Ancient Egyptian Love Poetry

Romance Along the Nile

All poems may be found here - Egyptian love poetry link

The Golden Goddess

My beloved stirs my heart with his voice,

He causes illness to seize me...

My mother is right in commanding me:

“Avoid seeing him.”

But, my heart is smitten by his memory,

My love for him has seized me.

Look, he is a fool

But I am just like him.

He does not know my desire to embrace him,

He does (not) send word to my mother.

Oh, my beloved! I am destined for you,

By the Golden (Goddess) of Women.

Qenamun and His Wife, Tomb of Qenamun, New Kingdom (ca. 1390-1352 BCE)

A Wife Embracing Her Husband

How knowing is my beloved in tossing the lasso,

(But) she draws no cattle.

Her hair is the lasso she tosses at me.

With her eye(s), she beckons me,

With her finery, she binds me,

Her ring is her brand.

Restoration of Decorated Doorway to North Chapel,

Tomb of Puyemre, New Kingdom (ca. 1479-1458 BCE)

A Decorated Doorway

I pass by his house,

Finding its door open.

My beloved stands beside his mother,

His siblings all around him.

He looks at me as I pass,

(But) I alone rejoice.

Had his mother known my heart,

She would have gone inside for a moment.

O Golden One, put that in her heart,

so I may hurry to my beloved,

and kiss him before his companions!

Menna's Daughter Offering to her Parents, Tomb of Menna,

New Kingdom (ca. 1400-1352 BCE)

A Beautifully Adorned Woman

The love of my beloved is there, on the (other) side,

The river swallows my body.

Nun (flood) is strong in (this) season,

(And) a crocodile is waiting on the sandbank.

(Still) I go down to the water,

Wading through the waves . . .

The crocodile, I find, is like a mouse,

The floodwaters like land under my feet.

It is her love that makes me strong,

So she will cast a water-spell for me.

And I will see the one whom my heart loves,

Standing right before me.

Hunting Scene, Tomb of Ineni, New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1470 BCE)

Antelopes Fleeing a Hunter and his Dog

Would that you come to your beloved,

Swiftly as a gazelle,

Leaping across the desert,

Its legs racing,

Its limbs weary,

Its body riddled with fear.

The hunter is behind it, a dog at his side,

(But) they cannot (even) see its dust...

Offerings of a Chariot and Horse, Tomb of Userhat, New Kingdom (ca. 1427-1400 BCE)

Prancing Horse

Would that you come (to your beloved),

(Swiftly) as the king’s horse,

Thoroughbred among all steeds,

The champion of the stable,

Cosseted in its feed,

Whose sovereign recognizes its pace.

Hearing the crack of a whip,

It cannot be held back.

No warrior can subdue it.

How knowing is the heart of the beloved,

That he is not far from (his) beloved.

Man Before a False Door, Tomb of Nebamun, New Kingdom (ca. 1479-1458 BCE)

Lector Priest Holding a Papyrus Scroll

For seven days I have not seen my beloved,

Illness has overcome me . . .

If the chief physicians came to me,

My heart would not respond to their remedies.

Even the lector priests could not find the way,

My illness is not diagnosed.

The one who tells me, “Look, it is she” is the

one who will revive me,

Her name is what will cure me . . .

My beloved is more beneficial for me than any

remedy . . .

I see her - and I become healthy.

She opens her eyes - my limbs are young.

She speaks - I am strong.

I hug her - she drives away evil from me.

(But) seven days ago, she left me.

Woman Holding a Captured Bird in the Marshes, New Kingdom (ca. 1279-1213 BCE)

The voice of the goose cries out,

Caught by its bait.

Your love holds me,

I cannot release it.

I will collect my nets.

What shall I tell my mother,

To whom I go every day,

Laden with birds?

I set no trap today,

(For) your love has seized me.

The Mother and Wife of Userhat, Tomb of Userhat,

New Kingdom (ca. 1294-1279 BCE)

Two Women Sitting in the Shade of a Sycamore Tree

The little sycamore that she herself planted

Opens its mouth to speak.

The words coming forth from its mouth

Overflow with honey.

