Monthly Archives: September 2010

The Epic of Gilgamesh can be compared to an article in the New York Times, Gates to Meet With Russian Defense Minister Serdyukov, by Gates representing Gilgamesh and Serdyukov as Enkidu. During the Cold War Gates and Serdyukov were adversaries, now they are finally beginning to see eye to eye. This relationship is similar to the one between Gilgamesh and Enkidu, they start out as enemies and eventually become friends. The Epic of Gilgamesh says, “They grappled with each other at the entry to the marital chamber, in the street they attacked each other, the public square of the land. The doorsteps trembled and the wall shook. … They kissed each other and became friends.” (66-67) This shows how the relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu quickly changes from foes to friends. Another comparison would be how Serdyukov does not have a lot of experience in the military, just as Enkidu came from the wild and did not have much experience with slaying. The New York Time states that Serdyukov “had more experience in the furniture industry than with the military,” likewise Enkidu lived with the animals before he met Gilgamesh and ventured out to slay Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. Also, Enkidu slaying Humbaba resembles Serdyukov’s goal of reducing the size of his military and changing to a streamline command structure. In both of these situations both, Enkidu and Serdyukov, are doing, or have done, something that differs from what they would have done in the past. Lastly, the New York Times states, “’The entire military hates him, and that is not an overstatement,’ said Aleksandr Golts, an independent military analyst in Moscow. ‘That which Serdyukov is doing is a challenge to the Russian military culture as a whole, the culture that is based upon the idea of a mass-mobilization army starting with Peter the Great,’” this shows that Serdyukov’s military does not agree with his new plan to alter the Russian army. Which is similar to how the God’s felt about Enkidu after he killed Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. Enkidu was created to stand up to Gilgamesh not befriend him, this happening angered the God’s. These comparisons show how similar the situation between Gates and Serdyukov is to Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Epic.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/world/europe/15military.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=gates%20and%20russian%20counterpart&st=cse

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a poem of a friendship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh, who are both “two-third god and one-third human.” (60)   Before Enkidu arrives, Gilgamesh terrorized the people of Uruk.  One day Anu, the sky god, tells the goddess of creation to make someone equal to Gilgamesh after the people called for help.   Aruru, goddess of creation, created Enkidu out of the wild animals.  He became a man when the harlot was sent to seduce him.  After a brief brawl, the two become great friends.

Everyone knows that death is an inevitable part of the human life.  Gilgamesh is upset because only the gods can live forever.  After the death of Enkidu, Gilgamesh is terrified about the day when his life comes to an end.  So his quest to Utnapishtim was for him to become immoral.  Even though both Enkidu and Gilgamesh learned that the only thing that last is fame or how a person affect others whether in a positive or negative way.  In Tablet VIII, Gilgamesh says to Enkidu “the paths going up to and down from the forest cedars all mourn you; the weeping does not end day or night.” (83)  As Enkidu is laying on his deathbed, Gilgamesh is pouring his heart out to his “brother”.  He is letting him know that people would not forget about him and will mourn his death forever.  The people will never forget the changes Enkidu brought onto them.

It’s been nine years since our country was attacked by terrorist.  September 11, 2001 will never be forgotten, and the people who lost their lives will never be forgotten as well.   And every year since the attack, there ahs been a memorial ceremony honoring the innocent who died as well as the brave who died trying to save their fellow American.  In the New York Times article “On Sept. 11 Anniversary Rifts Amid Mourning,” Michelle Obama was quoted from her speech giving in Shanksville, Pa., “We are here to celebrate the bravery of the passengers.”  The police officers and fire fighters were the bravest of them all.  They risked their lives for others.  At the end of the day,  it is what you do that people will remember you.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/nyregion/12sept11.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=9/11%20anniversary&st=cse

In the Epic, Gilgamesh is a powerful man with great authority. The Gods decide to make Enkidu, a man of the wilderness who is as powerful as Gilgamesh, to compete against him. Enkidu declares,

“I will challenge him.

Let me shout out in Uruk: ‘I am the mighty one!’

Lead me in and I will change the order of things. . .”

