Gilgamesh and Noah's Ark

One version of the Epic of Gilgamesh contains an account of a flood that is remarkably similar to the story of Noah's Ark told in the Hebrew Bible. Shown is a photo of the "flood tablet" in the British Museum. Here's a description:

The Flood Tablet, relating part of the Epic of Gilgamesh

Neo-Assyrian, 7th century BC
From Nineveh, northern Iraq

The most famous cuneiform tablet from Mesopotamia
click here to play video clip

The Assyrian King Ashurbanipal (reigned 669-631 BC) collected a library of thousands of cuneiform tablets in his palace at Nineveh. They recorded myths, legends and scientific information. Among them was the story of the adventures of Gilgamesh, a legendary ruler of Uruk, and his search for immortality. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a huge work, the longest literary work in Akkadian (the language of Babylonia and Assyria). It was widely known, with versions also found at Hattusas, capital of the Hittites, and Megiddo in the Levant.

This, the eleventh tablet of the epic, describes the meeting of Gilgamesh with Utnapishtim. Like Noah in the Hebrew Bible, Utnapishtim had been forewarned of a plan by the gods to send a great flood. He built a boat and loaded it with everything he could find. Utnapishtim survived the flood for six days while mankind was destroyed, before landing on a mountain called Nimush. He released a dove and a swallow but they did not find dry land to rest on, and returned. Finally a raven that he released did not return, showing that the waters must have receded.

This Assyrian version of the Old Testament flood story was identified in 1872 by George Smith, an assistant in The British Museum. On reading the text he

... jumped up and rushed about the room in a great state of excitement, and, to the astonishment of those present, began to undress himself.'

Length: 15.24 cm
Width: 13.33 cm
Thickness: 3.17 cm

Excavated by A.H. Layard

Some scholars interpret such flood stories as commentaries on what the gods will do to humans when humans overstep their bounds--including environmental bounds, such as when human population levels get too high.

Do play the video clip (in Real Player format) which is very interesting.

Gilgamesh reproductions online

Here's just the thing for your dorm room--a scaled down reproduction of the fourteen foot high statue of Gilgamesh that stands in the Louvre. Only $111 !! Here are the details from Talaria Enterprises, a company that specializes in such things:

Gilgamesh Hero from Uruk
This self-standing relief illustrates Gilgamesh, a historical king of Uruk in Babylonia (modern Iraq), who lived around 2700 BC. His mythical exploits survive for us in the Epic of Gilgamesh, a 3,000-line epic poem, in which its hero undertakes a voyage to the netherworld, the land of No Return, in his attempt to understand his surroundings and find meaning in human existence. The original, now in the Louvre Museum, is almost 14 feet high and came from the throne room of the palace of Sargon, Dur Sharroukin c. 700 BC. Reproduction is made from resin, hand finished green and brown, 16”H x 8.75”W x 3”L, 13 lbs.4342, $111
Available LATE DECEMBER 2005

Sure to impress your friends and family when they come to visit . . . .

Human carrying capacity . . .

The following link is to a brief article that discusses Cohen's book and some of the problems with the concept of "carrying capacity" as applied to human population. Here's a brief excerpt:

One of the central debates in population literature centers on what the maximum carrying capacity of the Earth is and whether we’re below or above that level (or are likely to be in the future). Doomsayers like Paul Ehrlich and Garrett Hardin seem to think the Earth has already exceeded its carrying capacity while their critics such as Julian Simon seem to believe the carrying capacity of the planet is infinite. But as demographer Joel Cohen points out in How Many People Can the Earth Support?, the real problem is with the concept of carrying capacity itself -- "on examination, none of the existing concepts of carrying capacity in basic or applied ecology turns out to be adequate for the human population" (Cohen 1995, p.237).

fyi. Use the blog to pass along items of interest, commentary, discussion, disagreement and argument (keep it polite of course!), but have fun with it. Pictures too.

Anyway, have a great weekend everyone.
Jim

Blog invites have been sent . . .

Hi everybody,
the invitations from blogger.com have gone out via email, so if you're checking the blog out and haven't gotten one yet, or if you just added the class, please let me know by email. thanks everyone.

Jim

Welcome!

Welcome to Natural Resources 220, "People, Values, and Natural Resources."