Part A: Cultural and Athletic Continuity

 

 

 

Introduction

 

The Epic of Gilgamesh, written more than 4,000 years ago, is an ancient Mesopotamian masterpiece and the world’s first truly humanistic work of literature. Its enduring theme includes gods and strange characters depicted in events that reflect our still current ideals of duty, love and friendship. However the primary theme that sets it apart from other works of literature is the main character’s quest for immortality.  

 

While most people will have heard or read a translation of the ancient epic they will be unaware that there are also a total of five less well-known Sumerian epical poems relating to Gilgamesh (or Bilgames in Sumerian) that inspired the standard version of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

 

The recent publication of one of these poems, called The Death of Bilgames, happens to reveal previously unknown startling similarities between an ancient Mesopotamian athletic festival and a western cultural icon that had been traced back to ancient Greece : the Olympic Games. But to fully appreciate the significance of this revelation we must first reconstruct the ancient “cultural highway” that had previously existed between Mesopotamia and Greece.

 

The term Mesopotamia is the standard name of the Middle East (Near East), the majority of which geographically encompasses modern day Iraq. Over the course of thousands of years and numerous periods this region gave birth to the first civilisations whose numerous epithets – used synonymously throughout this thesis - included Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian with languages such as Akkadian that initially utilised cuneiform writing on tablets and eventually adopted the Aramaic alphabet on papyrus.

 

Cultural Continuity

 

According to Walter Burket, it was during the derogatively labelled “orientalizing period,” when, as well as Eastern skills and images the Semitic art of writing was transmitted to the Greeks and made the recording of Greek literature possible for the first time. [1]

 

Walter Burket even uses Greek geometric ceramics to narrow down the rough date when the art of writing was first introduced, “…not a single scribbling has so far been discovered that looks like a Greek letter before, say, 770, while in the decades from 750 to about 700 there are now dozens and dozens of documents.” [2] In addition to the 15 Semitic [Aramaic] letter names adopted by the Greeks there is also a marked presence of numerous Semitic loan words in Greek. [3]

 

While being taught literacy and borrowing extensively from the Aramaic alphabet the Greeks were also inevitably immersed in the Mesopotamian gods, heroes, epics, myths, history and rituals.  It is possible that during the course of transmission many of these concepts were adopted and Hellenised for their new audience.

 

Heroes & Gods

 

Two of ancient Mesopotamia ’s foremost heroes were Gilgamesh and Ninurta. Although not made explicit in the story of Gilgamesh itself, there existed a hidden relationship between Gilgamesh, the semi-divine King and Hero, and the Sumerian divine hero, Ninurta, son of the Celestial King, Enlil, who in later times merged with the Babylonian god Nabu.

 

This esoteric relationship between both heroes is reflected in Gilgamesh’s valiant deeds which subsequently paralleled those of Ninurta. Thus the battle of Gilgamesh with the monster Humbaba is described in terms similar to Ninurta’s battle with the monster Anzu. After his battle with Anzu, Ninurta hears the divine secret in the same way that it is disclosed to Gilgamesh by Utnapishtim as a reward for his quest for life. Consequently Gilgamesh’s return (by boat) from his encounter with Utnapishtim parallels Ninurta’s return from his victorious battle with the monster Asag. [4]

 

A closer examination of the connection between Ninurta and Gilgamesh will help clarify their relationship. According to the Epic the parents of the semi-divine Gilgamesh were Lugalbanda and Ninsuna. This is in contrast to the Babylonian god lists which equate Gilgamesh’s parents, Lugalbanda and Ninsun with Ninurta and Gula, respectively. [5] Thus although no ancient Mesopotamian source explicitly makes the connection between them, the implication that the god Ninurta was Gilgamesh’s divine father follows closely in the tradition of Mesopotamian royal ideology.

 

The effect these mythical heroes had on Greek culture is profound. The Greek hero Hercules, the son of Zeus, was also a mighty man and demigod; the main theme of his story closely resembles the Epic of Gilgamesh. The massive club of Hercules, which in Greek and Roman art is the most distinctive attribute of the Hero, corresponds to the club of the Mesopotamian god Nergal, who was equated with Ninurta as god of crushing physical power. [6]

 

However, even more striking are the similarities between Ninurta and Hercules. Ninurta is a vigorous champion, the first-born son of the chief god Enlil; indeed an Akkadian text calls him aplu dannu ša Enlil, ‘the strong son of Enlil’, paralleling the formula used of Heracles (Hercules), ‘the doughty son of Zeus’. [7]

 

Ninurta’s title Nabu ša lismē, ‘Nabu of races,’ mentioned above, may also have influenced the Greek god Hermes. Hermes was the son of Zeus and the messenger of the gods and had a similar title, Enag Ōnios. He directed the souls of the dead to the underworld at the time of death and was said to have special powers over the dreams of mortals and gods alike. According to Andrew George besides being the judge and ruler of the Netherworld Gilgamesh was also the ferryman of the River Hubur and played an important part in the removal of shades to the secure confines of the infernal regions. [8]

 

The Myths

 

Apart from such similarities in epithet and genealogy, the Sumerian myth of the eleven trophies of the god Ninurta is almost entirely paralleled in the Twelve Labors of Heracles (Hercules) story. [9]

                               

In a series of Sumerian texts, starting with the Cylinders of Gudea in the 22nd century and continuing with the narrative poems Lugal-e and An-gim, there are references to a series of monsters, each one different, which Ninurta has killed or captured in separate battles and brought back to his city as trophies. [10]

 

In Lugal-e, an epic account of Ninurta's battle against the Azag (cf. p. 301), the god's mace Shar-ur ('Smasher of Thousands') recites to him the catalogue of his Slain Warriors:

 

The Kulianna, the Basilisk, the Gypsum,
The 'Strong Copper', the warrior 'Six-headed Buck',
Magilum, the lord 'Heaven's Hobble',
The Bison, king Date-palm,
The Thunderbird, and the 'Seven-headed Serpent'
You verily slew, (o) Ninurta in the highland. [11]

 

Most of the creatures killed by Ninurta are recognisable with the objects of Hercules’ Labors. [12] The seven-headed serpent is the most unmistakable. There is also a terrible lion, corresponding to the Nemean Lion; a 'buck', which some take as a stag, others as a ram, and which might be matched up with the Cerynean Hind; the storm-bird Anzu, which could at a pinch be put beside the Stymphalian Birds; a crab(?) that is trampled underfoot in a pool, recalling the crab that assists the Hydra against Heracles; and a 'bison', pictured as a bull-man, which is slain 'in the middle of the sea' [13] and might be compared with the Cretan Bull. (Was this once a Minotaur?) The captured bulls and cows that Ninurta adds to his dead trophies in An-gim and brings back to Nippur may be easily compared to the cattle of Geryon. [14]

 

Even without the Eleven Trophies of Ninurta stories, the absence of lions in ancient Greece is a strong indicator of the influence of ancient Mesopotamian mythology on the origin of Hercules and his first Labor, the killing of the Nemean Lion.

 

The Sumerian Ninurta mythology depicts the hero emerging victorious from a primordial battle over chaos a subject elaborately detailed by the Sumerian hymn Lugal-e. Variants of this motif are repeated throughout other Mesopotamian myths especially the Babylonian Epic of Creation.

