Bricks and Mortar

Bricks and Mortar

Bricks and Mortar

And so they traveled until they reached Uruk.
There Gilgamesh the king said to the boatman:

"Study the brickwork, study the fortification;
climb the great ancient staircase to the terrace;

study how it is made; from the terrace see
the planted and fallow fields, the ponds and orchards.

One league is the inner city, another league
is orchards; still another the fields beyond;

over there is the precinct of the temple.
Three leagues and the temple precinct of Ishtar

measure Uruk, the city of Gilgamesh.

--Gilgamesh, Tablet XI, lines 366-376


Apollo's temple was built of ancient rock,
And there I prayed: 'Grant us a home, Apollo,
Give walls to weary men, a race , a city
That will abide; preserve Troy's other fortress,
The remnant left by the Greeks and hard Achilles.
Whom do we follow?   where are we bidden to go
To find our settlement?   An omen, father!'
--The Aeneid, Book III, lines 83-89


They protect, shelter, defend, preserve, guard, house, and outlast us.   To a wandering man without a home, sturdy walls are a godsend, able to foster future generations of conquerors.   To a restless man searching for immortality, walls may be the only things that outlive him. Gilgamesh and Aeneas came from similar backgrounds, but lived very different lives.   Both were part man and part god, and both were respected by their followers.   However, Gilgamesh was the king of a stable land; drowsy with power, he searched for adventure and excitement to stave off the boredom of the crown.   Aeneas was driven from home, a leader of a band of exiles who had adventure seemingly drop into their laps.   For both Gilgamesh and Aeneas walls had a very special meaning; walls were stability in an unstable world and more-- they were a connection to the gods.
In some form or another, both men longed to have their fame live on.   Gilgamesh chose to seek the How-the-Old-Man-Once-Again-Becomes-a-Young-Man plant, because it would grant him...