Gilgamesh and the
Quest for the Self
Stephen Hagin
Kennesaw State University
duality
yin / yang
Sumeria
farmers ♀ 4000 BCE
Babylonia
herders ♂ 2500 BCE
Alexander Pope
“Essay on Man”
from Epistle II —
Of the Nature and State of Man with
Respect to Himself, as an Individual
KNOW then thyself, presume not
God to scan,
The proper study of mankind is man.
Plac’d on this isthmus of a middle
state,
A being darkly wise, and rudely
great:
He hangs between; in doubt to act,
or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or
beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas’ning but to
err;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to
all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error
hurl’d:
The glory, jest, and riddle of the
world!
♂ ♀
Society Nature
God beast
mind body
act rest
reason ignorance
thought passion
lord prey
Gilgamesh Enkidu
“Every agent acts either by
nature or by intelligence.”
— St. Thomas Aquinas, “The End of Man” (13th c.)
♂ ♀
Gilgamesh Enkidu
Society Nature
“What is a marriage? The
myth tells you what it is.
It’s the reunion of the
separated duad.”
— Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (5)
♂ ♀
Gilgamesh Enkidu
Society Nature
♂ ♀
Gilglmesh Shamhat Enkidu
Society Nature
♂ ♀
Gilgamesh Humbaba
Enkidu
Society Nature
Uruk Land of
the Living
♂ ♀
Gil. & Enkidu Humbaba
Shamash
Society Nature
Uruk Land of
the Living
“For he who thinks again of
what he hates, in a certain
measure suffers that which he
does not love.”
— Adelard of Bath, “Questions on Nature” (12th c.)
♂ ♀
Society Nature
Aries Taurus
civilization Bull of Heaven
Gil & Enkidu
society’s law Humbaba
lumber Land of Living
Shamash Ishtar
“[N]o great credit should be
given to what is merely
supported by human reasons,
because it may be combated
with arguments equally
forcible.”
— William of Malmesbury, “The Cistercian Order” (12th c.)
Physical Quest
vs.
Spiritual Quest
♂ ♀
death life/rebirth
Gil Scorpion Men Enkidu
Society Nature
Uruk Land of the
Far-Away
Scorpion Men — solar guardians
Siduri — divine wine maker
Urshanabi — ferryman
Utnapishtim — immortal man
♀
flower
serpent
water
Nature
“[T]hose who study only the
authorities and not the works of
nature are in art the grandsons
and not the sons of nature, which
is the supreme guide of the good
authorities.”
— Leonardo da Vinci, “Nature as the Supreme Authority” (15th c.)
“All things must die, it is but
truth to say.
It cannot profit any soul alive
Against this everlasting law to
strive.”
— Geoffrey Chaucer, The Knight’s Tale, Part IV
Gilgamesh:
“Urshanabi, this plant is a plant to
cure a crisis.
With it a man may win the breath
of life.
Its name shall be: “An old man
grows into a young man.”
—The Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet XI
Gilgamesh =
“old man, young man”
bilga — “elder, ancestor”
mesh — “young man, hero”
♂ ♀
knowledge Gilgamesh experience
Society Nature
The Conference of Birds
Farid Ud-din Attar
12th century Persian myth
There in the Simorgh's radiant
face they saw
Themselves, the Simorgh of
the world — with awe
They gazed, and dared at last
to comprehend
They were the Simorgh at the
journey's end.
They ask (but inwardly; they
make no sound)
The meaning of these
mysteries that confound
Their puzzled ignorance —
how is it true
That “we” is not distinguished
here from “you”?
And silently their shining Lord
replies:
“I am a mirror set before your
eyes,
And all who come before my
splendor see
Themselves, their own unique
reality;
Though you have struggled,
wandered, traveled far,
It is yourselves you see and
what you are.”
— Farid Ud-din Attar, The Conference of Birds (12th c.)
Sir Thomas Malory
Le Morte D’Arthur
“The Tale of the Sangreal”
Arthur, King of the Waste Land
“Therefore, let us go to the
jousting field and hold our last
tournament, so that when we
are dead, men shall remember
us by it.”
— Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur (15th c.)
Arthur, King of the Waste Land
“Sir Gawain,” said the king,
“have you not betrayed
me?”
— Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur (15th c.)
Sir Launcelot
“My lord, of sinful knights
you are still the greatest.”
— Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur (15th c.)
Sir Launcelot
“My lords, those of you who
have sworn to go on the quest
of the Holy Grail must leave
your ladies behind you.”
— Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur (15th c.)
“[C]arnal love does not have
the wherewith to diffuse
itself within us.”
— Peter Damiani, “The Monastic Ideal” (11th c.)
Sir Gawain
Sir Melyas
Sir Ector
Sir Uwayne
Sir Galahad
“We always think in terms of
opposites. But God, the
ultimate, is beyond the pairs of
opposites […].”
— Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (57)
Sir Galahad
Transcends the Dualities
“Go now, adventurous knight, to the
Maidens’ Castle, and change their evil
customs.”
After checking his arms and putting his
shield before him, Sir Galahad rode on
toward the castle. He was met by seven
young noblewomen.
Sir Galahad
Transcends the Dualities
“Sir, you ride at your own peril, for you will
have to cross the water,” said one of them.
“My ladies, why should I not cross the
water?” said Sir Galahad, and rode on again.
— Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur (15th c.)
Through the Dream
Comes Wisdom
Sir Launcelot has a vision of the Grail
“between waking and sleeping.”
Sir Ector, in his dream, says: “We shall not
seek that which we shall not find.”
— Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur (15th c.)
“[Gods] are magnified dreams,
and dreams are manifestations
in image form of the energies
of the body in conflict with
each other.”
— Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (46)
Enlightenment: Harmonize the
Masculine and Feminine
“The secret cause of all
suffering is mortality itself,
which is the prime condition of
life. It cannot be denied if life
is to be affirmed.”
— Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (xi)
“So I am brought to shame,”
[Launcelot] said to himself.
“When I sought only worldly fame,
none could gainsay me, whether
my quarrel was right or wrong; but
now that I search for holy things,
by my sins I am disqualified.”
— Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur (15th c.)
“My sons, the quest of the
Holy Grail means other things
than killing your fellow men,
and those are the adventures
to which you and your fellow
sinners are accustomed.”
— Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur (15th c.)
Arcita (Mars)
vs.
Palamon (Venus)
= Palamon wins!
“Pray, what have you seen?” Sir
Launcelot was asked.
“I have seen such things that are
beyond the power of the tongue to
describe or the heart to recall; and
had I not sinned I should have
seen much more.”
— Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur (15th c.)
“The easy attainment of
love makes it of little value;
difficulty of attainment
makes it prized.”
— Andreas Capellanus, “The Rules of Courtly Love,”
Rule XIV (12th c.)