiences in all courts: bewilderment as to why all these questions were asked of him. He felt that this trick of inserting a groove was used only out of condescension or, as it were, out of politeness. He knew that he was in the power of these people, that only power had brought him here, that only power gave them the right to demand answers to questions, that the only purpose of this meeting was to accuse him. And therefore, since there was power and there was a desire to accuse, there was no need for the trick of questions and trial. It was obvious that all answers had to lead to guilt. When asked what he was doing when they took him, Pierre answered with some tragedy that he was carrying a child to his parents, qu"il avait sauve des flammes [whom he saved from the flames]. - Why did he fight with the marauder? Pierre answered, that he was defending a woman, that protecting an insulted woman is the duty of every person, that... He was stopped: this did not go to the point. Why was he in the courtyard of a house on fire, where witnesses saw him? He answered that he was going to see what was happening in Moscow. They stopped him again: they didn’t ask him where he was going, and why was he near the fire? Who was he? They repeated the first question to him, to which he said that he did not want to answer. Again he answered that he could not say that .
- Write it down, this is not good. “It’s very bad,” the general with a white mustache and a red, ruddy face told him sternly.
On the fourth day, fires started on Zubovsky Val.
Pierre and thirteen others were taken to Krymsky Brod, to the carriage house of a merchant's house. Walking through the streets, Pierre was choking from the smoke, which seemed to be standing over the entire city. Fires were visible from different directions. Pierre did not yet understand the significance of the burning of Moscow and looked at these fires with horror.
Pierre stayed in the carriage house of a house near the Crimean Brod for four more days, and during these days he learned from the conversation of the French soldiers that everyone kept here expected the marshal's decision every day. Which marshal, Pierre could not find out from the soldiers. For the soldier, obviously, the marshal seemed to be the highest and somewhat mysterious link in power.
These first days, until September 8th, the day on which the prisoners were taken for secondary interrogation, were the most difficult for Pierre.

X
On September 8, a very important officer entered the barn to see the prisoners, judging by the respect with which the guards treated him. This officer, probably a staff officer, with a list in his hands, made a roll call of all the Russians, calling Pierre: celui qui n "avoue pas son nom [the one who does not say his name]. And, indifferently and lazily looking at all the prisoners, he ordered the guard it is proper for the officer to dress and tidy them up before leading them to the marshal. An hour later a company of soldiers arrived, and Pierre and thirteen others were led to the Maiden's Field. The day was clear, sunny after the rain, and the air was unusually clean. Smoke did not settle down as in that day when Pierre was taken out of the guardhouse of Zubovsky Val; smoke rose in columns in the clear air. The fires of the fires were nowhere to be seen, but columns of smoke rose from all sides, and all of Moscow, everything that Pierre could see, was one conflagration. On all sides one could see vacant lots with stoves and chimneys and occasionally the charred walls of stone houses. Pierre looked closely at the fires and did not recognize the familiar quarters of the city. In some places, surviving churches could be seen. The Kremlin, undestroyed, loomed white from afar with its towers and Ivan the Great. Nearby, the dome of the Novodevichy Convent glittered merrily, and the bell of the Gospel was especially loudly heard from there. This announcement reminded Pierre that it was Sunday and the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. But it seemed that there was no one to celebrate this holiday: everywhere there was devastation from the fire, and from the Russian people there were only occasionally ragged, frightened people who hid at the sight of the French.

Gilgamesh Gilgamesh

semi-legendary ruler of the city of Uruk in Sumer (XXVII-XXVI centuries BC). In the Sumerian epic songs of the 3rd millennium BC. e. and a large poem from the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. describes, in particular, the wanderings of Gilgamesh in search of the secret of immortality. The legend of Gilgamesh also spread among the Hittites, Hurrians, and others.

