1. Eng 2R The Epic of Gilgamesh
World Lit Survey

2. How the Epic of Gilgamesh Endured
Stories of King Gilgamesh were told and handed down for hundreds of years after his death.
Finally the tales were written down by the 21st century B.C.
When the Babylonians conquered the Sumerians, they “inherited” the Sumerian cultural traditions.
A Babylonian author created the start of the unified Gilgamesh epic as we know it today.

3. Modifications to the Epic
Other Babylonian writers modified the epic
They added the prologue and the flood story, as well as emphasized the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu.
These writers also gave the narrative its central theme: the search for immortality.
By the 7th century B.C., a written version credited to Sin-liqi-unnini was included in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal

4. How Did We Get the Story Today?
After the fall of Babylon, the written epic was lost.
Archaeologist Austin Henry Layard excavated Ashurbanipal’s library in the mid-1800s .
Henry Rawlinson discovered and deciphered the poem on clay tablets in cuneiform.
George Smith then translated the 11th tablet containing the portion of the epic describing a great flood, an account remarkably similar to the story of Noah and the ark in the Bible.

5. The Epic of Gilgamesh: Setting
Story takes place in ancient Sumer, one of the first settled parts of the Fertile Crescent
The Tigris and Euphrates rivers allowed for the development of water canals and agriculture
This is part of modern-day Iraq

6. Historic Map of Mesopotamia

7. Epic of Gilgamesh: Social Context
Gilgamesh was the actual king of ancient Uruk about 2700 B.C.
This statue depicts Gilgamesh as a powerful ruler and lion-killer
What can we learn about Sumerian civilization and kingship by looking at this statue?

8. Epic of Gilgamesh: Legacy
Later classical and medieval kings also used lions as their personal symbol
Examples include Henry “the lion” of Saxony and Richard “the lion-hearted” who led the first crusade c (right)

9. Epic of Gilgamesh: Language
Gilgamesh was written down on clay cuneiform tablets
Scholars were able to translate Sumerian cuneiform by comparing it to later Akkadian tablets with similar stories
This cuneiform writing consists of wedge shapes read right to left

10. Cuneiform
The earliest writing in Mesopotamia was a picture writing invented by the Sumerians who wrote on clay tablets using long reeds. The script the Sumerians invented and handed down to the Semitic peoples who conquered Mesopotamia in later centuries, is called cuneiform, which is derived from two Latin words: cuneus , which means "wedge," and forma , which means "shape." This picture language, similar to but more abstract than Egyptian hieroglyphics, eventually developed into a syllabic alphabet under the Semites (Assyrians and Babylonians) who eventually came to dominate the area.

11. Cuneiform
In Sumer, the original writing was pictographic ("picture writing"); individual words were represented by crude pictorial symbols that resembled in some way the object being represented, as in the Sumerian word for king, lu-gal :

12. Cuneiform
The first symbol pictures "gal," or "great," and the second pictures "lu," or "man." Eventually, this pictorial writing developed into a more abstract series of wedges and hooks. These wedges and hooks are the original cuneiform and represented in Sumerian entire words (this is called ideographic and the word symbols are called ideograms, which means "concept writing"); the Semites who adopted this writing, however, spoke an entirely different language, in fact, a language as different from Sumerian as English is different from Japanese. In order to adapt this foreign writing to a Semitic language, the Akkadians converted it in part to a syllabic writing system; individual signs represent entire syllables. However, in addition to syllable symbols, some cuneiform symbols are ideograms ("picture words") representing an entire word; these ideograms might also, in other contexts, be simply syllables. For instance, in Assyrian, the cuneiform for the syllable "ki" is written as follows:

13. Cuneiform
However, as an ideogram, this cuneiform also stands for the Assyrian word irsitu , or "earth." So reading cuneiform involves mastering a large syllabic alphabet as well as a large number of ideograms, many of them identical to syllable symbols. This complicated writing system dominated Mesopotamia until the century before the birth of Christ; the Persians greatly simplified cuneiform until it represented something closer to an alphabet.    

