Gilgamesh Tablet XI

Tablet XI of this book may be one of the largest ones in the entire book. Again, every large tablet has those vocabulary words that we are not so sure about their meaning. The words that I found reading this tablet I think should be described to be able to understand the text even more and especially because when you end up having that many words in one single tablet y may be confusing. And even more important because this is the tablet that is closer to the conclusion of this book. The words that I didn't understand were:


Reed: the great stalk of any of various tall grasses, especially the ones growing in marshy places. 

Obliteration: the act of being obliterated.

Asphalt: any of various dark-colored, solid, bituminous substances, native in various areas of the earth composed mainly of hydrocarbon mixtures.

Cubits: an ancient linear unit based on the length of the forearm, from elbow to the tip of the middle finger, usually from 17 to 21 inches.

Bitumen: any various natural substances, as asphalt, maltha, or gilsonite, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons.

Caulk: to fill or close seams or cervices of a tank or window in order to make it watertight or airtight.

Capsizing: to turn bottom up. 

Welter: to roll, toss, or heave, as waves or the sea.

Calamity: a great misfortune or disaster, as a flood or a serious injury.

Engulfs: to swallow up in or as in a gulf.

Wept: simple past tense and past participle of the verb "weep". 

Libation: a pouring out of wine or other liquid in honor of a deity.

Cedar: any of several Old World, coniferous trees of the genus Cedrus, having wide and spreading branches.

Ornately: elaborately or sumptuously adorned, often excessively or showily.  

Transgressed: to violate a law, command, moral code.

Kneel: to go down or rest on the knees or a single knee.

Dwelling: a building or a place of shelter to live in; place of residence.

Perilous: involving or full of grave risk or peril.

Garments: any article of clothing.

Gilgamesh Tablets VIII, IX, X

What happened to me reading this part of the book was pretty funny because I made a straight connection to a book I read when I was in seventh grade. The book is called "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll. 

The exact part that I made a connection to this book in was in page 51 (tablet 9) when Gilgamesh explains and describes every league he traveled. He described the way he felt physically and emotionally and also the physical description of the place where he was at that specific moment. In "Through the Looking Glass" Alice is in Wonderland and she meets the Red Queen and she challenges  Alice to move through the eight different "regions" of Wonderland. Taking into consideration that Wonderland is marked like a giant chessboard (which has eight rows). Each chapter is about one of the squares that Alice passes through and in each one she explains and describes how she felt physically and emotionally as well as the place and the events themselves. 

Obviously the length of the writing is completely different because in "Gilgamesh" it's two lines and in "Through the Looking Glass" it is at least 30 pages. But either way the way that Gilgamesh described the situation was very similar to the way Alice described her situation in Wonderland. 

Gilgamesh's Question: "What Happens When We Die"

Yeah, I know. You may be asking yourself: why on earth is a picture of the color black on this post? Well, there are many reasons to it.

I am a non-believer (atheist) or whatever you want to call it. We are very realist and scientific people, therefore our idea (or maybe just mine and my family's) of what happens after we die is nothing. I know what you are thinking. You must be saying: nothing?! This dude is the most pessimist human being I have ever met. Well yeah. maybe it is pessimist but it's realist too.

I don't believe in heaven or hell. Neither in re-encarnation. Neither in a magical perfect world that is adjusted magically for us and just for us. No, for us it is not that simple. Actually, from all the studies we have made there is no posible explanation of paradise. But we do understand why people want to believe in paradise. If you are all the time thinking that when you die, the world isn't over for you; that there is this magical place that is perfect in every single way possible. You think of death as a marvelous thing. It can vary depending on the person's beliefs. But for us it is just the end, stop, no more, finish line. When your heart stops beating, you brain starts to die and your body starts decomposing it is over. And we believe that is just what happens. The human body just stops, forever.

I mean no disrespect to any faith or religion by this post that expresses my opinion of the moment of death.

