Term 2 - Lec 9 (Gilgamesh)

Question 1

Who is Gilgamesh?

Answer 1

= early, near-eastern hero (not Greek)

- from Mesopotamia

Question 2

What is the meaning of “Mesopotamia”?

Answer 2

= between two rivers

Tigris and Euphrates

Question 3

Describe Mesopotamia

Answer 3

• very fertile land therefore lots of people moving through it
• peopled by the Sumerians (2800-2500BCE), later by Akkadians

Question 4

What was the role of Gilgamesh in Mesopotamia?

Answer 4

= king of Uruk, 2800-2500BCE

Question 5

When were the stories Gilgamesh written? Where does our knowledge of it come from?

Answer 5

• written from 2150BCE onwards
• surviving text comes from 12 Akkadian tablets ~ 700 BCE
  (stories written on cuneiform clay tablets then preserved via heat)
  (cuneiform = wedge shaped)

Question 6

What type of story is the Epic of Gilgamesh

Answer 6

a legend

Question 7

Characteristics of Gilgamesh in his Epic

Answer 7

• human hero with divine qualities
• tames nature for human culture
• dark side: violent, arrogant (especially at the start of kingship)
• Enkidu = his bff/double
• also has divine helpers/enemies
• there is a transformation through suffering –> going ‘beyond’

Question 8

What are the major heroic quests that Gilgamesh takes on that takes him out of his city?

Answer 8

1. Slay a monster
   
   • very common for heroes
2. Immortality
   
   • unsuccessful, but gains important wisdom he can bring back to his city

Question 9

Genealogy of Gilgamesh

Answer 9

• son of Lugalband (mortal, King of Uruk) + Ninsun (goddess)
• 2/3 divine, 1/3 mortal
• having a divine parents causes him to suffer (because it makes it hard for one to accept mortality and human limitations)

Question 10

Who are...
Gilgamesh
Enkidu
Shamhat
Humbaba
Ishtar
Siduri
Utnapishtim/wife

Answer 10

• Gilgamesh = king of uruk
• Enkidu = his bff, made from clay, tamed
• Shamhat = holy prostitute that sleeps with Enkidu, making him lose his animal-like swiftness and gradually leads Enkidu back into civilization
• Humbaba = monster who guards the cedar forest, played by Gilg and Enk
• Ishtar = goddess who’s insulted by Gilgamesh and sends the bull of heaven (who’s slayed by Gilg and Enk) and then kills Enkidu out of revenge
• Siduri = bar-wife at an inn; minor goddess who tells Gilgamesh that he can’t change his fate and instead should just enjoy the days he has (invites him back into the human world)
• Utnapishtim/wife = granted immortality by gods because they were virtuous enough to survive flood, live beyond the limits of the world

Question 11

For what does the Epic of Gilgamesh provide an etiological story?

Answer 11

why a snake sheds his skin (because the snake stole and ate the plant that can make you young again from Gilgamesh)

Question 12

What is the challenge that Utnapishtim gives Gilgamesh? Does Gilgamesh accomplish this?

Answer 12

• sit down not fall asleep
• Gilgamesh fails
• Utnapishtim’s wife puts a loaf of bread beside the sleeping Gilgamesh everyday to prove he fell asleep

Question 13

What is the symbolic demonstration of the mouldy bread?

Answer 13

• bread = the food of human life

- it also dies like humans

Question 14

How was Gilgamesh’s journey successful even though he failed in his quest for immortality?

Answer 14

• comes back to his city with unique knowledge he shares with the people of Uruk
• because he’s gone somewhere no one has gone before, heard stories no one’s heard before
• no longer arrogant king

Question 15

How does Enkidu’s death change Gilgamesh?

Answer 15

Crisis because it forces Gilgamesh to face his own mortality and how he must also one day die

Question 16

What is Gilgamesh given by Utnapishtim and his wife? Who gives it out of the two of them?

Answer 16

a plant that can make you young again

• stolen by a snake while he’s asleep
• Utnapishtim’s wife convinces Utnapishtim to give Gilgamesh this