1. Gilgamesh Mesopotamian Mythology

2. Mesopotamian Societies Sumerians first major civilization (3000 BCE) non-Semitic people /language Uruk (and other cities) cuneiform writing elaborate mythology and cult- based mythic poems Babylonians / Akkadians later (c.1200-600 BCE) Semitic people.language myth based on Sumerian myth

3. Mesopotamian Societies Both societies share: social/political hierarchy with kings as head of state priestly class who also teach/write/preserve literature tradition of sacred writings associated with actual rituals high level of “civilization” (i.e. social structure & material wealth) irrigation-based agriculture, water resources organized by government cuneiform writing

4. Gods and Goddesses Sin (the moon), had a higher place in the pantheon than his children: Shamash (the sun), who becomes important as a deity of all-seeing justice, and Ishtar (the morning star), whose multifaceted nature includes goddess of sexual love, of justice and warfare, of communal prosperity...

5. Gods and Goddesses Tammuz (Dumuzi) was Ishtar’s husband – a god like Attis (with Cybele) who died and was reborn every year. Ereshkigal was the goddess of the Underworld (Kurnugi). Ea was the god of fresh water, thus a fertility god; he is often a protective figure (asin the flood myth in Gilgamesh). Belili, Dumuzi’s sister – parallel to Geshtinanna in the Sumerian story, who takes her brother’s place in the underworld.

6. Gilgamesh Gilgamesh is on the Sumerian king-list as one of Uruk’s earliest kings – in the realm of myth. He features in several Sumerian myths (such as the one with Inanna’s hulupu tree), and in one long poem, the “Epic” of Gilgamesh. This poem is the most popular pieceof literature in Mesopotamia, found in many different languages and versions across 2500 years. We discovered it in about 1920. There are two major versions: we are reading the Nineveh version, compiled by a priest in about 800-700 BCE.

7. Gilgamesh

8. Gilgamesh and Enkidu

9. Gilgamesh & Ishtar