GILGAMESH - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

GILGAMESH(Lectures 12-13)Slide2

sacred myth

legend

folktale

WORLD

inflexible

somewhat flexible, generally hostile

highly flexible

CAUSALITY

hard determinism

rigid laws, fateful determinism, some room for human choice

chance and luck; in the extreme, fairytale wish-fulfillment

STANCE

absolute resignation

acquiescence and endurance

optimism and opportunism

MORALITY

irrelevant: good = divine will

irrelevant: moral character NOT = quality of experience

relevant: moral character = quality of experienceSlide3

Hero Pattern

BIRTH

Mixed Status

divine + human parents

CHILDHOOD

Signs of Election

Separation

Education

superior abilities

as child/teen

removal from home due to threat

mysterious teacher

DEPARTURE

Call

Sidekick

Journey

Exploits

Encounters

desire for glory

/ urgent mission

double

unexplored terrain

monsters (

cosmogonic

)

young woman/old woman/old man

RETURN / DEATH

Failure

Reconciliation

Death

death of sidekick

bond with others

heroic funeral

MEMORIALIZATION

Myth & Ritual

center of communitySlide4

Gilgamesh Chronology

2700-2500

Historical King

Gilgamesh of

Uruk

, 2

nd

Early Dynastic Period

2500-2400

Oral tradition:

"Gilgamesh & the Land of the Living"; "Gilgamesh,

Enkidu

& the Netherworld"; "The Death of Gilgamesh"; "Gilgamesh & the Bull of Heaven"; "The Deluge"

2000-1600

Akkadian

Gilgamesh epic based on Sumerian and

Akkadian

(

Atrahasis

) sources

1600-1000

Internationalization of epic. Prologue,

Flood Tale, Tablet XII added.Slide5

Gilgamesh Pattern

BIRTH

Mixed Status

2/3 divine:

Lugalbanda

+

Ninsun

CHILDHOOD

Signs of Election

Separation

Education

[rescue by eagle]

[raised

by gardener]

[narrative missing]

DEPARTURE

Call

------------------------------------------

Sidekick

------------------------------------------

Exploits

Gilgamesh the bad king

vision of corpse

desire for heroic glory

------------------------------------------------------------

Enkidu

------------------------------------------------------------

Huwawa

, Ishtar, Bull of Heaven

RETURN

Failure

------------------------------------------

Reconciliation

death of

Enkidu

; vision of Afterworld

journey to meet

Uta-napishtim

rejection by

Uta-napishtim

------------------------------------------------------------

return

to

Uruk

building of wall; inscription of narrative

death of GilgameshSlide6

Synopsis

I

Gilgamesh bad king. Gods create

wildman

Enkidu

. Lured into intercourse,

Enkidu

becomes "civilized.”

II

Enkidu

and Gilgamesh fight to a stalemate.

III

Vision of corpse. Gilgamesh

plans expedition to the Cedar Forest.

IV

Journey to Cedar Forest.  Admonitory dreams.

V

Defeat of

Huwawa

. Cedars cut down for door of temple.

VI

Gilgamesh rejects advances of

Inanna

. Bull of Heaven destroyed.

Enkidu

insults

Inanna

,

VII

On

deathbed

Enkidu

has vision of Land of

Ereshkigal

, Queen of the Dead.

VIII

Lamentation over

Enkidu

.

IX

Gilgamesh wanders the earth in search of immortal

Uta-napishtim

, once mortal.

X

Gilgamesh crosses Waters of Death to visit

Uta-napishtim

.

XI

Utnapishtim

tells Flood story.

Gilgamesh fails test. On return journey,

loses

plant of rejuvenation. Returns to

Uruk

, builds

wall, inscribes adventures, dies.

Slide7

Cosmogony, Anthropogony, & The Fall

COSMOGONY

ANTHROPOGONY

union of primal parents in undifferentiated harmony

initial harmony between human and divine and/or

human and nature

split or separation of parents and/or body of female parent

rupture of harmony, either through

(a) accident, or

(b) transgression

loss of unity in the rapidly dividing and divisive world

resulting disharmony, from

(a) separation of human and divine, and (in case of transgression)

(b) punishment of the transgressor

rupture as origin of worldly evil: work, pain, disease, deathSlide8

Fall of Enkidu Fall

of Adam

Gilgamesh

(Sumer, ca. 2500-1100

BCE)

Genesis

(Syria-Palestine, ca. 1000 BCE)

Enkidu

in natural state

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

nakedness

sexual innocence

food: grass, animal milk

Adam and Eve in Eden

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

nakedness

sexual innocence

food: fruit

Enkidu

seduced by

Shamhat

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

sex for six days and seven nights

Eve tricked by serpent*

//

Adam “seduced” by Eve

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

eating of “forbidden fruit”

Enkidu

“fallen”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

loss

of strength and speed

rejection by animals

“wisdom” (“thoughts of a man”)

godlikeness

Adam and Eve “fallen”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

self-consciousness and shame

rejection

by Yahweh

knowledge of good and evil

godlikeness (“the man has become like one of us”)

nature

 culture

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enkidu

eats bread and drinks wine

Enkidu

becomes drunk**

clothing

bathing and grooming

hunting of animals

(sickness)

(death)

nature

 culture

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

clothing

childbirth

pain

work and suffering

frustration

sexual desire

male dominance over female

death

*Later in

Gilgames

h, a serpent steals the plant of

rejuvenation and swallows it.

**Compare the later account of Noah's drunkenness (also linked with  nakedness and shame) after cultivating the first grapevine.Slide9

SPECIES

CHARACTER

FOOD

CLOTHING

CONDITION

DISPOSITION

animal

Enkidu

raw

none

mortal: unconscious of death

serenity

human

Gilgamesh

cooked

skins/perishable cloth

mortal: conscious of death

despair/joy

divine

gods

mineral (?)

immaculate cloth

immortal

serenity