14. Cuneiform
The Mesopotamians wrote on clay tablets with long reeds while the clay was still wet. The fresh clay then hardened and a permanent record was created. The original Mesopotamian writings were crude pictures of the objects being named, but the difficulty of drawing on fresh clay eventually produced the wedges and hooks unique to cuneiform. This writing would be formed by laying the length of the reed along the wet clay and moving the end nearest the hand from one side to another to form the hook

15. Writing’s Effect on History
As with all cultures, writing greatly changed Mesopotamian social structure and the civilization's relationship to its own history. Writing allowed laws to be written and so to assume a static and independent character; history became more detailed and incorporated much more of local cultures' histories Richard Hooker

16. Epic of Gilgamesh: Religion
Sumerian shrine or Ziggurat, c B.C. in Ur
The ziggurat is a religious temple “rising like a mountain in the desert” where Sumerians worshiped local gods
In Gilgamesh’s city of Uruk, the popular gods were Anu (father of the gods), Ishtar (goddess of love), and Lugulbanda (Gilgamesh’s personal god)

17. Epic of Gilgamesh: Themes
Civilization vs. Nature (or Man vs. Nature)
Mortality:
What is the meaning of life?
Friendship (or Man vs. Man)
Flood story
Kingship (or Man vs. Society)
How should a king rule?
Religion:
How do people and gods interact?
How do Sumerians appease the gods through ritual?

18. The Epic of Gilgamesh The Story: Prologue
Emphasizes:
Wisdom Acquired in Life
Monuments Erected Which Last For Centuries

19. The Epic of Gilgamesh The Story: Characters Gilgamesh the God and Man
Bad Ruler
Arrogant Person
Oppressive to His People
Brutal to Friend and Foe

20. Enkidu Created by Gods as a Match for Gilgamesh Seduced by a Harlot
Tamed by Civilization
Possesses the Best of Man and Beast
Suffers and Dies for the Sins of Gilgamesh
(rejection of Ishtar)

21. The Epic of Gilgamesh The Story: Plot Lines & Action First Adventure
Slaying of Humbaba, the giant who the gods appointed to guard the Cedar Forest
Giant of Cedar Forest of the Living

22. The Epic of Gilgamesh The Story: Plot Lines & Action Second Adventure
Gilgamesh rejects the love of Ishtar, the goddess of the storehouse, love, war, and the evening & morning star
Ishtar, enraged, sends Bull of Heaven against the people of Uruk
Gilgamesh and Enkidu destroy the bull.
Enkidu, as a result, is cursed and dies a painful, slow, pathetic death.

23. The Epic of Gilgamesh The Story: Plot Lines & Action Enkidu’s Death Awakens Gilgamesh
Emptiness of mortality in spite of worldly fame
Search for immortality

24. The Epic of Gilgamesh The Story: Plot Lines & Action Discoveries
Secrets of immortality from Utnapishtim
“The Old Men Are Young Again” plan
Flood story (Universal Story)
A recorded history

25. The Epic of Gilgamesh The Story: Plot Lines & Action Fails 2 Tests of Potential Immortals
Can’t Remain Awake for 6 Days and 7 Nights
Loses “The Old Men Are Young Again” plan to the Serpent

26. The Epic of Gilgamesh The Story: Plot Lines & ActionReturn to Uruk
Empty handed… but is he?
Knows his worldly endeavors will endure
Has gained wisdom

27. Epic of Gilgamesh: Significance What Does the Story Mean To Us
How did the ancient people of Mesopotamia live?
What experiences related through the story are similar to experiences of man today?
Religion: What role does God play in the attitudes, values, and beliefs of the people of Ancient Uruk? How do people and gods interact? How do Sumerians appease the gods through ritual?

28. Epic of Gilgamesh: Significance
Oldest story ever recorded
First recorded “author”
Kingship (How should a king rule?)
Mortality: What is the meaning of life?
Friendship (man’s relationship to man)
Flood story
Shows commonality of human nature, stories, adventures, etc.