Mighty Gilgamesh: Archetype Of The Nephilim
Gilgamesh is one of the greatest heroes of the ancient Middle Eastern world. The epic named after him has become one of the greatest literary works of all ages. There is, however, one aspect of Gilgamesh that most people do not know about. Gilgamesh also happens to be the archetypal Nephilim giant.
Gilgamesh Statue Sydney University. ( CC BY SA 4.0 )
One of the most well-known and intriguing stories from the Biblical tradition is the one about the Nephilim. There is a reference to them in the sixth chapter of the Biblical Book of Genesis where they are mentioned against the backdrop of the wickedness of the people in the time before the deluge. In this account, one reads that the so-called ‘sons of God’ fathered offspring with human women. This, according to the narrative, happened before and after the deluge. It reads: “[T]hat the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose… There were giants [Nephilim, fallen or mighty ones, heroes] on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”
‘Norandino and Lucina Discovered by the Ogre’ (1624) by Giovanni Lanfranco. ( Public Domain)
The Sons of God
According to this Biblical account, the beings who fathered children with human women were called ‘sons of God’, an expression that goes back to the very earliest strata of Biblical tradition. It is, in fact, found in the Ugarit texts, which date back to the 14th to 12th centuries BC. In these texts they are referred to as ‘sons of El’, with El referring to the ‘father of the gods’. Clearly the expression ‘sons of El’, appearing in Biblical tradition as ‘sons of God’, was quite an old one. It refers to angelic beings, which is why the expression is also translated as ‘angels’ in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, made during the third to second centuries BC.
The Semitic expression, ‘sons of El’, had an earlier precursor going back to the ancient Sumerian world, when great heroes, like Gilgamesh, is said to have lived. In that milieu, the equivalent expression was Anunna (or Anunnaki), meaning ‘sons/seed [a] of a prince [nun]’, with the prince referred to originally having been An, the father of the gods
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Dr Willem McLoud is an independent South African scholar whose main interests are ancient Middle Eastern studies, Kantian philosophy and philosophy of science. Willem’s main areas of study regarding the ancient Middle East are the Sumerian, Akkadian and early Egyptian civilizations, with special focus on the Uruk and Akkadian Periods in Mesopotamian history as well as the Old Kingdom Period in Egyptian history.
Top Image: Sculpted scene depicting Gilgamesh wrestling with animals. From the Shara temple at Tell Agrab, Diyala Region, Iraq. Early Dynastic period, 2600–2370 BC. On display at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad. (Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin/ CC BY-SA 4.0)
Comments
Hi All,
This so exciting of a Subject to address here Gilgamesh, well I guess I better get started.
I've been informed that The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest story on Earth up until I later discovered Enoch and came to learn Enoch was older than everybody including Gilgamesh.
It was while I read Enoch I found out about another Nephilim in the days of Enoch Pre-Flood Era whose name in fact was Gilgamesh.
This Gilgamesh was so great of a Warrior that when an dispute arose between some son's of The Fallen Angel's Gilgamesh stepped up in defense of This one Nephilim.
Causing another Nephilim by the name of (bear with me), Oy ha, I've since heard preachers pronounce His Name as Og like King Og mentioned in Book of Number's the son of Shemyaza to back off of that Nephilim.
So it's a possibility, that the unknown writer of The Epic of Gilgamesh, may have meshed the Two Gilgamesh's together unless the Pre-Flood Era Gilgamesh might be a blood relative but, I could be wrong so I'm not certain.
Then again people name there children after Heroes in History; all the time, and Gilgamesh Nimrod Parent's probably named Him; after the first Gilgamesh because of his military prowess on the battlefield.
I did think at one point Gilgamesh may have been one and the same person Nimrod Gilgamesh; when He was immersed in the construction of the Tower of Babel dubbed in Genesis
chapter 11; As the Mighty Hunter Before The Lord.
I do think that Nimrod got that title Mighty Hunter Before The Lord because He was Killing the Race of Nephilims and Giant's off. Earth was given by God to People to inherit Not to the Angel's in Heaven or the children they had by human women.
Nimrod would full-filling an Heavenly edict in getting rid of The Race of Nephilims but, it could be true that Gilgamesh might have been an Giant or a Rephalim.
The Valley of Rephalim is referenced throughout the Scriptures Exodus and Number's. The two King's of The Bible Og and Shion were both Rephalim's.
I'll stop for now I'm sure when I think of something else about Gilgamesh I'll come back and share it all, until next time Everyone, Goodbye!