Bell Ringer #4: Thurs. 3/24/11If you had a dream prophesying a major

catastrophe and you had the chance to survive it, would you obey your dream? Is there anything that you would be unwilling to give up to follow your task? What would it take to convince you that the prophesy was real?

Bell Ringer #5: Mon. 3/28/11Disaster is about to strike and you must gather

up your things and run to safety! You can only take three things with you…

What would you take? You could only bring one person with you….

Who would you bring?You can only make one warning phone call…

Who would you call?You can safely leave behind one significant

thing for people to remember you or the human race… what would it be and why?

World Mythology 2010Babylonian/Sumerian Mythology

Map of Ancient Near and Middle East(Fiero, G. (2006). The Humanistic Tradition, Vol 1. 5th ed. McGraw Hill, p.38.)

Gilgamesh a Real King?Sumerian King-

listLived ~2500 BCE Ruled UrukCult figure and

oral stories

Gilgamesh Gilgamesh was an historical king of Uruk in

Babylonia, on the River Euphrates in modern Iraq; he lived about 2700 B.C.

Although historians tend to emphasize Hammurabi and his code of law, the civilizations of the Tigris-Euphrates area, among the first civilizations, focus rather on Gilgamesh and the legends accruing around him to explain, as it were, themselves.

Many stories and myths were written about Gilgamesh, some of which were written down about 2000 B.C. in the Sumerian language on clay tablets which still survive. These Sumerian Gilgamesh stories were integrated into a longer poem.

Sound familiar?Gilgamesh is an unusual hero in that his major quest

his an intellectual purpose: to gain knowledge. In addition to possessing courage, he must have great

determination, patience, and fortitude in order to reach his destination. After enduring physical hazards, he must wage a battle against despair when he learns that he cannot become immortal.

He must find experiences that make life worthwhile, and he must find ways of perpetuating his name. Later heroes start by accepting what Gilgamesh questions; they are born into societies that have already determined the acceptable way in which a person can achieve fame and an immortal name.

Lessons LearnedGilgamesh is the earliest major recorded work of

literature, and Gilgamesh is the first human hero in literature.

The epic reveals the importance of friendship and love, pride and honor, adventure and accomplishment, and also the fear of death and the wish for immortality.

He learns that the only type of immortality that he or any other mortal can achieve is lasting fame through performing great deeds and constructing lasting monuments. He also learns that life is precious and should be enjoyed to the fullest.

Warrior KingsKings 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 WarPeace: agriculture, trade, crafts, flourishingWar: conquering enemies, tribute,

fierceness and authority

Key ThemesCompanionship

Death

Immortality

Gods-Humans Relationship

“Meaning of Life” or “Growing Up”?

Important People:Gilgamesh: king of Uruk who search for

immortalityLugalbanda: heroic father of GilgameshEnkidu: best friend of GilgameshSinduri: fishwife whom Gilgamesh meets

along his journeyUtanapishtim: king of Shurippak; survivor

of the Sumerian floodUrshanabi: Urtanapishtim’s boatmanNinsun: goddess mother of Gilgamesh,

priestess of ShamashHumbaba giant who guards the Cedar

Forest of Lebanon

Assignment:Each group will be assigned a reading from one

of the eight chapters of the retold version of Gilgamesh. You should complete the following:

Read the chapter and discuss with group members.

Answer the questions on your worksheet (you will need to make sure to answer these in your presentation).

Design a skit, poster, report, etc. explaining your chapter to your peers. ** You must have at least one visual.

RubricContent: Do you include all essential people,

events, and information from your chapter?

Creativity: Do you present your chapter to your peers in a way that they can remember and understand?

Participation: Do you contribute to your group? Does each member complete and equal amount of the assignment?

Visual: Does your visual contribute to the story?

Reflection:1. What does Gilgamesh have in common with such

heroes as Odysseus, Achilles, Heracles, and others?2. What do you think is the theme of the story?3. How is the story structured? Why do you think it is

told this way?4. Gilgamesh is presented as superhuman, so powerful

that the gods create a counterpart to moderate his desires and actions. However, despite all of Gilgamesh's power, he is unable to prevent Enkidu's death, and the narrative changes direction. How can one describe Gilgamesh as a hero in the last half of the work? What has he achieved at the end of the poem? Why is this important?

5. The gods in Gilgamesh are a bit problematic. How do the gods behave? What is their relation to humans? How much freedom do humans have, or are they merely subject to the will of these gods?