Gilgamesh Tablets VI & VII

There were 27 vocabulary words that I dud not understand but I do think they should be defined for a better understanding of this section of the book. The majority of these are nouns and adjective that help us understand the context of the story.


Chariot: a light, two-wheeled vehicle for one person, usually drawn by two horses and driven from a standing position.

Doe: the female of the deer, antelope, rabbit and certain other animals.

Ewes: a female sheep, especially when fully mature.

Slain: past participle of the verb "slay".

Calamity: a great misfortune of disaster.

Bewildering: something that is extremely confusing.

Contrivances: something contrived; a device, especially a mechanical one.

Snaffled: usually something that is jointed in the middle and without a curb, with a large ring at each end to which a rein and cheek strap are attached.

Hobbled: to walk lamely

Mangy: having, caused by, or like a mange.

Reeds: a straight stalk of any of various tall grasses, especially of the genera Phragmites and Arundo, growing in marshy places.

Baffled: to confuse, bewilder or perplexed.

Garnered: to gather or deposit in or as if in a granary or other storage place.

Thrashed: to beat soundly in punishment; flog.

Reeking: a strong, unpleasant smell.

Butcher: a retail or wholesale dealer in meat.

Tore: simple past tense of tear.

Haunched: the fleshy part of the body about the hip.

Festoon: a string or chain of flowers, foliage, or ribbons suspended in a curve between two points.

Votaries: a person who is bound by solemn religious vows, as a monk or a nun.

Errand: a short or quick trip to accomplish a specific purpose, as to buy something, deliver a package, or convey a message, often for someone else.

Obliterate: to remove or destroy all traces of something; do away with; destroy completely.

Beseeching: to implore urgently.

Harlot: another word for a whore or prostitute.

Revile: to assail with contemptuous or opprobrious language; address or speak abusively.

Woe: grievous distress, affliction, or trouble.

Capsized: to turn bottom up; overturn.

Gilgamesh Tablets IV & V

First if all, since this is clearly happening in Mesopotamia because all the gods and supernatural figures that are being mentioned in the story are all gods from ancient Sumer and Mesopotamia. That takes me back to the year 2007 in my family trip to Africa.

We visited the Kalahari Desert in Botswana and our situation was similar to the ones that Enkidu and Gilgamesh are passing through at the moment. They are in a desert traveling 50 leagues a day with one food break and they needed to dig a hole to be able to drink water. Our experience was obviously not like that in terms of resources and travel length but we did go through something similar. We spent three days in that desert stopping in different tent places they had ready for us. It was a safari in the desert because not only we wanted to see the desert itself but the animals in it as well. Unfortunately we didn't see any lions but we did see a lot of wild deer (like the Oryx for example).

The intense heat and the walking distances were all part of the experience and when I read the first pages of this section (where the voyage of these two characters is explained) I remembered our trip to the Kalahari instantly because it is really similar. The only thing that wasn't that similar was the praying to the Mesopotamian Gods, or any gods at all.

Gilgamesh Tablets I, II & III

As I read the first three tablets of "The Tale of Gilgamesh" I connected these pages of the book to many stories of ancient Greece because of the temple prostitute. In ancient greek temples, prostitutes would be "living" in the temples for men to go and have fun in the presence of the since love was the creation of a god (Aphrodite) which is also the goddess of sexual intercourse and beauty. I remembered the story of Medusa. The story is majorly about when Poseidon had intercourse with Medusa (before she was a "snaked hair" gorgon) in the temple of his niece Athena (goddess of wisdom and war) and out of anger Athena cursed her to be the ugliest creature in Greece. So ugly and horrible that people would turn into stone if made direct eye contact with her.

Also, these first pages of the book reminded me to the Disney movie of "The Emperor's New Groove" which is the story of the Emperor of the Inca empire in Peru. The reason why this connects is because he was the supreme of the greatest city of the empire. City that was so great and marvelous everybody wanted to go there; just like Uruk in the book. Also that Gilgamesh is the supreme leader in the book; just like Kuzco in the movie.