Gilgamesh Study Guide with Answers

 

1.      Contemplate Gilgamesh’s strengths and weaknesses. Consider at least five of each and give your justification for each.

Strengths

1.2/3 God and 1/3 man-obvious advantage

2.Ability to love deeply-Enkidu

3.strongWrestled Enkidu, the Bull of Heaven, pushed Urshanabi’s boat by pole to the Heaven of the Gods.

4. adventurous-heads out on two journeys

5. Willing to change

6. Desires to be a good king-returns to Uruk willing to share the plant that bestows eternal life

7. Can stand up to the demands of the Gods-Spurns the advances of Ishtar

8. Truth seeker-Searches for Utnapishtim to find secret of eternal life

9.Accepts his fate of mortality-when the snake steals the plant

10. Builder of Uruk-the strong walls and the temple

11. wise-narrator proclaims him as such

12. Fast-covers 450 miles on foot in three days

13. Seeks counsel from his mother-before his journey to kill Humbaba

14. Humbles himself before the gods when he needs help-petitions Shamash

15. compassionate-momentarily moved by compassion for Humbaba

 

Weaknesses

1.Arrogant-intent on leaving his own legacy at any cost.

2.Takes advantage of being king-oppresses his people

3.Willing to murder, plunder to create his legacy-kill Humbaba, take the precious cedar from the forest

4.Immoral-demands intimacy with the new brides, and any woman he so desires.

5.Creates false alarm for his own amusement-sounds the tocsin

6. Depends too much on Enkidu

7. Laughed at the advice of the counselors-responds, “How shall I answer them; shall I say I am afraid of Humbaba, I will sit at home all the rest of my days?”

8. Won’t take no for an answer-refuses to comply with the demands of Siduru and Urshanabi

9. A liar-tells Utnapishtum that he didn’t fall asleep. Utnapishtum knows that he needs evidence to prove to Gilgamesh that he fell asleep.

10. boastful-bragged of his conquest of Humbaba before the adventure

 

2.      Be able to tell the key points of the story of Gilgamesh-story of King of Uruk The Epic of Gilgamesh is the story of King Gilgamesh of Uruk who oppresses his people. As punishment, the gods send him a companion, Enkidu, who is his mirror image and becomes his good friend. Together, Gilgamesh and Enkidu defy the gods by killing the giant Humbaba, cutting down the sacred cedar forest which he guards, and killing the Bull of Heaven. Enkidu has ominous dreams of the destiny of tyrants who become slaves in the House of Death. Enkidu finally dies of an illness sent by the gods. Horrified by Enkidu's death and the prospect of his own demise, Gilgamesh undertakes a quest for immortality which brings him to the abode of Utnapishtim, a virtuous man who obeys the gods and was saved by them from the Great Flood. Utnapishtim puts Gilgamesh to various tests which he fails and eventually sends him away, assuring him that he cannot escape death. A humbled Gilgamesh returns to Uruk and orders his story to be inscribed in stone.

 

3.      Consider the elements of the epic journey  (should be in your notes)-how did Gilgamesh fit each stage of the cycle.

 

a.       The character -Gilgamsh

b.      Place to go-The Cedar Forest

c.       A stated reason to go-slay Humbaba, gather timber to build a gate

d.      Challenges or trial en route during the journey-weak resolve

e.       The real reason for the journey-create a legacy

4.      Give descriptions of each of the main characters: Gilgamesh, 2/3 god, 1/3 man, king of uruk Ninsun, mother of Gilgamesh Enkidu, wild man tamed by temple harlot, created by the gods to be a match for Gilgamesh, Utnapishtum, Biblical name is Noah, saved all mankind, referred to as father. Urshabani, Siduri-keeper of wine and brew

5.      Compare The Epic version of the flood to the Biblical version of the flood. How many differences, how many similarities? Different boat dimensions, Bible lists Noah’s family, and man was destroyed for wickeness-Eof G-Noah takes gold, animals, man was too loud.How many other flood narratives are there? At least 12(In your notes)

6.      Give descriptions of Gilgamesh’s two great journeys-1. To Cedar Forest to slay keeper Humbaba, Enkidu was his companion, traveled a great journey 2. Journey to find Utnapistum, stops at Mashu encounters Scorpion men, travels leagues of darkness, meets Siridu, and Urshabani and Utnapishtum

7.      Give several themes for the epic; manipulative gods, brotherly love, search for everlasting life, mortality, human limitations, kingly abuse, role of women

8.      Give several symbols from the epic, gates as passage ways, monsters as our own fears, serpent-thief of everlasting life, Biblical/garden of eden symbol, bread-life giving, seize the day for life passes quickly, sleep, ritual bathing

9.      Give several motifs from the epic-dreams, repetition, journey, conquering, quest

10.  Be prepared to interpret significant passages in the book:

“Will you listen to me: I have a long journey to go, to the Land of Humbaba, I must travel and unknown road and fight a strange battle. From the day I go until I return, till I reach the cedar forest and destroy the evil which Shamash abhors, pray for me to Shamash.”  Gil pleading with his mother before his journey.

