Good lecture on the Epic of Gilgamesh

[repoman]

Fairly detailed. I wonder if some aspects of it were an influence on Ecclesiastes.

 

[Lion IRC]

I doubt it.
"Kings, by virtue of their many counsellors and the special trappings and rituals of kingship, were expected to be wise and sagacious."
Ecclesiastes didn't need to invent a ruler who just so happened to be wise.

 

[braces_for_impact]

Marked to watch later. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Opoponax]

Been there, read it, disappointed by it.

Forgotten most if it. So I can't argue about it.

 

[bilby]

Been there, read it, disappointed by it.

Forgotten most if it. So I can't argue about it.

Epic fail.

 

[couch_sloth]

Thanks for posting it. Very interesting video.

I became curious as to when this tale was lost. e.g. The ancient Greeks appear to have not known of it.
I did read that the epic was probably familiar to many in that part of the Middle East, until the end of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (612 BCE). Most likely, some Jews would have come into contact with this epic, thus explaining the striking similarities between the Utnapishtim and Noah flood tales.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Thanks for posting it. Very interesting video.

I became curious as to when this tale was lost. e.g. The ancient Greeks appear to have not known of it.
I did read that the epic was probably familiar to many in that part of the Middle East, until the end of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (612 BCE). Most likely, some Jews would have come into contact with this epic, thus explaining the striking similarities between the Utnapishtim and Noah flood tales.

It's really important to keep in mind that these were oral stories which were written down now and again. Oral stories evolve super fast and are different than modern stories. Ancients would have thought the concept of an "original" story as being absurd.

We have studied modern bardic traditions from non-litterate cultures and they're all strikingly similar. There's a couple of simple high-lights that follow a set structure. The bard was free to fill out the spaces between them any way they saw fit. They had a lot of creative licence. There are famous exceptions, like the Zoroastrian Avesta. But they're famous for a reason, and it is written in a way to make verbatim recolection easier.

So as far as the ancients were concerned the Utnapishtim story and the Noah's story would have been the same story. Names were often changed or switched around. That didn't seem to bother them. Adding or removing gods from pantheons to fit new political realities was as simple and effortless.

Judaism only became monotheistic (well... 'ish) somewhere around 70 AD - 300 BC. Before that it fit the pattern.