著者

渡辺 和子

出版者

リトン

雑誌

死生学年報 = Annual of the Institute of Thanatology, Toyo Eiwa University

巻号頁・発行日

vol.6, pp.65-104, 2010-03-31

---

The Epic of Gilgamesh (the Standard Babylonian version) was probably composed by Sin-l?qi-unninni as its editor in the Akkadian language to thebest of our knowledge in about the 12th century BC, using as its base the older version of the epic (the Old Babylonian version) established in the early second Millennium BC. The Standard Babylonian version is known to us through the copies made in the 7th century BC in Nineveh. These copies were excavated in the 19th century AD and brought to the British Museum.In the epic, Gilgamesh grieved over the death of Enkidu, his friend, and was afraid of his own death. Longing for the ‘secret of death and life,’ he made a trip to visit ?ta-napi?ti who had been a human but was bestowed with eternal life by the gods after the Deluge. But ?ta-napi?ti told Gilgamesh that there was “now” no one to summon an assembly of the gods, the only place where Gilgamesh could also obtain eternal life. Then, he told Gilgamesh not to sleep for six days and seven nights. However, Gilgamesh fell asleep immediately. When he finally was woken up by ?ta-napi?ti and realized that he really had slept for seven nights, he received the insight that death was inevitable. On the way home, he found the special ‘heartbeat herb’ (?ammu nikitti) in accordance with ?ta-napi?ti’s instructions. But a snake ate the plant, presumably became rejuvenated by it, and cast off his skin while Gilgamesh was bathing. Gilgamesh was enormously discouraged and returned to Uruk, his home city.The ending of the story may seem to impresses upon the audience or the reader that the main intent of the story is to tell about Gilgamesh’s failure in his quest. But this impression is incompatible with the introduction of the story, in which the editor as a narrator introduces Gilgamesh as a man who indeed obtains wisdom after his painful journey to the other world.