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“He who saw the Deep” (line 1)

� � Author � Time/Date of Composition � Contextual Information � Form � Major Themes

Preview

� Author

�  Anonymous; written by various authors from different Mesopotamian cultures �  Sumerians, Akkadians,

Babylonians, and Assyrians �  Standard written version

comes down to us mostly through the work of a Babylonian priest and scholar named Sîn-liqe-unninni �  His name translates to “O

Moon God, Accept My Prayer!”

Statue of Gilgamesh in the Palace of Sargon II (from the British Museum)

� � Oldest version of Gilgamesh was written in the

Sumerian language around 2,000 BCE (George 3) �  Earliest writing = Sumerian, and most surviving

Sumerian literature was written by Babylonian apprentice scribes who were learning to write

� The Sumerian version became the basis of the one written in Babylonian around 1,800 BCE �  Babylonian is an Akkadian language that was used in

the Ancient Near Eas �  Note: “Babylonia” is a Greek term given to this place/

people; it is not a term they used for themselves

Time & Date

� � However… “The complexity of the written tradition

in the eighteenth century suggests that by then the poem was a composition of some antiquity; in the absence of older written sources it seems justified to postulate an oral prehistory extending over several generations of singers” (George 4)

Time & Date

� Context - Mesopotamia

� The word “Mesopotamia” translates into “the land between two rivers” �  The two rivers are: the

Tigris and Euphrates

Fertile Crescent (by NormanEinstein)

� � This part of the world is known as the fertile

crescent because of the rich soil that lent itself to highly successful agriculture

� These optimal conditions were instrumental for the rise of human civilization—it is said that the first Western civilizations began here

Context - Mesopotamia

� � The name “Gilgamesh” appears in a list of Sumerian

Kings as the 5th ruler of the First Dynasty of Uruk (George xxxi)

� From a ~2000 BCE list of Mesopotamian kings: �  “The god Lugalbanda, a shepherd, reigned for 1200 years.

The god Dumuzi, a fisherman (?), whose city was Ku’ara, reigned for 100 years. The god Gilgamesh, whose father was a phantom, lord of the city of Kulaba, reigned for 126 years” (Foster xi).

� This historical Gilgamesh probably lived around 2750 BCE

Context – Historical Gilgamesh

�

Context – Historical Gilgamesh

Excavated ziggurat in Uruk, in modern day southern Iraq (from the British Museum)

� � Babylonians believed purpose of humans was to “be

in service of the gods” (George xxxviii) � Each city-state belonged to a particular patron deity

who was thought to live in the city’s temple � Babylonians worshipped in this temple by giving

their deities “ritual offerings of meat and incense, [and] ritual worship with prayer and song” (George xxxviii)

Context - Religion

� � Major deities include:

�  Anu (sky god) �  Enlil (god of breath/wind) �  Ea (freshwater) �  Adad (god of storm) �  Sîn (god of moon)

�  Shamash (sun god) �  Ishtar (goddess of sex and war)

�  Ereshkigal (queen of the underworld)

Context - Religion

� � The Epic of Gilgamesh is usually considered epic

poetry �  From Greek, epikos, meaning: “word, story, poem”

� However… “epic” is an anachronistic term because Mesopotamia had no concept of epic, either as a term or a literary form at the time of Gilgamesh’s composition � They associated with narû-literature, or a type of

wisdom literature used for counseling and teaching (George 11)

Form – Epic Poetry

� � Official definition of epic poetry

� A long narrative poem that celebrates the deeds of one or many heroes à “narrative” means story

� Uses elevated language à “elevated language” means the use of formal, dignified, and objective tone & figures of speech

� Action takes place in a vast setting, meaning the story takes place in a big space

� Heroes/monsters perform superhuman feats of strength

Form – Epic Poetry

� Form – Literary

� The Epic of Gilgamesh is considered a literary form because all of the versions we have are written ones �  The versions we have

were almost certainly used in Babylonian schools to teach literature & writing

Part of a cuneiform tablet containing The Epic of Gilgamesh (from The British Museum)

� � The Epic of Gilgamesh exists on tablets, which are in

fragmentary form. Explains why some parts of the story are missing or others are repetitious

� Only 2/3 of the story has been discovered (Bottero 234)

Form – Fragmentary

� � “The standard version of the Babylonian epic is

known from a total of 73 manuscripts extant: the 35 that have survived from the libraries of King Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, 8 more tablets and fragments from three other Assyrian cities (Ashur, Kalah and Huzirina), and 30 from Babylonia, especially the cities of Babylon and Uruk [emphasis added]” (George xxvii)

Form – Fragmentary

� � “Friction between nature and civilization” (George 1) � Friendship � Hierarchies of gods, kings, and mortals � “Misuse of power” (George 1) � The human condition (death)

Major Themes