Enemies at first, they become friends and join together with a common goal, to take Cedar from the Cedar Forest, which is protected by the beast Humbaba. This is similar to the Israel and Palestine leaders in their compromise of peace and land. The New York Times article states, “The leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority held more than two hours of face-to-face peace talks in this Red Sea resort on Tuesday, delving into several of the core issues that divide the two sides but not breaking an impasse over Jewish settlements.” Even though they may not be allies, the Israelis and the Palestinians are trying to find a peaceful way to get what they want.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/world/middleeast/15mideast.html?ref=world

In the Epic Gilgamesh and New York Times Article,“New Afghan Corruption Inquiries Frozen”, there was a common theme of mistrust due to changing perceptions.  In the New York Times Article, I notice similarities between the mistrust of Enkidu by wild animals and the Afghan Administration and their Anti – Corruption Officials.  Enkidu is view different by the animal afterward more like a man and less as part of the wild after meeting Shamhat. The Anti -Corruption officials similarly are view as a tool to check their power by Coalition by the Afghan Administration.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu loses the trust of the animals after he has sex with Shamhat. “His Lust  groaned over her; for six days and seven nights Enkidu stayed aroused, and had intercourse with the harlot until he was sated with her charms. But when he turned his attention to his animals, the gazelles saw Enkidu and darted off, the wild animals distanced themselves from his body.” (p.63, l. 166-173)

As cited in the last paragraph of the New York Times Article, “A prominent Afghan businessman who knows Mr. Karzai well said he was just stalling. “The Americans are damned,” he said, referring to the Salehi case. “It’s about sending a signal: the fact that the guy got away means it’s a toothless tiger.”’ 

The difference of how some is perceive comes from either one party gaining new knowledge that is different the other party does not understanding.  For when Enkidu meets Shamhat who introduce him to the world of man and the animals perceive him differently. In the case of  Anti-Corruption officials, the perception may be that they are the tools of the west but in their eyes the officials might see that in order to be able to govern efficiently, certain activities must be weed out  so the people can trust their government again. It is through whomever’s  eyes you are looking through that becomes your perception of the event, place or thing.

Sources:

Damrosch, David and Pike, David L.  2009. Longman Anthology of World Literature The Ancient World, Vol. A 2^nd Edition. “The Epic of Gilgamesh” p.56-97

Nordland, Rod and Rubin, Alissa J.  2010.  “New Afghan Corruption Inquiries Frozen”  nytimes.com,  September 14 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/world/asia/15afghan.html?pagewanted=1&ref=asia

While I was reading the story of Gilgamesh, something that surprised me is the fact that the people sends a harlot to Enkindu in order to investigate and discover who Enkindu really is. The father orders the trapper to go to Gilgamesh and “ask him to give you a harlot, a wanton from the temple of love; return with her, and let her woman’s power overpower this man (p.4 par. 4).” In a way, the harlot is a form of diplomat trying to communicate and discover a foreign group or in this case man. It can be assumed that it is best to send a woman because a righteous man would not dare hurt a woman.

In the Philippines, the government control has been full of corruption and chaos. In specific, the control for the Mindanao area has been very critical. In an attempt for a candidate to take some control of the Philippines, Mr. Mangudadatu [opposing candidate] “sent his wife and other female relatives…because he believed the Ampatuans [incumbent] would not dare hurt the women (Onishi par. 7).” Unfortunately, everyone that was sent by Mr. Mangudadatu was massacred on the spot.

In both stories, women signify as a form of diplomacy and communication. In Shamar’s case, she was sent in order to turn this “animal” into a normal human being. They wanted him to become more human like filled with desire. In Mr. Mangudadatu’s case, he sends the women in his family in order to inform others of the new person [Mr. Mangudadatu] in the scene. They wanted to open up the eyes of the local people to vote for a change.

Works Cited

“The Epic of Gilgamesh.” Assyrian International News Agency.

<http://www.aina.org/books/eog/eog.pdf>  9 September 2010

Onishi, Norimitsu. “Clan Planned Philippine Massacre Over Dinner, Witness Says.” The

New York Times.  8 September 2010. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/world/asia/09phils.html?scp=4&sq=philippines&st=cse>. 9 September 2010.

Three Chinese scientists set the journey to plunge into the bottom of the South China Sea and they were successful. The dive was approximately 3,759 meter in depth and the scientists were in a tiny submarine, size of a small truck. This is the furthest anyone has tried to go in depth. There were previous tries but none of them were as deep as this one. And in the future years, the Chinese scientists plan to push even deeper. It is a very big accomplishment for the Chinese because they have outcome all the forces and problem to conquest even the deepest sea. They have accomplished a huge goal by exploring the deep, dark and enormous sea bed. They even planted their flags in the sea bed where the submarine landed. By now you can tell how this is related to the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Gilgamesh is a powerful king, and so he decides to conquer the Cedar Mountains and kill Humbaba, the beast who ruled the lands of the cedar forest. And he is successful in accomplishing his goal, and he does it with the help of Enkidu. Similarly, in the case of the scientist, they were successful because they had each others help. If they worked alone then they might not be successful just the Gilgamesh would not be able to conquer the cedar forest without Enkidu. The Scientists conquered the enormous sea just as Gilgamesh conquered the vast Cedar Forest.

The Article: