The Gilgamesh Complex: Immortality In Babylonian Mythology

The focus upon immortality in Babylonian mythology has been explored by academics for many years and has become nearly ubiquitous when discussing this particular culture’s mythology. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a significant influence upon this field, as well as iconography shown within the built environment and in various pieces of Babylonian texts. There is an extensive amount of study in relation to this topic and is covered extensively within; At the Edge of the World: Cosmological Conceptions of the Eastern Horizon in Mesopotamia written by Christopher Woods, The Gilgamesh Complex: The Quest for Death Transcendence and the Killing of Animals by Jared Christman and The Concepts of Mortality and Immortality in Ancient Mesopotamia by Robert

Christman theories that thanatophobia is an inherent aspect of the human experience and that it is reflected within the story of Gilgamesh. This fear of is extenuated by the sacrificing of an animal of vitality, in which the transference of this vitality moves from the animal to the human being. He discusses this ritualistic killing of animals within the myth informs the way in which the Babylonians expressed their own fear of human mortality. (156) He also stipulates that these ritualistic killings represent the way in which Babylonians most likely dealt with death, as an inevitable force. Not only this, he also uses the death of Enkidu as a specific point of reference within the Gilgamesh Epic, “For Gilgamesh, one-third human and the rest divine, the immediacy of his mortality is first brought to the fore through the death of his soul-mate Enkidu” (pg. 300) Christman uses this certain element of the Gligamesh Epic to explore the concept of death education, and the loss on innocence that this entails. It becomes clear through Christman’s work that there was a fearful relationship with death that was expressed through