 

Other similarities between Gilgamesh and Hercules abound. After killing the lion, Hercules wears its skin. According to Martin West, this action “may have a precedent in Gilgamesh, who is described in the Epic as roaming the world after Enkidu’s death clad in a mašak KAL-bim (lion skin) instead of his normal clothes.” [15]

 

In another one of Hercules’ Labors, in order to cross the ocean he avails himself of the Sun’s vessel. This is very reminiscent of Gilgamesh who crossed the sea at the world’s end that no man had ever crossed before, except the Sun-god Šamaš in a special boat. [16]

 

Gilgamesh seeks eternal life and is given the Plant of Immortality, a theme also echoed in Hercules’ adventures. As Martin West explains, “The Hesperides’ apples that grow on a special tree at the ends of the earth, guarded by a serpent, have always been seen as the fruit of immortality.” [17]

 

To sum up, various characteristics of three Mesopotamian gods and heroes, Ninurta, Nergal and Gilgamesh were passed down to the Greeks who incorporated them into their Greek demigod Hercules. Other characteristics of Ninurta, Nabu and Gilgamesh appear to also have been incorporated into the Greek gods Hermes and Apollo. A summary of the ancient Mesopotamian gods and their Greek equivalents shall now be presented in order to demonstrate the extent of the Mesopotamian influence on the latter.            

 

Table 1: Comparison of the Mesopotamian and Greek gods’ characteristics.

The Foot-race

 

The heroic deeds of Ninurta were narrated in many myths, including the Babylonian Epic of Creation, Enuma Elish. [18] To commemorate these myths, the ancient Mesopotamians appear to have initiated athletic events that re-enacted the actions of their heroes. Those of Ninurta were commemorated in Assyria during an annual foot-race conducted by athletes in the month of Kislev (December). 

 

Far from being an isolated and local phenomenon, this pan-Mesopotamian race was enacted in all religious centres of the Empire.

                                                                                  

The race which they go ro[und] in front of Bel and in all the cult cities in Kislev [is that of Ni]nurta.

[When Aššur] s[ent Ninurta to vanquish] Anzu, Qingu and Asakku, [Nergal announced before Aššur]: “Anzu, Qingu and Asakku are vanquished.” [19]

 

By virtue of Ninurta’s equation with Nabu and the planet Mercury in Assyria, this annual foot-race was called lismu ša Nabu, the ‘Race of Nabu,’ and the god himself received the title Nabu ša lismē, ‘Nabu of races’, [20] to which we referred to above.

 

According to Simo Parpola, “The timing of the festival, commemorating the defeat of Anzu at the winter solstice, indicates that this monster was understood to symbolize forces of darkness, and the myth could thus be interpreted in terms of the (seasonal) victory of light over darkness.” [21]

 

Mesopotamian kings, who followed in the footsteps of Ninurta, also emulated his role as a runner par excellence. In his self-laudatory hymns, the ancient Sumerian King Šulgi describes himself as an accomplished athletic runner in the context of what appears to be a pan-Mesopotamian athletic marathon. The king traverses an astounding distance of a few hundred kilometres in a return journey between the ancient Sumerian cities of Ur and Nippur during the Ešeš (new moon) festival.

 

I, the king, however, did not fear, nor was I terrified. I rushed forth like a fierce lion. I galloped like an ass in the desert. With my heart full of joy, I ran (?) onward. Trotting like a solitary wild ass, I traversed a distance of fifteen double-hours by the time Utu was to set his face toward his house; {my sag̃-ursag̃ priests looked at me with admiration.} {(1 ms. has instead:) …… numerous (?) ……; I prayed in the …… of Enlil and Ninlil.} I celebrated the ešeš festival in both Nibru [ Nippur ] and Urim  [ Ur ]on the same day! [22]

 

His description of his athletic prowess continues in another Šulgi hymn.

 

Like that of a stallion, my strength is unwavering during the running-race; I come first in the race, and my knees do not get tired. [23]

 

In a separate hymn Šulgi sees himself as the peer and brother of Gilgamesh, implying his divine descent from Ninurta:

 

Šulgi, the steadfast shepherd of Sumer , praised in his might

his brother-friend, the lord Bilgames,

invoking him in his warrior-hood. [24]

 

Jacob Klein points to another large hymnal cuneiform fragment that describes in detail, how the mother of Gilgamesh Ninsun, with the approval of the god An, adopted Šulgi as her son, and subsequently elevated him to the status of a divine being. [25] Šulgi has here effectively taken the place of Enkidu, a man equal to the semi-divine King Gilgamesh.

 

Meanwhile the divine lineage of another Sumerian king, Ur-Nammu, is also implied in a hymn of Ur-Nammu.

 

I am the one made by the hand of Nanna,

I am the brother of Bilgames the Great,

I am [the child] born of Ninsun, I am the seed of lordship. [26]

 

Ur-Nammu, just like Šulgi, alludes to his divine lineage and identifies himself as the brother and peer of Gilgamesh.

 

Mesopotamian royal ideology closely followed in the footsteps of heroes, such as Ninurta and Gilgamesh, and appears to have been a way of bestowing the glory of these gods and heroes upon the kings that followed them.

 

Mesopotamian Athletics

 

Ancient Mesopotamian athletic events are also mentioned in a variant of the Akitu festival held at Mari, in Syria, in which athletic events such as a foot-race, weight-carrying, wrestling and acrobatics amongst other events are performed in honor of the goddess Ištar. The festival may very well have been commemorating the feats of the goddess from one of her numerous myths, such as the famous Descent of Ištar.

                                                                                      

The chanters intone “Uru ammadarubi” [27] at the beginning of the month. If at the beginning of the month the prophet (Oracle) is balanced and not suited for becoming ecstatic, after they have reached the song “Mae uremen,” [28] the overseers let the m[usicians] go, he becomes ec[static, and they intone] “Mae uremen.”

The chanters go out to [receive] the race. They intone Igittendibana. After the race has entered the temple of the goddess, they intone the reception song, Dingir nuwaše.

At the beginning of the intoning of Dingir nuwaše, the king rises and remains standing. One of the chanters stands up and chants the ersemma-hymn to Enlil to the accompaniment of a tambourine.

An eater sits down at the head of the goddess and eats. After the eater, a weight-carrier carries (weights). After the weight-carrier, wrestlers approach. After the wrestlers, dancers make somersaults. After the dancers, the kābištu-women perform their part. [29]

                                  

What is interesting about the beginning of this athletic festival is that music and choral hymns are sung in order to elevate a Mesopotamian oracle to a euphoric state of mind, most likely for the purpose of prophesising before the king.

 

Although no mention is made of whether there were separate hymn-singing contests the athletic festival conducted for Ištar appear to have combined singing and music accompanied by women in some type of athletic event and dance. These athletic events along with a banquet are conducted in the presence of a statue representing the goddess.

 

Hittite Athletics

 

The ancient Hittites (modern day Turkey ), situated between the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor , appear to have been greatly influenced by their Mesopotamian neighbours. Fragments of Hittite versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh have been discovered at Hattusha, the ancient Hittite capital, where they were translated in the Old Babylonian period, approximately 1600 BC.  