GILGAMESH (Sumerian. Bilga-mes - this name can be interpreted as “hero ancestor”), semi-legendary ruler of Uruk (cm. URUK), hero of the epic tradition of Sumer (cm. SUMER) and Akkad (cm. AKKAD (state)). Epic texts consider Gilgamesh to be the son of the hero Lugalbanda (cm. LUGALBANDA) and the goddess Ninsun. "Royal List" from Nippur (cm. NIPPUR)- list of dynasties of Mesopotamia - dates the reign of Gilgamesh to the era of the First Dynasty of Uruk (27–26 centuries BC). Gilgamesh is the fifth king of this dynasty, whose name follows those of Lugalbanda and Dumuzi (cm. DUMUZI), wife of the goddess Inanna (cm. INANNA). Gilgamesh is also attributed divine origin: "Bilgames, whose father was the demon-lila, en (i.e., "high priest") of Kulaba." The duration of Gilgamesh's reign is determined by the "Royal List" to be 126 years.
The Sumerian tradition places Gilgamesh as if on the border between the legendary heroic time and the more recent historical past. Starting with the son of Gilgamesh, the length of the years of reign of the kings in the “Royal List” becomes closer to the terms of human life. The names of Gilgamesh and his son Ur-Nungal are mentioned in the inscription of the general Sumerian sanctuary of Tummal in Nippur among the rulers who built and rebuilt the temple.
During the First Dynasty, Uruk was surrounded by a 9 km long wall, the construction of which is associated with the name of King Gilgamesh. Five Sumerian heroic tales recount the deeds of Gilgamesh. One of them - “Gilgamesh and Agga” - reflects real events of the late 27th century. BC e. and talks about the victory won by the king over the army of the city of Kish that besieged Uruk (cm. KISH (Mesopotamia)).
In the tale “Gilgamesh and the Mountain of the Immortal,” the hero leads the youths of Uruk into the mountains, where they cut down evergreen cedars and defeat the monster Humababa. The poorly preserved cuneiform text “Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven” tells of the hero’s struggle with the bull sent by the goddess Inanna to destroy Uruk. The text "The Death of Gilgamesh" is also presented only in fragments. The legend “Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Underworld” reflects the cosmogonic ideas of the Sumerians. It has a complex composition and is divided into a number of separate episodes.
In the ancient days of the beginning of the world, a huluppu tree was planted in Inanna’s garden, from which the goddess wanted to make her throne. But in its branches the bird Anzud hatched a chick (cm. ANZUD), the demon maiden Lilith settled in the trunk, and a snake began to live under the root. In response to Inanna's complaints, Gilgamesh defeated them, cut down a tree and made from it a throne, a bed for the goddess and magical objects “pucca” and “mikku” - musical instruments, the loud sound of which made the young men of Uruk dance tirelessly. The curses of the women of the city, disturbed by the noise, led to the fact that “pukku” and “mikku” fell underground and remained lying at the entrance to the underworld. Enkidu, Gilgamesh's servant, volunteered to get them, but violated magical prohibitions and was left in the kingdom of the dead. Heeding Gilgamesh's pleas, the gods opened the entrance to the underworld and Enkidu's spirit came out. In the last surviving episode, Enkidu answers Gilgamesh's questions about the laws of the kingdom of the dead. The Sumerian tales of Gilgamesh are part of an ancient tradition that is closely related to oral tradition and has parallels with fairy tales of other peoples.
The motifs of the heroic tales of Gilgamesh and Enkidu were reinterpreted in the literary monument of the Ancient East - the Akkkadian “Epic of Gilgamesh”. The epic survives in three main versions. This is the Nineveh version from the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (cm. ASSHURBANIPAL), dating back to the second half of 2 thousand BC. e.; the contemporary so-called peripheral version, represented by the Hittite-Hurrian poem about Gilgamesh, and the most ancient of all, the Old Babylonian version.
The Nineveh version, according to tradition, was written down “from the mouth” of the Uruk spellcaster Sin-leke-uninni; its fragments were also found in Ashur, Uruk and Sultan-tepe. When reconstructing the epic, all published fragments are taken into account; unpreserved lines of one text can be filled in from other versions of the poem. The Epic of Gilgamesh is written on 12 clay tablets; the last of them is compositionally unrelated to the main text and is a literal translation into Akkadian of the last part of the tale of Gilgamesh and the Huluppu tree.
Table I tells about the king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, whose unbridled prowess caused a lot of grief to the inhabitants of the city. Having decided to create a worthy rival and friend for him, the gods molded Enkidu from clay and settled him among wild animals. Table II is devoted to the martial arts of the heroes and their decision to use their powers for good, cutting down a precious cedar in the mountains. Tables III, IV and V are devoted to their preparations for the road, travel and victory over Humbaba. Table VI is close in content to the Sumerian text about Gilgamesh and the celestial bull. Gilgamesh rejects Inanna's love and reproaches her for her treachery. Insulted, Inanna asks the gods to create a monstrous bull to destroy Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill a bull; Unable to take revenge on Gilgamesh, Inanna transfers her anger to Enkidu, who weakens and dies.
The story of his farewell to life (VII table) and Gilgamesh’s cry for Enkidu (VIII table) become the turning point of the epic tale. Shocked by the death of his friend, the hero sets out in search of immortality. His wanderings are described in Tables IX and X. Gilgamesh wanders in the desert and reaches the Mashu Mountains, where scorpion men guard the passage through which the sun rises and sets. “Mistress of the Gods” Siduri helps Gilgamesh find the shipbuilder Urshanabi, who ferried him across the “waters of death” that are fatal to humans. On the opposite shore of the sea, Gilgamesh meets Utnapishtim and his wife, to whom in time immemorial the gods gave eternal life.
Table XI contains the famous story about the Flood and the construction of the ark, on which Utnapishtim saved the human race from extermination. Utnapishtim proves to Gilgamesh that his search for immortality is futile, since man is unable to defeat even the semblance of death - sleep. In parting, he reveals to the hero the secret of the “grass of immortality” growing at the bottom of the sea. Gilgamesh obtains the herb and decides to bring it to Uruk to give immortality to all people. On the way back, the hero falls asleep at the source; a snake rising from its depths eats the grass, sheds its skin and, as it were, receives a second life. The text of Table XI known to us ends with a description of how Gilgamesh shows Urshanabi the walls of Uruk he erected, hoping that his deeds will be preserved in the memory of his descendants.
As the plot of the epic develops, the image of Gilgamesh changes. The fairy-tale hero-hero, boasting of his strength, turns into a man who has learned the tragic brevity of life. The powerful spirit of Gilgamesh rebels against the recognition of the inevitability of death; only at the end of his wanderings does the hero begin to understand that immortality can bring him eternal glory to his name.
The history of the opening of the epic in the 1870s is associated with the name of George Smith (cm. SMITH George), an employee of the British Museum, who, among the extensive archaeological materials sent to London from Mesopotamia, discovered cuneiform fragments of the legend of the Flood. A report on this discovery, made at the end of 1872 by the Biblical Archaeological Society, created a sensation; Seeking to prove the authenticity of his find, Smith went to the excavation site in Nineveh in 1873 and found new fragments of cuneiform tablets. J. Smith died in 1876 in the midst of work on cuneiform texts during his third trip to Mesopotamia, bequeathing in his diaries to subsequent generations of researchers to continue the study of the epic he had begun. The Epic of Gilgamesh was translated into Russian at the beginning of the 20th century. V. K. Shileiko and N. S. Gumilyov (cm. GUMILEV Nikolay Stepanovich). A scientific translation of the text, accompanied by detailed comments, was published in 1961 by I. M. Dyakonov (cm. DYAKONOV Igor Mikhailovich).

encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .

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Gilgamesh ... Wikipedia

Sumerian and Akkadian mythoepic hero (G. Akkadian name; the Sumerian version apparently goes back to the form Bilha mes, which possibly means “ancestor hero”). A number of texts published in recent decades allow us to consider G. real... ... Encyclopedia of Mythology

Gilgamesh- Gilgamesh. 8th century BC. Louvre. Gilgamesh. 8th century BC. Louvre. Gilgamesh is the semi-legendary ruler of the 1st dynasty of the city of Uruk in Sumer (BC), the hero of Sumerian myths. He is credited with reigning for 126 years; was distinguished by his masculinity, enormous... Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History

Semi-legendary ruler of the city of Uruk in Sumer (27-26 centuries BC). In the Sumerian epic songs of the 3rd millennium BC. e. and the great poem con. 3rd beginning 2nd millennium BC e. describes Gilgamesh's friendship with the wild man Enkidu, Gilgamesh's wanderings in... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Noun, number of synonyms: 1 heroine (17) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

Gilgamesh- (Gilgamesh), the legendary ruler of the Sumerian city of the state of Uruk in the South. Mesopotamia ca. 1st half of 3 thousand BC and the hero of the epic of the same name, one of the most famous lit. works of Dr. East. The epic tells about G.’s attempts to achieve... ... The World History

