Mesopotamian Societies Sumerian first major civilization (3000
BCE) non-Semitic people / language Uruk (and other cities)
elaborate mythology and cult- based mythic poems Babylonian /
Akkadian later (1200-600 BCE) Semitic people / language myths
Sumerian in origin
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Mesopotamian Societies Both societies share: socio-political
hierarchy with kings as head of state (gods above them all)
priestly class who also teach, write, preserve literature high
level of civilization (i.e. social structure and material wealth)
irrigation-based agriculture tradition of sacred cunei- form
writings associated with rituals
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Gods and Goddesses Anu, a son of the first pair of gods, Anshar
and Kishar, is god of the sky and the father of the gods. Ea, son
of Anshar and Kishar, was the god of intellect, creation, wisdom,
magic, medicine, and the freshwater subterranean ocean apsu. Enlil
was Anus son and the father of Sin. He is the god of earth, wind,
and air, who often mistreats humankind (creates the flood).
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Gods and Goddesses Sin (the moon) was a god of wisdom, higher
in the pantheon than his children: Ishtar (the morning star), whose
multifaceted nature includes goddess of sexual love, justice,
warfare, and prosperity (cf. Venus/Mars) Shamash (the sun), who
becomes important as a deity of all-seeing justice
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Gods and Goddesses Tammuz: Ishtars husband, a god who died and
was reborn yearly (Persephone?). Ereshkigal: the goddess of the
underworld married to Bull (Hades/Persephone?)
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Lamassu The lamassu is a celestial being from Mesopotamian
mythology. Human above and a bull below the waist, it also has the
horns and the ears of a bull and sometimes wings. The lamassu was a
household protective spirit of the common Babylonian people,
becoming associated later as royal protectors, placed as sentinels
at the entrances.
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Lamassu
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The City-state of Uruk Gilgamesh was the king of the city-state
of Uruk, the setting for many of the events in the poem.
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City-states in Mesopotamia Although all the cities shared the
same culture, each city had its own government, rulers, warriors,
its own patron god, and functioned as an independent country.
Mesopotamian cities were Ur, Uruk, Kish, and Lagesh. At the center
of each city was a ziggurata massive, tiered, pyramid-shaped
temple.
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The Ziggurat (p.61)
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The Ziggurat
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Inside the Temple (p.61)
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Gilgamesh Gilgamesh was both one of Uruks earliest kings and a
mythic hero. He features in several Sumerian myths and in the
longer Epic of Gilgamesh that we are reading. This poem, discovered
in about 1920, was the most popular piece of literature in
Mesopotamia, found in many different languages and versions across
2500 years. Our translation draws on Sumerian, Akkadian, and
Hittite sources.
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Gilgamesh Both the Sumerian and the Akkadian versions of
Gilgamesh were written on clay tablets in cuneiform script:
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About Cuneiform
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More Cuneiform Tablets
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Gilgamesh I shall tell the land of the one who learned all
things, of the one who experienced everything, I shall teach the
whole. He searched lands everywhere. He found out what was secret
and uncovered what was hidden, he brought back a tale of times
before the flood. He had journeyed far and wide, weary and at last
resigned. He built the wall of Uruk... One square mile is the city,
one square mile is its orchards, one square mile is its claypits,
as well as the open ground of Ishtars temple.
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Gilgamesh Gilgamesh, the son of Lugul- banda and the goddess
Ninsun, is 2/3 god and 1/3 human. But like all humans, he is
destined to die. The epic often deals with the Jungian fear of
death. As the poem begins, he is king of Uruk, making his city ever
greater. Though perfect in many ways, he creates issues: His excess
energy (in building, exploration, and sex) is causing tension among
his people, who pray to the gods for relief.
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Gilgamesh and Enkidu The gods create Enkidu, a hairy wild man,
and place him in the forest near Uruk. He lives like an animal,
annoying the locals, who ask Gilgamesh for help. He suggests that
they tame him by sending him a woman to sleep with. A temple harlot
Shamhat (cult name for Ishtar) has sex with him, imbuing him with
wisdom (Jungs anima/animus?). Enkidu, now civilized, decides to go
to Uruk. He and Gilgamesh meet, fight, become best friends.
Gilgamesh stops being a nuisance. They decide to go on a quest to
free the Cedar Forest of Humbaba.
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Gilgamesh and Enkidu Enlil destined H. to keep the pine forest
safe, be the terror of people. (Shadow?) The heroes represent
civilized culture battling nature/savagery. Everyone advises
against it. Ninsun prays to Shamash: Why did you single out my son
Gilgamesh and impose a restless spirit on him? He faces an unknown
struggle, he will ride along an unknown road. She adopts Enkidu as
her son and entreats him to watch after Gilgamesh. The heroes
depart.
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Gilgamesh and Enkidu MASCULINEFEMININE Gilgamesh Enkidu
Conscious mind / ego / the known Unconscious mind / anima / the
unknown Society (human) / structure and control / technology Nature
(beast) / no structure or control / self-sufficient Gods / life /
known Humbaba / death / unknown
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The Cedar Forest When Enkidu touches the gates of the Cedar
forest, he feels a supernatural fear and can barely continue.