 

Evidence for ancient athletic events, such as running, archery, jousting, weight-throw, boxing, and wrestling in Hittite cuneiform texts abounds. A foot-race is described in which the winner is given the honorific title of “horse-keeper,” the modern equivalent of which is German “ Marshall.”

 

When the king in the spring comes from Tahurpas to the Antashum-festival (named after a plant) in Hattusas, as he arrives at Tippuwas, a tent and a baitylos (a sort of cultic stone) have already been left in place.

Then the king steps down from the chariot and in Hattusas performs proskynesis. He also goes inside the tent and washes his hands. The king comes out of the tent and in front of the baitylos pours wine. Then the king steps into the chariot.

The bodyguards run (pittianzi), and he who wins, that one seizes the ass-bridle. Then the king steps down from the chariot, and before the baitylos breaks a bread loaf and libates. [30]

 

The text is describing a Hittite festival in which the king attends and performs some type of religious funerary rite in front of an ancestral stone. The king then performs a hand-washing ritual before honouring the deceased that are represented by the stone through libation.

 

One of the most telling accounts describes an ancient Hittite athletics event that takes place in front of a solar deity. The men first prostrate themselves before the statue of a god. They then conduct athletic events such as wrestling and boxing in front of the statue to which the athletic events appear to be dedicated.

 

Ours and the enemy’s man prostrate themselves to the deity (statue) three times, and then they proceed to wrestle. When our man topples (his opponent), they applaud, he (i.e. the opponent) prostrates himself before the deity, and our man squats. But afterwards the men likewise get into fisticuffs.

And after that they go to tarpa (tarpa tiyanzi). Four rams go to tarpa. Afterwards bulls (?) go to tarpa. After that they go before the deity. [31]

 

This account of wrestling and boxing that take place in front of a statue will be echoed in the ‘feats of strength’ described in the Funerary Games section below. The author, Jaan Puhvel, is clearly perplexed by the mysterious tarpa which he is unable to translate.  Later in the thesis it will be shown that tarpa is most likely a reference to a sacrifice or a funerary banquet conducted for the gods of the Netherworld.

 

Another cuneiform account also mentions wrestling contests that took place during a games banquet to honor the god, whose presence at the banquet was in the shape of a statue.

 

they eat (and) drink; they fill the goblets; in front of the deity they wrestle; they entertain (the deity). [32]

 

Boxing, wrestling and a combination of both, known by the Greeks as the pankration are also evident.

 

they eat (and) drink, they fill cups, they go in for Gespu hulhuliya (boxing wrestling), they keep entertaining (duskiskanzi). [33]

 

In a somewhat different context wrestling as well as weight tossing, which may have been the antecedent of the discus, are both mentioned.

 

they entertain the deity, they go in for the hulhuliya, they throw the stone. [34]

 

Another Hittite cuneiform text dating from around 1600 BC describes an archery contest.

                                                                                             

When they vie in shooting (sieskanzi) before the king, to him who scores a hit they give wine to drink… [35]

 

Jousting is also described in the Hittite text as a ritual mock battle that bears a striking resemblance to Homer’s combat in arms. The mock battle inevitably ends with the defeat of the men of Masa [in Western Asia Minor ] and with the victorious men of Haitti [Hittites]. There appears to be a symbolic substitution of a defeated prisoner with the statue of a deity.

They divide the young men into two halves and name them: one half of them they call men of Hatti, and the other half they call men of Masa. Men of Hatti have bronze weapons, whereas Men of Masa have weapons of reed. They wage battle. The men of Hatti are victorious; they take a captive and consign him to the deity. [36]

 

The only Mesopotamian precedent for this type of mock battle took place during the New Year festival on Nisan (April) 6. The chief deity, Marduk, was alleged to have been imprisoned in the "mountain" of the Netherworld. Mock battles miming the primordial battles of the gods were fought with the king who played the part of Marduk and re-enacted the victory which Marduk had won over the powers of chaos in the first New Year's Day, when the world was created. The Epic of Creation, known as the Enuma Elish, had been previously recited on Nisan (April) 4.

 

There were other athletic events practised by the Hittites. At one of their festivals there was both foot and horse racing. At another, in honor of the war-god, there were whirling dancers. [37] A horse race seems to signal the program of the AN.TAH.ŠUM festival, while another text mentions a prize to be given to the winner of a horse race. [38] Stranger still is a ritual for the erection of a building. In the ritual the master builder is asked to perform an acrobatic test. [39]

 

In any event it seems clear that many of the organised events that were gradually incorporated into the Olympic Games were neither new nor specifically Greek: they were fully present in the Hellado-Anatolian orbit of the second millennium before the Common Era. [40] It appears as though the ancient culture super highway that began in Mesopotamia and found its way to Greece may have geographically passed through the land of the Hittites.

 

 

Part B: The Ancient Games

 

 

 

Origins

 

In ancient Mesopotamia an elaborate religious ritual involving the use of funeral figurines was conducted in the month of Abu (August) to honor dead ancestors. The earliest mention of the rites of Abu may be found in the Ninurta myth Lugal-e, where Ninurta blesses the kurgarrānum-stone and other minerals that are to be used in a ritual honoring the ancestors of Lagaš.

 

May you be made beautiful at [the festival] of ghosts (i.e. in Abu),

[... for] nine [days] may the young men in a semi-circle (u₄-sakar-ra-ke₄) shake [the door-j]ambs for you. [41]

 

Another bilingual hymn to Ninurta appears to be commemorating his return to Nippur following his victorious Eleven Trophies of Ninurta series of tablets. Wrestling followed by other athletic events are re-enacted in honour of Ninurta’s triumphant return to Nippur.

 

For you [Ninurta] the athletic young men fight each other in wrestling matches and trials of strength. [42]

 

These ancient funeral rites of Mesopotamia appear to have been inherited by Gilgamesh, from his divine father Ninurta, and are observed by Gilgamesh in the poem Bilgames and the Netherworld, which describes Gilgamesh honoring his dead parents and ancestors.

 

The young men and women of Uruk, the old men and women of Kullab,

looking upon those (funerary) statues, they rejoiced.

He lifted his head as Utu (the Sun God) was coming forth from his chamber (at dawn),

he (Bilgames) issued instructions,

‘O my father and my mother, drink clear water!’

The day was not half gone by….., they were ….

Bilgames performed the mourning rites,

for nine days he performed the mourning rites.

The young men and women of Uruk, the old men and women of Kullab wept.

And it was just as he said,

the citizen(s) of Girsu ‘touched the edge’:

‘O my father and my mother, drink clear water!’ [43]

 

The belief of the Mesopotamians, expressed both in the Sumerian poem Bilgames and the Netherworld and standard version of the  Epic of Gilgamesh, was that the more sons a man has, the more the thirst that plagues his ghost in the afterlife will be relieved.

