What does gilgamesh do to urshanabi boat

He decides that he can't live unless granted eternal life; he decides to undertake the most perilous journey of all: the journey to Utnapishtim and his wife, the only mortals on whom the gods had granted eternal life.

Utnapishtim is the Far-Away, living at the mouth of all rivers, at the ends of the world. Utnapishtim was the great king of the world before the Flood and, with his wife, was the only mortal preserved by the gods during the Flood. After an ominous dream, Gilgamesh sets out. He arrives at Mount Mashu, which guards the rising and the setting of the sun, and encounters two large scorpions who guard the way past Mount Mashu.

They try to convince him that his journey is futile and fraught with danger, but still they allow him to pass. Past Mount Mashu is the land of Night, where no light ever appears. Urshanabi says he will take Gilgamesh to Utnapishtim, but that Gilgamesh has made the task much more difficult because he has destroyed the Stone Things and the Urnu-snakes, which propelled and protected his boat.

Instead, Urshanabi says, Gilgamesh must go into the forest and fashion hundreds of poles. Each pole must be exactly sixty cubits in length approximately ninety feet. Urshanabi instructs him to fit the poles with rings and cover them with pitch, and then they will attempt the voyage. Gilgamesh cuts the poles, and they sail off together across the perilous sea. In three days, they sail as far as an ordinary boat would have sailed in two months. When they arrive at the Waters of Death, the boatman tells Gilgamesh to use the punting poles but to be sure that his hands do not touch the water.

Gilgamesh steers the boat through the Waters of Death. His great strength causes him to break all of the poles. In some translations, the poles disintegrate in the Waters of Death. When the last pole is ruined, he takes off the animal skin he wears and holds it up as a sail.

In the distance, they can see a shore. An old man stands on the shore, watching the boat approach. The old man wonders who the stranger is with Urshanabi. When they get out of the boat, the old man asks Gilgamesh to identify himself. Gilgamesh tells the old man his story as well. The old man asks Gilgamesh why he grieves over mortality—nothing lives forever.

He explains that the gods established that humanity would suffer death, and that when the gods give life, they decide the day of death.

He says that death is our inescapable destiny, even if we do not know when it will happen. Scholars have not been able to determine what the Stone Things and the Urnu-snakes mentioned in this tablet are exactly or why Gilgamesh destroys them. Some translations suggest the Stone Things were actual stones that were used to construct a bridge. Others suggest they were magnetite.

The tablets are incomplete on this topic. The Winged creature that Gilgamesh encounters is Utnapishtim in some versions of the story. Both Siduri and Urshanabi have no idea who Gilgamesh is when they see him, suggesting his appearance is truly repulsive. Even after explaining his story to them, they both independently tell him that his quest is pointless and that he should turn back.

When Gilgamesh finally reaches the old man, he tells Gilgamesh that death is inescapable. Gilgamesh poles the little boat back to shore. Gilgamesh ties stone weights to his feet and dives into the sea. When he finds the plant he cuts the stones from his feet, and the waters cast him onto shore. He tells the boatman that he will share this plant with the elders of Uruk and then take some himself and be young again too.

But one night, when they stop to camp, Gilgamesh takes a swim in a pool of cool water. A snake smells the plant and steals it. As it slithers away, it sheds its skin. Now the serpent is young again, but Gilgamesh will never be. Heartbroken, Gilgamesh sits beside the pool and weeps. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Themes Motifs Symbols. Important Quotes Explained. Mini Essays Suggested Essay Topics.