Pg. 17 (5 verses): "If I should fall, my fame will be secure .... My fame will be secure to all my sons."
This passage in David Ferry's translation of Gilgamesh is significant in how it provides insight on how many people in that time were to make a name for themselves and be remembered in death. A main theme in Gilgamesh is how one is perceived after they die. The epic finds the idea important that in order for an individual to be recognized after death, they must be monumentalized. This mentality becomes apparent when Gilgamesh proclaims what his action's end results will be: "If I should fall, my fame will be secure [...] My fame will be secure to all my sons" (Ferry 17). Gilgamesh will not only be remembered, but his offspring will carry his fame as well. Gilgamesh cares little about self-preservation and instead focuses on the notion that he will be famous and remembered for his exploits. Gilgamesh furthers this attitude by speaking of himself in the third person almost memorializing his actions and setting up the epic: "It was Gilgamesh who fought against Huwawa! It is Gilgamesh who will venture into the Forest and cut down the Cedar down and win glory" (17). Gilgamesh goes to the Cedar Forest for no other reason than to kill Huwawa and to gain glory and recognition for himself. As a ruler he does not mention that the Cedar Forest will be a good source of timber or that he goes there for the good of his people. Instead he wishes to merely make repute for himself and to erect monuments in his name such as the gate that he creates from the tallest cedar in the Cedar Forest. Gilgamesh does this because through the walls, gates, and other monuments that bear an individual's name is how anyone is long remembered and lives on after the mortal has died. This idea of being immortalized seems to be one theme in Gilgamesh and the chosen verse portrays that having grand adventures, momentous battles, or establishing monuments are possible avenues in order for humans to reach immortality.
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