Even reading a condensed version of this Sumerian epic in an
anthology of world mythology still gets me all emotional!
I read a picture book
version of it when I was young, and fell in love with Enkidu; he is still my
favorite character. Ah, the bromance between the two heroes! The grief that Gilgamesh
suffers after his friend dies! Get your hankies out!
Interestingly, the other notion
that struck me when re-reading this epic was the killing of the giant Humbaba
and the cutting down of the Cedar Forest of Lebanon. Is this the first
historical account of deforestation? It seems that the two heroes cut down all
the trees and basically stole all the timber. Murder and theft are not modern
concepts.
Still, I love this epic in all its Mesopotamian clay tablet-y-ness.
Keep
reading, whatever the format.