Gilgamesh has terrible dreams of destruction, which Enkidu
interprets in a favorable light (UCM) The heroes battle Humbaba,
who asks for mercy. But Enkidu urges G. to kill him, despite the
gods possible displeasure. Humbaba threatens: The heroes murder
Humbaba and return to Uruk in triumph. In Uruk, the goddess Ishtar
wants Gilgamesh to become her lover. Neither one of them shall
outlive his friend! Gilgamesh and Enkidu shall never become old
men!
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Gilgamesh & Ishtar Come to me, Gilgamesh, and be my lover!
Bestow on me the gift of your fruit! You can be my husband, I can
be your wife. I shall have a chariot of lapis lazuli and gold
harnessed for you... kings, nobles and princes shall bow down
beneath you. But Gilgamesh scornfully rejects her: You are a door
that cant keep out winds and gusts, a palace that rejects its own
warriors, a waterskin which soaks its carrier... which of your
lovers lasted forever? Which of your paramours went to heaven?
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The Bull of Heaven Enraged, Ishtar sends the Bull of Heaven to
ravage Uruk, but G. and E. kill it. When Ishtar reviles them,
Enkidu insults her, even throwing the thigh of the bull in her
face. Inanna gathers women to mourn the Bull, an act performed in
fertility rituals, since the Bull is the husband of
Ereshkigal.
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The Bull of Heaven
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Gilgamesh & Ishtar What reasons does Gilgamesh give for
rejecting Ishtar? (cf. Aphrodite and Adonis) Why is Gilgamesh so
hostile to her, given that he does reject her? How is Ishtar
characterized in this exchange? Benevolent, cruel, as bad as
Gilgamesh says? What do you expect at the conclusion of this
episode, after both Enkidu and Gilgamesh have disrespected the
goddess?
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Enkidus death Enkidu has a terrible nightmare: The gods were in
council last night. And Anu said to Ellil, As they have slain the
Bull of Heaven, so too have they slain Humbaba: One of them must
die. Enlil replied, Let Enkidu die, but let Gilgamesh not die. Then
heavenly Shamash said, Was it not according to your plans? But
Enlil turned in anger to Shamash: You accompanied them daily, like
one of their comrades. Enkidu gets sick and dies in twelve days. He
curses Shamhat who sexed him and made him human, but Shamash
persuades him not to curse Shamhat. Gilgamesh mourned bitterly for
Enkidu his friend, and roved the open country. Shall I die too? Am
I not like Enkidu? Grief has entered my innermost being.
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When he had gone one double-hour, thick is the darkness, there
is no light; he can see neither behind him nor ahead of him When he
had gone seven double hours, thick is the darkness, there is no
light At the nearing of eleven double- hours, light breaks out. At
the nearing of twelve double- hours, the light is steady. Gilgamesh
travels to the ends of the earth, through the dark mountain, the
pathways of Shamash: He meets Siduri, a female innkeeper (another
cult name of Ishtar), to whom he pours out his troubles. She
directs him to Utnapishtim, and adds: As for you, Gilgamesh, let
your belly be full, Make merry day and night. Of each day make a
feast of rejoicing. Day and night dance and play!
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I crossed uncrossable mountains. I travelled all the seas. No
real sleep has calmed my face. I have worn myself out in
sleeplessness; my flesh is filled with grief. With the help of the
boatman Urshanabi, Gilgamesh travels across the water to Dilmun,
the land at the edge of time. He cuts sixty saplings for poles, and
as each enters the waters, it is eaten away. He finally uses his
tattered clothing for a sail and, exhausted, comes to Utnapishtim:
Utnapishtim Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh: how Ea told him to build
an ark because a flood was coming how he built the arc and his
family alone of all mortals were saved how Ishtar mourned the dead
how he and his wife came to Dilmun, living as immortals.
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Original Transcript (p. 107)English Translation (p. 107) 1
gilgame ana umma izakkara ana ta-napitim r qi 1 Gilgamesh spoke to
him, to ta-napiti the Far- Away: 2 ana alakkumma ta-napiti| 3 mint
ka ul an k ytimma atta 4 u atta ul anta k ytimma atta 2 "As I look
at you, ta-napiti, 3 Your form is no different, you are just like
me, 4 You are not different at all, you are just like me. 5
gummurka libb ana ep tuqunti 6 [x]x ah nadt elu r ka 7 [att]a k k
tazziz ina puhur il ni bal a te'u 5 I was fully intent on doing
battle with you, 6 [but] in your presence my hand is stayed. 7 How
was it that you attended the gods' assembly, and found eternal
life?" 8 ta-napiti ana umma izakkara ana gilgame 9 lupteka gilgame
am t ni irti 8 ta-napiti spoke to him, to Gilgamesh: 9 "I will
disclose to you, Gilgamesh, a secret matter, 10 u piriti a il ni ka
luqbika 11 urippak lu a t du atta 10 and I will tell you a mystery
of the gods. 11 "The city of Shuruppak a city you yourself know, 12
[lu a ina ki ]d puratti aknu 13 [ l]u labirma il ni qerbuu 14 [an]a
ak n ab bi ubla libbaunu il ni rabti 12 the [city that] is situated
on the [banks] of the Euphrates 13 that city was old and the gods
were inside it, 14 (when) the great gods decided to cause the
Deluge.