Literature is the basis of knowledge. Everything we know, or claim to know, has come from literature in one way or another. At some point, people realized, an oral presentation wasn't enough. To improve and develop as a society, people needed to keep records of ideas, experiments, and narratives. By writing down literature, people were able to transform renowned narratives into books, novels, newspapers, and even more famously, epics. Epics were traditionally oral stories that found their way to greater populations. With the help of archeologists, we were able to recover one of the oldest known epics, dating as far back as the early bronze age (2900-2000 BC). The prominent work had no known author and was famously known as, The Epic of Gilgamesh. The epic was a testament to the Sumerian culture of the Neolithic Age, it gives the reader insight into the values and beliefs of the time. The Sumerian culture pervades the epic in its sexual and religious perspectives.
According to archaeological findings, Gilgamesh is seen as the first great hero. His placement as the ruler of Uruk depicts the society and culture he inhabited. Gilgamesh was expected to be a balanced and empathetic leader but his reputation quickly established the outrage over his abuse of power that eventually leads to the creation of Enkidu. With this, the reader can get a glimpse of gender relations and the roles of those surrounding Gilgamesh. He would cause havoc in families by taking their sons and was often promiscuous with women. He was a womanizer that used his power to manipulate people for his pleasure. Women were only seen in a positive light if they were helping the two through their journey, this may be considered an accurate depiction of women’s placement in society because they were expected to act in a “maternal fashion”. Women in Mesopotamian society did not live in a sexual society and their expected roles were unrelated to the political sphere and the masculine military domain. An example would be Ishtar, the goddess of love and war when she is given dedication to the city of Uruk. Since she controlled two facets of human nature, which are ruled by emotion, Mesopotamians believed women were guided by this, rather than the reason of other gods and men. This is an unfortunate truth today; many people limit women to their maternal and emotional abilities, assuming their intellect is insufficient. This sort of poetry was likely written by men for men; there is a certain attitude towards the idea of women and their subsidiary to men. They are used to “humanize” men by coddling them in a motherly way or nurturing those around them. We observe that masculine identity is also important in their culture by looking at the description of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. We see that a leader/king is someone masculine and strong, who dominates his people. The primitive ways of Enkidu showcase their view on the original state and the role of man as well. Enkidu was seen with shaggy hair all over his body, the hair on his head resembling a woman’s, and lived with the animals of the land. Through this, they display their views on “civilized” people. A woman is used here to help him understand sexuality; they believed a person would need to understand the aspect of sex in order to be humanized. He lay with a woman for 7 days and was miraculously humanized as opposed to his previous animalistic roots. The role of women and gender is seen through this as well, she is to be submissive, to comfort, and to take care of the man’s needs. There’s no definitive illustration of the role of women at this time in Mesopotamia, but we do know they are not on the same spectrum as men, nor are they as respectable. Sex, an emotional and instinctive act, is what makes a man mortal in this culture. It’s also seen as a form of pleasure, especially when it is non-productive since Gilgamesh is able to have relations with women without tarnishing his reputation drastically. Sex plays a role in religion too, when a man acts on it, it rids him of the possibility of becoming immortal. This can also be a way for the gods to guide or mislead mortals such as Ishtar and Gilgamesh.
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Beyond sex and gender, nature and religion were significant portions of Sumerian culture. Mesopotamians were a polytheistic society, they associated gods with aspects of nature, like fire, water, air, and more. They often personified gods while maintaining the idea that they were reflections of humankind. This often meant that there was a certain humility to them; they were imperfect and needed redemption for their wrongdoings as well. This is seen when Gilgamesh goes on a quest to find redemption and immortality. The reader meets various gods during his search and there is a dark and dangerous glimpse of the afterlife. The polytheistic belief is also seen when mentioning gods like Ishtar, as stated before, the goddess of love and war, Ea, the god of water and the arts, and Shamash, the god of the sun and his wife; the goddess of the moon. Religion in Mesopotamia, as well as the Epic, is heavily personified. Gods can choose a mortal that they want to guide or destroy, similar to when Enlil elected to destroy mankind in the flood or when Ea saved Utnapishtim by guiding him to create a boat and find divine mortality. The Flood story is also ingrained in the beliefs of Sumerian culture because it is said to be the start of civilization. The citizens rely on the gods to control the river and rain they receive and believe they are responsible for events like the aforementioned. When natural disasters occur, it is recognized as a punishment from the gods because they stem from the power of the gods, according to Mesopotamian culture. From The Epic of Gilgamesh, one can see that the belief system in Mesopotamia shines through, being a clear root in the story.
By doing an in-depth analysis of the epic, one can envision the culture of the ancient Sumerians. Their values, religious system, and attitude toward each other find their way into the context of the story. Throughout their culture, we can find parallels in the years to come. Some instances are the idea of a prominent male lead and some sort of council, as well as their perspective on gender relations. We see a masculine identity with a gender divide pervade through the culture. Sex and religion are prime factors in society and are important to future cultures and empires. Religion in the culture of Mesopotamia is seen everywhere. It is seen in the roles gods play in everyday life and also gives reference to the Greeks and their mythology. Overall, sex, culture, and religion are extremely influential and relevant in the Epic of Gilgamesh and paint a general image of Sumerian culture.
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