 

Ancient Mesopotamian funerary rites required that the deceased’s descendants offer his ghost regular libations of fresh water and food. The ritual appeasement of the dead is achieved in very similar ways by Greeks, preferably through various kinds of libation: “water, beer, roasted corn, milk, honey, cream, oil in Mesopotamia ; [44] “milk, honey, water, wine, and oil in Aeschylus. [45] The extent to which the Homeric concept of Hades corresponds to the Mesopotamian is also striking: a realm of mud and darkness that leaves no hope for mortals. [46]

 

These rituals appear to have culminated in an elaborate set of annual rites for dead ancestors. If one failed to perform these rites, it was thought that the ancestor’s ghost (utukku) may eventually become the source of earthly problems and return as an evil ghost (edimmu) with blood-sucking vampiric powers, causing the living harm in the form of disease.

 

Another mention of the festival of Abu occurs in a cultic calendar dating from post-Old Babylonian times. In this composition, the fifth month of the Babylonian year is held to be sacred to Gilgamesh who has added athletic games, including wrestling, to the rites of the Abu festival.

 

Abu: The month of Gilgameš: for nine days the young men fight in their doorways in wrestling matches and trials of strength. [47] (Akk.;  Sum. In disorder.)

 

Fig. 8: Sculpted Stela of Wrestlers, 2900 BC. Badra , Iraq , Iraq Museum , H: 0.85m., W: 0.33m.

 

These rites presumably imitate the legendary struggle of the two heroes Gilgamesh and Enkidu at the doorway of the wedding house. [48] The rites of Abu were held not only in Gilgamesh’s memory but to honor and entertain the dead during the nine days of this commemorative ritual. The ‘feats of strength’ conducted to honor Gilgamesh during the festival were in essence funerary games.

 

A recently discovered tablet complementing the text of the Sumerian poem Death of Bilgames further clarifies the true nature of this ritual. It also highlights some major similarities between the ancient Olympic Games and the ancient Gilgamesh Games.

 

The Dream God Sissig, son of Utu,

shall provide light for him in the Netherworld, the place of darkness.

Men, as many as are given names,

when their statues are fashioned for future days,

the warriors, the young men and the onlookers shall make a semi-circle around a doorway

(lit. form a doorway like a crescent),

and in front of it (or them) wrestling matches and trials of strength will be conducted.

In the month of Torches, the festival of Ghosts,

without him being present light shall not be provided before them. [49]

 

According to Andrew George, “after his death Bilgames [Gilgamesh] will be commemorated among the living during an annual Festival of Lights, when young men will wrestle with each other (as Gilgamesh did with Enkidu in the Babylonian epic).” He continues, “Elsewhere this festival, in the fifth month of the Babylonian year (roughly August), is known for the ceremonial lighting of torches and braziers, and as ‘the month of Gilgamesh: on the ninth day the young men fight in their doorways in wrestling matches and trials of strength’.” [50]

 

Fig. 7: Terracotta Tablet showing Boxers and Musicians. Sinkara (Larsa), Old Babylonian, 1200 BC.

 

Three features in the Death of Bilgames poem linking the ancient Olympic Games to the ancient Mesopotamian games commemorating Gilgamesh (henceforth ‘the Gilgamesh Games’) are immediately evident. Both the Olympic Games and the Gilgamesh Games festival took place in the month of August, consisted of ‘feats of strength,’ including wrestling, and included a torch-lit ceremony. A more detailed historical analysis comparing similarities between the Gilgamesh Games and the Olympic Games will highlight further links below.

 

The origin of the ancient Olympic Games is obscure and linked with numerous ancient Greek myths, epics and poems. What is not disputed however is that at present the Olympic Games that took place at Olympia has no cultural connection to the Minoan-Mycenaean civilisation. Alfred Mallwitz underlines the point by stating clearly that there was no sanctuary, no place for cult, in the Mycenaean era in the Altis. [51]

 

The earliest recorded athletic contests in Greek literature are the funeral games organised on the death of the Greek hero Patroclus in the Iliad (Book XXIII). In antiquity this account was to constitute a kind of mythical archetype of the contests (not only in the realms of literature and art), while it was in effect merely a matter of raising to a mythical and literary plane a real and common enough event which took place throughout the length and breadth of ancient Greece on the occasion of funeral celebrations. [52]

                   

As shown in the section above, there is evidence that the Hittites practised funerary games similar to those organised by Achilles at the funeral of his dearest friend Patroclus in the Iliad. [53] Jaan Puhvel notes that “at least six of the eight athletic events that follow the cremation [of Patroclus] have clear parallels in Hittite texts.” [54]

 

In fact four hundred years after Homer wrote the Iliad and following in the tradition of Gilgamesh and Achilles, Alexander the Great, during his military campaigns, also mourned the death of his friend Hephaistion with similar extravagant funerary games in 324 BC in the heart of Mesopotamia, at Babylon , in which about 3000 athletes took part. [55]

 

Proponents of the theory that the Olympic Games, held at ancient Olympia , derive their origins from funerary games include Ludwig Drees and Hans-Volkmar Hermann. But the essential difficulty in these explanations abides in the archaeological reality of an empty grave – a Pelopian without Pelops. [56]

 

In the 5^th century BC one of the most celebrated poets in ancient Greece , Pindar, was commissioned to write odes for the visitors of the Olympic Games. According to one of Pindar’s victory Odes, titled The Olympic Games, the origin of the Olympic Games is associated with the Greek hero Hercules.

 

The Strong son of Zeus' drove the whole of his host and all his booty to Pisa ,
And measured a holy place for his mighty Father.

He fenced the Altis and marked it off in a clean space, and the ground encircling it…

How Hercules portioned the booty, war gift,
Made sacrifice and founded

The fourth year's feast with the first Olympiad and the winning of victories. [57]

 

In the second century AD, the Greek historian Pausanias reaffirmed this mythological origin of the Olympic Games in his famous Description of Greece :

 

Heracles, being the eldest, matched his brothers, as a game, in a running-race, and crowned the winner with a branch of wild olive, of which they had such a copious supply that they slept on heaps of its leaves while still green. It is said to have been introduced into Greece by Heracles from the land of the Hyperboreans, men living beyond the home of the North Wind. [58]

 

According to both these early Greek sources, the founder of the games was Hercules, the first to institute a foot-race and fix the length of the Olympic stade (600 Olympic feet or 192.27m) and also the boundaries of the Altis, the sacred grove of Zeus. [59] It was also Hercules who established this race and the olive wreath for the victor.

 

It should also be remembered that before Pindar and Pausanias is the period known historically in Western writing as antiquity. In ancient Greece myth, history and tradition were before 770 BC passed down orally from generation to generation. As a result both of these mythological fables have no basis in fact and as two of the main sources for the origin of the Olympic Games their factual basis is highly disputed.

 

Writing over 500 years later we are warned by another Greek author’s writings, Strabo’s Geographia, written during the first century AD, not to believe tales told about early Olympia. [60]

 

According to tradition the first ancient Greek Olympic Games was officially held in 776 BC and was said to be a religious festival held in honor of Zeus of Olympia. It was held in August, every fourth summer, at Olympia and the Olympic tradition of lighting the flame that burned throughout the games for each Olympics symbolised the death and rebirth of Greek heroes.

