Questions tagged [gilgamesh]
For questions about the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Mesopotamian epic poem, as well as its eponymous hero.
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What are the names of the seven sages in the Epic of Gilgamesh [duplicate]
The Dictionary of Deities and Demons states that:
Based on a tradition that goes back to the 3rd millennium, the term apkallu is used for legendary creatures endowed with wisdom, seven in number, who ...
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Why does Shamash help the trapper rather than Enkidu?
In episode I of The Epic of Gilgamesh, why does Shamash help the trapper rather than Enkidu, a creation of his peers who was created to help the people oppressed by Gilgamesh?
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Why did Ishullanu refuse to make love to Ishtar?
When Ishtar proposes to Gilgamesh, he articulates the stories of her previous lovers who suffered badly as a consequence of being with her. However, there is one of them who is named Ishullanu that ...
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Why did humanizing Enkidu take a work of a prostitute and not of an ordinary woman?
The following lines suggest that Enkidu was humanized as a result of having sex with Shamhat:
When with her delights he was fully sated
he turned his gaze to his herd.
The gazelles saw Enkidu, ...
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Why is Gilgamesh 1/3 a man, 2/3 a god? [duplicate]
The hero of Iliad, Achilles is half man and half god because his mother is a goddess and his father is a man. Then how come is Gilgamesh 2/3 god?
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Why is Gilgamesh considered to be one-third human and two-third god?
Most of the time, the term "demigod" is used to describe people who are the offspring of a god and a human. As far as I know, Gilgamesh is the child of a goddess and a king. Why then is Gilgamesh ...
user1385
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Examples of wild men or women civilized through sex?
In the beginning of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the prostitute Shamhat civilizes the wild man Enkidu through sex:
She did for the man the work of a woman,
his passion caressed and embraced her.
For ...
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What caused the Deluge?
In Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Uta-napishti relays the story of the Deluge:
Said Uta-napishti to him, to Gilgamesh:
'Let me disclose, Gilgamesh, a matter most secret,
to you will tell a ...
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Why did the gods spare Gilgamesh?
In Tablet VII of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods Anu, Enlil, Ea and Shamash decide that Enkidu should pay with his life for the deaths of Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven:
Enkidu began to speak to ...
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Why did Humbaba have to die?
In Tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh and Enkidu fight the monstrous Humbaba. After the fight is over the defeated Humbada pleads for his life, unsuccessfully:
'Now, Enkidu, [my] release ...
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Who were the Seven Sages who laid the foundations of Uruk?
In Tablet I of the The Epic of Gilgamesh, Seven Sages are said to have laid the foundations of Uruk:
Climb Uruk's wall and walk back and forth!
Survey its foundations, examine the brickwork!
Were its ...
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Why does Gilgamesh kill Urshanabi's stone men?
In Tablet X of The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh smashes the stone men that crew Ur-shanabi's boat.
They took fright, the Stone [Ones, who crewed] the boat,
who were not [harmed by the ...
user62
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Forests and The Epic of Gilgamesh
This might be a stupid question, but I was hoping that someone could explain the role forests played in Mesopotamia at the time The Epic of Gilgamesh was written. I'm asking because one of the major ...
user62
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What is the context behind Gilgamesh's rejection of Ishtar?
In Tablet VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh rejects Ishtar's advances after describing the harm she has caused to her previous lovers (e.g. she turned a shepard into a wolf).
I have a few ...
user62
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How does Shamhat know about Gilgamesh's dreams?
In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Shamhat has intimate knowledge about Gilgamesh's dreams:
"Before you even came from the uplands,
Gilgamesh in Uruk was seeing you in dreams..."
(The Epic of Gilgamesh; ...
user62
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What does Gilgamesh's title "He Who Saw the Deep" mean?
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh is given the title "He Who Saw the Deep" (Gilgamesh). What is the meaning behind that title?
user62
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What kind of being was Huwawa?
Humbaba was the guardian of the Cedar Forest and was fought by Gilgamesh.
Some say Humbaba is a monstrous giant and some say he was a dangerous mechanical monster (like a robot).
For example in ...
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What was the Plant of Everlasting Youth? [duplicate]
In which story we can find information about the Plant of Everlasting Youth and what kind of plant it was?
Did it give immortality or something else?
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How do we know that Gilgamesh was a demigod?
The Wikipedia page suggest that in the epic, Gilgamesh is a demigod of superhuman strength.
How do we know he was a demigod? What makes someone a demigod?
Did he possess some special powers that ...
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How did Gilgamesh die?
Do we know how and in which circumstances Gilgamesh died?
According to these answers seems that The Epic of Gilgamesh doesn't mention that, however Wikipedia page mention something about Sumerian ...
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What was the plant that Gilgamesh found after Utnapishtim's story?
I'm assuming that the Gilgamesh myth is fairly distinct from the Mesoamerican Fountain of Youth and the Hindu Soma, but are there any corroborating myths or other research into the details of the ...
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