In the epic of Gilgamesh, the gods create Enkidu who is a wild man that they hope might challenge the arrogant and ruthless Gilgamesh. After the meet and wrestle Gilgamesh and Enkidu become friends. On an expedition to the west, they confront an evil monster, Humbaba, in the Cedar Forest. Enkidu slays Humbaba and, in revenge, the gods take Enkidu's life by making him ill. Enkidu's death so haunts Gilgamesh that he undertakes to seek eternal life, and so Gilgamesh the mighty hero sets off on his quest. The pursuit of immortality leads Gilgamesh into further adventures. He encounters Utnapishtim, and ancient hero who had survived a tragic flood. Gilgamesh, following Utnapishtim's advice, finds a plant that can make him immortal, only to have it stolen by a snake while he sleeps, exhausted from his quest.
Enuma Elis (The Story of Marduk)
The epics three primeval gods are Apsu, the fresh water god, Tiamat, the salt water god, and their son Mummu. Several other gods are created who reside in Tiamat's vast body. They make so much noise that it upsets Tiamat and Apsu greatly. Apsu wants to kill the young gods, but Tiamat disagrees. Mummu, agrees with Apsu's plan to destroy them so Tiamat, to stop this from occurring, tells Ea (Nudimmud), at the time the most powerful of the gods, who, using magic, puts Apsu into a coma and kills him, and shuts Mummu out. Ea then becomes the chief god, and along with his consort Damkina, has a son, Marduk, greater still than himself. Marduk is given wind to play with and he uses it to make dust storms and tornadoes. This disrupts Tiamat's great body and causes the gods still residing inside her to be unable to sleep. They persuade Tiamat to take revenge for the death of her husband. Her power grows, and some of the gods join her. She creates 11 monsters to help her win the battle and elevates Kingu, her new husband, to "supreme dominion." Marduk is selected as the other gods champion against Tiamat, and becomes very powerful. He defeats and kills Tiamat, and forms the world from her corpse. The gods who sided with Tiamat are forced to labor in the service of the other gods. They are then freed from their servitude when Marduk decides to slay Kingu and creates mankind from his blood. Babylon is established as the residence of the chief gods. Finally, the gods make Marduk king, hailing him with fifty names.
The Flood Myth (The Story of Uta-Napishtim)
In this myth the gods became unhappy with the human race. They held a meeting and decided to drown all of mankind.but, Ea spoke up to save them. One man, Uta-Napishtim, was instructed to build a ship for his family and all living creatures. Uta-Napishtim worked and in six days and six nights, the earth was flooded. On the seventh day the winds and rains came to an end. Everyone and everything, except for Uta-Napishtim and his family, had become mud. With the ship resting upon Mount Nisir, a bird was sent forth to find out if the waters had decreased enough to unload and the bird failed to return. Leaving the ship, Uta-Napishtim made a sacrifice to the gods. Enlil, the tempest god, was the only god disgruntled by the idea of the human race being spared. Enlil was swayed to agree by Ea’s gentle words. Enlil gave Uta-Napishtim and his wife the gift of eternal life.
How Myths Influenced Babylonian Culture
Babylonian mythology is a set of stories depicting the activities of Babylonian deities, heroes, and mythological creatures. The purpose of these myths was not necessarily religious as most people would think. Often these stories explained a mystery of nature, depicted the rewards for proper behavior, illustrated punishments for bad behavior, or performed a combination of these or other purposes. The Epic of Gilgamesh teaches about how a bad man can become ricious. The story of the flood dipicts how it is beneficial to be a good person.Babylonian mythology has a very negative outlook on the underworld of the dead and cherishes life very much. It is very materialistic and earth-bound. The Babylonian people are fighters and strong powerful people. The values are powerful and this is illustrated in the Gilgamesh Epic. Babylonian religions taught extermination of their enemies. Violence was, for the religion of ancient Mesopotamia. For this early civilization, life was as cruel as the floods and droughts and storms that swept theFertile Crescent. Recurrent warfare between the various city-states in the region exhausted resources. Chaos threatened every achievement of humanity. The myth that enshrined that culture's sense of life was the Enuma Elish, dated to around 1250 B.C.E. in the versions that have survived, but based on traditions considerably older. The myths also display cultural values of the babylonians by showing how the people acted. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh is a very masculen and violent man. He is so strong that he was able to kill a monsorus bull sent down by the Gods themselves. The Babylonians were also a very violent culture with "an eye for an eye" kind of laws and a key part of the lives of the Babylonians was War.
