When Gilgamesh reaches the tavern on the shore of the glittering sea, the keeper doesn`t let him in. It is evident that the death of Enkidu has transformed Gilgamesh's life completely and who he is. He is no longer the King who`s life seemed perfect and who was always handsome and impeccable; he is no longer as overbearing as before, he is aware of his weakness. "she said to herself, 'who is it, hairy-bodied, wearing ...looking like one who has undergone a journey, his face bitten by huger or by sorrow?' She was afraid, and shut the door to her tavern."(pg. 54) Gilgamesh is asked the same thing by all the people who he encounters in his journey (the tavern Keeper, the boat man and the old man standing on the faraway shore) and he always answers it is for the death of his dear brother.
The words of the old man at the end of this tablet where incredibly wise and made me think a lot about death and its meaning. “The simple man and the ruler resemble each other. The face of one will darken like that of the other." Death doesn`t have race, social class, status, education or gender, we are all equal when it comes to facing death. “There they established that there is life and death. The day of death is set, though not made known"(pg.64) It is very interesting that there are attempts to explain destiny from such a long time ago. Does destiny truly exist? Is there a way of avoiding it? These are questions Gilgamesh must have faced during his journey and that are simply too complex to be answered. I personally don`t think there is a way to avoid it and we should not waist our time delaying it. I don`t mean not taking care of our health or doing suicidal activities, I mean I don`t think it is worth holding ourselves from doing things we want to simply to avoid taking a risk. Why should we stop from traveling because of a fear of the airplane falling if the place you left can be destroyed by an earthquake while you’re gone? There is nothing as a totally safe place.
Things happen as they are meant to happen, and I think they happen for a reason. One should live their life as happy as they can, for at the end you don`t want to realize your life was worthless because you were trying to make it long. I have always asked myself: How would life be without death? Well I don`t see any sense in life without death; knowing that we could die in any moment makes every second more valuable and helps us treasure every opportunity we are given. I value death because it is what makes our life precious.
I was also captivated when he called the gods Annunaki, the way Sitchin calls the creatures of his theory.
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