 

The lead archaeologist at the site of Olympia site, Alfred Mallwitz boldly argued against the traditional “refounding” date, of 776 BC. Siting archaeological evidence of stadium wells, he explains how “…we cannot doubt that in Olympia the Games did not begin until 700 [BC].” Mallwitz finally estimates that they took place at 704 BC, a date in harmony with the beginning of the wells. [61]

 

Using evidence of the wealth of votives unearthed at that time, Mallwitz also asserted that the interval between the early Olympiads must have been shorter, probably only one year. “It seems possible that the change from yearly to quadrennial games occurred after the chariot race was introduced in the twenty-fifth Olympiad.” [62]

 

The ancient Olympic Games began as a single event. The stade (foot-race) was the only Olympic event for the first thirteen Olympic Games, until the diaulos, a 400 yard foot-race, was instituted at the fourteenth Olympics. The ancient Olympic Games slowly expanded until they included numerous other field, track and equestrian athletic events.

 

Time of Festival

 

The ‘Month of Gilgamesh” – the fifth month of the Mesopotamian year corresponding to our August – was called Abu in Akkadian, from Sumerian ab which means hole or opening in the ground and refers to the gateway or passageway of the Netherworld built at the centre of most Sumerian temples. [63] During the month of Abu (August) every year for a duration of nine days Gilgamesh would return from the Netherworld through an underground opening (ab) in the temple and take his place in his statue ready to witness the rites of Abu.

 

Other names of the fifth month included the ‘Festival of Ghosts,’ the ‘Month of Torches’ which consisted of a ‘Festival of lights’ that would have seen the ceremonial temple lit-up at nightfall using braziers and torches. [64]

 

Guardian

 

In ancient Mesopotamia , the making of statues was considered a sacred and supernatural act of creation, depicted as mutual co-operation between the gods and human craftsmen. The miraculous nature of the statue's birth and the supernatural link between deity and image was initiated through mouth-washing and mouth-opening rites (mīs pî and pīt pî). The complete mouth-washing ritual annihilated all traces of impurity and of the human craftsmen's work. The completed statue thus became the invisible deity's living and visible body on earth. [65]

 

According to the Death of Bilgames, it was Gilgamesh who re-initiated these forgotten rites which including mouth washing and hand-washing after possibly inheriting them from his divine father Ninurta.

 

The rites of Sumer , forgotten there since distant days of old,

the rituals and customs – it was you brought them down to the land.

The rites of hand-washing and mouth-washing you put in good order,

[after the] Deluge it was you made known all the tasks of the land… [66]

 

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh summons his craftsmen to initiate this supernatural ritual and make a funerary statue out of gold and lapis lazuli for his best friend Enkidu, after he dies.

 

‘Forgemaster! [Lapidary!] Coppersmith! Goldsmith! Jeweller!

Make my friend, [….!]’

[…] he fashioned a statue of his friend:

‘The limbs of my friend [are of ….;]

your eyebrows are of lapis lazuli, your chest of gold,

your body [is of …..]’ [67]

 

The purpose of the statue was apparently to represent the deceased at the funerary banquet and, after the interment of the body to act as the focus for the regular post mortem rites through which the Babylonians paid their respects to the dead. [68]

 

In the Death of Bilgames, this deeper significance of the funerary statue of Gilgamesh used in the rites of Abu is reaffirmed.

           

Men, as many as are given names,

their (funerary) statues have been fashioned since days of old,

and stationed in chapels in the temples of the gods:

how their names are pronounced will never be forgotten! [69]

 

This last passage highlights the statue’s significance as a memorial for the deceased ensuring that their name lives on long after they have passed away.

 

The athletic “feats of strength” conducted for Gilgamesh in the Death of Bilgames poem took place in front of just such a statue of Gilgamesh which was set up within the confines of a temple (Fig. 2).

 

Venue

 

Archaeological digs at Khafaji, near Baghdad , have revealed what may well have been an ancient venue for ancient Mesopotamian athletic games, dated to the Early Dynastic Period, 2700 – 2340 BC. On Mound A of the site rises a unique building identified as the temple of the Sumerian mother goddess, Nintu, also known by the name Aruru – the name used by the poet in the Epic of Gilgamesh, when he describes the creation of the hero Enkidu:

 

Aruru washed her hands,

she took a pinch of clay, she threw it down in the wild.

In the wild she created Enkidu, the hero,

An offspring of silence, knit strong by Ninurta. [70]

 

Fig. 3: Khafaji Temple Oval. Early Dynastic Period, 3000 – 2340 BC. Reconstruction by Hamilton D. Darby in Henri Frankfort, The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient, 1970, p. 43.

 

The visual recreation of the temple by Hamilton D. Darby is important because it depicts its architectural layout, as it would have appeared, in the shape of an oval (Fig. 3). [71]

 

This remarkable shape – which originally probably symbolized creation through an egg – makes it an ideal candidate as a venue for the Gilgamesh Games. The temple not only resembles an Olympic stadium in its oval circumference, which could easily have been used as a track for runners but evidence of athletic games also abounds inside the temple. A terracotta plaque of wrestlers competing in one panel and a similar plaque of boxers also competing were both discovered at the site and may have lined the walls of the temple (Fig. 6).

 

Fig. 5: Copper statuette of Wrestlers. Khafaji, Nintu Temple. Early Dynastic Period, ca. 2600 BC. Iraq Museum , Baghdad [H: 0.102m.]

 

In addition, a bronze statuette of wrestlers was unearthed at this archaeological site (Fig. 5). This statuette, which was found inside the temple enclosure, depicts two wrestlers wearing belts and grasping their opponents by them. Similar reliefs at Badra and Sinkara (Larsa) also depict ancient ‘feats of strength’ such as wrestling and boxing (Figs. 7 and 8).

 

The Mesopotamian practice of creating a funerary statue out of precious materials and placing it in a temple was also adopted by the Greeks. Walter Burket explains how, “There seems to be no Greek temple, proper, antedating the 8th century, the period of the impetus of eastern craftsman. [72] ” All of these religious influences derived from eastern influence on the ancient Greek religion, including, “…the construction of large altars for burnt offerings and above all the building of temples to serve as houses for divinities, represented by cult statues. [73]

 

Fig. 1: The statue of Zeus at Olympia famous throughout the ancient Greek world. Made by Pheidias, the renowned Athenian sculptor, and finished before 431 BC.

 

“The fact that Olympia is the most significant location for finds of eastern bronzes, richer in respect than all the Middle Eastern sites, is [also] seldom mentioned,” explains Walter Burket. [74]

 

The temple of Zeus housed the statue of Zeus at Olympia - the birth-place of the ancient Olympic Games - became famous as one of the wonders of the ancient world. Made by Pheidias, the renowned Athenian sculptor, and finished before 431 BC, it shows the colossal 12 metre high gold and ivory statue of Zeus holding a Nike in his right hand (Fig. 1). [75] This was the statue of the King of the Greek gods, Zeus, in whose honor the ancient Olympic Games were held.

 

Title of Guardian

 

In the Death of Bilgames, Gilgamesh is given the job of governing the Netherworld and assigned the job of passing judgements. The epithet, Judge of the Netherworld, is bestowed upon Gilgamesh in a premonition of his own journey to the Netherworld.

