Nicholas Weeks
Bodhicitta
Stephen Mitchell's telling of this epic from 4700 years ago is magnificent!
Gilgamesh – Stephen Mitchell
INTRODUCTION
The Oldest Story In The World
In Iraq, when the dust blows, it brings with it memories of an ancient world, much older than Islam or Christianity.
Western civilization originated from that place between the Tigris and the Euphrates, where Hammurabi created his legal code and where Gilgamesh was written – the oldest story in the world, a thousand years older than the Iliad or the Bible. Its hero was a historical king who reigned in the Mesopotamian city of Uruk in about 2750 BCE. In the epic, he has an intimate friend, Enkidu, a naked wild man who has been civilized through the erotic arts of a temple priestess. With him Gilgamesh battles monsters, and when Enkidu dies, he is inconsolable. He sets out on a desperate journey to find the one man who can tell him how to escape death.
Gilgamesh – Stephen Mitchell
INTRODUCTION
The Oldest Story In The World
In Iraq, when the dust blows, it brings with it memories of an ancient world, much older than Islam or Christianity.
Western civilization originated from that place between the Tigris and the Euphrates, where Hammurabi created his legal code and where Gilgamesh was written – the oldest story in the world, a thousand years older than the Iliad or the Bible. Its hero was a historical king who reigned in the Mesopotamian city of Uruk in about 2750 BCE. In the epic, he has an intimate friend, Enkidu, a naked wild man who has been civilized through the erotic arts of a temple priestess. With him Gilgamesh battles monsters, and when Enkidu dies, he is inconsolable. He sets out on a desperate journey to find the one man who can tell him how to escape death.