Download File - Miss Johnson`s ​Classical Literature

The Epic of Gilgamesh
MISS JOHNSON
The Epic of Gilgamesh
• The most famous piece of
Sumerian literature
(Mesopotamia)
• Written 2100 B.C. by the
Babylonians
• Tells the story of Gilgamesh,
King of the city of Uruk who
ruled in 3rd Millennium B.C.
Uruk
Sumerian Gods
• Nammu: primordial waters
• An: sky
• Ki: earth
• Enlil: god of air
•
Equivalent of Zeus or Odin
• Ninlil: goddess of air
• Inanna: goddess of love and
fertility
•
Babylonian Ishtar
• Ereshkigal: goddess of the
underworld
• Enki: trickster god
• Babylonians repurposed Old
Sumerian Gods
• Carved on stone stele
• Stele: an upright stone slab
or column typically bearing
a commemorative
inscription, relief, or design
• Greek Stele “standing black”
• Broken into twelve tablets
Cuneiform
• Sumerian system of writing
• Developed around 3500-3000 B.C.
• Wedge-shaped marks on clay
tablets made by reeds
• Began as pictographs but
developed into phonograms
• Pictograph: a picture symbolizing
a word or phrase
• Latin Pict “to paint”
• Similar to Hieroglyphics
• Phonogram: a symbol
representing a vocal sound
• Greek Phone “voice”
Epic Poem
• Lengthy narrative poem
• Serious subject
• Medias Res: beginning a story by plunging into the
middle of the action
• Latin In Medias Res “in the midst of things”
• Writing style of lofty elevated
• Invocation of the muse
• The hero
•
•
•
•
Is of national or even cosmic importance
Embodies the values of the civilization
Encounters gods and monsters
Shows great valor during heroic deeds or events;
superhuman courage
• Trip to the underworld
• Often significant to a culture or nation
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http://akraticwizardry.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-epic-of-gilgamesh-expanded-edition.html
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh
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https://www.google.com/search?q=gilgamesh+tablets&rlz=1C1NHXL_enUS700US700&espv=2&biw=667&bih=639&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0
ahUKEwjgqdLXtN_NAhWFyj4KHTiyB4cQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=uZR0y8TLtye_sM%3A
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http://www.icr.org/article/cuneiform-reed-ark-story-doesnt-float/
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http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/previously-unknown-lines-epic-gilgamesh-discovered-stolen-cuneiform-tablet-020553
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http://www.crystalinks.com/uruk.html
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http://www.clt.astate.edu/wnarey/Religious%20Studies%20Program/Religion%20Studies%20Program/Religious%20Studies%20Program%20Files/the_epi
c_of_gilgamesh.htm
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https://tricialight04.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/our-first-journey-through-the-epic-of-gilgamesh/
•
https://watsoneastwoldblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/write-your-name-in-cuneiform-just-like-a-mesapotamian/