"Actually, this time the translation did not uncover many new things. At least in terms of the overall condition of the poetry, there is not much difference from what archaeologists discovered in the previous generation." Liang En said, pointing to the content on the projector after turning it on.
"However, since everyone wants to see what new discoveries we've made this time, I will now translate this poem for everyone, word by word."
Although the "Epic of Gilgamesh" has been translated for nearly a century, in reality, not many people have read it word by word. So now, Liang En's narration of this story obviously attracted everyone's attention.
In the following time, those who had nothing to do quietly sat there listening to Liang En tell the story. Even a few officers and sergeants who understood English sat down at the back of the tent.
According to the epic, the demigod Gilgamesh was born a king, but in his youth, he was violent, bullied men and women, and the people resented him deeply.
So the gods created a powerful warrior out of clay and sent him to restrain the king. This warrior's name was Enkidu.
After they met and fought, they became close friends. With this new friend, Gilgamesh suddenly found the meaning of life. He gave up his former lowly interests and decided to accomplish great deeds with his friend.
With the help of the sun god, they went to Lebanon to kill the monster Humbaba and felled the cedar forest, bringing back precious wood for Uruk.
However, since this monster was the forest guardian appointed by the chief god Enlil, they offended the divine realm. At the same time, on the way back to the city, Gilgamesh received a marriage proposal from Ishtar, the goddess of Venus who guarded Uruk.
But Gilgamesh knew she was promiscuous, and her previous lovers had died miserably. So not only did he reject the goddess, but he also revealed all her dark history.
From this point of view, human beings have behaved similarly when dealing with emotional issues throughout history, even extending such matters to the gods.
After all, myths are also created by humans. So from a certain perspective, the actions of those gods in myths reflect the behaviors of humans at that time.
However, when gods face emotional issues, the commotion is much greater than that of humans. Ishtar, who was rejected and humiliated, chose to ask her father for the Bull of Heaven to wreak havoc on earth.
For Gilgamesh and Enkidu, who had just killed Humbaba, defeating a bull causing natural disasters was not a problem. So Enkidu held the bull's tail from behind, and Gilgamesh took the chance to stab the bull to death.
Faced with this scene, the goddess Ishtar was very unwilling and cursed Gilgamesh. To stand up for his friend, Enkidu picked up the Bull of Heaven's intestines and threw them in front of Ishtar.
At the same time, he harshly warned the goddess that if she harassed Gilgamesh again, her end would be like this bull. The goddess left Uruk in disgrace, and Gilgamesh and Enkidu became heroes admired by everyone.
Although this seemed heroic, it also put them on the gods' blacklist. The gods gathered to discuss how to punish them. Since Gilgamesh was two-thirds god and had the support of the sun god, they targeted Enkidu.
After all, Enkidu was just a puppet made of clay by the gods, without any background in the divine realm, making him the perfect scapegoat. So he quickly weakened and died.
Gilgamesh was heartbroken by the death of his friend. He cried over Enkidu's corpse for seven days and nights until the body rotted and worms appeared. Then he spent several days holding a state funeral for Enkidu.
After doing all this, the fearless Gilgamesh began to fear death. He crossed the Mashu Mountains, ignoring the scorpion-man Pabilsag, and after exhausting 120 oars, he finally crossed the Sea of Death to reach his destination.
Utnapishtim, who survived the ancient flood, received him but did not directly answer the questions about life and death. Instead, he subjected him to a trial of staying awake for six days and seven nights.
Gilgamesh did not succeed, but thanks to the kindness of Utnapishtim's wife, he obtained the herb of eternal life from the sea. Normally, here would be the story of a hero gaining immortality, but the epic does not write it that way.
The following story is somewhat absurd. On the way back, Gilgamesh took a bath to relax, but the aroma of the herb attracted a snake, which ate the herb and then shed its skin for the first time.
Gilgamesh returned to Uruk empty-handed. He finally understood that even the greatest heroes would face death one day. After seeing his dead friend by the passage of life and death, he underwent a transformation.
From then on, he let go of his pursuit of gods and immortality and focused on ruling Uruk diligently, ultimately becoming a wise king who accepted his mortality.
"For us contemporary people, the most intriguing part should be the flood. Because it overlaps with the content of the Bible." After explaining the entire story, Liang En began to share his own judgments.
"In another tablet found in the same batch, the entire process of the great flood is detailed. You will find great overlaps between the two stories: a family favored by the gods built an ark to survive the flood, which wiped out all humans. After the flood receded, they repopulated the earth."
"The reason this story was widely spread in Sumerian civilization is easy to understand. The lower Mesopotamian region must have been frequently troubled by floods.
Undoubtedly, this put great pressure on the fragile irrigation system they depended on for prosperity, posing an unavoidable natural disaster for the people at that time.
Such unpredictable, unavoidable floods, capable of devastating fragile civilizations, left a deep impression on their minds. This also filled the entire civilization with a pessimistic fatalism."
"For example, this epic reflects this. Gilgamesh did many great things, made relentless efforts to prove human capability against the gods' decrees and their belief in human failure.
But in the end, the prophecy was correct. Gilgamesh had to prepare for death. All heroes and sages, like the new moon, inevitably wax and wane.
People would say: who has ever ruled with such power and authority? Just as there is no light on a moonless night or when the moon wanes, there is no light without him.
Oh, Gilgamesh, this is the meaning of your dream. You are destined to be a king; immortality is not your fate."
"At the same time, this also indicates that although Sumerian civilization has completely disappeared, the knowledge we have passed down may largely come from the Sumerians' mythological reconstruction of their own prehistory."
After the academic lecture, the officers and sergeants left because these things were boring to them. However, all the scholars listened attentively to Liang En's lecture, taking notes constantly.
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