Architectural Visual Language in the Epic of Gilgamesh

Abstract

The epic of Gilgamesh has proved to be more than just a legendary text as it provided us with valuable insight to the architectural design of its age. We are going to look, within our study, at what is known to be one of the most ancient journeys known in history inside the world of architect and design.According to my knowledge there has not been a text describing any such journey prior to the Gilgamesh epic containing the twelve chapters that form the body of the work. Most of the works mentioning such journeys were written almost ten decades after the release of the epic. The text of the epic is also unique in its length unmatched except by Homer's Odyssey and its crazy Phoenician journey passing by the Pillars of Hercules; this journey occurred on the Atlantic Ocean coast.I have been reviewing these texts in depth for over 39 years, since I first read the epic back in 1975. I have had the opportunity back then to look at what was once considered a taboo. Something that was prohibited for me to overview during my youth. The epic was one of the prohibitions due to the similarities it contains within its text with Monotheistic religions regardless of the style and the language used in the holly books. As a hungry reader back then I was only allowed access to texts mentioned within Quran. Since then I was obsessed with having the opportunity to embody the epic's architectural designs through forming surrealistic paintings reflecting my own view of this eternal epic.I will attempt through this humble study to embody the epic through ten paintings I have completed throughout last year. These paintings describe the Mesopotamian civilization; it also provides insight to that stage of history in addition to the time and place the epic took place. It also clarifies the identity of the place where the epic took place in the lights of the texts, archeological and historic data that could be compared to the epic's text.The rule adopted here is that any piece of art work needs to be predestined by critique conditions. similarly, any critique article needs to be predestined by ethical terms that relate to art work ethics and its deployment in addition to its influence level in the yet to come personal experience or its influence in the experience of others.

Keywords: Epic of Gilgamesh, Mesopotamia, Immortality, Noah, Sumerians, Dilmun Island