Modern scholarship is then briefly analyzed for the most current data available, including the questionable epilogue of Tablet XII. A historical overview is provided on the works of the early pioneers of Assyriology. This paper assists readers with a perspicuous review of nascent writing systems, geocultural timelines, Mesopotamian city-states, and the Dynastic Periods.
Moreover, since the unearthing of the cuneiform tablets over a century ago at Nineveh, there have been exponential developments in the field which lead to a challenging literature review: continuous new discoveries of texts progressive improvement in decipherment superseding past works new publications of private collections lack of accreditment to, or complete omission of, the works of early pioneering researchers and multifarious interpretations of the Sumerian and Semitic texts among scholars. Reading the Epic of Gilgamesh can lead to confusion insofar as the versions of the story and the variations of character names therein. Merlin has elements in common with Enkidu, while King Arthur can be seen as a metaphorical “Bear’s son.” Over time, the status of the Wild Man has changed from a wholly inhuman monster to a “noble savage” who today might even be cast as a salvific eco-warrior. So too do the origins of Merlin, the wizard of medieval Arthurian romance. Perhaps surprisingly, the roots of Santa Claus lie in the Wild Man. Thematic overlaps exist between some Gilgamesh narratives and European folk-tales about a Wild Man whose father was a bear (the Bear’s Son / Jean de l’Ours motif) or about twin boys, one of whom was raised in the wild by a female bear (Valentine and Orson). Since Enkidu symbolises our pre-human nature, one can perceive a figurative truth to the pan-European folk belief that people are descended from bears. In European folk traditions, the Wild Man is interchangeable with the bear, and parallels can be drawn between Enkidu and the Candlemas Bear associated with Carnival. Created as a match for king Gilgamesh of Uruk, Enkidu goes on to become the king’s beloved friend.
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the seduction of the wild man Enkidu by Shamhat the harlot symbolically causes his death as an unreflective animal and his rebirth as a human – an Eden-like fall into self-awareness.
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