Discovering the Beauty of Uruk Through Sex and Death
Ancient Mesopotamian art has, for almost as long as humans can remember, been a way of understanding the ancient civilizations. Some of the earliest inhabitants of the world, the Sumerians, crafted vases and statues depicting their culture and rituals, as well as their relationships with the gods. The Warka Vase of Uruk pictures Sumerians giving offerings to the gods. These sacrifices were greatly important during the Sumerian era, as they symbolized the Sumerians’ dedication to the deities and hopes of protection. Inanna, the goddess representing fertility, stands at the top of the Warka Vase with a priest positioned nearby, ready to offer the sacrifices of the city’s people to her. As …show more content…
However, this changes once he is seduced by Shamhat. He is, in a way, domesticated by the sexual experience. He transitions from a naive, animal-like-being to a man. His innocence is taken, and because of this newfound knowledge and status, he is shunned by the animals. Although much more directly stated, the scene between Enkidu and Shamhat draws parallels to the story of Genesis when Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. Oftentimes in the bible, gaining knowledge is a metaphor for sex. Gaining knowledge, or losing one’s innocence, in many instances, is symbolic of sleeping with someone. In Genesis, Adam and Eve become immediately aware of their nudity following their consumption of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. In Gilgamesh, Enkidu “knew that his mind had somehow grown larger, he knew things that an animal could not know” (Mitchell 79). Both Adam and Eve and Enkidu gained this knowledge, making them less animal and more human. Though, however similar these two situations are, it is important to recognize that sex played a much different role in Sumerian culture than it did in the Christian world. Enkidu’s loss of virginity and innocence did not make him a “sinner,” as it did for Adam and Eve. Rather, it made him closer to the gods, and able to go on to find Gilgamesh and form a brotherly relationship with …show more content…
And he does just this. Through Enkidu, Gilgamesh learned he was not and could not be the strongest, most powerful being on earth. The gods surpassed him in power, and Enkidu challenged his strength. Because of Enkidu’s challenge, as well as his death, Gilgamesh learns that there is something even more powerful than life on earth: inevitable death. Through this, as well as through multiple sexual (and refusal of sexual) experiences, Gilgamesh comes to appreciate to city of Uruk and “its mighty fountains...its brickwork, how masterfully it is built..the land it encloses: the palm trees, the gardens, the orchards, the glorious palaces and temples, the shops and marketplaces, the houses, the public squares” (199). This description is significant because of its repetition of the narrator’s lines in the prologue of the epic. The narrator always knew of the beauty of Uruk, but Gilgamesh did not until the end of his journey. Because of his newfound appreciation of the city, he most likely went on to become a better king (no longer sleeping with any woman he wanted and acting
Ancient Mesopotamian art has, for almost as long as humans can remember, been a way of understanding the ancient civilizations. Some of the earliest inhabitants of the world, the Sumerians, crafted vases and statues depicting their culture and rituals, as well as their relationships with the gods. The Warka Vase of Uruk pictures Sumerians giving offerings to the gods. These sacrifices were greatly important during the Sumerian era, as they symbolized the Sumerians’ dedication to the deities and hopes of protection. Inanna, the goddess representing fertility, stands at the top of the Warka Vase with a priest positioned nearby, ready to offer the sacrifices of the city’s people to her. As …show more content…
However, this changes once he is seduced by Shamhat. He is, in a way, domesticated by the sexual experience. He transitions from a naive, animal-like-being to a man. His innocence is taken, and because of this newfound knowledge and status, he is shunned by the animals. Although much more directly stated, the scene between Enkidu and Shamhat draws parallels to the story of Genesis when Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. Oftentimes in the bible, gaining knowledge is a metaphor for sex. Gaining knowledge, or losing one’s innocence, in many instances, is symbolic of sleeping with someone. In Genesis, Adam and Eve become immediately aware of their nudity following their consumption of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. In Gilgamesh, Enkidu “knew that his mind had somehow grown larger, he knew things that an animal could not know” (Mitchell 79). Both Adam and Eve and Enkidu gained this knowledge, making them less animal and more human. Though, however similar these two situations are, it is important to recognize that sex played a much different role in Sumerian culture than it did in the Christian world. Enkidu’s loss of virginity and innocence did not make him a “sinner,” as it did for Adam and Eve. Rather, it made him closer to the gods, and able to go on to find Gilgamesh and form a brotherly relationship with …show more content…
And he does just this. Through Enkidu, Gilgamesh learned he was not and could not be the strongest, most powerful being on earth. The gods surpassed him in power, and Enkidu challenged his strength. Because of Enkidu’s challenge, as well as his death, Gilgamesh learns that there is something even more powerful than life on earth: inevitable death. Through this, as well as through multiple sexual (and refusal of sexual) experiences, Gilgamesh comes to appreciate to city of Uruk and “its mighty fountains...its brickwork, how masterfully it is built..the land it encloses: the palm trees, the gardens, the orchards, the glorious palaces and temples, the shops and marketplaces, the houses, the public squares” (199). This description is significant because of its repetition of the narrator’s lines in the prologue of the epic. The narrator always knew of the beauty of Uruk, but Gilgamesh did not until the end of his journey. Because of his newfound appreciation of the city, he most likely went on to become a better king (no longer sleeping with any woman he wanted and acting