4 ms·
I rather like how the story is bookended. After everything that happens, it ends with Gilgamesh reciting an excerpt from the beginning to Ur-Shanabi the boatman
by wl 5y ago
I rather like how the story is bookended. After everything that happens, it ends with Gilgamesh reciting an excerpt from the beginning to Ur-Shanabi the boatman:
Go up, Ur-Shanabi, pace out the walls of Uruk.
Study the foundation terrace and examine the brickwork.
Is not its masonry kiln-fired brick?
And did not seven masters lay its foundations?
One square mile of city, one square mile of gardens,
One square mile of clay pits, a half square mile of Ishtar's dwelling.
Three and a half square miles is the measure of Uruk!
- shantnutiwari 5y agoYes, the ending returning to the start was beautiful ,in a heart breaking sort of way
- idoubtit 5y agoThis was after Gilgamesh, fearing death, tried to gain immortality and failed. He's back to his town, but he's not afraid any more. I loved this poignant ending: he's not bitter; cities are there to stay through buildings (walls) and society (agricultural production, religion); meaning we cannot gain immortality as individuals, but what we achieve as a collective outlasts us.
- shantnutiwari 5y agothats a great point-- I never realised it in my reading. An I suppose Gilgamesh the epic survived, even though the culture/civilisation that created it died out. Which just goes to show that immortality is possible for beautiful ideas/stories, just not for humans
- pfdietz 5y agoEgypt's might is tumbled down Down a-down the deeps of thought; Greece is fallen and Troy town, Glorious Rome hath lost her crown, Venice' pride is nought. But the dreams their children dreamed Fleeting, unsubstantial, vain Shadowy as the shadows seemed Airy nothing, as they deemed, These remain. (Mary E. Coleridge, 1908)