Gilgamesh and the forest of gemstones

What is it about?

The article shows how deeply rooted in the Sumerian-Akkadian literary tradition an episode in the Song of Gilgamesh that appears to be fantastic and fairytale-like is and how intertextually interlinked it is, how much Gilgamesh's passage through the Gemstonehein at the edge of the world corresponds with ancient cosmological thinking, but also with texts that deal with astronomical questions and contain concepts that tell of the architecture of the celestial vault. Finally, the possible proximity to rituals is also discussed, in which gemstones play an important role and the narrative in the Song of Gilgamesh could be a narrative unfolding of the same.

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