HIST-102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 39: Utnapishtim, Enkidu, Iliad
9 Oct 2020
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Document Summary
Wrapped in an animal"s hide, the hero has himself become the beast but even stranger than a beat since this is a peculiar kind of beast that feels sorrow on account of its knowledge of death. Gilgamesh"s mourning for enkidu is ritualistic and extreme, paralleled by that of achilles for. It is this stark realization of mortality that motivates gilgamesh"s new search for immortality and shifts the epic into a psychological and even spiritual mode. Gilgamesh is reduced to the animal state and lives as enkidu did, a homeless wanderer on the steppe. On his way to utnapishtim, gilgamesh first meets the poison scorpions: gilgamesh"s adversary is evil in general, and in particular, death. His reaction to the jeweled trees is one of amazements and wonder rather than dread. He looks terrifying, like a beast, and like a beast he can survive. She is urging him to transform the banquet of the dead that can be characteristic of ancient.
