z nostalgie.. ;)



Utnapishtim

In the Sumerian poems he is a wise king and priest of Shurrupak; in the Akkadian sources he is a wise citizen of Shurrupak. He is the son of Ubara-Tutu, and his name is usually translated as "He Who Saw Life". He is the protégé of the god Ea, by whose connivance he survives the flood, with his family and with 'the seed of all living creatures'. Afterwards he is taken by the gods to live for ever at 'the mouth of the rivers' and given the epithet 'Faraway'. His name means "he found life" (i.e. immortality). According to the Sumerians he lives in Dilmun where the sun rises. He is the main character of the Flood story in the eleventh table of the Gilgamesh epic. In an different version of this epic (such as the Atrachasis myth for instance) he is named Atrachasis, "the exceptional wise one". Old Babylonian Utanapishtim, Sumerian Ziusudra. He shows many similarities with the much more recent biblical Noah.



Epic of Gilgamesh - Tablet eleven (XI)

The Gilgamesh flood tablet XI contains additional story material besides the flood. The flood story was included because in the story the flood hero Utnapishtim is granted immortality by the gods and that fits the immortality theme of the Gilgamesh Epic. In Tablet XI Gilgamesh meets Utnapishtim, who tells him about the great flood and reluctantly gives him a chance for immortality. He tells Gilgamesh that if he can stay awake for six days and seven nights he will become immortal. However, Gilgamesh falls asleep and Utnapishtim tells his wife to bake a loaf of bread for every day he is asleep so that Gilgamesh cannot deny his failure. When Gilgamesh wakes up, Utnapishtim decides to tell him about a plant that will rejuvenate him. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that if he can obtain the plant from the bottom of the sea and eat it he will be rejuvenated, be a younger man again. Gilgamesh obtains the plant, but doesn't eat it immediately. He places the plant on the shore of a lake while he bathes and it is stolen by a serpent who loses his old skin and thus is reborn. Gilgamesh, having failed both chances, returns to Uruk, where the sight of its massive walls provokes him to praise this enduring work of mortal men. Gilgamesh realizes that the way mortals can achieve immortality is through lasting works of civilization and culture.