 

“Do not trust too much in your own strength, be watchful, restrain your blows at first” The counselors of Uruk before he starts his journey to the Cedar Forest.

“As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man.” Siduri to Gil at the beginning of his quest for everlasting life.

 

11.  Find parallels in the events of Gilgamesh to modern day life: Utnapishtum’s test of Gilgamesh, diving for the plant of eternal life, Gilgamesh’s changes

12.  Contemplate the reasons why or why not Gilgamesh achieved his goal of immortality.

13.  Know the five main gods and their domain

Enlil –god of earth

ARuru-goddesss of creation

Shamash-god of sun

Ishtar goddess of love

Anu god of the sky

Ea-the goddess of wisdom

 

 

10/1 - 10/5 Classroom Discussions and Homework Assignments

10/1 - 10/5 Classroom Discussions and Homework Assignments

M, 10/1 - Anthony and Cleopatra
Homework: Write Book Review. Due: M, 10/8.
Vocabulary List #6

Dividend

Dominant

Dormitory

Earnest

Eliminate

Embroidery

Endeavor

Enormous

Equipment

Especially

Essential

Estimation

T, 10/2 - Anthony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare
Homework: Write a paragraph about the differences and similarities between the Shakespeare play about Anthony and Cleopatra and historical fact. Due: W, 10/3

W, 10/3 - The Ancient Israelites
Homework: Book Review, Due: M, 10/8
Vocabulary Test #6. Due: TH, 10/4
Powerpoint Project, Due: TH, 10/4. Make a 4 slide (or more) powerpoint presentation. You will have 2 minutes to present it in class on Thursday.

TH, 10/4 - Assyrian and Babylonian Captivity and Israel
Homework: FINISH Book Review. Due: M, 10/8

F, 10/5 and F, 10/19 - Is war necessary?

9/24 - 9/28 Discussion and Homework Schedule

M, 9/24 - Study for test on The Epic of Gilgamesh
Homework: Study for test on Gilgamesh. Due: T, 9/25
Vocabulary List #5:
consequently
considerable
consistency
continuous
controlled
controversial
cordially
corps
correspondence
criticize
distinction
distinguished
Finish reading Herodotus, On the Egyptians, pp. 122-130

T, 9/25 - Test on Gilgamesh and Egytian Society
Homework: Write a paragraph discussing why you agree or disagree with a certain law from one of the ancient law codes. Think of a legitimate and specific reasons why the law you picked is too harsh or too lenient. Due: W, 9/26

W, 9/26 - Egypt
Homework: Read, Herodotus, Rhampsinitus and the Clever Thief. Due: TH, 9/27
Study for Vocabulary Test #5

TH, 9/27 - Egyptian Art and Culture
Homework: FIn out about Anthony and Cleopatra on the internet. Due: M, 10/1
Work on writing you Book Review. Due: M, 10/8
(B) Fridays - Second Draft of Paper is due, F, 9/28

(B) Fri, 9/28 - Socratic Discussion and Second Draft Due.

Sumer History

Sumer History

•Uruk period: 4100 – 2900 BC (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age)

–Uruk XIV-V: 4100 – 3300 BC

–Uruk IV period: 3300 –3000 BC

–Jemdet Nasr period (Uruk III): 3000 – 2900 BC

•Early Dynastic period (Early Bronze Age)

–Early Dynastic I period: 2900–2800 BC

–Early Dynastic II period: 2800–2600 BC (Gilgamesh)

–Early Dynastic IIIa period: 2600–2500 BC

–Early Dynastic IIIb period: ca. 2500–2334 BC

•Akkadian Empire period: ca. 2334–2218 BC (Sargon)

•Gutian period: ca. 2218–2047 BC (Early Bronze Age IV)

•Ur III period: ca. 2047–1940 BC (Sumerian Renaissance)

•Sargon of Akkad

•Sargon of Akkad (2334 – 2279 BCE)

•Mother put him in a basket of rushes and bitumen. A lowly gardener found him and raised him.

•He consolidated all the city-states into one empire in Mesopotamia

•Revolts broke out during his reign

•Naram-Sin, son of Sargon

•He attacked the city of Nippur and sacked the temple.

•He was cursed for doing this. The Curse of the Akkad is written:

For the first time since cities were built and founded,

The great agricultural tracts produced no grain,

The inundated tracts produced no fish,

The irrigated orchards produced neither wine nor syrup,

The gathered clouds did not rain, the masgurum did not grow.

At that time, one shekel's worth of oil was only one-half quart,

One shekel's worth of grain was only one-half quart. . . .

These sold at such prices in the markets of all the cities!

He who slept on the roof, died on the roof,

He who slept in the house, had no burial,

People were flailing at themselves from hunger.

Now, historians think the downfall of the Akkad Empire was because of a HUGE drought brought about by a climate change. Maybe, it was the curse coming to pass—who knows?

