I recently read Stephen Mitchell's adaptation of Gilgamesh, which sent me in search of other versions:
https://troypress.com/best-translations-of-the-epic-of-gilgamesh/ #Gilgamesh #Poetry #EpicPoetry

Sacred King

In many historical societies, the position of kingship carried a sacral meaning & was identical with that of a high priest & judge.

Divine kingship is related to the concept of theocracy. Although a sacred King doesn’t necessarily rule through his religious authority. But rather, the temporal (or non-religious) position itself has a religious significance behind. The monarch may be divine, become divine, or represent divinity to a greater or lesser extent.

In sacred kingship, the king often has little political power, & is contrasted with divine kingship where the king triumphs in the politico-religious struggle between the people & the king. A sacred king is often encumbered with ritals & used as a scapegoat for disasters such as famine & drought. However, they can become divine & achieve greater power.

In Africa, sacred kings are often represented as volatile & potentially dangerous wild animals. The Ashanti flog, yes flog, a newly selected King (Ashantehene) before enthroning him.

From the Bronze Age in the Near East, the enthronement & anointment of a monarch is a central religious ritual, reflected in such titles as Messiah or Christ. This became separated from worldly kingship. Sargon of Akkad described himself as a “deputy of Ishtar.” This is like how the modern Catholic popes take the role of the “Vicar of Christ.”

Kings are styled as shepherds from the earliest times. The term was applied to Sumerian princes such as Lugalbanda in the 3rd millennium BCE. Shepherd imagery combines themes of leadership & the responsibility to supply food & protection, as well as superiority. As a mediator between the people & the divine, the sacred King was credited with special wisdom (like Solomon or Gilgamesh) or vision (via oneiromancy). Oneiromancy is a form of divination based on dreams, & also uses dreams based on dreams, & also uses to predict the future.

Here are some examples of some sacred kings:

• Chakravartin, a righteous king derived from Indian religious thought
• Devaraja, a cult of divine kings in Southeast Asia
• Germanic kingship
• Kings in pre-Christian Scandinavia & England claimed descent from God’s such as Odin & Freyr. Scandinavian kings in pre-Christian times served as priests at sacrifices.
• The kings of Goryeo claimed descent from the Dragon King
• Holy Roman emperors
• Imperial cults
• The Omukama of Kitara ruled as a heavenly sovereign
• The High King of Ireland, according to medieval tradition, married the sovereignty goddess
• The Eze Nri, ruler of the defunct Igbo Nri Kingdom in present-day Nigeria. He was addressed as “Igwe,” meaning “heavenly one” in the Igbo language, & has bestowed his title to the monarch of a contemporary traditional state of the same name.
• The Emperor of Japan is known in Japanese as Tenno (Heavenly sovereign) & was formerly believed to be a living kami.
• The Kende was the sacred King of the Magyars in the 9th century.
• The Khagan
• The kings of Luba became deities after death.
• The earthly power of the papacy.
• Pharaoh, the title of Ancient Egyptian rulers. The pharaoh adopted names symbolizing holy might.
• The last vestige of Athenian monarchy, Archon basileus, mainly retained the duties of overseeing certain religious rites.
• The Son of Heaven, an East Asian title
• Shah & Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, Islamic concepts
• The kings of Sparta claimed direct descent from Heracles himself, & served as hereditary priests.
• Madkhalism in Islam

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#3rdMillenniumBC #9thCentury #Africa #AncientEgypt #ArchonBasileus #Ashantehene #Ashanti #Athens #BronzeAge #Catholic #Chakravartin #Christ #Devaraja #Divination #DivineKingship #DragonKing #Dreams #EastAsia #EmperorOfJapan #England #EzeNri #Freyr #Germanic #Gilgamesh #Goryeo #Heracles #HighKingOfIreland #HighPriest #HolyRomanEmperor #IgboLanguage #IgboNriKingdom #Igwe #Indian #Ishtar #Islam #IslamicJurist #Japanese #Judge #Kami #Kende #KingSolomon #KingsOfLuba #Lugalbanda #Madkhalism #Magyars #Messiah #Monarch #NearEast #Nigeria #Odin #OmukamaOfKitara #Oneiromancy #Papacy #Pharaoh #Popes #PreChristian #Priests #SacredKing #SargonOfAkkad #Scandinavia #Shah #Shepherds #SonOfHeaven #SoutheastAsia #Sparta #Sumerian #Tenno #TheKhagan #Theocracy #VicarOfChrist

#WindsOfWinter #georgerrmartin #bookhumor #Gilgamesh #bookstagram #booktok #booksky https://www.k-squareproductions.com/gmbc

The Epic of Gilgamesh mirrors human life: adventure, wisdom-seeking, loss. Gilgamesh's struggles are universal, echoing our own searches for meaning and acceptance of mortality. #Gilgamesh #Mesopotamia #AncientHistory #Humanism #EpicTales #Mythology #AncientWisdom #BiblicalStudies #Literature #Storytelling

Gilgamesh's journey. An adventure to wisdom, love to loss, that mirrors life. His struggles resonate universally, reminding us of mortality and the quest for meaning. #Gilgamesh #Mesopotamia #Ancientwisdom #Humanexperience #Mortality #Epic #Mythology #Archaeology

I love this novel - Elif Shafak's There Are Rivers in the Sky

"We make art to leave a mark for the future, a slight kink in the river of stories, which flows too fast and too wildly for any of us to comprehend."

