Hiram Abiff, Noah, and Gilgamesh.
Mythology “Repurposed”
As a young college student, I was fortunate enough to spend a semester studying in Puebla, Mexico at the University Of The Americas. I lived nearby in a small village called San Andres, which sat at the base of a mountain that had been excavated to reveal a buried pyramid, the great Cholula Pyramid. According to an online article, This “temple-pyramid complex was built... starting from the 3rd century BCE through the 9th century CE”, and “is, in fact, the largest pyramid...ever constructed anywhere in the world.”[1]
Sitting atop of the yet unexcavated part of this temple sits the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios (Church of Our Lady of the Remedies), which was built by Spaniards in 1594. When I asked a professor at the University why the church was built upon a pyramid, I was told that the Catholic Church simply built where the people were already coming to worship – that it was an easy way to convert the indigenous population to a new and unfamiliar religion. I later learned that this is called “repurposing” a religious site.
Since then, I have learned that the idea of “repurposing” is not only done with religious sites, but also with religious myths. A general example of this would be the several myths, which have been passed along from the Babylonians to the Egyptians to the Jews, and finally to the Christians. Interestingly enough, a more specific example of repurposing can be found in the stories that form the basis of one of our own Freemasonry rituals.
Many brothers may be surprised to learn that the Hiram Abiff legend was not always a part of Masonic lore. Prior to 1730, our masonic brothers were taught that “the secret word” that they sought was buried with the Old Testament biblical character, Noah.[2]
According to the story, Noah’s sons were in search of the “word” that they believed God had given to Noah so that he might start a new civilization after the flood. After a failed attempt by his sons to raise him from his grave, a substitute word was chosen. The secret was never revealed, and remained lost.
While there are minor differences between the Hiram Abiff story and the earlier story of Noah and his sons, the general outline remains the same – a great builder is in possession of a word (or words), which will allow the building to continue. However, the word(s) are lost, and mankind continues to this day to search.
Let us now jump ahead to 1844 when a British researcher, named Austen Henry Layard was traveling in Northern Iraq around the town of Mosul. Excavating the ruined palaces of Nineveh, the ancient capital of Assyria, he discovered of a hoard of stone tablets inscribed with cuneiform script. At the time, it was considered to be an interesting, but minor find. [i]
These tablets remained undeciphered until 1872 when a young British museum curator named George Smith translated the Akkadian writing. Reportedly, when he deciphered one particular section of the tablets, he became so excited that he tore off his clothes and began running around the laboratory. You see, the tablet he deciphered, which had been written more than 3 thousand years ago, told the story of a Babylonian “Noah” who survived a great flood. The similarities between what was written on the stone tablets and the Old Testament flood story were remarkable.
This three thousand year old story is about a man/god named Gilgamesh who sets off on a journey with a man, named Enkidu (formed out of dust by the god, Aruru) to do battle with a great monster. During the journey Enkidu dies ands Gilgamesh, having never known death, is filled with fear and grief, lamenting
“Must I die too? Must I be as lifeless as Enkidu? How can I bear this sorrow that gnaws at my belly, this fear of death that drives me onward? If only I could find the one man whom the gods made immortal, I would ask him how to overcome death.”[3]
Here then, in one of the earliest written stories that civilization has yet uncovered, we finds man’s first search for the secret of everlasting life – immortality. Over three thousand years ago, man’s greatest fear was written in stone.
Could the story of Gilgamesh have been “repurposed”? Is the story of Hiram Abiff’s assailants, and Noah’s sons search for the secret word actually a “repurposing” of Gilgamesh’s search for everlasting life? Is the search for the lost words – so that we may continue to build the temple, an allegorical story of man’s search to find the one thing that will allow us to continue to build our own allegorical temples -- our lives?
In all three stories the content centers on a search -- a search for the greatest of secrets. In the Hiram Abiff story, Hiram is a supervisor of builders, Noah is the builder of the ark, and Gilgamesh is ruler of a city that he describes by saying
“See how its ramparts gleam like copper in the sun. Climb the stone staircase, more ancient than the mind can imagine, ... walk on the wall of Uruk... inspect it’s mighty foundations, examine its brickwork, how masterfully it is built...”[4]
Continuing with the Gilgamesh epic, we learn that Gilgamesh eventually meets with Utnapishtim, the Babylonian “Noah” who survived the great flood, and asks him to intervene on his behalf and to ask the gods to grant him eternal life. Utnapishtim refuses, but tells Gilgamesh where to find a magical plant that will give him everlasting life. Gilgamesh finds the plant only to later lose it to a snake that carries it off.
In the Gilgamesh story, we are not told what this magical plant is. Could it have been from the acacia plant? If not, it certainly, at least symbolically, shares the same traits, as it is the antidote to death.
In masonic lore, the acacia plant is the symbol of everlasting life.[5] It is the sprig of acacia that marks the grave of Hiram Abiff, and the sprig which the three searchers find when they search for Hiram. As an aside, it is interesting to consider the following question: Did they mistakenly miss the true object of their search (for the secret to everlasting life), and instead look for the secret in the decomposing body of their master? Is the hidden message that the secret to everlasting life not to be found in material or transient things?
Finally, in the Noah legend, while aboard the ark, we are told that Noah sends a dove out to search for signs of life. The dove returns after the seventh day with an olive branch in its beak. And although the olive branch is usually considered a symbol of peace, doesn’t it make more sense that it actually represents what Noah was searching for, the “continuance of life,” much as the acacia sprig?
In all three stories, Hiram Abiff, Noah, and Gilgamesh, there is a search for the ultimate secret. In all three stories, the secret remains forever lost, and forever sought.
Most importantly, in each of the three legends we are reminded that god (or in the case of Gilgamesh, gods) hold the ultimate answer. In the end, we find ourselves frail, and painfully human, forever seeking solace from the ultimate question in life, our own demise.
Are the legends similar enough in traits to merit consideration? Were the stories of Hiram Abiff and Noah “repurposed” from one of mans’ earliest recorded stories? Is there an answer to mans’ ultimate question? Perhaps it depends upon the searcher to discover that answer for himself. Perhaps it should be sought in the allegorical and symbolical stories of our brotherly fraternity.
Respectfully submitted,
Bro. Tavit Smith
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Cholula (December 5, 2010)
[2] See: http://www.masonicsites.org/Graham_Ms.htm for a discussion of the Graham Manuscript (1726).
[3] Gilgamesh, by Stephen Mitchell, Free Press, NY, ©2004.
[4] Ibid.
[5] http://www.masonicworld.com/education/files/artoct02/sprig_of_acacia.htm
[i] In my opinion, the best and most complete translation of the tale of Gilgamesh can be found in the book “Gilgamesh” by Stephen Mitchell, Free Press, NY, ©2004. Mitchell tells the tale twice, once with full commentary and background. For additional reading, read “The Buried Book,” by David Damrosch, Henry Holt & Company, © 2006.
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