Gilgamesh
-
Upload
matthew-hartman -
Category
Education
-
view
603 -
download
2
Transcript of Gilgamesh
![Page 1: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Who was Gilgamesh?“In Uruk he built walls . . . Look at it still today . . . Touch the threshold, it is ancient.”
Gilgamesh. From Khorsabad (Palace of Sargon II). Neo-Assyrian, 721-705 B.C.E. Housed in the Paris Louvre.
![Page 2: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
THE CITY
![Page 3: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
![Page 4: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Uruk site in 2008 (modern Warka, Iraq)
![Page 5: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Ur site (Iraq), with view of zigguraut
![Page 6: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Ziggurat of Ur
![Page 7: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
THE EPIC
![Page 8: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
3000 B.C. Invention of writing
2800 B.C. Gilgamesh, king of Uruk
2100 B.C. Oldest copy of a Sumerian Gilgamesh poem
1800 B.C. Babylonian Epic of Creation
1200 B.C. The standard version of Gilgamesh in Akkadian
![Page 9: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Sumerian oral poems and stories circulate for generations
Until they are written down on clay tablets in Sumerian, then Akkadian
![Page 10: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
A damaged masterpiece
![Page 11: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Tablet I. The Coming of Enkidu
He who saw the Deep, the country’s foundation [who] knew…, was wise in all manners![Gilgamesh, who] saw the Deep, the country’s foundation, [who] knew…, was wise in all matters!
[He] … everywhere… and [learnt] of everything the sum of
wisdom.He saw what was secret, discovered what was hidden, he brought back a tale of before the
Deluge.
Translated by Andrew George (1999)
PrologueGilgamesh King in Uruk
I will proclaim to the world the deeds of Gilgamesh. This was the man to whom all things were known; this was the king who knew the countries of the world. He was wise, he saw mysteries and knew secret things, he brought us a tale of the days before the flood. He went on a long journey, was weary, worn-out with labour, returning he rested, he engraved on a stone the whole story.
Translated by N. K. Sanders
![Page 12: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
THE GODS
![Page 13: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
• Anu – sky god, principal god of Uruk• Ishtar – goddess of love and war, Venus;
principal goddess of Uruk• Enlil – god of earth, wind, and spirit; one of
the supreme deities• Shamash – sun god• Humbaba – giant montster, guardian of the
Forest of Cedar
![Page 14: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
A stele of the Assyrian king Šamši-Adad V (c.815 BCE), in a gesture of blessing to symbols of five deities.
Horned crown of AnuEight pointedstar of Ishtar
![Page 15: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Cylinder seal showing Ishtar (with weapons rising from her shoulders).
![Page 16: Gilgamesh](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070317/5565984fd8b42a0a768b47c6/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Questions
• Why was this story written down? Why is Gilgamesh an important hero to the people of the Mesopotamian civilizations?
• What patterns in this epic will we see continued in later epics and narratives? Do we recognize any of these patterns in stories that continue to be told today?