Babylonian Heros
The Epic of Gilgamesh
In the epic of Gilgamesh, the gods create Enkidu who is a wild man that they hope might challenge the arrogant and ruthless Gilgamesh. After the meet and wrestle Gilgamesh and Enkidu become friends. On an expedition to the west, they confront an evil monster, Humbaba, in the Cedar Forest. Enkidu slays Humbaba and, in revenge, the gods take Enkidu's life by making him ill. Enkidu's death so haunts Gilgamesh that he undertakes to seek eternal life, and so Gilgamesh the mighty hero sets off on his quest. The pursuit of immortality leads Gilgamesh into further adventures. He encounters Utnapishtim, and ancient hero who had survived a tragic flood. Gilgamesh, following Utnapishtim's advice, finds a plant that can make him immortal, only to have it stolen by a snake while he sleeps, exhausted from his quest.Enuma Elis (The Story of Marduk)
The epics three primeval gods are Apsu, the fresh water god, Tiamat, the salt water god, and their son Mummu. Several other gods are created who reside in Tiamat's vast body. They make so much noise that it upsets Tiamat and Apsu greatly. Apsu wants to kill the young gods, but Tiamat disagrees. Mummu, agrees with Apsu's plan to destroy them so Tiamat, to stop this from occurring, tells Ea (Nudimmud), at the time the most powerful of the gods, who, using magic, puts Apsu into a coma and kills him, and shuts Mummu out. Ea then becomes the chief god, and along with his consort Damkina, has a son, Marduk, greater still than himself. Marduk is given wind to play with and he uses it to make dust storms and tornadoes. This disrupts Tiamat's great body and causes the gods still residing inside her to be unable to sleep. They persuade Tiamat to take revenge for the death of her husband. Her power grows, and some of the gods join her. She creates 11 monsters to help her win the battle and elevates Kingu, her new husband, to "supreme dominion." Marduk is selected as the other gods champion against Tiamat, and becomes very powerful. He defeats and kills Tiamat, and forms the world from her corpse. The gods who sided with Tiamat are forced to labor in the service of the other gods. They are then freed from their servitude when Marduk decides to slay Kingu and creates mankind from his blood. Babylon is established as the residence of the chief gods. Finally, the gods make Marduk king, hailing him with fifty names.The Flood Myth (The Story of Uta-Napishtim)
In this myth the gods became unhappy with the human race. They held a meeting and decided to drown all of mankind.but, Ea spoke up to save them. One man, Uta-Napishtim, was instructed to build a ship for his family and all living creatures. Uta-Napishtim worked and in six days and six nights, the earth was flooded. On the seventh day the winds and rains came to an end. Everyone and everything, except for Uta-Napishtim and his family, had become mud. With the ship resting upon Mount Nisir, a bird was sent forth to find out if the waters had decreased enough to unload and the bird failed to return. Leaving the ship, Uta-Napishtim made a sacrifice to the gods. Enlil, the tempest god, was the only god disgruntled by the idea of the human race being spared. Enlil was swayed to agree by Ea’s gentle words. Enlil gave Uta-Napishtim and his wife the gift of eternal life.How Myths Influenced Babylonian Culture
Babylonian mythology is a set of stories depicting the activities of Babylonian deities, heroes, and mythological creatures. The purpose of these myths was not necessarily religious as most people would think. Often these stories explained a mystery of nature, depicted the rewards for proper behavior, illustrated punishments for bad behavior, or performed a combination of these or other purposes. The Epic of Gilgamesh teaches about how a bad man can become ricious. The story of the flood dipicts how it is beneficial to be a good person.Babylonian mythology has a very negative outlook on the underworld of the dead and cherishes life very much. It is very materialistic and earth-bound. The Babylonian people are fighters and strong powerful people. The values are powerful and this is illustrated in the Gilgamesh Epic. Babylonian religions taught extermination of their enemies. Violence was, for the religion of ancient Mesopotamia. For this early civilization, life was as cruel as the floods and droughts and storms that swept theFertile Crescent. Recurrent warfare between the various city-states in the region exhausted resources. Chaos threatened every achievement of humanity. The myth that enshrined that culture's sense of life was the Enuma Elish, dated to around 1250 B.C.E. in the versions that have survived, but based on traditions considerably older. The myths also display cultural values of the babylonians by showing how the people acted. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh is a very masculen and violent man. He is so strong that he was able to kill a monsorus bull sent down by the Gods themselves. The Babylonians were also a very violent culture with "an eye for an eye" kind of laws and a key part of the lives of the Babylonians was War.Links to myths:
The Epic of Gilgamesh
http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/
Enuma Elis
http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/enuma.htm
Flood Myth
http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/omw/omw25.htm
Bibliography:
Babylonian culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_religion
The Epic of Gilgamesh
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gilgamesh/summary.html
http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/
Enuma Elis
http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/enuma.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En%C3%BBma_Eli%C5%A1
The Flood myth
http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/omw/omw25.htm