AND THE HERO’S JOURNEY The Epic of Gilgamesh

What’s an Epic? A long narrative poem (often translated into regular English) that traces the adventures of a great hero whose actions reflect the ideals and values of a nation or race (ALERT! ARCHETYPE!). Epics address universal concerns, like good and evil, life and death, and redemption. (from Holt Mcdougal Literature)

About Gilgamesh… It is a Sumerian story, with Sumerian history and gods. Sumer would be in current-day southern Iraq. It was composed before 2000 B.C. and is probably the oldest surviving epic. Around 1300 B.C., a scribe named Sinleqqiunninni (seriously) engraved the story—nearly 3,000 lines of text—onto eleven tablets, but it was severly damaged and lost in 612 B.C. In the 19 th century, British archaeological digs found much of the ruins.

Before your version starts… Gilgamesh is the king of the city-state of Uruk. Gilgamesh is 2/3 god and 1/3 man. Unlike many myths involving gods, he can die. Gilgamesh is a good guy, but he’s arrogant and sometimes treats the people of Uruk poorly. So, the gods respond by sending Enkidu to fight with him. Gilgamesh wins, but he and Enkidu become friends.

What do the two buds do? They destroy Humbaba, the demon who guards the great cedar forest, and then they destroy the forest Ishtar, a goddess, has the hots for Gilgamesh and tries to seduce him. However, he’s just not into her, so he rejects her. Burn! She doesn’t take it well, so she sends the Bull of Heaven to ravage the land. But… Gilgamesh and Enkidu are so awesome that they even destroy the bull!

Never mess with a scorned woman… The gods are mad that Enkidu and Gilgamesh have the audacity to beat the gods at their own game, so they decide that either Gilgamesh or Enkidu must die. …and that’s where your story starts!