The Epic of Gilgamesh

What is an Epic?(Epic): a long narrative poem about a larger-than-life hero

who is engaged in a dangerous journey (quest) that is important to the history of a nation or people.

Examples: Beowulf (Anglo-Saxon) The Odyssey (ancient Greek)

Sundiata (West African)The Mahabharata (Indian)The Nibelungenlied (German)

The Divine Comedy (Italian)The Song of Roland (French)King Arthur legends (English)

The Epic – Key Elements

• An opening statement of theme, followed by a prayer (invocation) to the gods

• Begins in medias res (in the middle)

• Has a serious tone and an elevated style

• Includes epic similes and epithets (stock words / phrases)

Epic Simile

• Epic (or Homeric)similes --elaborate comparisons between two unlike objects using like or as. The Odyssey is an epic poem and epic similes in The Odyssey abound. Example of an epic simile from The Odyssey

• Epic Simile: "I drove my weight on it from above and bored it home like a shipwright bores his beam with a shipwright's drill that men below, whipping the strap back and forth, whirl and the drill keeps twisting, never stopping --So we seized our stake with it fiery tip and bored it round and round in the giant's eye."

Epithets

• An epithet is a term or phrase used to characterize the nature of a character, an object, or an event.

• An epithet that has become a cliché because if its excessive use in earlier translations of The Odyssey is "rosy-fingered Dawn." Morning's first light is compared to rosy fingers spreading across the land. Fagles spares the reader slightly, while being faithful to the text, by referring to "Dawn with her rose-red fingers

Example: Athena often carries the epithet "sparkling-eyed” or “grey-eyed”

Examples of epithets from The Odyssey: Rosy fingered Dawn Odysseus, master mariner Muse, daughter of Zeus•

The Epic – Key Elements

• An epic hero (ex. Achilles/ The Illiad)

• An epic conflict (ex. Greeks v. Trojans; Achilles v. Hector; The Illiad )

• An heroic quest(s)

• Divine intervention (Zeus, Hera—The Illiad)

An Epic Hero is…

• Strong • Brave• Loyal• Virtuous• ** flawed in some way (often hubris) • Occupies an important position in society• Is usually of semi-divine or noble birth

An Epic Conflict

• Plot--centers on the hero’s struggle against a series of obstacles

• Proves his…– Strength– Bravery– Wisdom– Virtue …through a variety of deeds and success in battle or adventure.

The Epic of Gilgamesh

• written over 4000 years ago.• based upon 12 clay tablets written in

cuneiform script• is at least 1,000 years older than the Greek

epics Iliad and Odyssey, as well as most books of the Hebrew Bible.

• tale was written by the ancient Sumerians• repeated and reworked by writers from the

Babylonian and Assyrian cultures.

Clay Tablets Found in 1839

Historical Gilgamesh

The epic is based on some grains of fact:• Sumerian king named Gilgamesh• reigned over the city-state of Uruk, in ancient

Mesopotamia (now Iraq)• Reigned some time between 2700 and 2500

B.C.

The Characters• Anu (aay nooh): the god of the

heavens; the father-god• Ea (aay): the god of wisdom;

usually a friend to humans• Enkidu (en-kee-dooh):

Gilgamesh’s friend; a wild man whom the gods created out of clay

• Enlil (en-lil): the god of the air, the wind, and the earth

• Humbaba: a giant demon who guards a great cedar forest

• Ishtar: the goddess of love and war; the queen of heaven

• Ninurta: a god associated with the sun and human laws

• Siduri (Sid-ooh-ree): goddess of wine and brewing

• Urshanabi: the ferryman who travels daily across the sea of death to the home of Utnapishtim

• Utnapishtim: the survivor of a flood sent by the gods to destroy humanity; the gods granted him eternal life.