Gilgamesh and his new best friend are heading out on an adventure to fight a firebreathing giant named "Hugeness the Terrible." Also there's a giant deadly bull fight, talk of zombies, some tiny shoes, and light hand-holding. If those things don't make you want to listen to this episode I can't think of anything else that would.
The creature this week is splinter cat, the enemy of arboretums everywhere.
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Music:
"LA" by Podington Bear | "Insatiable Toad" by Blue Dot Sessions | "In the Back Room" by Blue Dot Sessions | "Great is the Contessa" by Blue Dot Sessions | "Gnossienne 3" by Podington Bear | "Gnossienne 4" by Podington Bear | "Dark Wonder" by Julie Maxwell | "The Group of Girls Die First" by Keshco | "Direct to Video" by Chris Zabriskie
Disclaimer
Very light talk of sex...one character just wants another's seed and says as much. I thought it might be weird if young kids heard that, but I'm probably being too cautious.
Gilgamesh Immortal, wild born, wore lion skins
till tamed by the priestess Ishtar
Hero and sage, he defeated mortality
the relentless tyranny of Time
Invincible Conqueror, he first captured Uruk
then even to Lebanon on the middle sea shore
Sumer’s great gods he brought and smashed idols
his glories are carved in the permanent stone
Gilgamesh Emperor refused his mortality
challenged this affronting curtailment of power
He curses the Gods who gave mankind death
and kept immortality themselves
He desecrates the temples, dismantles the altars
discredits the ancient beliefs
Then Gilgamesh wanders, again wearing lion skins
searching for everlasting life
But he cannot claim one hundred years
or even five days in this world
till Sleep gently takes to her restful abode
the great warrior docile and blind
Eternity he finds in the cavernous dark
too much time to hope to endure
Is this then my fate or will I cease to be?
Gilgamesh resolves to inquire
The answer he learns, as sailors well know
lies on the deep ocean floor
But that bitter truth, encased in sharp spines
has never been brought back to shore
Undaunted sage who searched beyond heaven
for the secret to undying youth
ties rocks to his feet, descends through the deep
poised at the threshold of death
Gilgamesh plucks and swallows that fruit
too thorny for mortals to hold
Then returning to Uruk reigned fifty more years
devoted and caring for all
Ninety-nine years was his time on this earth
after ninety-nine years and nine days
maggots appeared, a great stench arose
his corpse was consigned to the flames
All of Sumeria worshipped the demigod
in rites lasting one thousand days
Five thousand slaves and seventy maidens
attend him beyond the grave
The funeral, remembered for eighty four years
was portrayed in gold and bright stones
The shrine was revered for five hundred more
then plundered and levelled by foe
But Gilgamesh Immortal has no need of monuments
from clay to papyrus he strides
From parchment to print and digital media
technologies yet to arrive
Ripples arise in the seething entropy
multitudes exist and subside
Five thousand years and all that has passed
Gilgamesh alone survives
Hello Mythpodcast!
I have just recently caught up to the current episode (54B) and I started in September. Ultimately, I’d like to say that I’ve enjoyed the podcast up to this point and it has made commuting two hours everyday a much better experience. I’m sad I’ll not be listening to mythpodcast as avidly anymore, but glad I no longer need to commute so much and I can listen as the episodes are released.
Thanks for making my life better,
Lvl1Bard
P.S. Where do you guys post your sources for the episode? I remember a few things being off in the Norse myths but I can’t recall them exactly now.
It’s 54B, not 45B. You’re also in Spotify! Great podcast!
oops! Yep. I’ll have to fix that – thanks for letting me know.