Echoes of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh pre-dates the book of Genesis by thousands of years. In this early Toronto Centre Place lecture, John Hamer looks at the many ways themes from the ancient Sumerian epic are echoed in the later Biblical account.

0:00 Echoes of Gilgamesh
16:53 Cuneiform"Wedge-Shaped" Writing
19:07 Akkadian Empire from the 2300s BCE
27:40 Sumerian/Akkadian Pantheon (Examples) • Inanna/Ishtar (planet Venus)
33:23 Epic of Gilgamesh: Mortality and the Meaning of Life . Although among the earliest works of literature, Gilgamesh's exploration of its themes - mortality and life's meaning
35:30 Prologue (following N.K. Sandars)
38:20 Portrait of Gilgamesh
38:30 King of the Weary People of Uruk
40:45 Aruru Creates Enkidu
41:29 Enkidu Loses His Innocence/Becomes Civilized • Savage Enkidu lives among animals; saving them from a hunter's traps
43:11 Enkidu and Gilgamesh: True Bromance
44:10 Motivation for a Quest: A Kind of Immortality
46:52 Inanna/Ishtar Proposes & Is Refused
48:25 Slaying the Bull of Heaven
50:33 Gilgamesh's Search for Everlasting Life
52:51 Encounter with Siduri, Goddess of Wine
54:13 Encountering Utnapishtim
54:53 Utnapishtim's Response
56:14 The Story of the Flood
57:20 A Plant that Restores Youth