Reading Blog Gilgamesh

I can relate what happened to Ushnapishtim to the Bible's story of Noah. In this story, Ushnapishtim is asked by a god to build a boat that will protect him from a flood that will kill everyone. He builds the boat and gets animals and his family in it. The same thing happens in the story of Noah's ark.


We could relate this story to Snow White because in this strory the witch wants to kill Snow White like Enlil wants to kill all humans and turn them into clay
"How is it that one man has has saved himself." (page 74)
When the witch finds out that she is still alive she gets really mad as Enlil does:
"He spoke in anger to the gathered gods" (page 74)
I can also relate Enlil's thoughts to the saying "an eye for an eye" because he said:
"The punishment should always fit the crime" (page 74)
In Snow White the witch also want to be the prettiest and youngest one forever just as Gilgamesh wants to live forever. He goes in search of a plant that will make him young: "How-the-old-man-once-again-becomes-a-young-man" (page 79).
I can also relate what's happening to a movie called "Knowing" were the world is going to end and only a girl and a boy are chosen to continue living and continue with man kind. In this case, Ushnapishtim is chosen to live.

In my opinion Ushnapishtm shouldn't be awarded eternal life. Wasn't he already granted being the only one(with his family) to have lived? I think surviving the flood were everyone died was a big reward already.

In this book the serpent is also a representation of the bad like in the Bible. In this book, a serpent steels the plant and leaves Gilgamesh with nothing. "In the reeds nearby a serpent of the place [...] and stole away with it among the reeds" (pages 80 and 81)

Answer to Gilgamesh's Question: Where do we go when we die?

Everyone has a different idea of were we go when we die. It depends on culture, religion, society, family and many other aspects that are involved on are everyday life.
I think that people go to heaven or hell depending on how they were when they were alive. I don't think heaven and hell are a physical place, it's just an idea, a place that is in our minds.

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I also believe that we will always stay in people's mind and in people's heart. No one should ever be forgotten.

Gilgamesh Reading Blog

Tablets I to III - Connect
I can relate the style of this book to The Iliad, it uses classic and literary language, it is not ordinary or casual. It's kind of poetic and it is divided in a way we are not used to.
There is also allot of participation of gods like in the Iliad. (Auru, Ninruta and others)
Another thing I noticed is that there are some things that they repeat with the exact same wording, like when they are sending a message:
On pages 6 and 7
The hunter tells his father that he saw Enkidu
"I saw a hairy-bodied man today at the watering place, powerful as Ninurta the god of war; he visits the watering places with the beasts..."
Then when he tells Gilgamesh, he repeats the message; with the exact same wording. This happens allot in The Iliad.
Gilgamesh could also be considered "demigod" (the word for people that are half god half human in the Iliad). Gilgamesh is 2/3 god and 1/3 human
There is also allot desire for women. This is one of the main topics of the Iliad since the war is in part because of Helena and Achilles is mad at the king because he took her women away. In this book, Enkidu is seduced by Shamhat, he is kind of hypnotized and wants to go to the city Uruk with her. Gilgamesh is also doing a really bad thing with women; he rapes them before they get married.
The interpretation of Gilgamesh's dream can also be connected to The Iliad because we also see allot of dreams and interpretations in Greek mythology.
You can also find many similes and other literary devices in both books:
"...he looked as beautiful as a bridegroom" (page 13)
I liked Gilgamesh better because there are allot less characters that I have to remember and it is easier to understand.

Tablets IV and V - Vocabulary
I think this words are important to define even though I know what they mean. They are a really important part of these tablets.
Dream:  images, thoughts, or emotions that pass through the mind while sleeping.

Fortunate: receiving good form unexpected sources

Mortal: subject to death
                                       

Immortal: not liable to death

Words that I didn't know:

Quench: to satisfy

Oblivion: the state of being forgotten or unknown

                                                     

Tablets VI - VII - Questions

1. What is the goddess Ishtar goddess of? (the I figured out she was the goddess of love)
2. If a demigod has a child with a god will it be god or demigod?
3. Why does Gilgamesh say that Ishtar is bad (you are the house that falls down, you are the door through which the cold gets in)?
4. Why are bridegrooms so important? they always compare them to good things and mention that word allot.
5. Why is the story in divided into weird paragraphs like the stanzas on a poem?
6. Why did Gilgamesh insult Ishtar, everyone knows you can't disrespect a god or goddess?
7. What is the Bull of Heaven? 
8. Where did the idea of heaven and underworld come from? This is an idea that many religions share...where did it come from?
9. Does Uruk really exist?
10. Why doesn't she try another revenge that only involves Gilgamesh and not all the Earth?
11. Why do they give more importance to Gilgamesh than to Enkidu if Enkidu has helped him defeat the Bull, and Huwawa shouldn't they be equal?
12. Did Gilgamesh and Enkidu exist and the narrator put some magic into the story or is everything made up?
13. Like Enkidu's question, why are the gods meeting in council? (I found out it was because the killed the Bull and Huwawa, the gods are mad and they want to get to a decision.)
14. Which one are the gods going to kill? Are they going to succeed?
15. What is the importance of the rock lapis lazuli to them?