Epic of Gilgamesh Flood story

•The Epic of Gilgamesh
and the Flood

•Three Different Accounts

•The Epic of Gilgamesh – The story of the flood for Sumerians

•Ovid, The Flood – The story of the flood for the Romans

•The Bible – The story of the flood in Genesis

•China Flood Story

•In China the flood myth had a different emphasis from the legends told in the West. The flooding of the land from time immemorial was seen as a hindrance to agriculture. The floodwaters were made to recede through the labors of a savior-hero named Yu the Great, who successfully dredged the land to provide outlets to the sea for the water. Thus was the great central river valley of China made suitable for agriculture and the development of civilization.

•Noah’s Ark

•Johan Huibers, businessman in Netherlands, builds an exact replica of Noah’s ark

•Mr. Ron Wyatt claims to have found Noah’s Ark in Turkey in a large boat shaped geological discovery (1977)

•In 2010, a team claims they found Noah’s ark 12,000 ft. up on Mt. Ararat

How to receive an "A" on the next test!

•How to receive an “A” on the next test!

•7 Rules to Follow:

•STUDY!!! You can have confidence that you will remember the answers.

•When your brain freezes up, do a brain dump and start writing everything you can think of about the topic! (I cannot give you ANY points if you do not write SOMETHING!)

•Remember discussions in class and write down some of the comments that were made.

•Look at the question carefully. Often, part of the answer is in the question.

•ALWAYS be SPECIFIC in your answers. Give SPECIFIC examples, especially from the article.

•ANSWER THE ENTIRE QUESTION.

•Review your test BEFORE handing it in.

•Answer the entire question and see if there is an answer in the question.

•Why is Mesopotamia called the Fertile Crescent and the Cradle of Civilization?

–There are TWO parts to this question. You need to answer BOTH.

–Part of the answer is in the question—FERTILE and CIVILIZATION.

•Write down the chronology between the First Humans to the Bronze Age.

–Two parts of the answer are given to you in the question: First Humans and Bronze Age. Write those two phrases down!!!

•Answering short answer questions

•You can do this in sentence format:

–“Socrates had many very important statements in his final speech. I thought the ending was very strong, when he was saying, “I to die, and you to live—which is better god only knows.” I like that because to me it means that, just because he is dead, doesn’t mean it’s better. As a matter of fact it may even be worse because they killed him for a very poor reason. He accepted his fact, but also he accepted that he is not the judge to which is better and which is not. God is…”

•You can also answer short answer questions in bullet points.

•The major points of his final speech are:

–That he will tell the truth

–That he loved the Athenians

–He knows what he was saying was risky

–You shouldn’t focus on dying because it is going to happen

–You shouldn’t fear death

–He also said he wasn’t afraid to tell what’s on his mind

–He would always tell the truth and not lie…

•An essay question should be answered in full sentences, in paragraph form, with SPECIFC EXAMPLES from the text!

•I realized that others think that Americans are weird, too. The hog hair, medicine man and the place where people go to die had almost an entertaining factor to it, even though it was making fun of us. I then thought of what we thought others do which we think is weird: Mexicans wearing hats, tribes in Africa dancing in circles, Brazilians hugging and kissing strangers. After that I felt very ethnocentric for some reason. I was proud to be a victim of that paper.

•Reference the CRITERIA for writing history!

•I think that this paper is a good and bad example of good writing of history. According to Lucian, these are things you need to do in order to write history well: Take risks; be unbiased; Don’t be flattering; Don’t write history like poetry; don’t use fluff; don’t have a hidden agenda; be accurate. In this article, the writer is biased, doesn’t use fluff, isn’t flattering, doesn’t have a hidden agenda and isn’t poetic. Unfortunately, he doesn’t take any risks. The article is a little bit boring and he also made a spelling error. Other than those two things, this paper followed Lucian’s tips very well.

•Reference both the BIBLE and OVID SPECIFICALLY (not necessarily in quotes)

•…Knowledge is a desire of people. We want to know why we were created. Without it, our desires are crushed. In the Bible, it explains how long and what order everything was created in. In the Ovid, not only does it explain what was man for creation but what is after the creation as well. Ending the fear of not gaining or not knowing is something you need to know. Fear is the driving force of the creation stories because fear is scary in itself.

•Writing your Paragraphs

•Write a TOPIC SENTENCE.

•Have at least two other dependent thoughts (or sentences).

•End with a CONCLUDING sentence.

•Try to work on improving conventions.

•TYPE IT!

•Have someone sign it to communicate your thoughts to someone else.

•TITLE (experiment)
NAME and PERIOD

–The coolest thing I saw in the Islamic art section was the griffin. I saw it twice. Once in the video and once in real life. I was surprised with the size of it. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. All of the patterns I saw really made me experience a new appreciation for the intricacy and workmanship integrated into Islamic art. Another interesting thing I noticed was how the video said, “the closer you look, the more you see.” And how true that was. I was looking at a bowl from a distance and only noticed the exotic colors it displayed. But when I drew nearer, I noticed all of the patterns used to create this work of art. It only proves it more that you just need to look closer to find all the details.