  Genesis Gilgamesh

Extent of flood Global Global

Cause Man’s wickedness Man’s sins

Intended for whom? All mankind One city & all mankind

Sender Yahweh Assembly of “gods”

Name of hero Noah Utnapishtim

Hero’s character Righteous Righteous

Means of announcement Direct from God In a dream

Ordered to build boat? Yes Yes

Did hero complain? No Yes

Height of boat Three stories Seven stories

Shape of boat Oblong box Cube

Human passengers Family members only Family & few others

Other passengers All kinds of land animals (vertebrates) All kinds of land animals

Means of flood Underground water & heavy rain Heavy rain

Duration of flood Long (40 days & nights plus) Short (6 days & nights)

Test to find land Release of birds Release of birds

Types of birds Raven & three doves Dove, swallow, raven

landing spot Mountains—of Ararat Mountains—Mt Nisir

Sacrificed after flood? Yes, by Noah Yes, by Utnapishtim

All people groups remember a Global FloodLiberals often claim that the Gilgamesh epic was embellished from a severe river

flood, i.e. a local flood.  This might work if there were similar flood legends only around the ancient near east.  But there are thousands of such flood legends all around the world.

Even the Australian Aborigines have legends of a massive flood, as do people living in the deep jungles near the Amazon River in South America. 

Dr Alexandra Aikhenvald, a world expert on the languages of that region, said: ‘… without their language and its structure, people are rootless.  In recording it you are also getting down the stories and folklore.  If those are lost a huge part of a people’s history goes.  These stories often have a common root that speaks of a real event, not just a myth.  For example, every Amazonian society ever studied has a legend about a great flood.’

However, other say this makes perfect sense if there were a real global Flood as Genesis teaches, and all people groups came from survivors who kept memories of this cataclysm.

Modern Day FloodWhether floods have appeared throughout all

cultures belief system or whether it was all the same flood, the myth appears to be extremely popular. Even modern-day films have played with the idea of a current flood in Evan Almighty.

If you had a dream in which a god appeared to you, warning you to give up everything to prepare for a flood, what would you do? Which god would warn you? What would you be allowed to take to continue life as we know it? How long would it last? Why would mankind be punished? When would it happen?

Answer these questions in a story or skit between you and the god of your choice!

Gilgamesh

I shall tell the land of the one who learned all things, of the one who experienced everything, I shall teach the whole. He searched lands everywhere. He found out what was secret and uncovered what was hidden, he brought back a tale of times before the flood. He had journeyed far and wide, weary and at last resigned.

He built the wall of Uruk. . . One square mile is the city, one square mile is its orchards, one square mile is its claypits, as well as the open ground of Ishtar’s temple.

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh is the son of Lugulbanda and the goddess Ninsun – and he is 2/3 god, 1/3 human. But like all humans he is destined to die.

As the poem begins he is king of Uruk, busy building his city ever greater. When the epic opens, Gilgamesh, though “perfect in splendor, perect in strength” is causing problems at home. His excess energy is causing tension among his people, who pray to the gods for relief.

Gilgamesh and EnkiduThe gods create Enkidu, a hairy wild man, and place

him in the forest near Uruk. He lives like an animal, startling the locals. They send to Gilgamesh, who suggests thay they tame him by sending him a woman to sleep with.The woman (called Shamhat, a cult name of Ishtar) sleeps with him – converting him to humanity. Enkidu decides to go to Uruk.

Gilgamesh dreams about him, and his mother Ninsun interprets the dreams. When the two men meet – at a celebration of Ishtar – they fight to a standstill, then become fast friends.

They decide to go on a quest to free the Cedar Forest of Humbaba.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu

Ellil destined Humbaba to keep the pine forest safe, to be the terror of people . . .

So the heroes represent culture in theis battle against nature . . .

Everyone advises against it. Ninsun prays to Shamash:Why did you single out my son Gilgamesh and impose a restless spirit on him? He faces an unknown struggle, he will ride along an unknown road . . .

She adopts Enkidu as her son, and entreats him to watch after Gilgamesh. The heroes depart . . .

The Cedar Forest

When Enkidu touches the gates of the Cedar forest, he feels a supernatural cold and debility, and at first can barely continue. Then Gilgamesh has terrible dreams of destruction, which Enkidu interprets in a favorable light.

The heroes battle Humbaba, who asks for mercy. But Enkidu urges Gilgamesh to kill the monster, despite the gods’ possible displeasure. Humbaba cries out:

The heroes defeat Humbaba, and return to Uruk in triumph.

In Uruk, the goddess Ishtar approaches Gilgamesh to become her lover.

Neither one of them shall outlive his friend! Gilgamesh

and Enkidu shall never become old men!

Gilgamesh & Ishtar

Come to me, Gilgamesh, and be my lover! Bestow on me

the gift of your fruit! You can be my husband, I can be your wife. I shall have a chariot of

lapis lazuli and gold harnessed for you . . . kings, nobles and

princes shall bow down beneath you. . .But Gilgamesh scornfully

rejects her:You are a door that can’t keep out winds and gusts, a palace that rejects its own warriors, a

waterskin which soaks its carrier . . . which of your

lovers lasted forever? Which of your paramours went to

heaven?