It is perfect, its branches beautiful,

Blooming and strong,

Laden with ripe and unripe figs

That are redder than jasper.

Its leaves like turquoise,

With the gleam of glass.

It attracts those who have yet come:

“Come spend a day of beauty,

Morning after morning, up to three days, While

seated in (my) shade...

I am discreet and do not say what I see.

I will not breathe a word.”

Winemaking, Tomb of Ipuy, New Kingdom (ca. 1279-1213 BCE)

Wine Making

I sail north on the river,

In the manner of a captain.

My bundle of reeds on my shoulder,

I am headed to Memphis.

I will say to Ptah, Lord of Maat,

“Give me my beloved tonight!”

The river - it is wine,

Ptah is its reed.

Sakhmet - its lotus leaf.

Iadet - its lotus flower.

Nefertem is its blooming blossom.

The land lights up with her beauty.

Memphis is a bowl of mandrakes,

Set before the Beautiful-of-Face (Ptah).

Female Musicians, New Kingdom (ca. 1400-1390 BCE)

Troop of Female Musicians

Seeing you, my beloved, is a festive day.

Regarding you is a great favor.

May you come to me with beer,

Musicians equipped with instruments,

Their mouths with songs of love,

For joy and jubilation.

Your excellent beloved is in adoration before you,

Kissing the ground at seeing you.

Receive her with beer and incense,

Like offerings to a god.

Facade of a House, Tomb of Djehutynefer,
New Kingdom (ca. 1458-1410 BCE)

Facade of a House

I pass by her house at night,

I knock, (but) no one opens.

A good night for our doorkeeper!

Bolt, I will open (you),

Latch, my fate is yours,

(Latch), my very soul is yours

Restoration of the Hathor-Head Frieze in the Tomb of Senenmut, New Kingdom (1479-1458 BCE)

Ancient Egyptian love poems, often found on papyri and ostraca, express passionate and relatable emotions through vivid imagery of nature, longing, and physical affection. These poems, which originated from an oral tradition, describe feelings of desire, jealousy, and the joy of being with a loved one, with some famous examples including the "Cairo Ostracon 25218" and texts from the Chester Beatty papyri.

Themes and imagery

Longing and separation

Poems often depict the pain of separation, comparing the lover's absence to loneliness and death. A common theme is the difficulty of reaching the beloved who lives across the river, separated by a flood and crocodiles.

Praise and physical beauty

Many poems praise the beloved's appearance using metaphors from nature, comparing their beauty to stars, lotuses, and the rising sun. One poem describes a woman with hair like "lapis lazuli" and fingers like "lotus flowers".

Intimacy and desire

The poems are also known for their frankness and focus on physical intimacy. They describe the joy of being together, caressing, and embracing, and the delights found in a shared moment.

Jealousy and secrecy

Some poems touch on the anxieties of love, such as a lover passing by their beloved's house and hoping their mother won't notice their affection. Others deal with the desire to be together in secret, away from the prying eyes of others.

Examples from famous poems

"Whenever I leave you, I go out of breath":

This poem from Papyrus Harris 500 expresses the feeling of dread and stillness when the loved one is away.

"My beloved has come, my heart exults":

This poem, found on Medium, describes the overwhelming joy of the beloved's arrival.

"I am to you like a bit of land, With each shrub of grateful fragrance":

This poem, found on Wikisource, uses agricultural metaphors to describe love and connection, saying that the beloved's presence makes the poet feel like a fruitful garden.

"Come, my Soul, swim to me! The water is deep in my love Which carries me to you.":

This poem, found on Facebook, describes a love so powerful it is like a deep, life-giving body of water.

"I pass by his house, Finding its door open.":

This poem from The Metropolitan Museum of Art portrays the bittersweet experience of seeing a loved one in public while needing to hide one's feelings.

 

Comparing the Novels of Emily and Charlotte Brontë

Comparing the Novels of

Emily and Charlotte Brontë

by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT-5

I was wondering the other day whether between the Brontë novels of Wuthering Heights by Emily, or Jane Eyre by her older sister Charlotte, which novel is the more raw, the more emotive, the more emotionally torn? Let's begin with a general introduction, a few of their poems, some helpful references, and finally, a few observations to see if we can answer this query.

