Interpretations

• Allegorical interpretations
• Euhemerism
• original, restricted sense: gods were once great men (heroes), who gradually took on divine characteristics
• wider, developed sense: historical allegory
• or more generally still, whenever an interpretation supposes "history" to lie behind the myth
• example: Gilgamesh as the first "euhemeric hero"
• aitiological interpretations

• Stith Thompson's Motif Index of Folk Literature
• (electronic version can be accessed from the link at the bottom of the CDROMs page under Research on the library server: for use with PCs only!)

Images

Cuneiform clay tablet. Text from the eleventh tablet (the Flood) of the Epic of Gilgamesh, illustrating the condition of the text even after many pieces have been rejoined. In the British Museum. Local, ephemeral use only.

Clay mask of Humbaba. (?) Appears as a fearsome, protective demon. (Perhaps the prototype of the Gorgon head in archaic Greek art.) University of Penn. Museum. Local, ephemeral use only.

Slaying of Humbaba. (?) Impression of a Neo-Assyrian period cylinder seal, belonging to Dr. Leonard Gorelick. Local, ephemeral use only.

Nude hero (Gilgamesh?) subduing a bull. Impression of a late 3rd millenium B.C. cylinder seal. Local, ephemeral use only.

Maps

Mediterranean Basin (East)

Mesopotamia

Essay

Essay on Gilgamesh, by Arthur A. Brown (Note: this is not a sign that I agree with Brown on every, or even many, points-- only an essay that seems to have some interesting or illustrative points)