Gilgamesh

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gilgamesh_statue.jpghttp://www.flickr.com/photos/zayzayem/

Geography• The geographical area for the beginning of our course

is the Middle East, what are now areas of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, etc. Historically, this is commonly referred to as Mesopotamia.

• Some major areas or cities of the time were Uruk, Babylon, Assyria, and Ninevah.

• This is one of the areas of the origins of writing although other forms of writing developed separately and completely independently in what are now areas of China and the Americas.

The area in green is commonly known as the “Fertile Crescent,” an area of land along various rivers in which cultures and civilizations sprang up. It was suitable for humans because of the water supplies from the rivers (Euphrates and Tigris, for example) and its fertile land for growing crops.

http://www.pbase.com/daveb/image/42673320

Geography

History

• Gilgamesh is the oldest known “literary” work. It was most likely written between 2000 and 1500 B.C., but it existed as an oral story earlier than that.

• When we are talking about the Ancient World, dates are usually sketchy—exact dating is unlikely for many of the early works we will be reading.

• An approximate estimated timeline of Gilgamesh appears on the next 2 slides.

Gilgamesh Timeline (part 1)• 2700 B.C.

• 2000-1500 B.C.

• 1600 B.C.

• 7th century B.C.

• The real Gilgamesh is King of Uruk

• Presumed dates of the creation of various fragments of tablets containing the Gilgamesh story which were found centuries later across the Middle East

• The 12-tablet “Standard Version” is inscribed by a Babylonian priest. This is the first known connected narrative version of the story (all the parts from different versions of the story collected together)

• Tablets were written in Akkadian (a language spoken by Babylonians) which copies the “Standard Version.”

Gilgamesh Timeline (part 2)

• 1853 A.D.

• 1872 A.D.

• Cuneiform fragments of the 7th century version are excavated in Ninevah. This is the modern “discovery” of the Gilgamesh story.

• The tablet fragments are deciphered by George Smith from The British Museum.

Modern translations of Gilgamesh, like the one we are reading, have been pieced together from the discovered fragments and other sources. Missing parts of the story have sometimes been filled in to preserve story continuity.

LanguageThe story was written in cuneiform writing.

Cuneiform is a form of writing made up of characters created by using a wedge-shaped

stick and carving into tablets made of clay. We will talk more about this form of writing in class.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cuneiform-Rabat-Tepe2.jpg

A Sample of Cuneiform Writing

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cuneiform_script.jpg

Culture

• As the introduction to Gilgamesh (in our textbook) points out, the entire context of the culture in which Gilgamesh was written was lost for a long time.

• The epic of Gilgamesh didn’t make the “jump” from cuneiform to the new languages, so it was lost to later civilizations.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sumerian_26th_c_Adab.jpg

CultureWe don’t know much about the people, the society, the religion of the Sumerian people. This is different from, for example, Greek and Roman culture with which we’re more familiar. You probably learned about the Greek and Roman gods in history or literature classes when you were in school, but did you ever learn about the Sumerian gods and goddesses?

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ashur_god.jpg

Gilgamesh’s Content• Gilgamesh is an epic (we will talk

more about epics when we get to The Iliad). Like most epics, it combines historical elements with mythic ones. King Gilgamesh really did exist, but of course much of what happens in the story did not.

• The character of Gilgamesh is

given characteristics and adventures to lend a sort of mythic quality to him, to make him “bigger than life.” http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gilgamesh.jpg

Gilgamesh’s ContentThe fictionalizing of Gilgamesh’s story gives it a symbolic and layered meaning. While it may appear simple on the surface in its storyline, and it can certainly be read that way, there are also layers of symbolism and depth. This makes it quite sophisticated in technique, something that you might not expect from such an early text.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Enkidu.jpg

Oral History• Gilgamesh comes from an oral tradition. It’s a story that

had been passed down from generation to generation, sometimes without many changes, sometimes with “revision.”

• Storytellers could memorize long stories with lots of details because that was the primary means of allowing stories to survive before writing was easy and common.

• Because of the oral tradition of Gilgamesh, characteristics such as repetition are common. Repetition made it easy for tellers to remember the story and for listeners to be reminded of important details.

This is one of the Gilgamesh fragments. You can see that it is broken—

it is only a small part of what would have been a rather large tablet. This fragment is often called

the “Flood Tablet” since it is the part of the story that describes the Flood. The fragment is located in the British Museum. When I

saw it there, I couldn’t believe how small it was. It’s much smaller than it looks, maybe about the

size of your hand! Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_Museum_Flood_Tablet_1.jpg

Characters(Use this list to create a study guide for yourself)

Gods and Related People/CreaturesShamash GilgameshIshtar EnkiduAnu HumbabaAruru UtnapishtimEnlil SiduriLugulbanda UrshanabiNinsun

If you’re ever in London, you can go to the Gilgamesh restaurant.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gilgamesh_Restaurant1.jpg

The End