Terms
A synonym for fertile
What is abundant or rich?
In what modern country did Mesopotamia exist?
Where is Iraq?
Gilgamesh's home city
Where is Uruk?
What do the top three rows suggest about the kind of civilization this is?
A society concerned with defense and a military who will kill in order to protect their city-state
Gilgamesh's great ordeal
Utnapishtim's tests or perhaps the quest to find immortality after Enkidu's death
A long narrative poem often telling the story of the journey of a hero
What is an epic?
The literal translation of Mesopotamia
What is between two rivers?
The people of Uruk's complaint to the gods about Gilgamesh and their solution to the problem
What was Gilgamesh's unfair and brutal kingship (sleeping with people's wives, working men to death to make the city beautiful) and the creation of the wild man Enkidu to challenge Gilgamesh and teach him humility?
What do the bottom three rows suggest about this civilization
That this civilization has a thriving society and wealth. The king is throwing big parties perhaps, there are fancy clothes, pottery or bronze, musicians (there is leisure time), domestication of animals and trade. This is a stratified society with kings and nobles on the top of the bottom three rows, craftspeople/musicians, farmers, herdsmen, servants and perhaps slaves on the bottom row suggesting a hierarchical society
The outcome of Gilgamesh and Enkidu's battle with each other. In terms of the hero's question diagram, what role does Enkidu play after the battle and then after his death?
A great friendship
Enkidu is Gilgamesh's first helper
Enkidu's death is the call to adventure
The meaning of cuneiform
What is "wedge-shaped"?
The kind of economic system that emerged in Mesopotamian cities before we had a monetary system according to Jon Green and where did most of the economic activity in the city take place?
What is socialism? In the temples/ziggurats.
The lesson Gilgamesh learns on his journey and the gift he brings to his people
That physical immortality is unattainable but that a king can live through the words and stories of his people for an eternity. He comes back a better king and brings the Epic of Gilgamesh
The five characteristics of civilization
What are Advanced Cities, Specialized Workers, Complex Institutions, Record Keeping/Writing, Advanced Technology?
Two main differences between Noah's and Utnapishtim's heroes' quests
What are the covenant with Noah and monotheism v. polytheism
Definition of motif and an example
What are elements in a myth or epic that are repeated and that show up in other myths and stories across cultures that have some kind of significance for those cultures or that act as signals in a story that something is important or magical in some way.
"Magical" numbers or repeated numbers like 3, 7, 40...
The name of a place that emerged out of river valleys that had populations of thousands and tens of thousands and one of the most prominent pieces of architecture in this place
What is a city state and what are ziggurats?
What does Gilgamesh represent in the epic and what does Enkidu represent in the epic?
Gilgamesh is supposed to represent civilization and knowledge
Enkidu represents the wild spaces outside the city and therefore the opposite of civilization
The advanced technology that the Sumerians developed
What are the wheel, the plow, and the sail?
What elements of the Epic of Gilgamesh reveal a society that has a pessimistic view of both life and especially death
The gods are capricious and help explain in the Sumerian culture the unpredictable nature of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Not an easy environment.
The end of Utnapishtim's narrative is kind of depressing.
Enkidu's dream which talks about the Land of Dust where everyone goes after death
Gilgamesh is afraid of dying
The definition of capricious and a sentence that uses the word
What is moody or changeable?
O woe is me! The capriciousness of the Gods! One moment they bestow upon us calm rivers and abundant fields but in a blink of the eye send a horrific torrent of water that causes cries of terror and then silence, stopping the sweet smoke of sacrifice from floating to the heavens.
According to Jon Greene Mesopotamia gave the world three important things
What are writing, taxes and the first legal code, Hammurabi's code?
After defeating Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven, Enkidu becomes ill and is told he will die. He is outraged and curses the trapper and the temple priestess who brought him out of the forest and the wild. Shamesh reminds him of something important. What is it?
That he experienced a fiercely strong friendship with Gilgamesh as well as civilization and glory, which are all worth dying for.
The aspects of civilization that are depicted in the Royal Standard of Ur and how do you know?
Advanced technology like the wheel, and bronze
Specialized Workers like soldiers who are carrying spears and riding in chariots and slaves carrying burdens, farmers with domesticated animals, musicians playing instruments
Complex Institutions like a king who rules (he is central, larger than the other figures, other people are facing him and honoring him) and a military
Record Keeping and Advanced Cities--while not directly represented the fact that there are animals and people carrying goods suggests that the city was trading or at least bringing goods to the temple; also the king has an army suggesting that not only could the city support one but that they were warring with other cities
How are the hero's journey diagrams useful when studying different cultures and how are they limited
Noting the major differences when comparing the hero's journey might reveal different attitudes or beliefs
The hero's quest diagram for the most part can be charted for any story with a hero and therefore leads to easy comparisons without a lot of subtlety. It also doesn't allow for an examination of other lesser characters in the story.