 

Bilgames, in the form of his ghost, dead in the Netherworld,

shall act as governor of the Netherworld, shall be indeed chief of its shades!

He will pass judgements, he will hand down verdicts,

what he says (text: you say) will carry the same weight as the word of Ningišzida and Dumuzi. [76]

 

This title is further confirmed in a famous prayer spoken by a patient during an exorcism ritual to Gilgamesh as judge of the Netherworld.

 

O King Gilgamesh, superb judge of the Anunnaki,

judicious prince, neck-stock of the people,

who surveys the world regions, overseer of the underworld, lord of the nether regions,

you are a judge, watching with the eye of a god,

Present in the Netherworld you hand down final judgement,

your verdict is not altered, [your] word is not cast aside.

You enquire, you examine, you judge, you watch and then you set things aright;

Šamaš delegated to you verdict and decision. [77]

 

This Mesopotamian reference to the judgement of the dead is almost mirrored in an ode for Theron of Acragas, written by Pindar in 476 BC, that has replaced Zeus as the judge of the Netherworld.

 

When men die, the wicked consciousness amongst them

straightaway pay the penalty,

for their sins in the realm of Zeus

are judged by one below the earth

who declares the reckoning with unsympathetic inevitability. [78]

 

Another ancient Greek writer, Aeschylus, who may have been influenced by Pindar, reaffirms the Greek view of Hades and the punishment awaiting the sinner in the first ever Greek reference to a judgment for the dead.

 

Even there one’s misdeeds are judged, it is said,

By another Zeus among the dead in final judgement. [79]

 

Further descriptions of Zeus, the Olympic Games judge - depicted in the famous west pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia - also match the description of Gilgamesh the judge of the Netherworld, “The contestants wait on either side of the judge, Zeus, the central figure in the pediment. The chariots are drawn up on either side, ready for the contest and with their drivers or grooms.” [80] This depiction of Zeus as a judge is also evident elsewhere, “…the east pediment has an older Zeus glorified as an austere and unbribable judge.” [81]

 

Introductory Ceremony

 

The ‘Festival of ghosts’ was in effect an ancient séance that involved the reading of incantations and prayers calling for the return of the ghost of Gilgamesh from the Netherworld.

The practice known as the "hand-washing" ritual refers to the practice of purification undertaken by the high priest-exorcist by washing his hands prior to the commencement of the ritual.  

 

In the fragmentary copies of the Death of Bilgames tablets discovered thus far no mention is made of the ‘Festival of ghosts’ and its initiation. However it is not inconceivable that some type of sacrifice would’ve been conducted to exorcise the statue of Gilgamesh, as well as providing a substitute for the deities of the Netherworld, ensuring that no uninvited demons had accompanied the returned ghost of Gilgamesh from the Netherworld.

 

Every year during the month of August [Ab] the séance would invite the ghost of Gilgamesh to return through the temple Ab [doorway] after passing through the seven gates of the Netherworld and inhabit his earthly funerary statue.

 

Meanwhile the Greek Olympic Games honored Olympian Zeus with the first day of the games being devoted to religious observances and festivities, including the official opening with the slaughter of a pig in the temple of Zeus. Over the carcass, athletes and judges pronounced the Olympic oath of fair play. [82]

 

This sacrifice of a pig in the temple of Zeus in front of Zeus's statue although not identical does closely resembles an ancient Akkadian exorcism ritual performed not on a statue but on a sick patient. A bilingual ritual text from the collection "Evil Demons of Illness" (Arsakki marsuti) has the following prescriptions for the exorcist - it is presented as a command issued from the sky god Anu to his son Marduk:

 

[Take a] suckling pig [ and.....at] the head of the sick man

[put it (?) and] take out its heart and above the heart of the

sick man [put it], [sprinkle] its blood on the sides of the bed,

[and] divide the pig over his limbs and spread it on the sick

man; then cleanse that man with clean waters from the Deep

[Apsu] and wash him clean and bring near him a censer [and]

a torch, place twice seven loaves cooked in the ashes against the

outer door, and give the pig as his substitute, and give the

flesh and the blood as his blood; they [the demons] shall take

it; the heart which thou hast placed on his heart, as his heart

give it: they shall take it. [lacuna][that the] pig may be his

substitute....May the evil spirit, the evil-demon stand aside!

May the kindly spirit, the kindly demon be present! [83]

 

Ancient Akkadian sources describe this as an exorcism ceremony conducted in order to purify either the patient or the statue and ward off any evil ghosts that may have returned from the Netherworld.

 

The ritual text details the three standard Mesopotamian methods of purification; purification by water (“waters of life”), purification by blood (substitute in the Netherworld) and purification by fire (smoke from the censer) which is a key attribute of the Gilgamesh games ceremony. It is not inconceivable that a very similar ceremony may have taken place on the first day of the Gilgamesh Games opening ceremony.

 

Athletic Events

 

The ancient Mesopotamians appear to have conducted at least three annual state-sponsored pan-Mesopotamian athletic festivals (Section A). These may also have begun as religious commemoration rituals and heroic re-enactments emulating the feats of their gods and heroes.

 

Similarly the ancient Greeks also held pan-Hellenic athletic festivals, the most famous of which was the Olympic Games.  Table 2 compares the similarities between the athletic festivals of the Mesopotamians, the Hittites and the Greeks as well as providing the source literature (column A) from which the festival may have derived.

 

Table 2: Comparison of Mesopotamian, Hittite and Greek athletic festivals.

 

Fig. 6: Terracotta Plaque of Wrestlers and Boxers. Khafaji, Nintu Temple. Early Dynastic Period, ca. 3000-2340 BC. Iraq Museum , Baghdad [H: 0.24m.]

 

It is the foot-race of Nabu that may well have served as the model of the Olympic stade (foot-race) conducted in the first Olympic Games. It stands to reason that wrestling, along with other ‘feats of strength,’ were similarly used to commemorate the exploits of Gilgamesh. As the Olympic Games evolved they may have adapted the athletic events conducted by the Mesopotamians during the nine days of the Gilgamesh Games festival, or adopted other athletic events from other pan-Mesopotamian festivals.

 

Likewise elements of the Akitu festival featuring athletic events in honor of Ištar may have found their way into the Pythian and Isthmian Games which featured singing, musical and poetical contests and in which there is evidence women were also allowed to compete. [84] Another famous attribute of the Pythian Games was the Oracle of Delphi a direct reflection of the oracle at Mari.

 

Although only wrestling is the only sport mentioned in the description of the ‘feats of strength,’ performed at the Gilgamesh Games, it is not inconceivable that other athletic events performed at other pan-Mesopotamian athletic festivals did not also take place.

 

Table 3: Comparison of Mesopotamian, Hittie and Greek athletic events.

 

Table 3 shows a comparison of the athletic events that were possibly conducted during the Gilgamesh Games athletics festival. Later Hittite Games and Olympic Games athletics may have adopted many of these same events.

 

The most important thing to derive from the table is not whether the athletic events precisely matched each other, but that the athletic events conducted at the Olympic Games were being practised by not only the Hittites but also the Mesopotamians at a much earlier date.