GILGAMESH- Sumerian and Akkadian mythological hero. G. Akkad. name, Sumerian the variant seems to go back to the form Bil ha mes, which may have meant "ancestor hero". Research conducted in recent decades allows us to consider G. a real historical... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

Semi-legendary ruler of the city of Uruk in Sumer (28th century BC). In the 3rd millennium BC. e. Sumerian epic songs about God that have come down to us arose. At the end of the 3rd beginning of the 2nd millennium, a large ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Semi-legendary ruler of the city of Uruk in Sumer (28th century BC). In the 3rd millennium BC. e. the Sumerian epics that have come down to us arose. songs about G. V con. 3rd thousand in Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylonian) language. a large epic was compiled. poem about G. In it... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia

Gilgamesh- noise. and Akkadian mythoepic. hero, was the fifth ruler of the 1st dynasty of Uruk in Sumer (late 27th - early 26th centuries BC). Obviously, soon after G.'s death he was deified; his name with determiners (determinative signs) of the deity of meetings. already in… … Ancient world. encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

• King Gilgamesh, Robert Silverberg, The next volume of the “Elite” series includes the novels “King Gilgamesh”, “The Seer” published in Russian for the first time and the stories “The Finger of the Lord”, “The Old Man” by the popular American science fiction writer... Category:

