Information about Mesopotamia is drawn from Valerie Hansen's Voyages in World History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, forthcoming 2009). Students may only need a brief review of Mesopotamia because it is often studied in World History class.
Mesopotamia and Egypt are believed to be the world's first civilizations. Mesopotamia, "between rivers," is the territory located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in modern day Iraq. A civilization, according to Voyages in World History, is a large urban center with a population of tens of thousands of people. These people had different jobs resulting in specialized labor. Initially, scholars believed a civilization had to have a system of writing, but over time this belief has changed.
The land of early Mesopotamia overall was harsh and hard to farm since the Euphrates and Tigris rivers often flooded during the early summer. Farmers developed an irrigation system and settled into the lower Mesopotamian plain between 6000 - 5000 BCE.
Early villages were small, but by 4000 BCE, villages grew to over 10,000 people. City states began to develop as well. A city-state had a ruler who not only governed the urban center but also the surrounding countryside. The king of the city-state was the intermediary between the gods and the people. The king, it was thought, not only consulted the gods but also, they believed, with temple priests and people of prominent families.
Sumerians were polytheistic, believing in many gods. The gods managed the environment. Within the city-state was a
ziggurat
. The ziggurat is the platform or terrace upon which temples for the gods were placed.
Sumer, which is the term referring to the area of Southern Mesopotamia, is believed to be where the world's first writing system developed. Initially, Sumerians wrote on clay tablets with a stylus. Around 3300 BCE, clay tablets had pictures on them representing different animals. Next to the pictures, there would be tally markings. Eventually, a writing system with over 700 signs emerged. By 700 BCE, a phonetic system had developed. Later Sumerian writing was known as
cuneiform
. Cuneiform is the Latin term for "wedge shaped".
The Babylonian Collection at Yale University
Yale University in New Haven, CT has a unique collection entitled The Babylonian Collection. With some 45,000 documents and pieces, it is largest collection of Mesopotamian artifacts in the United States. The collection housed at the Sterling Memorial Library was a gift in 1909 from J.P. Morgan and contains ancient treatises, letters and business documents, administrative accounts, and literature starting at 3000 BCE. The collection is open to the public. Curators Benjamin Foster (the translator of the version of
Gilgamesh
referenced in this unit) and Ulla Kastan are available to help with school groups wishing to visit the collection. More information can be found at www.yale.edu/nelc/babylonian.html.
Gilgamesh
The epic of
Gilgamesh
examines the quest for eternal life, friendship, abuse of power, and relationships. The epic is divided into twelve tablets each detailing a different aspect of Gilgamesh's adventures. Gilgamesh is the historical king of Uruk during 2700 BCE. Sumerian tablets still survive detailing his adventures. The tablets of this epic were found in the library of Ashurbanipal, the king of Assyria.
Having students read the tablets and then journal before and after will allow them to learn about Gilgamesh but also to learn about what the society valued and how they might react or act in the same types of situations. Each of the tablet summaries is followed by student journal questions to be used before or after reading the tablet. The following summary corresponds with Benjamin Foster's translation of
Gilgamesh
(Foster, Ed., Benjamin R.. The Epic of Gilgamesh. New York, NY: W.W.Norton, 2001). Page numbers also correspond with Foster's translation.
Tablet One (p.3-12)
Tablet One begins with Gilgamesh admiring the city walls of Uruk. Gilgamesh is 2/3 god and 1/3 human. He is a king who has superhuman abilities. These abilities are not something he does not know. He is not a kind king because of his youth and excessive pride. The people of Uruk call on the god, Anu, to help them against the rule of Gilgamesh. In response to the people, Anu created Enkidu, a wild beast of a man who lives in the forest. Enkidu is created to rival Gilgamesh and teach him humility and friendship.
While in the forest, a trapper comes across the wild, Enkidu, and Shamhat, a harlot, is sent to "tame" Enkidu with her sexuality. She approaches him and says:
You are handsome, Enkidu, you are become like a god.
Why roam the steppe with wild beasts? Come, let me lead you to unramparted Uruk
(Foster. The Epic of Gilgamesh, p.9)
If Enkidu gives in to this temptation, he will lose his strength and wildness, but will gain knowledge and understanding. Once his strength is lost, he is upset but learns he will be able to go into the city to meet Gilgamesh.
