Was the first great heroic narrative of world literature Gilgamesh 2500-1500 B.C Was the first great heroic narrative of world literature Written in Cuneiform [coo-NAY-i-form] Inscribed on tablets of wet clay using the wedge-shaped end of a stick to make marks Latin word “Cuneus” means “a wedge” The tablets were left to dry in the sun and bake to hardness Stories were found in what is now the Middle East in Asia Ancient Middle East Modern Middle East CUE-NEIGH-i-FORM

Write down the modern countries this now encompasses: Syria, Iraq, the Jordan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia

Gilgamesh 2500-1500 BC The story of Gilgamesh was developed over a period of a thousand years The first discovered version found in the city of Nineveh In the ruins of the royal library of Assurbanipal: the last great king of the Assyrian Empire (Azure-ban-E-pal)

This version was written on 12 hardened clay tablets Gilgamesh 2500-1500 BC This version was written on 12 hardened clay tablets Written in Akkadian: the principal language of Babylonia and Assyria Language very similar to Hebrew and Arabic Ancient Akkadian Language Cuneiform (script) Gilgamesh Tablet Example #1 Gilgamesh Tablets Modern scholars refer to this version of Gilgamesh as “The Standard Version” Ah-CAH-dian

Background on Akkadian language While the cuneiform writing system was created and used at first only by the Sumerian, it did not take long before neighboring groups adopted it for their own use. By about 2500 BCE, the Akkadian, a Semitic-speaking people that dwelled north of the Sumerians, starting using cuneiform to write their own language. However, it was the ascendency of the Akkadian dynasty in 2300 BCE that positioned Akkadian over Sumerian as the primary language of Mesopotamia. While Sumerian did enjoy a quick revival, it eventually became a dead language used only in literary contexts, whereas Akkadian would continue to be spoken for the next two millennium and evolved into later (more famous) forms known as Babylonian and Assyrian.

Gilgamesh Tablets

Vocab word uncovered “…the gods response is to create Enkidu as a foil or counterweight to Gilgamesh” (Prologue, 2). Foil defined by Literarydevices.net: “In literature, a foil is a character that shows qualities that are in contrast with the qualities of another character with the objective to highlight the traits of the other character. The term foil, though generally being applied for a contrasting character, may also be used for any comparison that is drawn to portray a difference between two things. What we observe in literature very often is that a foil is a secondary character who contrasts with the major character to enhance the importance of the major character. The etymology of the term foil testifies the aforementioned assertion as the word “foil” is taken from the practice of backing gems with foil (tool) so that they shine more brightly.

Gilgamesh 2500-1500 BC READ THE INTRODUCTION TO GILGAMESH (pages 10-12)  STOP at the Prologue While you read, use your highlighter to point out information or facts that you believe are important for discussion This is called “close reading” or “annotating” your text and we will be doing A LOT of it in this class.  YOU HAVE 10 MINUTES TO COMPLETE THIS ASSIGNMENT