GILGAMESH GILGAMESH

Sumerian and Akkadian mythoepic hero (G. is an Akkadian name; the Sumerian version apparently goes back to the form Bil-ga-mes, which possibly means “ancestor-hero”). A number of texts published in recent decades allow us to consider G. a real historical figure - the fifth ruler of the 1st dynasty of the city of Uruk in Sumer (late 27th - early 26th centuries BC). Obviously, soon after G.’s death he was deified; his name with determinatives (determinative signs) of the deity is already found in texts from Fara (26th century BC). In the “royal list” of the III dynasty of Ur, G. appears as a mythical personality: the duration of his reign is 126 years, his father is a demon (lila). In epic texts G. is the son of an Uruk ruler Lugalbanda. and the goddess Ninsun (perhaps the historical G. was the son of a ruler and a priestess who represented the goddess in the ritual sacred marriage). From the 2nd millennium BC. e. G. began to be considered a judge in the afterlife, a protector of people from demons. In the official cult, however, he plays almost no role (although the kings of the III dynasty of Ur, in particular Ur-Nammu, the founder of the dynasty, trace their family to G.).
G. is the most popular hero of the three heroes of the Uruk circle (Enmerkar, Lugalbanda, G.). Five Sumerian epic songs about G. have been preserved: 1) “G. and Aga" - a legend about the struggle of G. with Aga, the ruler of the northern union of Sumerian cities led by Kish. The climax of the story is the appearance of G. on the city wall of Uruk, the confusion of the enemy army at the sight of him and the victory over the troops of Aga (the only hyperbolic and magically fairy-tale moment of this purely epic work, containing almost no mythological material); 2) “G. and the mountain of the immortals" - a story about G.’s campaign at the head of a detachment of young unmarried warriors into the mountains behind cedars to gain a “glorious name” for himself, the fight with the guardian of the cedars, the monster Huwava (Humbaba), the murder of Huwava with the help of miraculous helpers and the anger of the god Enlil for this G.'s feat; 3) “G. and the heavenly bull" - a poorly preserved text about the killing of G. the heavenly bull - a monster sent to Uruk by the goddess Inanna; 4) “G., Enkidu and the Underworld” - G. kills a gigantic bird at the request of the goddess Inanna Anzuda and a magic snake, who settled in the wonderful huluppu tree planted by the goddess in her garden. He makes a “pukku” and a “mikku” (drum and drumsticks?) from the roots and branches of the tree, but they fall into the underworld. Enkidu(in the Sumerian tradition - G.'s servant) undertakes to get them, but, without fulfilling G.'s magical orders, he remains there forever. G. manages to bring Enkidu's spirit to the surface with prayers, and he tells G. about the gloomy and hopeless life of the dead in the underworld; 5) “G. in the underworld" (otherwise "Death of G.") - G. brings gifts to the underworld to the mistress of the underworld Ereshkigal and other gods who make up her court staff.
The Akkadian epic about G. is distinguished by the greatest development of the image of G.. Three versions of the great epic poem have been preserved. The earliest was recorded in the first quarter of the 2nd millennium, but apparently goes back to the last third of the 3rd millennium BC. e., the most complete - attributed to the Uruk spellcaster Sinlikeunninni (received in the records of the 7-6 centuries BC) - the poem “About Seeing Everything” - one of the most outstanding poetic works of ancient Eastern literature; set out in twelve songs - “tables”, the last of which is a literal translation from Sumerian of the second part of the song “G., Enkidu and the Underworld” and is compositionally not connected with the poem. At the request of the gods, concerned about the complaints of the inhabitants of Uruk about their wayward and violent ruler - the mighty G., who takes women from citizens while they perform heavy city duties, the goddess Aruru creates a wild man Enkidu - he must confront G. and defeat him . Enkidu lives in the steppe and is unaware of his destiny. G. has visions, from which he learns that he is destined to have a friend. When news comes to Uruk that a certain powerful man has appeared in the steppe who protects animals and interferes with hunting, G. sends a harlot to the steppe, believing that if she manages to seduce Enkidu, the animals will leave him. That's what happens. Next, G. meets with Enkidu, who enters into a duel with G. on the threshold of the goddess’s bedroom Ishkhara(Ishtar; in the poem the foreign goddess Ishhara replaces Ishtar, Ishtar in the poem is a negative character, hostile to G.). Neither hero can win, and this makes them friends. G. and Enkidu together perform many feats: they fight with the ferocious Humbaba, the guardian of mountain cedars, with a monstrous bull sent to Uruk by the goddess Ishtar for G.’s refusal to share her love. By the will of the gods, Enkidu, who angered them by the murder of Humbaba, dies (apparently, instead of G.). G., shocked by the death of his friend, runs into the desert. He yearns for his beloved friend and for the first time feels that he himself is mortal. He follows the underground path of the sun god Shamash through the range of mountains surrounding the inhabited world, visits a wonderful garden and is transported through the waters of death to the island where Ut-napishtim lives - the only person who has gained immortality. G. wants to know how he achieved this. Ut-napishtim tells G. the story of the global flood, of which he was an eyewitness and after which he received eternal life from the hands of the gods. But for G., says Ut-napishtim, the council of the gods will not meet a second time. Ut-napishtim's wife, feeling sorry for G., persuades her husband to give him something as a parting gift, and he reveals to the hero the secret of the flower of eternal youth. G. with difficulty takes out the flower, but does not have time to use it: while he was bathing, the flower was carried away by a snake and immediately, shedding its skin, became younger. G. returns to Uruk and finds solace admiring the view of the wall built around the city.
The leitmotif of the poem is the unattainability of the fate of the gods for humans, the futility of human efforts in trying to achieve immortality. The ending of the epic emphasizes the idea that the only immortality available to man is the memory of his glorious deeds. The internal development of the images of G. and Enkidu is subject to the laws of development of epic images: no longer thanks to magical assistants, like the heroes of mythological tales, but as a result of the high physical and moral qualities developed in them, they rise above other mortals. The Akkadian epic about G. is the creation of a poet who not only connected scattered Sumerian epic tales, but carefully thought out and compiled the material known to him, giving the work a deep philosophical meaning. The inclusion in the epic of a story about the flood (a work from another cycle) further emphasizes the main idea of ​​the work - the unattainability of the main goal of G.'s wanderings - “eternal life”.
The epic about G. was popular not only among the peoples of Western Asia. From the 2nd thousand to i. e. from Palestine and Asia Minor an excerpt of the so-called. a peripheral version of the Akkadian poem, as well as fragments of its translation into Hittite and Hurrian. In Aelian (a Roman poet of the 3rd century AD, who wrote in Greek), we find a further development of the legend about G. in the form of a legend about the miraculous birth of a hero: it was predicted for the king of Uruk Zeukhoros (Eukhoros, i.e. Sumerian Enmerkar) that his daughter's son will deprive him of his kingdom. The king locks his daughter in a tower. She will give birth to a son from an unknown man. By order of the king, the guards throw the baby from the tower. The eagle picks up the boy and carries him into the garden, where the gardener takes the child into his care. He names the boy G. (Greek: Bilgamos). In the end, he takes away the kingdom from his grandfather. The motif of a foundling child raised by a gardener was apparently borrowed from the Akkadian legend about the miraculous birth of Sharrukin (Sargon the Ancient, 24th century BC). In later texts (for example, in the Syrian writer of the 9th century AD Theodore bar Konaya) G. is already considered a contemporary Abraham.
According to tradition, images of a hero - a fighter with a lion and a wild bull, as well as terracotta figurines depicting spirits (geniuses) of fertility - a mythological image more ancient than the historical G. were associated with G. The image of epic G. was reflected in Akkadian art 24-22 centuries BC e., especially in glyptics. Sculptures of G. and Enkidu guarded the entrance to the palace of the Assyrian king Sargon II (8th century BC).
Lit.: The Epic of Gilgamesh ("He who has seen everything"), trans. from Akkadian I. M. Dyakonova, M.-L., 1961 (lit.); Poetry and prose of the ancient East, M., 1973; Kramer S.N., History Begins in Sumer, [trans. from English], M., 1965; Schott A., Soden W. von (eds). Das Gilgamesch-Epos. Advertising, ; Ancient Near Eastern texts, relating to the Old Testament, ed. J. B. Pritchard, 2 ed., Princeton, 1965.
V.K. Afanasyeva.

