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The Journey of Gilgamesh
November 14, 2006 at 11:00 am by mahud
After the untimely death of Enkidu, the hero’s companion and counterpart, Gilgamesh embarks on a journey to find Uta- Napishti, the Sumerian Noah, and his wife, the only human beings to be granted immortality after the Universal Flood.
Dressed in lion skins, Gilgamesh successfully passes the Scorpion Men, and the crone Shiduri, and eventually reaches the Ocean of Death, that no one apart from the sun god Shamash/Utu (Sumerian), can cross. Beyond the ocean lies the island of immortality, the source of all rivers, and home to the immortal couple.
Gilgamesh manages to cross over with the aid of Uta-Napishti’s ferryman, only to discover that the boon of immortality is no longer attainable. Instead, Gilgamesh learns of the existence of the mysterious Plant of Life that grew deep down upon the ocean floor. Uta-Napishti told Gilgamesh that the plant had the ability to restore youth, although the plant would wound the one who picked it.
Gilgamesh (called elsewhere “he who saw the deep”) swam to the bottom of the Ocean of Death and recovered the plant, naming it ‘Old Man Grown Young’, but while Gilgamesh bathed, a snake stole it, shedding its skin as it slithered away.
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- The Island of the New Moon Passage
- A Mythological Cosmic-Lunar Calendar (4 of 13)
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