 

Victory Awards

 

The custom of giving Olympic victors a laurel wreath crown also has its antecedent in the Gilgamesh Games, where it may have symbolised the acknowledgement of the victor as a peer of Gilgamesh. The Mesopotamian winners appear to have been awarded with a wreath crown made of poplar leaves and not olive leaves as in the Olympic Games.

 

In order to understand Gilgamesh’s association with a poplar tree, it should be noted that Mesopotamian iconography uses the poplar tree motif to symbolise Gilgamesh. An ancient Sumerian lament specifically refers to Gilgamesh as a poplar tree. [86]

 

It should also be noted that in ancient Akkadian purification rituals branches are of special use along with piglet blood, torches and water from the sea. [87]

 

In the Death of Bilgames, Gilgamesh’s royal harem and entourage are interred along with their King and join him in the afterlife. According to Andrew George, “This long known passage famously evokes the mass internment of whole households discovered in the 1920s by Sir Leonard Wolley in the early third-millennium ‘ Royal Cemetery ’ at Ur.” [88]

 

In the ‘ Royal Cemetery at Ur ’ one of these royal tombs contained the remains of the Sumerian Queen Puabi, who was discovered with her elaborate golden headdress (Fig. 4). Queen Puabi's headdress was an elaborate version of those worn by the women who accompanied her to the grave and is constructed from hundreds of individual pieces. The most significant wreath in her headdress consisted of lapis lazuli beads and poplar leaves made of sheet gold with carnelian beads at their tip. [89] The women wearing golden poplar leaves, along with the men who would have worn a real crown of poplar leaves, were interred together at Ur for their journey to the Netherworld.

 

Fig. 4: Queen Puabi's headdress was an elaborate version of those worn by the women who accompanied her to the grave and is constructed from hundreds of individual pieces. The most significant wreath in her headdress consisted of lapis lazuli beads and poplar leaves made of sheet gold with carnelian beads at their tip, ca. 2550–2400 BC.

 

The white poplar is also extensively mentioned in ancient Greek myths. In The Twelve Labors of Hercules, written by Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC), Hercules also wore a crown of poplar leaves in triumph after killing the giant Cacus (the evil one) and retrieving Cerberus from Hades. The upper surface of the poplar leaves was thus darkened from Hades' smokey fumes.

 

The ancient Greek historian, Pausanias, also mentions the wild olive (kotinos) when describing the mythological origins of the Olympic Games, as shown above. In his famous Description of Greece he also explains how the wild olive, unlike the white poplar, is native to Olympia and was used to reward the victors at the ancient Olympic Games [90].

 

Pausanias also mentions the white poplar in connection with the sacred enclosure of Pelops, the great-grandfather of Heracles, whom the Eleans honored above all heroes of Olympia:

 

The woodman is one of the servants of Zeus, and the task assigned to him is to supply cities and private individuals with wood for sacrifices at a fixed rate, wood of the white poplar, but of no other tree, being allowed. [91]

 

Pausanias again mentions the white poplar in another chapter and alludes to its funerary uses.

 

The Eleans are wont to use for the sacrifices to Zeus the wood of the white poplar and of no other tree, preferring the white poplar, I think, simply and solely because Heracles brought it into Greece from Thesprotia. And it is my opinion that when Heracles sacrificed to Zeus at Olympia he himself burned the thigh bones of the victims upon wood of the white poplar. [92]

 

Phlegon of Tralles tells us that it was not until the seventh Olympiad (752 BC) that olive wreaths were awarded. [93] Even then the exclusive use of olive sprays for the laurel award was only used at Olympia. The Pythian Games at Delphi offered garlands taken from the laurel bush. The Isthmian Games called for pine; at Nemea it was wild celery or parsley. [94]

 

The white poplar native to Mesopotamia may eventually have been replaced by the wild olive native to Olympia. Although no mention is made of this custom, the athletes competing in the Gilgamesh Games may have also been rewarded with a white poplar crown in Mesopotamia , marking them as peers of Gilgamesh. In Greece a crown of evergreen olive branches eventually came to symbolise the rewards for the athletes in the ancient Olympic Games.

 

Sacred Garden

 

The Altis, the sacred grove of Zeus, established by Hercules during the first ancient Olympic Games, also has its antecedent in ancient Mesopotamia. In documents of the Old Babylonian period there are several references to land cultivated to provide offerings for Gilgamesh at Nippur. [95]

 

One of these establishments was at a temple at Uruk during the reign of the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal. A register of landholdings of the temple E-ana includes an entry that specifically refers to a garden directly connected to Gilgamesh.

 

‘Total: seven date-plantations, 1800 (cubits) the measurement of the plot, the Garden of Gilgamesh. [96]

 

It appears as though the Garden of Gilgamesh may have served as a cultic centre supplying offerings, in the form of dates, to the cult of Gilgamesh, much like the sacred grove of Zeus at Olympia.

 

Funerary Gifts

 

One of the ancient Sumerian rites of the Netherworld included presenting grave offerings to the gods and rulers of the Netherworld in order to assure the departed received favourable treatment.

 

In the Epic of Gilgamesh an extensive account of grave offerings that accompanied Enkidu are recounted. The extraordinary opulence of the grave offerings gifted to the Anunnaki - the gods of the Netherworld - for the safe passage of Enkidu are read out and displayed by Gilgamesh to the sun god Šamaš.

 

The Death of Gilgamesh poem describes a similar set of gifts which is bestowed on the gods of the Netherworld.

 

Bilgames, the son of the goddess, Ninsun,

set out their audience-gifts for Ereshkigal,

set out their presents for Namtar,

set out their surprises for Dimpikug.

set out their gifts for Bitti.

set out their gifts for Ningishzida and Dumuzi,

for Enki and Ninki, Enmul and Ninmul,

for Endukuga and Nindulkuga,

for Endashurimma and Nindashurimma,

for Enutila and Enmesharra,

the mothers and fathers of Enlil,

for Shulpae, the lord of the table,

for Shakkan and Ninhursanga,

for the Anunna gods of the Holy Mound,

for the Igigi gods of the Holy Mound,

for the dead [en priests, the] dead lagar-priests,

[for the dead] lumah-priests and nindingir-priestesses,

[for the dead] gudu-priests, linen-clad priests and......
The audience-gifts he ……,

the fine……. he ……..,
he set [out] their presents for....... [97]

 

During the Death of Ur-Namma a similar set of offerings is bequeathed to a slightly different set of Netherworld deities which now include Gilgamesh.