(Source: “Myths of the Peoples of the World.”)

VIII century BC e.
Paris.
Louvre.

Relief on the gate of the palace of Sargon II in Dur Sharrukin.
VIII century BC e.
Paris.
Louvre.

Seal impression.
XXIV century BC e.
London.
British museum.

London.
British museum.

Seal impression from Akkadian times.
Moscow.
Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin.

• GILL
• GILTINE

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Gilgamesh- Gilgamesh... Wikipedia

Gilgamesh- Gilgamesh. 8th century BC. Louvre. Gilgamesh. 8th century BC. Louvre. Gilgamesh is the semi-legendary ruler of the 1st dynasty of the city of Uruk in Sumer (BC), the hero of Sumerian myths. He is credited with reigning for 126 years; was distinguished by his masculinity, enormous... Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History

GILGAMESH- semi-legendary ruler of the city of Uruk in Sumer (27-26 centuries BC). In the Sumerian epic songs of the 3rd millennium BC. e. and the great poem con. 3rd beginning 2nd millennium BC e. describes Gilgamesh's friendship with the wild man Enkidu, Gilgamesh's wanderings in... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Gilgamesh- noun, number of synonyms: 1 heroine (17) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

Gilgamesh- (Gilgamesh), the legendary ruler of the Sumerian city of the state of Uruk in the South. Mesopotamia ca. 1st half of 3 thousand BC and the hero of the epic of the same name, one of the most famous lit. works of Dr. East. The epic tells about G.’s attempts to achieve... ... The World History

Gilgamesh- semi-legendary ruler of the city of Uruk in Sumer (XXVII-XXVI centuries BC). In the Sumerian epic songs of the 3rd millennium BC. e. and a large poem from the end of the 3rd beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. describes, in particular, the wanderings of Gilgamesh in search of... encyclopedic Dictionary

GILGAMESH- Sumerian and Akkadian mythological hero. G. Akkad. name, Sumerian the variant seems to go back to the form Bil ha mes, which may have meant "ancestor hero". Research conducted in recent decades allows us to consider G. a real historical... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

Gilgamesh- semi-legendary ruler of the city of Uruk in Sumer (28th century BC). In the 3rd millennium BC. e. Sumerian epic songs about God that have come down to us arose. At the end of the 3rd beginning of the 2nd millennium, a large ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

GILGAMESH- semi-legendary ruler of the city of Uruk in Sumer (28th century BC). In the 3rd millennium BC. e. the Sumerian epics that have come down to us arose. songs about G. V con. 3rd thousand in Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylonian) language. a large epic was compiled. poem about G. In it... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia

Gilgamesh- noise. and Akkadian mythoepic. hero, was the fifth ruler of the 1st dynasty of Uruk in Sumer (late 27th - early 26th centuries BC). Obviously, soon after G.'s death he was deified; his name with determiners (determinative signs) of the deity of meetings. already in… … Ancient world. encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

• King Gilgamesh, Robert Silverberg, The next volume of the “Elite” series includes the novels “King Gilgamesh”, “The Seer” published in Russian for the first time and the stories “The Finger of the Lord”, “The Old Man” by the popular American science fiction writer... Category:

I SORRY IN ADVANCE FOR SPOILERS, but it’s impossible without them!

