'now, for the first time since the
rediscovery of the first Gilgamesh tablets in 1872, we are able to grasp the true import of the story - in the context of the religious belief in an exploded planet.'
(When The Gods Came Down p. 119)
'the setting of The Epic does not really involve geography at all. Rather it is - to reinvent an old term - ankiography, the landscape of the ancient 'universe' of Heaven-and-Earth (AN and KI).'
(When The Gods Came Down p. 126)
'The goal of Gilgamesh's expedition was clear. He would ascend to Heaven (via the underworld), find Utnapishtim, and ask him about the secrets of eternal life.'
(When The Gods Came Down p. 118)
'... Gilgamesh's quest was ultimately aimed at reaching 'the Land of the Cut-down Cedar Trees', i.e. Heaven. But at the same time, Gilgamesh had to first descend into the 'Cedar
Forest', i.e. the underworld which contained the chopped-down trees.'
(When The Gods Came Down p. 126)
'... ancient references to the cutting down of this 'cosmic tree' were in many cases describing idiomatically
the catastrophe in the heavens - i.e. the fall, or collapse, of Heaven.'
(When The Gods Came Down p. 126)
'the Sumerian GIS.BIL.GA.MES... meant literally 'MES which is the sprouting seed of a new tree'... The name
Gilgamesh, then, meant 'meteorite, which is the sprouting seed of a new tree'.'
(When The Gods Came Down p. 126)
'The hero Gilgamesh... had been born from the earth as a Titan, as the 'MES (meteorite), which is the
sprouting seed of a new tree'. But he was, at the same time, a human king. Thus his fate was sealed. He would die and return to the earth, like every other mortal Mesopotamian man.'
(When The Gods Came Down pp. 134-35)
'The Epic of Gilgamesh
reinforces many of the lessons we have learned so far. It confirms the importance of the meteorite (the falling god motif); it confirms the idea of an Earth-like mountain in the underworld; it confirms the idea that one had to descend into the underworld in order to ascend to Heaven; and it confirms that the route to Heaven was via a 'cosmic mountain' or by the crossing of a celestial sea.'
(When The Gods Came Down p. 135)
'why was this account of the Flood such a great secret? Surely Gilgamesh must have already known the story, otherwise he would not have embarked upon his ambitious expedition to
find Utnapishtim. Have scholars missed something?'
(When The Gods Came Down p. 119)
'there are indeed secrets encoded into The Epic of Gilgamesh, not least the metaphorical meaning of that mysterious ancient
'city' of Shuruppak.'
(When The Gods Came Down p. 141)