To Gilgamec, the king of the nether world, in his palace, the shepherd Ur-Namma offered a spear, a leather bag for a saddle-hook, a heavenly lion-headed imitum mace, a shield resting on the ground, a heroic weapon, and a battle-axe, an implement beloved of Ereckigala. [98]

Ancient Sumerian kings and queens also followed the same burial tradition, a fact attested to in the ‘ Royal Cemetery at Ur.’ The grave of Sumerian Queen Puabi, was overflowing with grave offerings including a magnificent, if heavy, golden headdress made of golden leaves, rings, and plates; a superb lyre, complete with the golden and lapis-lazuli encrusted bearded bulls head; a profusion of gold table ware, golden, carnelian, and lapis lazuli cylindrical beads for extravagant necklaces and belts; a chariot adorned with lioness' heads in silver, and an abundance of silver, lapis lazuli, and golden rings and bracelets. [99]

The practice of grave offerings which had previously been foreign to the Greeks was also gradually adopted at Olympia. During the period of 750-650 BC, it is apparent that inhabitants of landscapes marked by tombs of bygone ages undertook acts of formal reverence at those tombs. Possibly emulating the Mesopotamian custom grave offerings began to be deposited in and around Greek graves and tombs. [100]

 

Closing Ceremony

 

In the fragmentary Tablet VIII of the Epic of Gilgamesh an elaborate funerary ritual is organised by Gilgamesh after the death of his best friend Enkidu. After the gifts for the gods of the Netherworld have been chosen the animals are slaughtered to provide meat for an extravagant funerary feast.

 

[fat oxen] and fattened sheep he slaughtered, he piled them up for his friend. [101]

 

Fig. 2: Statue of Gilgamesh, created by Lewis Patros, was installed at the University of Sydney ’s 150^th year anniversary during October, 2000 in Sydney , Australia.

 

In the Sumerian poem Death of Bilgames, Gilgamesh has a premonition of his own death, in which, he attends a banquet with the Anunnaki gods of the Netherworld and presents them with food offerings and other gifts:

 

Go ahead, when the great Anunna [Anunnaki] gods sit down to the funerary banquet. [102]

 

This funerary banquet would be conducted for the Anunnaki and the Igigi gods who would return from the Netherworld and have one last meal with Gilgamesh before he and his retinue accompanied them to the afterlife. The banquet was one of the rites of the Netherworld. In addition, gifts were also presented to the seven chief porters of the Netherworld [Anunnaki] with the hope that they would bestow preferential treatment on the deceased.

 

Following in the footsteps of his peer and predecessor, Gilgamesh, the Sumerian King Ur-Nammu likewise conducted a funerary feast to commemorate his own death:

 

As they announced Ur-Nammu's coming to the people, a tumult arose in the nether world. The king slaughtered numerous bulls and sheep, Ur-Namma seated the people at a huge banquet. [103]

 

The Hittite texts that cite tarpa may also be referring to the funerary banquet conducted for the gods of the Netherworld. This funerary banquet, in which bulls would be killed, may have been adopted by the Greeks and inspired the banquet for Zeus at Olympia.  Amongst the Olympic Games events was the sacrifice of 100 oxen on the third day, while the fifth and final days were devoted to prize giving, processions and an evening banquet for the victors. [104]

 

There were two types of feast associated with the Olympic Games. The largest was the public banquet held in the Prytaneion on the evening of the middle of the Games where the remains of the hundred head of oxen sacrificed to Zeus earlier in the day were eaten. Zeus was offered only the thighs. [105]

 

Comparison

 

Similarities	Gilgamesh Games	Mesopotamian Theme	Date of Transmission	Olympic Games	Greek Theme
Origin	Death of Gilgamesh	Funerary games conducted to remember the King Gilgamesh	776 BC (Myth) 704 BC (Archaeological)	Established by Zeus (Myth1) Death of Peliops (Myth2)	Myth 1; Zeus, Myth 2: Peliops. Fact : May have begun as funerary games, but no archaeological evidence at site of a grave or body.
Time of Festival	Month of Abu (August) every year	Ritual in which the ancient Sumerians remembered their dead ancestors. Yearly month of the dead, festival of ghosts passing through the temple Ab [doorway].	776 BC (Myth)	Began yearly every August then was changed to every 4 years.	The Olympiad may have changed to every 4 years due to the introduction of the chariot race.
Venue	Temple	Sanctuary for statue of the god.	NA	Zeus Temple	Sanctuary dedicated to the god and treasury for temple offerings.
Guardian	Statue of Gilgamesh in temple	Funerary statue also acted as earthly vessel. Focal point of the mourning rites and athletic games.	776 BC (Myth)	Statue of Zeus in temple	Focal point of temple at Olympia.
Title of Guardian	Judge of the Netherworld	Consolation for missing out on immortality as well as athletic games judge.	476 BC	Judge of Olympic Games	Zeus appointed judge of the Greek gods.
Introductory Ceremony	Mouth washing Hand washing Exorcism sacrifice (?) Washing with Waters of Life Lighting of Torches	Purifying the statue. Ritual séance for the dead that may have included an Exorcism ceremony that purified the statue of all malevolent deities returning from the Netherworld.	776 BC (Myth)	Sacrifice of pig in front of statue of Zeus. Lighting of Torch.	Sacrifice to Zeus, the Olympic Games’ chief deity.
Athletic Events	Athletic ‘Feats of strength’	Attainment of heroic glory and immortality.	~ 776 BC	Athletic Events	Attainment of heroic glory. Training for war during peace time.
Victory Awards	Poplar wreath crown	Used during purification rituals. Also symbolic of Gilgamesh who was described as the poplar tree.	752 BC	Different laurels used in different Greek games. Olive wreath crown used in Olympia.	Sacred wreath crown of olive sprays for winners was the same worn by Zeus.
Sacred Garden	Garden of Gilgamesh	Offerings made to deities (?).		Altis	The sacred grove of Zeus.
Funerary Gifts	Funerary Gifts to accompany the dead to the grave	Gifts to bribe the deities of the netherworld	750-650 BC	Funerary gifts	Votive offerings.
Closing Ceremony	Banquet with Gilgamesh & the Anunnaki	Food offerings to the gods of the netherworld and King Gilgamesh	776 BC (Myth)	Banquet of Zeus	Athletic victory banquet.

The Mesopotamian cultural influence that had for centuries percolated into ancient Greece through contact with the Hittites and other peoples appears to have suddenly swamped Greece during the middle of the 8^th century BC (Table 4, column 4). This was during the start of the Sargonid dynasty which saw the Assyrian empire reach its geographical zenith and incorporate colonies such as the Greek island of Crete.

 

It was during this period that the funerary rituals and the athletic ‘feats of strength’ depicted in the Death of Bilgames and other Mesopotamian athletics festivals may have been adopted from the ancient Mesopotamians and gradually incorporated into the ancient Greek Olympic Games.

 

Based on original Mesopotamian and Greek source material there are a total of eleven major similarities (Table 4) discovered thus far that may show that the ancient Greek Olympic Games have their antecedent in the ancient Gilgamesh Games.

 

In summarising the main linkages between the Gilgamesh and Olympic Games one is struck by the logical and coherent thread that is woven throughout the various rituals and ceremonies that were conducted during the Gilgamesh Games.

 

When all the similarities are eventually pieced together a lucid and powerful composition detailing the séance emerges detailing Gilgamesh's return from the netherworld and exorcism of the guardian's statue in his temple that was followed by funerary games conducted in his honor by athletes keen to emulate the King and subsequently achieve immortality through heroic glory.

 

Today’s modern Olympic Games, which trace their origins back to the ancient Greek Games, may very well owe their beginnings to the ancient Mesopotamians and their hero Gilgamesh, whose desire for immortality began over 4,000 years ago in the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk.