About the roots of humanity in ancient epics and the search for truth
Knowledge, the thirst for knowledge, have always been an inherent need of human beings. The Old Testament tells us how this thirst for wisdom condemns humanity, how Eve decides or is deceived? to seek knowledge without fear of losing absolute happiness. The Epic of Gilgamesh presents us with a similar idea in that knowledge is the guiding principle of the hero, only once achieved will he be able to understand and assume his destiny. Homer introduce a similar notion in his Odyssey, where wisdom is given to us as a key element of the hero Odysseus, and literally embodied in his protective goddess Athena. The Popol Vuh also offers wisdom and knowledge as key elements, both for humans and gods, and especially as a means of overcoming death and deceiving the divine.
But whether or not we believe in the similarities, what all these texts undeniably share is human heritage, our origin not as specific societies but as beings within a circle of magic and ritual, within the oral heritage, of the power that the word has, the story transmitted in the form of song and poetry. Let's think for a moment about the power of these texts whose origin goes hundreds, thousands of years ago, texts that we read today, captivate us, bring us to tears, and seem so close and familiar to us. These stories do not speak of distant epics that we cannot understand, they speak to us of the human condition, of the need we have for the sacred and the inexplicable. They tell us about how we feel and understand the world. And in doing so, themes of life and death, light and darkness, are inevitably analyzed.
“So besides, Gilgamesh, once you have crossed the ocean, when you reach the Waters of Death, what then will you do? ‘Gilgamesh, there is Ur-shanabi, the boatman of Uta-napishti, and the Stone Ones are with him, as he strips a pine in the midst of the forest. Go then, let him see your face! If [it may be] done, go across with him, if it may not be done, turn around and go back!” Gilgamesh, tablet X, lines 85-91
Within the shadows, men are capable of finding themselves. The katabasis or descent into the underworld is one of the great themes that these poems share. The fall from light to darkness to return only after having understood or found truths or answers that humans, the hero, need to achieve is a goal presented to us in Gilgamesh, in Odysseus in Homeric poetry, and in the Popol Vuh. It is not a strange coincidence, that man has always been connected to the divine, connected to the search for truth.
“One of the four roads was red, another black, another white, and another yellow. And the black road said to them: "I am the one you must take because I am the way of the Lord." So said the road. And from here on they were already overcome. They were taken over the road to Xibalba and when they arrived at the council room of the Lords of Xibalba”
Popol Vuh, second section
The gods guide these heroes and force them to understand life and death in sublime ways. The return to light reflects the awakening of the soul, of consciousness, the awakening of humanity to realities and truths only accessible through the sacred. The history of the world is woven into these poems, they tell us of a common past, orality is transmitted indefinitely, it is imperishable, and it allows us to understand the formation of the world and the soul. This return from the shadows can be echoed in the idea of self-knowledge, in the myth of the cave, in how our mind must change and improve after asking ourselves fundamental questions, even if we do not have the answers.
Death is in all these texts, not an end, but a beginning, an eternal cycle.
“Teiresias shall have answered your questions. The seer will presently come to you, and will tell you about your voyage—what stages you are to make, and how you are to sail the sea so as to reach your homecoming.” The Odyssey, book X, lines 536-ss
Related to this is the problem of fame, glory, and the Greek kleos. The hero seeks or at least deeply desires to be recognized, after death, for his deeds. He desires the immortality of his name, the everlasting fame. Gilgamesh seeks this fame, Akilleus and the whole poem are about this reward that the hero pursues, and Odysseus is primarily interested in the survival of his name. Heroic glory is established as another pillar of these poems, the epic hero is connected to the survival of his name as the only reward for his pain and sacrifice because the truth is that glory is only obtained after great pain and death.
This search for glory is deeply connected to the search for truth, to accomplish both desires the hero must endure terrible trials, and needs to spiritually and physically descend into the underworld and rise again to light, and this representation of the awakening to knowledge allows the hero to earn the glory and everlasting name.
The Popol Vuh tells of the two brothers Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, who must descend to Xilbalba, the underworld, to achieve their revenge against the gods but also to acquire wisdom. In this descent, they must use all the tricks and wisdom they already possess, much like Odysseus and his skillful and unique abilities, so they can overcome their obstacles and rise from the world of darkness.
These heroes and their processes of understanding, the search for truth, belong to an ancient past but are still a living pillar of one of the deepest needs of human beings. This profound longing for knowledge, understanding, for truth is what moves people; it compels us to seek wisdom in books, in ancient songs, in religions, and beliefs older than us. This thirst for knowledge is the foundation of the humanities and the foundation of art and human sensitivity. Thanks to this thirst, which is never completely satisfied, we have always been able to create, to live in art and literature, to connect with words so ancient and languages so distant that it seems incredible they continue to take our breath away.
“All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight. For not only with a view to action, but even when we are not going to do anything, we prefer seeing (one might say) to everything else. The reason is that this, most of all the senses, makes us know and brings to light many differences between things.”
Aristotle, Metaphysics
In this profound view of our past, in the deep study of these sacred and ancient texts, lies one of the strongest defenses of the arts and humanities; in the search for knowledge, and even more so, self-knowledge, humans have connected their longing with moving creations, seeking to respond to the chaos of the world.
The human soul is never going to be satisfied. These stories and poems show us these heroes of the past with our same desires and sorrows, and through literature, they are transformed into pillars of humanity.
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Homer. The Iliad. Edited by Gregory Nagy
The Odyssey. Edited by Gregory Nagy
Aristotle. Metaphysics. Penguin Classics, 1997
Popol Vuh. Translated by Delia Goetz. OUP editions, 1991
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Translated by Andrew George. Penguin Classics, 1999
So beautiful ♥️
A wonderful article... 🌿