It seems to me that many did not understand the twists and turns of the plot, which is why there are such vague and unflattering reviews.

After a large-scale war in Mesopotamia, a talented archaeologist nicknamed Enkidu finds the tomb of the legendary demigod Gilgamesh. The Mittlight corporation begins researching his DNA, which erects a giant research complex over the tomb - the Gates of Heaven. Ten embryos are created from Gilgamesh's DNA. But the tomb also contains a portal to another dimension. Due to the interaction of this portal and human emotions, the alien creature Tiar was born. Enkidu noticed the acceleration of the decay of matter due to Tiara, which could lead to a global catastrophe. A decision is made to close the Gates of Heaven. But Tiar blows up the Gates of Heaven, kills all the scientists (only the Countess survived) and steals Gilgamesh's embryos. However, this disaster is blamed on Enkidu, who was next to Tiar a few seconds before the explosion. The entire Earth is enveloped in a mirror cover, all electronics fail.

15 years have passed, the Mittleite corporation creates a giant tower to break through the sky, but it is opposed by the Gilgamesh embryos raised by Tiar, 10 boys and girls, called the Gilgamesh squad. They are people, they are characterized by emotions (one of them even fell in love), but they are infected with the essence of Tiar - antimatter. Their goal is the destruction of humanity in the name of creating a new perfect person.

The key to understanding everything that is happening is the last 26th episode. We meet the Countess's former colleagues - Enkidu and Co. The first thing that comes to mind is not people, but Tiara puppets. Tiar herself uses Enkidu as a shell. In the same series, Enkidu says that the celestial mirror cover feeds Tiar, and also that after they destroy humanity through a cleansing flood, then after hundreds of millions of years of evolution a new, more perfect humanity will arise.

From the very beginning, Tiar was guided only by her own narrowly selfish interests as a creature from another dimension - to survive and reproduce. She did not intend to create any perfect person. People for her are both food and a threat, nothing more. Her behavior is like the behavior of a small child crawling in the grass, catching bugs and tearing off their limbs - it’s so entertaining. Having made a puppet out of Enkidu, she brainwashed the Gilgamesh squad and used them against people. And Tiara's ultimate goal is to create a mate for herself. Humanity was sacrificed for the sake of the child Tiar.

Before we see the child Tiar, we watch the reunion of Brother and Sister in another world - their pure great love has conquered death. A creature similar to Sister appeared in the Tiar dimension - it is not human. Tiar achieved her goal - now she is not alone. But the child takes after its mother and kills her. After the credits of the last episode, we see her soulless, blood-stained face with a cheerful grin.

I really sympathize with the Countess. Neither she nor Enkidu are to blame for anything. All her cruelty is fake, sometimes it seems to me that she is about to cry - there is so much suffering and grief in this image. The Countess created a real loving family and was ready to do anything to protect it. Yes, she was too clever in hiding the truth from the children, but they understood her and forgave her. It’s so hard to watch the death of people who realized their happiness. But on the other hand, people die anyway, so it’s better to die fighting, at the peak of emotions, young and happy. Therefore, I do not agree with the statement that this anime was too dark or that the children fought was pointless. I wish I could live and die like this!

What is the main moral of this story? It seems that the portal was a trap-punishment for those who dared to disturb the tomb of Gilgamesh (a parallel arises with the tomb of Tamerlane and the beginning of the Second World War). Even if the intelligent Tiar had not been born there, something very bad would still have happened.

Humanity has rejected the limitations of its development, established by God since time immemorial, but has not come up with its own and is not going to - after all, progress is an absolute good. That's why geneticists are digging into human DNA, physicists are playing around with the hadron collider, and the military is experimenting with antimatter. Behind these swarming children are greedy moneybags who can no longer wait to become immortal or acquire even more terrible weapons. We are confused about what we did not create, and the most we can do is ruin someone else’s creation. In short, humanity has become completely stupid and no longer sees the edges in what is possible and what is not. We miss the Flood, little ones!

For those who are seriously interested in the legend of Gilgamesh, I advise you to get acquainted with Zecharia Sitchin’s book “The Deity of the 12th Planet.”