During this time, Gilgamesh has two dreams. Both dreams have something (a meteorite and an axe) arrive at his door. Gilgamesh's mother translates these dreams to mean that a great force will come to Uruk but will be a help to him both physically and mentally (Foster The Epic of Gilgamesh, p.10 - 12).
Student Journal Questions:
-
- What makes a good leader?
-
- Does Gilgamesh have these qualities yet?
Tablet Two (p.13-22) Enkidu enters the city and finds Gilgamesh forcing all the brides to be in the city to sleep with him first. "He mates with the lawful wife. He first, the groom after" (Foster. The Epic of Gilgamesh, p.15). Clearly, this is an abuse of his power and Enkidu is infuriated by this. They battle and although Gilgamesh wins the battle, he realizes Enkidu's strength and they embrace becoming the best of friends.
After the battle, Enkidu and Gilgamesh spend time in the city becoming lazy and bored by city life. Gilgamesh, always the epic hero, proposes that they take a journey into the Great Cedar Woods and chop down all the cedar trees. This might not be a problem if it were not for Humbaba, the keeper of the Great Cedar Woods. Enkidu does not think this is a great idea but follows Gilgamesh anyway.
Student Journal Questions:
-
- Gilgamesh and Enkidu develop their friendship here. What are qualities of a strong friendship? Do you foresee these two men being able to maintain a strong friendship?
Tablet Three (p.23-29)
Trust not, Gilgamesh, in your strength alone,
Let your eyes see all, make your blow strike home. . .
We in our assembly entrust the King to you [Enkidu]
On your return, entrust the King again to us
.
(Foster The Epic of Gilgamesh, p.23)
This tablet is not all preserved. This is essentially the pre-journey tablet where we learn that all except Gilgamesh think it is a bad idea to go into the woods. The city elders entrust Gilgamesh's life unto Enkidu and assume Enkidu will be on the front line of the battle to ensure that Gilgamesh does not die.
Student Journal Question:
-
- Do you think this journey is a good or bad idea? Why?
Tablet Four (p.30-37) The beginning of the six day journey into the Great Cedar Woods begins in Tablet Four. Before beginning, Gilgamesh prays to Shamash, the sun god for protection. He then has six dreams. Many of the dreams were not preserved. One preserved dream is one that Gilgamesh dreams of a bull who splits the ground with its breath. The translation of the dream is that Shamash will protect Gilgamesh in battle.
When Enkidu and Gilgamesh arrive at the entrance to the forest, Gilgamesh becomes afraid and prays to Shamash again to protect him. Enkidu also gets scared and rather than support him, Gilgamesh fights him. Their fighting alerts Humbaba and they finally band together to fight the great Humbaba.
Student Journal Question:
-
- Analyze the dreams of Gilgamesh. What would you have interpreted those dreams to mean?
Tablet Five (p.38-45)
Gilgamesh and Enkidu enter the forest and begin to cut down the trees. Humbaba comes out and is shocked at what is going on. Enkidu lets Humbaba know that he and Gilgamesh are stronger than he will ever be. The epic battle begins! They fight Humbaba and even Shamash, the god, intervenes to help Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Humbaba is defeated and with a knife in his neck, begs for his life. Gilgamesh feels a pang of emotion and hesitates while Enkidu tells him to stop wasting time and to kill Humbaba. While dying, Humbaba curses the pair saying that Enkidu will not live a long life and will find no peace in this world.
Student Journal Questions:
-
- Gilgamesh almost shows compassion toward Humbaba. What would change about Gilgamesh if he hadn't killed Humbaba?
Tablet Six (p. 46-52) After the great battle, Gilgamesh becomes a hero of widespread fame. Ishtar, a goddess, become interested in Gilgamesh and offers herself to him. Because she has been with many men, he refuses her and does so, with great insults. She returns to the heavens and asks Anu, her father, to send the Bull of Heaven down to cause problems for Gilgamesh. Like the dream Gilgamesh had before, the Bull's breath causes great abysses that kill many people in Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu fight and defeat the Great Bull. Student Journal Questions:
-
- What do you feel is the most important line from this section? Why?
