The Epic of Gilgamesh

A Survey of perhaps the oldest story in Ancient World Literature

What is an Epic?

An Epic is…

• Full-scale epics do more than tell a story in poetic language• Often center on the founding or defense of a city and its society• Contains extensive battle scenes• A great hero attempts to overcome heavy odds (often human

opponents and divine antagonism)• Often deal with a voyage of travel, exploration, or escape• Written in an elevated, grand style

“I will reveal to you a thing that is hidden, a secret of the gods I will tell you.”

Who is Gilgamesh?

• Bilgames was the King that became Gilgamesh

• King of Uruk in Southern Mesopotamia

• Ruled around 2750 B.C.E.

• Known for building a great wall

• Posthumously, He became honored as judge of the underworld by cult following

From Legend to Epic Poem

• 2000-1600 B.C.E songs were sung/poems were written about the late King Bilgames

• Poems were written in Akkadian• Around 1200 B.C.E., Babylonian priest, Sin-liqe-unninni

(SEEN-LEE-kay-ooh-NEE-nee), compiled poems into The Epic of Gilgamesh

• The poem was lost for two thousand years• In the 1850s, an Iraqi Archaeologist discovered the

tablets while excavating A 7th century Assyrian kings library.

• In the 19th century, readers debated whether the epic was fact or fiction

Connections To Gilgamesh

• Acclaimed to have been written 1000 years before the Greeks or Hebrews learned to write

• GenesisThe Garden of Eden and flood account

• Odysseus• Thousand and One Nights What are some modern day connections?

Common Themes, Motifs and Archetypes

• The quest for eternal life• Pondering mortality• Epic heroes• How does society define civilization?• Recurring dreams/visions• War• Dreams• Miracles• serpents

Censorship

• What is censorship?

• SOPAS & the internet protest

• What you missed in your censored books?

• The goddess, Ishtar loves Gilgamesh but…

So…

• The gods have the demon Humbaba guarding the forests and they send a bull from heaven to terrorize the land…

• Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill both then…

Gilgamesh Ponders his death

“Over his friend, Enkidu, Gilgamesh cried bitterly, roaming the wilderness.

“I am going to die!- am I not like Enkidu?!

Deep sadness penetrates my core,

I fear death, and now roam the wilderness- I will set out to the region of Utanapishtim…” (Tablet 9, Lines 1-5)

Read about the Quest for Eternal Life

Tablet 10, lines 38-64, 175-192

& Tablet 11, lines 202-210

The Flood

-Noah’s arc (Genesis 6-9)

Compare and Contrast the Two Accounts

Fountain of Youth? Forever Young?

• Plant that caused old to be young again• Serpent snatched the plant

ConclusionKing Gilgamesh’s Accomplishments/

legacy