R.E. Slater

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Charlotte, Anne & Emily Brontë -

Walking in the footsteps of the Brontë Sisters

by MemorySeekers

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Lawrence Olivier & Merle Oberon

Wuthering Heights (1939)

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Jane Eyre (1943)

Orson Welles, Joan Fontaine

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Painting of the Brontë Sisters by
their brother Branwell Brontë

Their brother, Branwell Brontë, painted his three sisters who are, from left to right: Anne, Emily and Charlotte Brontë. Branwell did not paint himself in this portrait. The National Portrait Gallery, London.

References

Emily Brontë - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Bront%C3%AB

• Wuthering Heights - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuthering_Heights

Charlotte Brontë - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Bront%C3%AB

• Jane Eyre - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Eyre

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Select Poems

No Coward Soul Is Mine

(1846)

by Emily Brontë 

No coward soul is mine,
No trembler in the world’s storm-troubled sphere:
I see Heaven’s glories shine,
And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.

O God within my breast,
Almighty, ever-present Deity!
Life - that in me has rest,
As I - undying Life - have power in Thee!

*The poem, written shortly before Emily’s death, is an astonishing assertion of raw, defiant inner strength - the same elemental forces which animates her fierce novel, Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff and Catherine are not sentimental lovers; they are cosmically eternal presences forcefully speaking of “undying life” entwined beyond mortality forever and ever. The exceedingly jealous God within her breast mirrors the novel’s wild spirituality, its refusal to be tamed.

Remembrance

(1845)

by Emily Brontë 

Cold in the earth - and the deep snow piled above thee,

Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave!
Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,
Severed at last by Time’s all-severing wave?

No later light has lightened up my heaven,
No second morn has ever shone for me;
All my life’s bliss from thy dear life was given -
All my life’s bliss is in the grave with thee.

*This is the emotional shadow of Catherine and Heathcliff. The imagery of snow, distance, eternal grief, and undying love which perfectly embodies Heathcliff’s obsessive mourning. Wuthering Heights is less about romantic fulfillment than it is about eternal, haunted attachment. “Remembrance” is to Wuthering Heights what a cold wind is to the moors - eternal, echoing, unrelenting.

Life

(1846)

by Charlotte Brontë

Life, believe, is not a dream

So dark as sages say;
Oft a little morning rain
Foretells a pleasant day.

Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,
But these are transient all;
If the shower will make the roses bloom,
O why lament its fall?

*Unlike Emily’s tempest, Charlotte’s verse carries hope through suffering. Her novel, Jane Eyre, is marked by a myriad of personal sufferings and trials - orphanhood, betrayal, and loss - yet Jane chooses moral resilience over despair. “The shower will make the roses bloom” captures her inner steadfastness and capacity for growth through hardship.

The Teacher’s Monologue

(excerpt)

by Charlotte Brontë

I dreamed once more - for I had dreamed in youth,
Of something which a word of mine might do;
Of hopes which, being once my own, had fled,
But, lingering, left behind them joy or pain -
The fevered pulse of a too burning brain.

I dreamed of love; it was a passionate thought,
And yet it was a soft one…

*This lesser-known poem mirrors Jane’s inner longing - restrained, intelligent, and moral, yet deeply passionate. Charlotte writes of love as a private fire, not an inner, violent storm: something deeply felt within, yet never allowed to consume the self entirely. This quiet, steady burn is exactly the energy of Jane’s expressed voice - self-respecting, yearning, resilient.