Tablet Seven (p. 53-59) Enkidu becomes ill and learns that he has been chosen to die by the gods because he killed Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. He is outraged that he was the one chosen and initially curses the trapper and the temple priestess who brought him out of the forest. Shamhash reminds Enkidu of his great friendship with Gilgamesh and how it is worth an untimely death (Foster 56). He thanks her for this knowledge and dies twelve days later.'
Student Journal Questions:
-
- What do you feel is the most important lesson that Enkidu has learned?
Tablet Eight (p.60-65)
Hear me, O elders of [Uruk], listen to me!
I mourn my friend, Enkidu, I howl as bitterly as a professional keener.
(Foster The Epic of Gilgamesh, p.61)
This tablet is essentially a lament for Enkidu by Gilgamesh and how Gilgamesh builds a monument for him in Uruk.
Student Journal Questions:
-
- If your friend were writing a "lament" about you, what would you want included?
-
- What do you feel is the most important line from this section? Why?
Tablet Nine (p.66-71) Gilgamesh is distraught that Enkidu is dead. He will not bathe, eat, or sleep. Enkidu's death makes Gilgamesh realize his own mortality and that frightens him. This is the impetus for him taking his next great journey.
Gilgamesh decides he needs to obtain eternal life and undertakes the most difficult journey of all to Utnapishtim and his wife. Utnapishtim is the only mortal who is granted eternal life and lives in the "Far Away". Utnapishtim survives the Great Flood which mirrors that of Noah's flood in the Bible.
When Gilgamesh arrives at Mount Mashu en route to Utnapishtim, the guards at Mount Mashu warn him against the journey as it is dangerous and will prove futile. Gilgamesh ignores this and travels twelve leagues into Night, eventually emerging into Day and into a brilliant garden of gems (Foster The Epic of Gilgamesh, p. 70).
Student Journal Questions:
-
- Would you want eternal life or eternal youth? Why?
Tablet Ten (p.72-83) Gilgamesh continues on toward Utnapishtim and again is warned that the journey is going to prove futile; however, his reaction is that of arrogance and violence. In order to get to Utnapishtim, Gilgamesh must cross the Waters of Death - if anyone touches the water, he will instantly die. After a difficult journey across the water, Gilgamesh arrives on the shore where an old man tells him seeking eternal life is pointless. Death is necessary because it is the will of the gods and whatever humans do will never be a permanent solution.
Student Journal Questions:
-
- Do you agree that seeking eternal life is pointless for Gilgamesh? Why or why not?
Tablet Eleven (p.84-95)
Gilgamesh realizes that the old man he meets is Utnapishtim himself. Utnapishtim reveals the secrets given to him as a result of the Great Flood. He gives Gilgamesh all the information about the Flood which then results in his gaining eternal life.
The Great Flood:
-
- took place in the city of Shuruppak, on the banks of the Euphrates
-
- gods decided to destroy the world and all the humans; they made a pact to tell no mortals of this plan to flood the world.
-
- Ea, the god who created humanity, went to Utnapishtim and told him to build a boat, put his wife and all living things onto it. This was his way to get around actually telling someone about the flood.
-
- Although the gods were upset that Utnapishtim knew to save himself, he is granted eternal life as a result.
After hearing this story from Utnapishtim, Gilgamesh is offered immortality by Utnapishtim if he can stay awake for six days and seven nights. However, Gilgamesh falls asleep but lies saying he did stay awake. Instead of eternal life, he is given a plant to make him young again. Because Gilgamesh does not trust the plant, he plans to bring it back to Uruk to use on an old man. En route, a snake eats the plant and leaves Gilgamesh with nothing.
The story ends with Gilgamesh returning to Uruk and looking at the city walls. He takes a moment to take it all in and then begins to write his journey on tablets.
Student Journal Questions:
-
- What do you know of the Flood Story of the Bible? How does it compare to the story told by Utnapishtim?
-
- What do you predict for Gilgamesh after all his adventures?
The Story of the Flood from the Bible
"The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thought of his heart was only evil all the time" (Genesis 6, Verse 5).
