Mission Accomplished

Gilgamesh is already in on the fact that he has to die. But he still wonders how Utnapishtim came to be a god, and that’s where the story begins. Ea, the ‘clever’ god, told Utnapishtim, once upon a time, to build a boat, in which he would put “an instance of each living thing,” so they can survive the upcoming flood. It is obviously very similar (if not the same) to the story told in the bible about Noah’s ark. So I wonder, if scholars say this book was written before the bible, is that some sort of pre-determined psychic notion? Or does this lead us to infer the bible was really written first, and Gilgamesh blends an interpretation from that religious text? In any matter, I can’t help but be puzzled by the reason the author would write about that and how it relates to the message he is trying to give.

He also says, “On the seventh day finished building the boat.” Does that in any way relate to God finishing the making of the world? He keeps on mentioning things with the number seven: like how in the seventh day he finally freed a dove, and how he set out seven vessels…Again with Genesis and God.

After the flood, the boat had landed on the mountain Nisir, as Utnaishtim says, and now we come to understand how he came to live in that island and why he is there today.
It turns out it was the god Enlil who had caused the flood in the first place and hadn’t planned on having anyone surviving, Utnapishtim included. So, suffice to say, he is really pissed off. But then, after Ea’s speech about how better animals should suffer from anything but the cruel cause of the flood, Utnapishtim decides to bless him and his wife, saying

“You were but human,
But now you are admitted into the company of the gods.”

So basically, Utnapishtim earned his right as a god by being rewarded for his wisdom.
Enlil also tells hims that his dwelling place from now on shall be the Faraway, where all the rivers roam, and I guess that is because he became a god due to matters with floods, water, etc.
Now Utnapishtim reveals to Gilgamesh a chance to get earn that same reward in return for the act of not sleeping for seven days (again, seven).

Utnapishtim, obviously noting his failure at being turned into a god, tells Gilgamesh of a plant that will give him eternal life, so that he can obtain it before he goes home. Unfortunately, when Gilgamesh goes to take the plant, a serpent ends up stealing it before he did, leaving only him and his mortality.

It all ends with Gilgamesh returning home and telling Utnapishtim to

“Study the brickwork, study the fortification;

climb the ancient staircase to the terrace;study

how it is made; from the terrace seethe

planted and fallow fields, the ponds and

orchards.One league is the inner city,

another league is orchards; still another

the fields beyond;over there is the precinct

of the temple. . . . ,Three leagues and the

temple precinct of Ishtar.

Measure Uruk,

the city of Gilgamesh"

Here we see a strange transition in Gilgamesh. Just moments bofre, he had been disappointed and gloomy due to the fact that he could not have immortal life. Now you see him get home and revel in his city, praising its glory, admiring it’s structure. Here, we see that no matter what happened and even though he did not get what he wanted, he learned to not mourn for the unobtainable, but rather appreciate what he has.

We also see that this quotation was what started the book, only in the first one it spoke of how he would tell the story of the adventures that happened. Which, other than being profound in the way it ends the book in just the same way, it leads us to understand the meaning of it all: Gilgamesh is the author of the story.

He couldn’t be immortal, as in never seeing death take its toll. But he found a way to overcome it: He wrote his story, Leaving his legacy behind. So, ironically, Gilgamesh found the way to be ‘immortal.’