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Public Comments

• "For me, Wuthering Heights is by far the best. I expected Jane Eyre to be better since it's so well known, but to be honest I found it quite boring. On the contrary, I expected Wuthering Heights to be a regular love story, but it absolutely amazed me. I definitely did not expect what I read. It is now my favourite book. It is incomparable to Jane Eyre for me." - Anon (found on Reddit)

• "I don't know why but I have a feeling that people get turned off by depressing books and that is the reason that Wuthering Heights is under-appreciated by so many people. The story is compelling because of its negativities. The evil that floats in the book actually resembles the evil in all of us. It is there and we ignore it. But when we have to read something that tells us more about it, we don't like it. The characters in Wuthering Heights are original because Emily has portrayed them in such a way that they have nothing to hide from the audience. She has bared the truth of humanity in every single of them. These characters, if looked closely can be related to so many people in our lives that it's not funny. By no means am I implying that Jane Eyre doesn't do the same or is not worthy. It is a very good read and has it's own redeeming qualities. However, Wuthering Heights is the one that is out for my heart." - Yukti (Goodreads)

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Opening Statement

The novels, Wuthering Heights (1847), by Emily Bronte, and Jane Eyre (1847), by Charlotte Bronte, each stand as emotional opposites, forged in the same furnace but tempered very differently from one another. Here are four qualities which may help measure the differences.

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1. Rawness of Emotion

• Wuthering Heights is the wilder, more feral of the two.
  Emily Brontë writes as though ripping open the human heart - no filters, no moral comfort. The passions between Heathcliff and Catherine burn with cruelty, obsession, longing, and revenge. It is as elemental as the wind, moors, and storms Emily experienced at her homeland. For Emily, love is destructive, not redemptive.

  “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”

• Jane Eyre, by contrast, is deeply emotional but much more contained.
  Jane’s love for Rochester is deeply passionate, but it’s mediated by her (father's) constant moral conscience, self-respect, and spiritual vision. Her inner turmoil is expressed through a keen self-awareness and an intense, internal moral struggle rather than raw, unmediated passion as expressed by Charlotte's sister Emily in Wuthering Heights.

  “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”

✅ Verdict: Wuthering Heights is the more raw in emotional expression.

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2. Psychological Depth and Inner Tornness

• Wuthering Heights externalizes deep, personal pain - its characters enact their torment through vengeance, cruelty, and wild, forbidden love. Heathcliff’s interiority is volcanic but often displayed by his destructive acts. The book feels like an open wound.

• Jane Eyre internalizes Jane’s psychological journey. Her broad interior conflicts between desire, conscience, dignity, and faith, make her personal story more of a moral and psychological Bildungsroman.(eg, a novel depicting one's significant formative years or spiritual education). She bleeds more quietly - but all the more deeply.

✅ Verdict: Jane Eyre is more introspectively torn, while Wuthering Heights is more explosively torn.

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3. Tone and Emotional Texture

• Wuthering Heights: gothic storm, elemental, bitter winds, seething, unredeemed pain. The world is harsh, unyielding, and soaked in passion and death.

• Jane Eyre: gothic as well, but tempered by reason, hope, and eventual redemption. Its pain is purposeful, shaping the self.

✅ Verdict: Wuthering Heights feels more emotive in texture - it does not offer comfort or resolution in the way Jane Eyre eventually does.

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4. Moral and Emotional Resolution

• Wuthering Heights ends with a haunting ambiguity - death may or may not bring peace, but love remains wild and untamed.

• Jane Eyre ends with reconciliation and balance: love and dignity united, passion redeemed.

✅ Verdict: If we measure “tornness” by unresolved wounds, Wuthering Heights wins. If we measure it by the depth of the struggle toward selfhood, Jane Eyre has its own quiet power.

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Comparative Table

Feature	Wuthering Heights	Jane Eyre
Emotional expression	Ferocious, unmediated, destructive	Controlled, moral, reflective
Psychological tornness	Explosive, externalized	Internalized, morally complex
Tone	Dark, stormy, tragic	Gothic but redemptive
Resolution	Ambiguous, unresolved	Harmonious, earned
Overall feel	Raw, wild, elemental	Measured, introspective, resilient

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Observation

• If you’re seeking the most raw, emotive, and torn in a visceral sense - the kind that rips apart the soul rather than heals - Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is the more brutal and emotionally feral novel.

• If you’re drawn to a quieter but emotively profound inner tornness - such as the battle of a broken heart and conflicted conscience -  Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre has the greater interior depth.

Many readers feel that Wuthering Heights is the storm, while Jane Eyre is the furnace. One consumes the world, the other refines the soul.

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If Wuthering Heights is the storm, the quotes below are its thunderclaps.

