Quote of the Moment:

Quote of the Moment: Who said this, and why? "I'm coming to realize EVERYONE can eat me."

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Gilgamesh Still Gets Me



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.