#Water #Books #ElifShafak #Art #History #Gilgamesh #Archaeology #Mesopotamia #Yazidi #Iraq

𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑵𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒔: 𝑰𝒏 𝑫𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑭𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒚 -

Riddle: What do Beowulf, Palmolive dish liquid, and Sarah Maas have in common? Hint: Ursula K. Le Guin knows!

https://waywordsstudio.com/.../way.../in-defense-of-fantasy/

#podcast #literature #books #bookworm #book #read #readreadread #ursulakleguin #jrrtolkien #lordoftherings #epics #art #gilgamesh #homer #amadisofgaula #beowulf #dungeonsanddragons #williammorris #lorddunsany #genre #trope

“The interconnectedness of water and human experience are beautifully expressed in #ElifShafak’s epic century-spanning #novel, taking in #Nineveh and #London, the #Thames and the #Tigris, #Gilgamesh and #Dickens.” fivebooks.com/best-books/t...

The Best Political Novels of 2...

#Meme #Memes #Skeleton #Skeletons #Gilgamesh #TheEpicOfGilgamesh #Anime #BL #BoysLove #Yaoi #Pride #Pride2025 #Books #Bookstodon #Manga #Reading #ReadingCommunity

𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: "𝗜𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗮" 𝗯𝘆 𝗘𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗛. 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝘀𝗼𝗻 -

An original setting (!) and energized retelling of the most potent myth in ancient Sumer, fantasized unfortunately almost out of recognition.

https://youtu.be/mHTDJ_KWTyI

#bookreviews #literature #books #bookworm #read #book #readreadread #emilyhwilson #inanna #historicalfantasy #fantasy #sumerianstrilogy #gilgamesh

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#BraveWords–WhereMusicLives

KORYPHEUS Signs To M-Theory Audio; “Icarus” Single Streaming

https://bravewords.com/news/korypheus-signs-to-m-theory-audio-icarus-single-streaming/

#Korypheus #MTheoryAudio #Icarus #Ukraine #Metalcore #PostRock #AndyGushin #Gilgamesh #Varmia #MaximLavrinchuk

Lo que puede levantar la ficción fílmica argentina si empieza a trabajar con la cantera de Oesterheld y el mundo clásico de la historieta argentina en general

Mauricio Vera propone:

No tiene gollete lo que puede levantar la ficción fílmica argentina si empieza a trabajar con la cantera de Oesterheld y el mundo clásico de la historieta argentina en general. No se duerman

Algunas de las sugerencias en formato pdf

Algunas de las historietas sugeridas están en el blog El Sudamericano

#breccia #gilgamesh #guionesDeHistorietas #guionesParaNetflix #RobínWood #solanoLópez

The Curse of #Enkidu from #Gilgamesh

May the garbage of the city be what you eat.

May you drink what flows along the alley gutters.

May you importune in the alley shadows.

May you have no home.

May you sleep on the city doorsteps.

May there be signs of vomit on your clothes.

May all men curse and revile you and turn away.

ICYMI: In 2007/2008 an exhibition took place that provided an insight into one of the oldest known literary texts - the epic of #Gilgamesh, the mythical king of ancient Uruk.

Together with students from the Free University of Berlin, we developed the concept and planned the exhibition. To illustrate scenes from the epic, the young artist Franziska Leischker produced a series of prints exclusively for the exhibition and catalogue.

🔗 https://www.artefacts-berlin.de/portfolio-item/gilgamesh-exhibition-catalogue/

𝟯 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: “𝗜𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗮” 𝗯𝘆 𝗘𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝘀𝗼𝗻 -

Wilson assembles a worthy-enough fantasy in a terrific setting: ancient Sumer. Even so, the liberties she takes with the original myths undermine their complexity and cater to contemporary markets.

#bookreviews #literature #books #bookworm #book #read #readreadread #3words #emilywilson #fantasy #inanna #thesumerianstrilogy #fiction #myth #gilgamesh #sumer #mesopotamia #akkad

I know it's been a long time, but could we bring back Mesopotamian-posting?
#Babylon #Mesopotamia #Gilgamesh