Gilgamesh and Agga / Aga (from) Kish - Sumerian historiographical legend [1] [2] . Its features are brevity (115 lines [3] , the shortest of the Sumerian epic poems [4] ) and the fact that only people act in it, without gods and mythological plot lines. There is nothing supernatural / superhuman either, although this is not typical of epic poetry.
The song was created not earlier than the XXVII century BC. er since the first dynasty of Uruk, to which Gilgamesh belonged, reigned around this century [5] .
Content
Story
The work tells the story of the struggle of two Sumerian kings - Gilgamesh (King Uruk ) and Auggie (King Kish ) [4] .
It begins with the fact that Agga, disturbed by the significant strengthening of Uruk, sent messengers to him demanding to obey him, threatening to attack the city otherwise. The king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, is determined to fight and appeals to the "high assembly of the elders of his city", offering to disobey and fight Kish. However, the elders found the world a better offer. Then, disappointed, Gilgamesh turned to the “meeting of the young citizens of his city,” and this meeting already supported Gilgamesh and declared Kish a war [4] .
Then Agga laid siege to Uruk and, despite the speeches of Gilgamesh, his citizens were seized with fear. Then Gilgamesh appealed to the volunteers of Uruk to fight Agga. Birkhurturr responded to the call (another version of the name translation is Girishkhururur [2] ), one of the volunteers, confident that he will be able to convince Aggu to stop the siege. But as soon as the Birkhurturr went outside the city, he was seized and taken to Agga. He began a conversation with him, but even before it ended another brave man, Zabardibunugga, climbed the wall. At first, Agga asked Birhurturre if this was not Gilgamesh. When he replied in the negative, Aggie's warriors lost attention to Zabardibunugga and continued to besiege the city. Then Gilgamesh himself decided to climb the wall to meet Aggie. When he climbed the wall and Birkhurre confirmed Agge that this was Gilgamesh, then, according to Kramer , Agga, being impressed, agreed to lift the siege and the people of Uruk thanked him for his generosity. According to Afanasyev , Gilgamesh defeated Aggie's army and captured him. The poem concludes with the praise of Gilgamesh as the savior of Uruk [2] [4] .
Archaeological value
This work is one of two documents describing the life and actions of the historically existing king Gilgamesh . It follows from him that he became a lugale without the approval of the council of elders of the city, but only with the consent of the council of Uruk youths, which means that his authority was illegitimate from the point of view of the Nippur priests [6] .
In the legend, there are many facts that are not mentioned elsewhere, highlighting the early period of hostility between Sumerian city-states . It is of particular interest for the history of political institutions and thought, since, according to it, in Sumer around 2700 BC. er there was a semblance of a democratic bicameral parliament [3] .
According to Henry Saggs , the war between Uruk and Kish, of which the second was much more Semitic than the first, is proved by the conflict between the Semites and the Sumerians themselves in Sumer [7] .
Literary Analysis
According to Afanasieva, the genre of the tale of Gilgamesh and Agge can be defined as “heroin-heroic”, and it differs from all other Sumerian works known to us [5] . Unlike other Sumerian texts, there are almost no repetitions in it, a detailed description of events is only in the dialogues of Aggie and Girishhururra, the text is concise and concise [2] .
There are no fantastic or wonderful moments in the legend, with a large number of household details in it [8] . Gilgamesh’s description in it is different from other works about him, where he is endowed with fabulous and magical features [5] . In the Babylonian epic, based on Sumerian legends, there is no analogue of this work [3] .
If this work is considered from the point of view of the existence of its historical prototype, then it can be regarded as a historical song created by a contemporary of Gilgamesh in honor of the victory of his victory over Agga, and written in relatively neutral tones, without characteristic flowering and hyperbolization characteristic of such works [9] .
This legend does not correspond to the general spirit of the Gilgamesh epic , and it was not used by the creator of this work, as was the song of Gilgamesh and the Underworld [10] .
Notes
- ↑ Kramer, 2000 , Chapter 2. History: Heroes, Kings and Enzi.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Afanasyev, 1979 , p. 84
- ↑ 1 2 3 Cramer, 2013 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Kramer, 2000 , Chapter 5. Sumerians fiction.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Afanasyev, 1979 , p. 103
- ↑ Emelyanov, 2001 , p. 252.
- ↑ Suggs, Henry . Chapter 6. The basis of Babylonian society and the Babylonian way of life // Greatness of Babylon. The history of the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia . - Liters, 2015. - 1284 p. - ISBN 9785457080867 .
- ↑ Afanasyev, 1979 , p. 102
- ↑ Afanasyev, 1979 , p. 112
- ↑ Afanasyev, 1979 , p. 116.
Literature
- Kramer, Samuel . “Sumerians. The first civilization on Earth . " - M .: " Tsentrpoligraf ", 2000. - 833 p. - ISBN 9785457030305 .
- Kramer, Samuel . The story begins in Sumer . - M .: “ Ripol-classic ”, 2013. - 260 p. - ISBN 5458240898 .
- Afanasyev V. K. “Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Epic Images in Art ”/ editor-in-chief I. M. Dyakonov . - M .: " Science ", 1979. - 219 p. - (" Culture of the Peoples of the East "). - 7400 copies
- Emelyanov V.V. “Ancient Sumer. Culture Sketches. - SPb. : " Petersburg Oriental Studies ", 2001. - 368 p. - ("World of the East"). - ISBN 5-85803-161-7 .