If Jane Eyre is the furnace, the quotes are its steady, defiant flames.

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Supporting Quotes from the Novels

Emily Brontë - Wuthering Heights (1847)

A wild, tempestuous, and haunting love.

1. Love as Obsession

“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
- Catherine Earnshaw

“I cannot live without my soul.”
- Heathcliff

“If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.”
- Catherine Earnshaw

2. Rage and Torment

“I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.”
- Heathcliff

“I cannot express it; but surely you and everybody have a notion that there is, or should be, an existence of yours beyond you.”
- Heathcliff

“I have to remind myself to breathe - almost to remind my heart to beat!”
- Heathcliff

3. Gothic Wilderness

“He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
- Catherine Earnshaw

“Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He’s always, always in my mind - not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself - but as my own being.”
- Catherine Earnshaw

“I cannot look down to this floor, but her features are shaped in the flags! In every cloud, in every tree - filling the air at night, and caught by glimpses in every object by day - I am surrounded with her image!”
- Heathcliff

🌀 The language of Wuthering Heights is wild and feverish -  love as an elemental force that consumes rather than heals.

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Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre (1847)

A fierce, moral, and interior love.

1. Love as Freedom

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
- Jane Eyre

“Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton? - a machine without feelings? Do you think because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!”
- Jane Eyre

“I have as much soul as you, - and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you.”
- Jane Eyre

2. Passion with Conscience

“I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.”
- Jane Eyre

“I would always rather be happy than dignified.”
- Jane Eyre

“I am not an angel,” I asserted; “and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself.”
- Jane Eyre

3. Gothic Interior

“Reader, I married him.”
- Jane Eyre

“I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.”
- Jane Eyre

“I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh: it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet, equal - as we are!”
- Jane Eyre

🔥 The language of Jane Eyre burns inwardly - love as moral courage, freedom, and spiritual equality rather than annihilation.

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Final Summary Contrast

Theme	Wuthering Heights	Jane Eyre
Love	Consuming, destructive, obsessive	Liberating, moral, self-respecting
Voice	Fevered, stormy, Gothic wilderness	Fierce but measured, interior monologue
Characters	Heathcliff & Catherine - entwined & damned	Jane & Rochester - torn but redemptive
Emotional Tone	A Wild tempest	A Steady flame
Signature quote	“I cannot live without my soul.”	“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me.”

The Song of Gilgamesh & Other Ancient Flood Stories

The Song of Gilgamesh

by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT-5

I. The King of Uruk

In Uruk’s walls the king stood tall,
A giant born of god and clay,
With restless heart and iron will,
He bent the world to his sway.

The people sighed beneath his hand,
And to the gods their cries were cast,
“Send one to match his might and pride,
That this fierce storm may break at last.”

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II. Enkidu of the Wilds

From sacred clay the gods did form
A man of earth, of breath, of bone.
Enkidu roamed where lions fed,
His heart untamed, his spirit grown.

But love and song the wild unmade,
And to the city he was led.
He met the king in battle fierce,
And brothers rose where blood was shed.

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III. The Cedar Forest

“Let us go where cedars rise,”
Said Gilgamesh with burning fire.
“To fell the beast, to carve our names,
Upon the bark of gods’ desire.”

Humbaba roared — the forest shook —
Yet two hearts struck as one bright flame.
The monster fell, the forest wept,
And men returned with glory’s name.

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IV. The Bull of Heaven

Ishtar came with silken hand,
“Be mine, O king, O flame of might.”
But scorned, she summoned Heaven’s bull
To turn their day to endless night.

They struck the beast; its fury bled.
But gods remembered every wrong.
Enkidu, beloved of Gilgamesh,
Fell silent where he once was strong.

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V. The Wanderer

The king now roamed the sunless lands,
Where scorpions guard the gates of dusk.
He sought Utnapishtim’s shore,
Where death is hushed and ages rust.

“Tell me the path to endless breath,”
Cried Gilgamesh beneath the stars.
The old one whispered, “None shall live
Beyond the hands of death’s bright bars.”

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VI. The Serpent’s Theft

Yet in the deep, a plant of life
Lay waiting in the shadowed stream.
He seized the gift, his hope renewed,
His heart alight with mortal dream.

