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THE EPIC OF
GILGAMESH
Historical and Cultural Context for the World’s Oldest Story
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
CRASH COURSE by John Greene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohXPx_XZ6Y 12 minutes
SETTING:
… in the marshlands between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (Fertile Crescent) circa 4000 BC
MAP OF
ANCIENT
NEAR AND
MIDDLE
EAST
Fiero, G. The Humanistic Tradition, Vol 1. 5th ed. McGraw Hill, 2006. Print.
MESOPOTAMIA: ANOTHER MAP VIEW
Sumerian City States
•“The land between the rivers”
•”
•Present-day Iraq as well as parts of Iran.
•Gilgamesh takes place in URUK
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.
The 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: STRUCTURE
People lived in city-states. These cities were walled for protection, laid out around ziggurats, or temples, and surrounded by vast, open land.
The largest city -states were Ur, Uruk, and Lagash (populations = tens of thousands).
Sumerians never developed a central, unifying government between the three, leaving them vulnerable to attack.
Sumerian society developed a three-level class system Nobles (priests, government officials) Middle class (merchants, artisans,
doctors) Peasants (farmers and slaves)
- 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.
RELIGION & SUMERIA
Anu-Air/ Father god Enlil-Sky god Utu-Sun god
Sophisticated technology – terraced temples (ziggurats),
wheeled vehicles, sail boats, animal -drawn plows.
Developments in math and science – A precise 12 month
Calendar based on moon cycles, the concept of zero
World’s first writing system – cuneiform. Formed by stylus
(pointed stick) markings on
wet clay tablets.
The Epic of Gilgamesh , the first work
of fiction ever recorded, was etched
on stone tablets in cuneiform.
SUMERIAN CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS
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
MESOPOTAMIA TIMELINE
BREIF OVERVIEW
Sumerians 5000-4000 BC
Akkadians (Semite invaders who rule for about a century before
Sumerians return)
Gilgamesh would have lived between 2700-2000 BC
Babylon (second wave of Semite invaders) fully
established by 2000 BC
Recognize value of Sumerian culture and adopt many aspects
as their own, including script as well as the epic of Gilgamesh
Assyrians (900 BC)
Fierce warriors, but also valued culture
Create library in Ninevah under decree of King Assurbanipal
Here is where the tablet of Gilgamesh were later found by
archeologists (about 230 miles north of present day Baghdad)
PESSIMISTIC VIEW OF LIFE
No belief in an after life
Constant threat of invasion from other city -
states
Belief in deities who were unpredictable
Dependent on agriculture, but no control over
flooding, droughts, and other natural phenomena
that affected livelihoods
Written on clay tablets hundreds of years before found
Gilgamesh would have been known in 2000 BCE
Written in Semetic Akkadian
Sumerians --the first literate inhabitants of Mesopotamia
Influenced Rome/Europe
The Sumerians did not unify the material into a single narrative
The epic was lost and rediscovered in 1839 by Englishmen in Ninevah, the once capital of the ancient Assyrian empire
First published in two volumes in 1884-1891 by Paul Haupt
GILGAMESH BACKGROUND
Five poems relating to Gilgamesh survived
Of these, two are used and are combined with later material in this version of the epic
Other original versions have been found between the Black Sea and Jerusalem, the Mediterranean Coast and Persian Gulf.
Cuneiform Tablets
Write Like a Babylonian
DO WE HAVE ALL THE POEMS?
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 -so-ordinary world.
Thematic Connections Good vs. Evil
Friendship
The Human Experience
…BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE
GILGAMESH A REAL KING?
Sumerian King-list
Lived ~2500 BCE
Ruled Uruk
Cult figure and oral stories
DEITIES IN GILGAMESH
Anu: father of gods, lives beyond in the sky
Enlil : superior deity of storm, wind, breath, and the
“word” of Anu, destructive and critical of humanity
Shamash: sun god, just and kind, omniscient, people
could appeal to sense of justice
Ishtar: goddess of love and war, both gracious and dark
Ea: god of wisdom, peacemaker
Ninsun: minor goddess, mother of Gilgamesh, wife to
Lugulbanda (3 rd on Sumerian King List)
KEY THEMES
Companionship
Death
Immortality
Gods-Humans
Relationship
“Meaning of Life”
or “Growing Up”?
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.
WHY IS GILGAMESH SO IMPORTANT?
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
GILGAMESH’S IMPORTANCE
Final Fantasy : enemy
boss is named
Gilgamesh, faithful
sidekick is named
Enkidu
Star Trek : Captain
Picard gives an
abbreviated version of
Gilgamesh
CULTURAL REFERENCES
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