In the well known Biblical story of Noah and the Flood from Genesis, Chapters 6-9, the Christian God is saddened by the wickedness of man. He is saddened by how evil man is to one another and this fills Him with pain. To rid the Earth of this wickedness, God decides to wipe mankind from the Earth with a Flood; however, God found favor with Noah and instructs him how to survive.
Noah was righteous and had not fallen into the corrupt ways of the others on Earth. God said to Noah that He was going to put an end to all people and their wickedness. God instructed Noah to build an ark. On this ark, he was to put himself, his family, and two (male and female) of every living thing. The Lord instructed Noah that there would be forty days and forty nights of rain. God made a covenant with Noah to save all those on the ark.
After the flood, Noah opened a window in the ark. He first sent a raven to see if the flood waters had receded; with no answer, he then sent a dove who eventually returned with an olive branch signifying the end of the great flood. After the flood, God vowed to never gain curse the Earth in this way.
This story should be read directly from the Bible itself (or a copy) by the students. After reading
The Epic of Gilgamesh
, students can use a graphic organizer to compare the two stories. An interesting question student can address is the message that the Christian god was trying to send to his people and the message the gods were sending to the people in Uruk. Students can also compare one God vs. the multiple gods of
Gilgamesh
. (Women's Devotional Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1995)
Other Twists on the Tale of Gilgamesh
The Great American Novel by Philip Roth
Author Philip Roth decided to tackle the reincarnation of Gilgamesh in his
novel The Great American Nove
l. This novel is about Gil Gamesh, pitcher of a fictional baseball team in the Patriots League. Gil feels he is the best baseball player around and even says he is amazing "because I'm Gil Gamesh! I'm immortal." During the 1933 baseball season, the star pitcher, filled with incredible rage, tries to kill an umpire and is banned from baseball. Gil immigrates to the Soviet Union and trains as a spy; eventually, he comes back to the United States as a spy for Stalin. Gil becomes the manager of his former team and his way to inspire his players is to make them hate their opponents. Gil then begins a witch hunt to find the Communists; while the league begins to turn on itself, Gil goes back to the Soviet Union.
This novel has very some small similarities to the epic of Gilgamesh. It is a work that can be used to compare to the McCarthy era of Communist finding. Excerpts can be taken to compare to the epic and/or to
The Crucible
or similar works. Teachers will want to give the students some information about this novel so that they can get a sense that the epic was not confined to the BCE time and that its themes and ideas are still finding their way into modern literature (Damrosch, David. The Buried Book New York: Henry Holt & Company, 2006. p.254-257).
Zabibah wal-Malik (Zabibah and the King
) by Saddam Hussein
When one hears the name Saddam Hussein, author is normally not the first word that comes to mind. However, the dictator tried his hand at writing and produced a novel (although thought to be written by "ghostwriters") that parallels Gilgamesh. Interestingly, Saddam himself identified with Gilgamesh when he decided to leave Iraq in a search for "immortality" (254). Saddam had wanted to eventually rebuild Ashurbanipal's library in Nineveh, plaster casts of tablets and all. Saddam not only was interested in the great epic poem but was also interested in Iraqi history. In a 1978 essay, Hussein wrote, "the history of the Arab nation extends to the ancient ages, and that all the major civilizations which were born in the Arab world are expressions of the characteristics of [its] inhabitants" (259).
Zabibah and the King begins with a long prologue outlining Iraq's magnificent history. The story is of Zabibah, a prominent citizen who is married to a undesirable man, and the ruthless Assyrian king who falls in love with her. Zabibah brings humanity and compassion into the rulers life and teaches him ways to become a more just ruler
The novel serves as political propaganda in that it portrays the ruler in a kinder, gentler light and as being kind and fair to women. These images can only help Saddam look better in the eyes of his people.
This novel resembles Gilgamesh in that Zabibah is often compared to Enkidu who comes into Uruk to show Gilgamesh his ruthless ways and in turn, seeks to make him a kinder ruler. Zabibah does this for the Assyrian king. Later analysis in
The Buried Book
went a step further and compared Hussein to Humbaba and George Bush to Gilgamesh who comes into the forest looking to destroy it. Teachers can use this novel as a reference for themselves and as an example for students to clearly see that the epic of
Gilgamesh
has affected various civilizations and reemerges in different forms throughout history.
(
Damrosch, The Buried Book. p. 257-269).