Gender and Aging in Mesopotamia: The Gilgamesh Epic and Other Ancient Literature.

AuthorChavalas, Mark W.
PositionBook review

Gender and Aging in Mesopotamia: The Gilgamesh Epic and Other Ancient Literature. By RIVKAH HARRIS. Norman: UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS, 2003. Pp. xvi + 288. $24.95 (paper).

By employing admittedly eclectic methods from the social sciences (including cross-cultural anthropological studies), Rivkah Harris in this book has studied myths and epics to glean insights concerning the topics of aging and gender in ancient Mesopotamia. There are ten separate chapters, five of which have been published previously in slightly different form. As Harris states, there have been too few studies about the life course in ancient Mesopotamia, although here she emphasizes Akkadian and not Sumerian material (for Sumerian ideas on aging, see J. Cooper, "The Fate of Mankind: Death and Afterlife in Ancient Mesopotamia," in Death and Afterlife: Perspectives of World Religions, ed. H. Obayashi [New York: Greenwood Press, 1992], 19-33). Thus, her's is groundbreaking work, at least with the previously unpublished articles. One may question her reliance on myths, somewhat to the exclusion of other types of source material. However, Harris assumes that they "refract and reflect social attitudes, realities, and fantasies" (p. vii), although these social attitudes are no doubt a reflection of upper-class ideals.

In the first chapter, Harris argues primarily from the Gilgamesh Epic for a Mesopotamian view of life in four stages: infancy/early childhood, later childhood, adulthood, and old age. She argues that the later additions to the Gilgamesh story redirect the hero's quest from overcoming death to the attainment of knowledge. The second chapter deals with "Gilgamesh's Coming of Age," where Harris argues that the king's travel to Utnapishtim is a metaphorical rite of passage, marking his transition from childhood to adulthood, echoing the often-stated summary of the epic as a story about "growing up."

The next chapters deal with gerontology, namely attitudes towards the elderly and characteristics associated with them. The elderly did not have a high profile in Mesopotamia, as in Greece or Rome, Harris argues. In chapter three, Harris takes advantage of non-mythical texts, using a wide variety of sources, searching for inferences and passing remarks, as she calls them, recognizing that no text informs us about the thoughts of the aged. There was, she argues, a distinction between old age and elders (a term invoking wisdom).

In the fourth chapter Harris deals with the...

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