#Gilgamesh to #Enkidu:
be the match for my stormy heart?
be my second self?
be my axe?
be my wife?
be mine?
Happy #ValentinesDay (belated)
From me to you <3
Or #Gilgamesh and #Enkidu to each other 😜
i am once again asking you to read #theEpicofGilgamesh
It's approx 4,000 years old, about love and grief at its core and will tear your heart out and begin to mend it again.
Ease of reading: read Stephen Mitchell's version
Academic reading: read Sophus Helle's
(or read both <3)
v-day cards are from "Queer at Last" podcast, shared with permission.
Context (Lifted from Peter Pringle’s Video Desc.): Gilgamesh was king of the Sumerian city of Uruk in Southern Mesopotamia, some 5000 years ago. According to legend, he was a ruthless despot, so the gods created a friend for him, a kind of wild man called Enkidu, who was able to challenge him successfully in battle. This took Gilgamesh’s mind off oppressing his people, and he and Enkidu became inseparable friends. The two of them shared many remarkable adventures together but they made a fatal mistake. They traveled to the great cedar forest, where they killed a sacred beast known as “The Bull of Heaven”. This angered the gods, so they sentenced Enkidu to death.
TABLET VIII of the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, contains the text I sing in this lament. I would like to thank Andrew R. George, the translator of Gilgamesh, whose translation of the text appears in the subtitles to this video, for his generous help with the pronunciation of Old Babylonian. […]
There are two musical instruments in this interpretation of the lament of Gilgamesh. The lute I decided to use is the Persian “setar”, which is one of the closest instruments to the ancient three-stringed lutes that is still in existence today. The setar is capable of playing a wide range of quarter tones but, according to archaeomusicologists, the Babylonians did not use them. Personally, I’m not so sure about that.
The other musical instrument I used is a pair of reed pipes which are played together. The ones you see at the beginning of the video are copies of the pair of silver pipes that were discovered by archaeologist, Sir Leonard Woolley, during his excavations of the Sumerian city of Ur, in the 1920’s. They have a sound similar to the modern “duduk” and, like the duduk, the shehnai and the Australian didgeridoo, they are played using the technique known as “circular breathing”, in order to produce a continuous tone without interruption. The ancient Babylonian reed pipe was known as the “malilum”.
Since I could not sing, accompany myself on the lute, and play the pipes at the same time, I sampled the sound of the pipes and used a MIDI pedal keyboard (like the ones organists use to play bass notes) to trigger the sounds - one foot for each of the two silver pipes. That way I could perform all the parts of the lament at once, without any need for overdubs.
The glazed brick wall you see behind me in this video is part of the magnificent “Gate of Ishtar”, which was the main entrance to the ancient city of Babylon.
Gilgamesh repeatedly fails the trials set before him and returns home to Uruk, realising that immortality is beyond his reach.
In the last part of the epic, the god Enki allows the shade of #Enkidu to rise and briefly reunite with #Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh says to Enkidu:
"[My friend, the] penis that you touched so your heart rejoiced,
grubs devour [it like an] old garment.
[My friend, the crotch that you] touched so your heart rejoiced,
it is filled with dust [like a crack in the ground.]"
4/4
"Hear me, elders, hear me, young men,
my beloved friend is dead, he is dead,
my beloved brother is dead, I will mourn
as long as I breathe, I will sob for him
like a woman who has lost her only child."
But #Enkidu doesn't answer. #Gilgamesh touches his heart, but it does not beat.
Then he veils Enkidu’s face like a bride’s.
Distressed by Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh undertakes a long and perilous journey to discover the secret of eternal life.
3/4
Enkidu challenges Gilgamesh to a test of strength. #Gilgamesh, who is a demigod of superhuman strength, wins the contest and the two become friends. Together, they embark on many journeys, and eventually have to fight the Bull of Heaven after Gilgamesh rejects #Ishtar's offer to become her consort. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull of Heaven, insulting Ishtar in the process, after which the gods decide to sentence #Enkidu to death and kill him by giving him a fatal illness.
2/?
For the last day of #PrideMonth, #MythologyMonday's theme is #LGBTQ myths. There are many queer stories in mythology all over the world. Today I want to tell you about #Gilgamesh and #Enkidu. Gilgamesh is a hero in Mesopotamian mythology and the eponymous protagonist of the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem written in Akkadian ca. 2100–1200 BCE. Enkidu is a wild man created by the gods to stop Gilgamesh from oppressing the people of Uruk, the Sumerian city-state.
1/?
The Curse of #Enkidu from #Gilgamesh
May the garbage of the city be what you eat.
May you drink what flows along the alley gutters.
May you importune in the alley shadows.
May you have no home.
May you sleep on the city doorsteps.
May there be signs of vomit on your clothes.
May all men curse and revile you and turn away.
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