But from the dark, a serpent came,
It took the flower, shed its skin.
And Gilgamesh, with empty hands,
Stood older than he’d ever been.

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VII. The Walls of Uruk

Back to Uruk’s shining gate
The weary king returned once more.
He touched the stones his hands had raised,
And felt their weight, their ancient core.

“No god am I,” he softly spoke,
“Nor shall my body ever stay.
But these proud walls, these deeds of men,
Will sing my name when I’m away.”

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Epilogue

So ends the tale of mortal might,
Of love and loss, of gods and men.
The oldest song the clay can hold
Still hums beneath the desert wind.

- ChatGPT

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✨ Themes and Legacy

• Mortality and Meaning: Even the mightiest must face death.

• Friendship: Enkidu humanizes Gilgamesh, changing him from tyrant to hero.

• Wisdom through Loss: True greatness is not in living forever, but in living well.

• Cultural Echo: The flood story in this epic predates and influenced later tales, including the story of Noah.

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An  Abridged Retelling of

The Epic of Gilgamesh

by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT-5

• Importance: It is one of humanity’s oldest remembered stories, dating back over 4,000 years.

• Date: The earliest written Sumerian tablets are around c. 2100 BCE; the earliest standardized version is around c. 1200 BCE from Akkad.

• Place: The source of the Legend originates from within Ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).

• Why it endures: Because it tells the timeless human story of love, death, and the search for meaning.

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🌿 1. The Mighty King of Uruk

Long ago, in the city of Uruk, there ruled a king named Gilgamesh - two-thirds god and one-third human. He was powerful and wise, but also arrogant. His people cried out to the gods for relief from his pride and tyranny.

🐂 2. The Wild Man, Enkidu

The gods responded by creating Enkidu, a wild man of the steppe, strong and free, living among animals. A temple priestess tamed him through kindness and love, and he came to Uruk to challenge Gilgamesh.

The two men wrestled fiercely - neither could win. And so, they became best friends, brothers in spirit.

🪓 3. The Cedar Forest

Eager for glory, Gilgamesh persuaded Enkidu to journey to the Cedar Forest, home of Humbaba, a monstrous guardian. Together they defeated Humbaba with courage and divine help, cutting down the great cedars and bringing the wood back to Uruk.

Their fame grew - but so did the gods’ displeasure.

💔 4. The Bull of Heaven and Enkidu’s Death

The goddess Ishtar fell in love with Gilgamesh, but when he rejected her, she sent the Bull of Heaven to punish him. Gilgamesh and Enkidu killed the bull.

For this insult to the gods, the council of heaven declared that Enkidu must die. He fell ill and cursed his fate. Gilgamesh wept bitterly over the loss of his friend.

🕊 5. The Quest for Immortality

Stricken by grief and terrified of his own death, Gilgamesh set out on a journey to find eternal life. He crossed deserts and seas to find Utnapishtim, the survivor of the Great Flood — the Mesopotamian Noah — who had been granted immortality by the gods.

Utnapishtim told him:

“The gods gave eternal life to me alone. Death is the fate of all mortals.”

He offered Gilgamesh a test — to stay awake for six days and seven nights - but Gilgamesh failed. Still, Utnapishtim revealed the secret of a plant that could restore youth.

🐍 6. The Serpent and the Return

Gilgamesh found the plant, but as he bathed in a cool spring, a serpent stole it away, shedding its skin and slithering off. Gilgamesh wept again - but this time, more wisely. He returned to Uruk, realizing immortality belongs to the gods.

🏛 7. The End of the Journey

Standing atop the great walls of Uruk, Gilgamesh admired what he had built.

He understood that human deeds, friendships, and the memory we leave behind are what endure, not eternal life.

“Look at the walls of Uruk,” he said. “They will outlast me. This is my immortality.”

 

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The Epic Of Gilgamesh In Sumerian

by Peter Pringle

The Epic of Gilgamesh - Sumerian Mythology

by "See U in History"

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What are the Oldest Remembered Legends?

by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT-5

🏺 1. The “Epic of Gilgamesh” (c. 2100-1200 BCE, Mesopotamia)

• Origin: Ancient Sumeria (Uruk, in modern Iraq)

• Written form: c. 2100 BCE on clay tablets in cuneiform (Old Babylonian versions); standardized around 1200 BCE.

