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Class
Prep
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- Mesopotamia:
The Epic of Gilgamesh
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The Epic of Gilgamesh recounts tales of a storied king of Uruk
who is thought to have lived around 2800 BCE (chronology,
pdf 8KB). Deified
after his life, Gilgamesh achieved a kind of immortality that
otherwise eludes him in the epic, as he struggles first against
men and then against the gods themselves.
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- As you read the Epic, read for plot - that is, make note of
the main episodes and characters. Consider the following
issues and questions:
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- With what dilemma does the epic begin? How is
this dilemma resolved?
- What journey is described in the first half of the epic,
and how does it provide structure for the tale?
- What makes Gilgamesh or Enkidu heroic figures?
- What elements would you identify as "religious"
in the epic? Why are these "religious"?
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- In the second part of the Epic of Gilgamesh, our hero deals with
his grief over the loss of Enkidu. The journey recounted
in this part of the epic is a classic hero's journey, alone, against
many obstacles, and toward growth that promises the stature of
the gods. You will also notice several literary "seams"--that is, rough transitions or repetitions that indicate the composite nature of the epic. Tablet XI, for instance, was not part of the original Sumerian epic, and Tablet XII was a very late addition to the story.
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- As
you read this last part of the Epic, consider the following issues
and questions:
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- What does Gilgamesh do to manifest and express his grief over the death of Enkidu?
- What does Gilgamesh hope to achieve on his solitary journey? Does
he succeed?
- Is anything new added to the heroic portrait of Gilgamesh in this section of the Epic?
- How would you characterize Sumerian/Babylonian belief about the relationship of humans and the divine?
- What evidence do you find in Tablets XI and XII that these sections might have been late additions to the story?
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- Assigned Readings
- Primary: Tablets I-XII, + notes pp. 93-9
- Secondary: Moran's "Introduction" in
the Epic of Gilgamesh book, pp. ix-xi; online class prep
(= this page)
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- Further Reading
Abusch, Tzvi. "Ishtar's Proposal and Gilgamesh's
Refusal: An Interpretation of The Gilgamesh Epic, Tablet 6, Lines
1-79." History of Religions 26 (2 1986)
143-187.
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Frankfort, Henri, John A. Wilson and Thorkild Jacobsen. Before
Philosophy: The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man: An Essay
on Speculative Thought in the Ancient Near East. Baltimore: Penguin, 1949.
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Gaster, Theodore. Thespis, Ritual, Myth and Drama in the Ancient Near East. New York: Gordian, 1975; original 1950.
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George, Andrew. The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian
Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian. New
York: Barnes and Noble, 1999.
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Jacobsen, Thorkild. The Treasures of Darkness: A
History of Mosopotamian Religion. New Haven, Connecticut:
Yale University Press, 1976.
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Kluger, Rivkah Schärf. The Archetypal Significance
of Gilgamesh: A Modern Ancient Hero. Einsiedeln,
Switzerland: Daimon, 1991.
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Kramer, Samuel N. Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual
and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C., rev. ed. New York: Harper, 1961.
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--------. The Sumerians: Their History, Culture,
and Character. Chicago: University of Chicago,
1963.
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Maier, John, ed. Gilgamesh: A Reader. Wauconda,
Illinois: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 1997.
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Miller, David L. The New Polytheism: Rebirth of
the Gods and Goddesses. New York: Harper &
Row, 1974.
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Pritchard, James, ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1955.
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- Shaffer, Aaron. "Gilgamesh, the Cedar Forest
and Mesopotamian History." Journal of the
American Oriental Society 103 (1 1983) 307-313.
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- Seibert, Ilse. Women in the Ancient East, trans. Marianne
Herzfeld; rev. by George A. Shepperson. New York: A. Schram, 1974.
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Tigay, Jeffrey H. The Evolution of the Gilgamesh
Epic. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1982.
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Wilson, J. V. Kinnier. The Rebel Lands: An Investigation into the Origins of Early Mesopotamian Mythology. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979.
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Wolkstein, Diane and Samuel N. Kraemer. Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer. New York: Harper & Row, 1983.
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- Links
- Lost
Treasures from Iraq - a database of artifacts
from ancient Mesopotamia destoyed or looted from the
Iraq Museum in Baghdad during the American invasion
in spring 2003; maintained by the Oriental Institute
at the University of Chicago.
- The
Edgar and Deborah Jannotta Mesopotamian Gallery
- one of the most extensive collections of Mesopotamian
artifacts in the world, opened in late 2003 at the Oriental
Institute at the University of Chicago.
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- Sources
- Photograph:
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