THE EPIC OF

GILGAMESH

Historical and Cultural Context for the World’s Oldest Story

ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

CRASH COURSE by John Greene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohXPx_XZ6Y 12 minutes

SETTING:

… in the marshlands between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (Fertile Crescent) circa 4000 BC

MAP OF

ANCIENT

NEAR AND

MIDDLE

EAST

Fiero, G. The Humanistic Tradition, Vol 1. 5th ed. McGraw Hill, 2006. Print.

MESOPOTAMIA: ANOTHER MAP VIEW

Sumerian City States

•“The land between the rivers”

•”

•Present-day Iraq as well as parts of Iran.

•Gilgamesh takes place in URUK

MESOPOTAMIA’S RULING SOCIETIES

5000 BCE – 600 BCE

SUMERIA: the first civilization in the region.

Later, the Akkadians, Babylonians, Hittites, Assyrians, and Chaldeans take over their cities and adopt their culture.

They all adapt their own version of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

The first group of people known to have dominated this region made their living by growing crops and raising livestock.

Successful merchants and traders throughout the Persian Gulf region.

ANCIENT SUMERIA: STRUCTURE

People lived in city-states. These cities were walled for protection, laid out around ziggurats, or temples, and surrounded by vast, open land.

The largest city -states were Ur, Uruk, and Lagash (populations = tens of thousands).

Sumerians never developed a central, unifying government between the three, leaving them vulnerable to attack.

Sumerian society developed a three-level class system Nobles (priests, government officials) Middle class (merchants, artisans,

doctors) Peasants (farmers and slaves)

- The Sumerians (and later the Babylonian people) worshipped a pantheon of gods and goddesses.

- Regardless of one’s actions in life, they did not believe in life after death. They believed that after one dies there is only emptiness.

RELIGION & SUMERIA

Anu-Air/ Father god Enlil-Sky god Utu-Sun god

Sophisticated technology – terraced temples (ziggurats),

wheeled vehicles, sail boats, animal -drawn plows.

Developments in math and science – A precise 12 month

Calendar based on moon cycles, the concept of zero

World’s first writing system – cuneiform. Formed by stylus

(pointed stick) markings on

wet clay tablets.

The Epic of Gilgamesh , the first work

of fiction ever recorded, was etched

on stone tablets in cuneiform.

SUMERIAN CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS

WARRIOR KINGS

Kings 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 War

Peace:

agriculture,

trade, crafts,

flourishing

War:

conquering

enemies,

tribute,

fierceness and

authority

MESOPOTAMIA TIMELINE

BREIF OVERVIEW

Sumerians 5000-4000 BC

Akkadians (Semite invaders who rule for about a century before

Sumerians return)

Gilgamesh would have lived between 2700-2000 BC

Babylon (second wave of Semite invaders) fully

established by 2000 BC

Recognize value of Sumerian culture and adopt many aspects

as their own, including script as well as the epic of Gilgamesh

Assyrians (900 BC)

Fierce warriors, but also valued culture

Create library in Ninevah under decree of King Assurbanipal

Here is where the tablet of Gilgamesh were later found by

archeologists (about 230 miles north of present day Baghdad)

PESSIMISTIC VIEW OF LIFE

No belief in an after life

Constant threat of invasion from other city -

states

Belief in deities who were unpredictable

Dependent on agriculture, but no control over

flooding, droughts, and other natural phenomena

that affected livelihoods

Written on clay tablets hundreds of years before found

Gilgamesh would have been known in 2000 BCE

Written in Semetic Akkadian

Sumerians --the first literate inhabitants of Mesopotamia

Influenced Rome/Europe

The Sumerians did not unify the material into a single narrative

The epic was lost and rediscovered in 1839 by Englishmen in Ninevah, the once capital of the ancient Assyrian empire

First published in two volumes in 1884-1891 by Paul Haupt

GILGAMESH BACKGROUND

Five poems relating to Gilgamesh survived

Of these, two are used and are combined with later material in this version of the epic

Other original versions have been found between the Black Sea and Jerusalem, the Mediterranean Coast and Persian Gulf.

Cuneiform Tablets

Write Like a Babylonian

DO WE HAVE ALL THE POEMS?

Gilgamesh is an adventure story.

The main characters seek fame and glory.

Alone, but armed, two friends will take on the scary forest and its guardian in a not -so-ordinary world.

Thematic Connections Good vs. Evil

Friendship

The Human Experience

…BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE

GILGAMESH A REAL KING?

Sumerian King-list

Lived ~2500 BCE

Ruled Uruk

Cult figure and oral stories

DEITIES IN GILGAMESH

Anu: father of gods, lives beyond in the sky

Enlil : superior deity of storm, wind, breath, and the

“word” of Anu, destructive and critical of humanity

Shamash: sun god, just and kind, omniscient, people

could appeal to sense of justice

Ishtar: goddess of love and war, both gracious and dark

Ea: god of wisdom, peacemaker

Ninsun: minor goddess, mother of Gilgamesh, wife to

Lugulbanda (3 rd on Sumerian King List)

KEY THEMES

Companionship

Death

Immortality

Gods-Humans

Relationship

“Meaning of Life”

or “Growing Up”?

Dates back to 2000 BCE

Predates the Bible and the Homeric Epics by at least 1500 years

Earliest known literary work.

Contains an account of the Great Flood and the story of a virtuous man named Utnapishtim who survived

Expresses values of ancient civilization – such as the belief in divine retribution for transgressions such as violence, pride, the oppression of others, and the destruction of the natural world.

WHY IS GILGAMESH SO IMPORTANT?

Gilgamesh serves as an early model of the archetypal

Hero and the archetypal motif of The Flood.

Studied by Joseph Campbell as a primary example of

the monomyth (or hero’s journey story).

Large number of parallels to The Odyssey and other

Greek epics

GILGAMESH’S IMPORTANCE

Final Fantasy : enemy

boss is named

Gilgamesh, faithful

sidekick is named

Enkidu

Star Trek : Captain

Picard gives an

abbreviated version of

Gilgamesh

CULTURAL REFERENCES