Background to Gilgamesh

1
Background to Gilgamesh

• World Literature
• Professor Beamen

2
Types of Epics

• Folk epicsstories about heroes recited or sung
• Literary Epicsborrow same characteristics of
  folk epics usually written down by one author
  some based on well-known characters or stories
  from oral tradition.

3
Elements of the Epic

• Epic Hero
• Epic Conflict
• Heroic Quest
• Divine Intervention

4
Epic Conventions -Invocation -in medias
res -serious tone, elevated style -contain
epic similes (elaborated
comparisons) and epithets (poetic
renamings) -Archetypes (recurring plot,
character, symbol, idea)
5
Mythology/ Epics timeline
6
From the Prologue we learn that Gilgamesh is the
King of Uruk, a city in ancient
Mesopotamia--modern day Iraq.Earliest
Civilization (Sumer, Egypt, Akkad) from 3200 to
2052 BC
7
Gilgamesh Background

• Both MYTH and LEGEND
• Supernatural 2/3 god 1/3 man based on a real
  king
• Story is 4,000 years oldancient Sumeria (modern
  Iraq)
• Written on 12 clay tablets in Cuneiform.
• Mesopotamia (Greek for between two
  rivers)between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
• One of the earliest URBAN civilizations we know
  of. This culture enjoyed a very sophisticated
  lifestyle over 4,000 years ago.

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Topics/Themes

• Good vs. Evil
• Spirituality
• Immortalitywhy do we have to die? How do we
  attain everlasting life?
• Friendship
• What makes a good leader?
• Responsibility
• Balance/Harmony

Cuneiform tablet