• Language: Sumerian and Akkadian.

• Plot: Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, seeks immortality after the death of his friend Enkidu.

• Themes: Friendship, mortality, gods and humans, the flood narrative.

✅ Why it matters:

• Widely regarded as the world’s oldest surviving literary work.

• Contains a flood story that predates the biblical Noah narrative.

• Survived as both oral myth and written epic.

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🌊 2. Aboriginal Australian Flood and Landscape Myths (possibly 10,000+ years old)

• Origin: Indigenous peoples of Australia.

• Estimated age: At least 10,000 years, possibly older.

• Medium: Oral storytelling traditions (Dreamtime).

• Content: Stories describe rising sea levels and the flooding of land bridges - now corroborated by geological evidence.

✅ Why it matters:

• These oral traditions encode accurate environmental memory over millennia.

• They may be the oldest continuously told stories in human history.

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🐍 3. The Descent of Inanna (c. 1900-1600 BCE, Sumeria)

• Origin: Sumerian city-states.

• Plot: Inanna (Ishtar), goddess of love and war, journeys into the underworld and dies, then returns to life.

• Themes: Death and rebirth, feminine power, cosmic order.

✅ Why it matters:

• One of the oldest myths of descent and resurrection, influencing later myths (Persephone, Osiris, Jesus).

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⛵ 4. The Pyramid Texts & Egyptian Creation Myths (c. 2400 BCE)

• Origin: Old Kingdom Egypt.

• Content: Creation myths, afterlife journeys, sun god Ra, Osiris myth cycle.

• Medium: Hieroglyphic inscriptions inside pyramids.

✅ Why it matters:

• Some of the earliest religious texts ever written.

• Echo oral traditions that likely go back much further.

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🏞 5. Indo-European and Vedic Creation Hymns (c. 1500-1200 BCE)

• Origin: Ancient India.

• Text: Rig Veda (Nasadiya Sukta).

• Themes: Cosmic origins, the birth of the universe from the “non-existent.”

• Medium: Oral hymns later written in Sanskrit.

✅ Why it matters:

• Among the oldest surviving religious-philosophical hymns.

• Still recited today in traditional Vedic ceremonies.

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🌍 6. Other Ancient Story Traditions with Deep Time Roots

• Greek myths (e.g., Titanomachy, c. 800 BCE - but rooted in earlier Indo-European myth).

• Biblical Genesis (compiled c. 6th-5th century BCE, drawing from earlier Mesopotamian sources).

• Chinese flood myths (Yu the Great, c. 2000 BCE oral roots).

• Native American and Polynesian origin stories, often describing migrations and land formations tied to geological events.

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🧠 Why These Stories Endure

• They encode cosmic explanations, ethical codes, and environmental memory.

• Many are mythopoetic - meaning they carry both cultural and existential meaning.

• Some (especially Indigenous stories) may have survived continuously for 10,000+ years, making them the oldest remembered narratives on Earth.

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🏆 Summary of the Oldest Stories Still Remembered

Story / Tradition	Region	Estimated Age	Transmission	Notes
Aboriginal Dreamtime Myths	Australia	10,000+ years	Oral	Flood and landscape myths tied to real events.
Epic of Gilgamesh	Mesopotamia	c. 2100 BCE	Written & oral	Oldest written epic.
Descent of Inanna	Sumeria	c. 1900 BCE	Written & oral	Proto-resurrection myth.
Pyramid Texts	Egypt	c. 2400 BCE	Written	Early afterlife & creation myths.
Vedic Hymns (Nasadiya Sukta)	India	c. 1500 BCE	Oral & written	Still recited today.

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👉 Summary:

• Oldest written story: Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2100 BCE)

• Oldest still told story: Aboriginal Dreamtime flood myths (10,000+ years)

• Oldest religious-philosophical hymn still recited: Nasadiya Sukta (Rig Veda, c. 1500 BCE)