The Epic of Gilgamesh

Originally posted by theindependentjournal

Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
If you want to make statements about historical facts, instead of telling people "let the critical thinkers do my research"

Actually I did it that way so as to avoid the complaint that I PLANTED the notion in your head, I wanted to see how many could find a waya written story is not the oldest, but as you can see above I HAD TO let the cat out of the bag. Your statement that Gilgamesh is older story is not correct nor can you prove that in any way. All you can say is "The oldest story SO FAR FOUND, is the Sumarian verison of the hebrew stories." To say because it was written down first makes it the originator of a story is entirely ridiculous and I can show 1000 examples of this..

As I said now the cat is out of the bag and I suppose now the answers will be to my theory, and not anyone critically thinking for themselves and possibly haveing different ideas, now it will be MY IDEA debated. Exactly what I didn't want...

Critcal analysis is not your strong point I'm afraid - so to try to accuse others of a lack of it is quite amusing.

"The oldest story SO FAR FOUND, is the Sumarian verison of the hebrew stories."

Yes, it's been found. It's also been found to be much older than the biblical re-interpretation too. The Jews picked up and assimilated many Assyrian customs and legends while they lived in Assyrian lands after they were defeated by them in war.

'Fragments of an epic text found in Me-Turan (modern Tell Haddad) relate that Gilgamesh was buried under the waters of a river at the end of his life. The people of Uruk diverted the flow of the Euphrates River crossing Uruk for the purpose of burying the dead king within the riverbed. In April 2003, a German expedition discovered what is thought to be the entire city of Uruk - including, where the Euphrates once flowed, the last resting place of its King Gilgamesh.

'Despite the lack of direct evidence, most scholars do not object to consideration of Gilgamesh as an historical figure, particularly after inscriptions were found confirming the historical existence of other figures associated with him: kings Enmebaragesi and Aga of Kish. If Gilgamesh were a historical king, he probably reigned in about the 26th century BC. Some of the earliest Sumerian texts spell his name as Bilgames. Initial difficulties in reading cuneiform resulted in Gilgamesh making his re-entrance into world culture in 1891 as "Izdubar"'

Source:en.wikipedia.org...

So no - the biblical version is NOT older - and no evidence exists to prove otherwise. Case closed.

PS Oh, and believe me: you're not capable of 'planting' ANYTHING in my head...

J.



[edit on 29-7-2007 by jimbo999]

[edit on 29-7-2007 by jimbo999]

heh *looks up,smiles, and applauds*. well said friend. well said.

Originally posted by jimbo999

'Despite the lack of direct evidence, most scholars do not object to consideration of Gilgamesh as an historical figure, particularly after inscriptions were found confirming the historical existence of other figures associated with him: kings Enmebaragesi and Aga of Kish. If Gilgamesh were a historical king, he probably reigned in about the 26th century BC. Some of the earliest Sumerian texts spell his name as Bilgames. Initial difficulties in reading cuneiform resulted in Gilgamesh making his re-entrance into world culture in 1891 as "Izdubar"'

Gilgamesh would be Nimrod of Babylon.

Yes SunMatrix,
Also here's a link. Just because Gilgamesh was the first FOUND recorded tale, doesn't discount the fact that the jewish "take" on the deluge was much more accurate and that some "tales" are told for centuries before ever being written down.

Oh and here's the linky

Noah and Gilgamesh
Here's another one,
Creation story
and this
Which came first

well ive taken classes in reference to specifically the oral histories of many ancient cultures and the trend in everyone of them is for the details to be reshaped often to picque the listeners interest and wonder, the most successful attempts are the ones which have lasted.