http://prayerbook.ca/the-prayer-book-online/57-the-calendar-ix

I only just heard about Fr Crouse’s death. I will pray for the repose of his soul at Mass tomorrow. Could you tell me the date of his death, and what was the cause? I assume his Requiem has taken place? If you’d like me to notify Fr Cantrell, and post something on the ssc list, I would be happy to do so. Not being a Maritimer, nor a King’s graduate, I didn’t know Father well. However, from the few times I was able to attend the Atlantic Theological Conference, I always enjoyed his lectures and I was touched by his gentle manner.

Per crucem,
Trent

In one of the brief redactions of the Epic, Dilmun is mentioned (Penguin Classics – N.K. Sanders translation).

At the beginning of the Forest Journey, Gilgamesh learns his destiny. It is kingship but not everlasting life. In that adventure he is not afraid of death. In his later journey, he wants to question Utnapishtim concerning life and death. He is having to come to terms with his mortality and the purpose of life. I think Siduri’s advice, while it seems about excepting limits and not striving for anything more, whether you conceive that to be everlasting life or an understanding of life, can be described philosophically as hedonism and as embodying a kind of despair of knowing which in Ecclesiastes is about the limits of what the Summum Bonum is “under the sun”. Pleasure is tried and is found wanting, there.

In the Epic, especially in the prologue, Gilgamesh is celebrated as hero not just for what he does – his great deeds – but for his wisdom. I take the story to be about how he becomes what he is for the culture. His immaturity is, to be sure, part of the story. In the scene with Utnapishtim and his wife about the loaves, I take that to be a way of describing how Gilgamesh has to come to recognise actual evidence over against the mere assertion of his will.

In the Epic, order is a fragile concept, Chaos seems much stronger but there is a desire to move in the direction of order. Even the gods, reprove Enlil about the flood, arguing that the sinner should be held accountable for his sin rather than random destruction because the gods are annoyed at the insignificant little noisy twits that the humans are. In a way, the Epic of Gilgamesh story of the Flood ends with the moral principle that the Genesis story begins with.

The contrasts are intriguing as are some of the comparisons. For me, they help to illumine certain features of the Scriptural view.

Again, thank you for your comments.

David Curry

Gilgamesh does not so much search for ‘wisdom’ as for immortality after the death of Enkidu. Wisdom is something that he only obtains inadvertently after he finally realises the futility of his quest. The text is very clear about the hero’s motivations. Gilgamesh roams the wild in search of Utnapishtim because of grief, and his consequent fear of death. Shamash, Shiduri (in the Old Babylonian versions), and Utnapishtim all state that Gilgamesh is searching for “life”, not wisdom. Yes, Gilgamesh does plan to question Utnapishtim about “life and death”, but the question he actually asks makes it very clear what this means: How did you find eternal life? (11:5)

Suggesting that Shiduri (the tavern keeper) recommends ‘hedonism’ to Gilgamesh is also a little off the mark. Rather she is advocating enjoyment of the simple things in life, including children and family. The parallel text in Ecclestiasties is 9:7-9, not 8:15 – which, incidentally, does not include the words “tomorrow we die” (Isa 22:13). Rather, it is Gilgamesh who behaves in a hedonistic, excessive and self-interested manner throughout the epic. Shiduri is suggesting that being content with simple pleasures is better than embarking on selfish and futile quests for eternal life. As Utnapishtim hints a little further on: Gilgamesh is behaving like a fool.

PS. Dilmun is never mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Carl Campbell