Download Epics: Introduction to Gilgamesh

THE EPIC OF
GILGAMESH
Historical and Cultural Context for the World’s Oldest Story
GILGAMESH BACKGROUND
 Written on clay tablets
hundreds of years before
found
 The Sumerians did not unify
the material into a single
narrative
 Gilgamesh would have been
known in 2000 BCE
 The epic was lost and
rediscovered in 1839 by
Englishmen in Ninevah, the
once capital of the ancient
Assyrian empire
 Written in Semetic Akkadain
 Sumerians --the first literate
inhabitants of Mesopotamia
 Influenced Rome/Europe
 First published in two
volumes in 1884-1891 by
Paul Haupt
DO WE HAVE ALL THE POEMS?
 Five poems relating to
Gilgamesh survived
 Of these, two are used and
are combined with later
material in this version of
the epic
 Cuneiform Tablets
 Write Like a Babylonian
…BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE
 Gilgamesh is an adventure
story.
 The Main characters seek fame
and glory.
 Alone, but armed, two friends
will take on the scary forest
and its guardian in a not -soordinary world.
 Thematic Connections
 Good vs. Evil
 Friendship
 The Human Experience
GILGAMESH A REAL KING?
 Sumerian King-list
 Lived ~2500 BCE
 Ruled Uruk
 Cult figure and oral stories
MAP OF
ANCIENT
NEAR AND
MIDDLE
EAST
c i rc a 4 0 0 0 B C
Fiero, G. The Humanistic Tradition, Vol 1. 5th ed. McGraw Hill, 2006. Print.
MESOPOTAMIA’S RULING SOCIETIES
5000 BCE – 600 BCE
SUMERIA: the first civilization in the region.
Later, the Akkadians, Babylonians, Hittites, Assyrians, and
Chaldeans take over their cities and adopt their culture.
They all adapt their own version of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
First group of people known to have dominated this region
made their living by growing crops and raising livestock.
Successful merchants and traders throughout the Persian
Gulf region.
ANCIENT SUMERIA
Lived in city-states. These cities were walled for
protection and surrounded by vast, open land.
The largest city -states were Ur, Uruk, and Lagash.
Sumerians never developed a central, unifying
government between the three, leaving them
vulnerable to attack.
Sumerian society developed a three -level class
system (nobles, middle class, peasants).
RELIGION & SUMERIA
- The Sumerians (and later the Babylonian people)
worshipped a pantheon of gods and goddesses.
- Regardless of one’s actions in life, they did not
believe in life after death. They believed that after
one dies there is only emptiness.
Anu-Air/ Father god
Enlil-Sky god
Utu-Sun god
SUMERIAN CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Sophisticated technology – terraced temples (ziggurats),
wheeled vehicles, sail boats, animal-drawn plows.
Developments in math and science – A precise 12 month
calendar, the concept of zero
World’s first writing system – cuneiform. Formed by reed
markings on wet clay tablets.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, the first work
of fiction ever recorded, was etched
on stone tablets in cuneiform.
MESOPOTAMIA
• “the land between the
rivers.”
•between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers
•“Fertile Crescent” or
“cradle of civilizations”
• Present-day Iraq as
well as parts of Iran.
Sumerian City States
WARRIOR KINGS
 Kings were military leaders,
builders, protectors
 Strength, cunning, virility,
divine favor
 Law, justice, and order in an
uncertain world
 Glory and Immortality
STANDARD OF UR
Peace and War
 Peace:
agriculture,
trade, crafts,
flourishing
 War:
conquering
enemies,
tribute,
fierceness and
authority
KEY THEMES
Companionship
Death
Immortality
Gods-Humans
Relationship
“Meaning of Life”
or “Growing Up”?
WHY IS GILGAMESH SO IMPORTANT?
 Dates back to 2000 BCE
 Predates the Bible and the Homeric Epics by at
least 1500 years
 Earliest known literary work.
 Contains an account of the Great Flood and the
story of a virtuous man named Utnapishtim who
survived
 Expresses values of ancient civilization – such as
the belief in divine retribution for transgressions
such as violence, pride, the oppression of others,
and the destruction of the natural world.
GILGAMESH’S IMPORTANCE
Gilgamesh serves as an early model of the archetypal
Hero and the archetypal motif of The Flood.
Studied by Joseph Campbell as a primary example of
the monomyth (or hero’s journey story).
Large number of parallels to The Odyssey and other
Greek epics