The Epic of Gilgamesh

Wednesday’s Hon0rs Agenda Give Reading Survey to Period 1 Thank you card for Mrs. Kimmelman/Goetz Presentation on Gilgamesh background Finish characterization chart with row partner/group; read tablet 2 and 3 if time HW: Read independent reading book for 20 minutes; record pages read in journal

Wednesday’s Advanced Agenda Presentation on Gilgamesh background Read tablet 1 together Finish characterization chart with row partner; read tablet 2 and 3 if time HW: Read independent reading book for 20 minutes; record pages read and respond to reading prompt in journal (1/4 page)

The source for most of my information. David Damrosch wrote a fascinating book about the discovery of the Epic of Gilgamesh called The Buried Book. I have used this book for most of the information you will hear today.

Important Gilgamesh Dates 3000 BCE – Writing is invented 2700 BCE – List of Sumerian kings includes Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, the world’s first city 2100 BCE – Five poems appear about Gilgamesh 2000 BCE – Old Babylonian version of Gilgamesh Epic appears 1600 BCE - Sinleqiunninni creates Standard version of Gilgamesh Epic 612 BCE – Ashurbanipal’s library at Ninevah is “destroyed” and buried 1853 ACE - British/Iraqi archaeologists uncover the library, with several complete copies of Gilgamesh Epic 1872 ACE – British scholar translates Gilgamesh Epic into English 2009 ACE – Kanye West insults Taylor Swift at the MTV Video awards.

1. This means that… For almost 2,500 years, the Epic of Gilgamesh was unknown.

Who never heard of Gilgamesh? Homer Moses Jesus George Washington Abraham Lincoln Chuck Norris

2. Discovery of the Tablets Gilgamesh was written on clay tablets, which were preserved in the hot desert of Iraq, waiting to be discovered.

3. Austen Henry Layard In 1845 Austen Henry Layard began digging in large mounds outside of Mosul. He first discovered the palace of Sennacherib.

4. Hormuzd Rassam In 1853, Hormuzd Rassam, a native of Mosul discovered the clay tablet containing Gilgamesh in the library of Ashurbanipal, Sennacherib’s grandson. It was the largest library in the world at the time and the first to be organized.

5. George Smith George Smith, a self-educated curator at the British Museum, first translated the Epic of Gilgamesh in 1872.

6. The Deluge Most of the early interest in the Epic of Gilgamesh was due to its story of a flood, similar to one described in the Bible.

7. Historical/Legendary Gilgamesh 1. A list of kings from 4,000 years ago mentions a king named Gilgamesh 2. Gilgamesh was famous for constructing the wall around Uruk (20 feet high, six miles long). 3. After his death, legends began to be told about Gilgamesh. 4. Within 100 years of his death, Gilgamesh is mentioned as a god.

8. The Language of Gilgamesh Gilgamesh is written in cuneiform, one of the oldest languages in the world.

Epic of Gilgamesh Important Dates Ashur. ’ s library buried 612 BCE Gilgamesh the historical king of Uruk Five Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh Earliest known copies of EOG Layard and Rassam discover Gilgamesh tablets in buried palace 2700 BCE 2100 BCE 2000 BCE 1853 ACE 2600 BCE 1650 BCE 1872 ACE References to Gilgamesh as a god in Sumeria Sinleqiunninni creates Standard Version George Smith translates Epic of Gilgamesh