The Bull of Heaven

Enraged, Ishtar sends the Bull of Heaven to ravage Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill it, and when Ishtar reviles them, Enkidu also insults her, even throwing the “thigh” of the bull in her face.

Inanna calls together the women to mourn the bull – a type scene related to fertility ritual. (The Bull of Heaven is the husband ofEreshkigal.)

Enkidu’s death

Enkidu has a terrible nightmare:

The gods were in council last night. And Anu said to Ellil,

“As they have slain the Bull of Heaven, so too have they

slain Humbaba: One of them must die.” Enlil replied, “Let Enkidu die, but let Gilgamesh

not die.”

Then heavenly Shamash said, “Was it not according to your

plans?” But Enlil turned in anger to Shamash: “You

accompanied them daily, like on of their comrades.”

Enkidu gets sick and over 12 days, he dies. He curses the hunter and the prostitute who found him and made him human, but Shamash persuades him not to curse the prostitute. Gilgamesh mourned

bitterly for Enkidu his friend, and roved the open country.

“Shall I die too? Am I not like Enkidu?

Grief has entered my innermost being . . .

When he had gone one double-hour, thick is the darkness, there is no light; he can see neither behind him nor ahead of him… When he had gone seven double hours, thick is the darkness, there is no light… At the nearing of eleven double-hours, light breaks out. At the nearing of twelve double-hours, the light is steady.

Gilgamesh travels to the ends of the earth, through the dark mountain, the pathways of Shamash:

He meets Siduri, the (female) innkeeper (another cult name of Ishtar), to whom he pours out his troubles. She directs him to Utnapishtim, and adds:As for you, Gilgamesh,

let your belly be full, Make merry day and night. Of each day

make a feast of rejoicing. Day and night

dance and play!

I crossed uncrossable mountains. I travelled all

the seas. No real sleep has calmed my face. I

have worn myself out in sleeplessness; my flesh

is filled with grief.

With the help of the boatman Urshanabi, Gilgamesh travels across the water to Dilmun, the land at the edge of time . . .

He cuts 60 saplings for poles, and as each enters the waters, it is eaten away. He finally uses his tattered clothing for a sail and arrives exhausted to Utnapishtim:

Utnapishtim

Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh:

•how Ea told him to build a hige arc because a flood was coming;

•how built the amazing thing, how he and his family alone of all mortals were saved from the Flood,

•how Ishtar mourned the dead;

• and how he and his wife came to Dilmun, living as immortals.

Utnapishtim offers Gilgamesh a way to become immortal:

Test yourself! Don't sleep for six days and

seven nights." But as soon as Gilgamesh sits down, he falls asleep. He sleeps for seven days and nights, and each day, Utnapishtim’s wife puts a loaf of bread beside him. The old loaf is rotting when the last one is fresh: a metaphor for the seven decades of human life.

Gilgamesh says to him, to Utnapishtim the remote, "as soon as I was ready to fall

asleep, right away you touched me and

roused me." But Utnapishtim shows him the loaves, and Gilgamesh realizes that he has failed his quest.

Utnapishtim gives Gilgamesh a “consolation prize”: a rejuvenating plant. But on the way home, a snake takes it from him.

Stages of the Heroic Journey . . .1. The Call:

The moment the hero is called on a quest.

Stages of the Heroic Journey . . .2. The Allies:

Individuals who assist the hero during the journey. They may be family members, friends, guides, animals, or even gods.

3. The Preparation-

The hero needs to prepare for the journey. This might be in the form of. . .

physical (training, supplies, etc.) wisdom or knowledge psychological—the hero may need to find courage to begin the adventure

4. Guardians of the ThresholdThe hero encounters obstacles which interfere or delay start of journey. The obstacles may be . . .

literal (physical barriers) or non-literal (fears, doubts)

5. Crossing the ThresholdThis is where the hero actually begins his journey into the “new” or “unfamiliar”. The hero often realizes they must obtain new skills or knowledge to function on the journey.

6. The Road of TrialsThe hero faces a series of difficult experiences which test their courage, strength, intelligence, determination, etc. It may seem there is no hope or chance of the hero getting out of the dangerous situation.

7. The Saving ExperienceJust when things are at the worst for the hero, they meet someone, have a powerful experience, or receives a special gift that “saves” them allowing him/her to achieve goal of journey.

8. The TransformationThe hero is changing, and understanding the “underworld” around him/her. The transformation is sometimes physical, mental, emotional or spiritual.

9. The ReturnHero returns to “normal world” but now see life differently because of journey.

10. Sharing the GiftThe hero shares the gift of experience, knowledge, and wisdom gained from journey with the community.