Sunday, February 28, 2010

Tablet XII, The Nether world


From all the Tablets I read, this was by far the most confusing. It was, I think a description of an after life, and it was like hell, the Nether world. Enkidu went there for Gilgamesh, and in some point he incarnated Gilgamesh, wearing perfume and nice clothing, for which he was not welcome there. I think it means that people with luxuries where hated and not treated well in the after life. It was interesting as well that they believe there is a soul within the corpse and how we reencounter the ones we lost in the past. Enkidu returns from there meaning that there is a return, and he embraces Gilgamesh.

Enkidu describes the Nether world to Gilgamesh. In the description he narrated how the ones who had more sons were the ones who were happier and treated the best, while the ones with one or no sons lived in misery. This shows the importance of having sons in that time and may represent how reproducing was a duty, and failing it was punished in the life after death. He also describes how the different types of deaths were rewarded. "'And he whose corpse was thrown away unburied’ he wanders without rest through the world down there'" (pg. 92)

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