The Literature of Ancient Mesopotamia

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The Literature of Ancient Mesopotamia
English II
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Mesopotamia - The land between the rivers

• Mesopotamia is the name given by the Greeks to an
  ancient area of the Middle East now known as
  modern-day Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria.
• This region is also known as the Fertile
  Crescent, an agriculturally rich land watered by
  the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

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Map of Ancient Mesopotamia
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The Sumerians were the first people to dominate
this region, settling here sometime between 5000
and 4000 BC.
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The Sumerians

• Grew crops and raised cattle for a living
• Were successful merchants and traders
• Were known for their stonework, metalwork, and
  sculpture

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The Sumerians lived in city-states, much like the
Greeks

• City-states were walled for protection against
  invaders (credited to be the inventor of the
  city)
• Pyramid-like temples, called Ziggurats, were the
  center of the cities
• The priests of the ziggurats were considered the
  earthly representatives of the gods

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Sumerian society was based upon a strict Class
system

• Upper Class priests, government officials
• Middle Class merchants, artisans,
  doctors
• Lower Class peasants, farmers, slaves
  
  
  

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The Sumerians achieved a high level of culture
and learning

• Knowledge of architecture
• Developments in science, math, astrology
• Created one of the worlds first systems of
  writing, known as cuneiform, consisting of a
  wedge-shaped marking made with a stick on clay
  tablets

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The Summerians contd

• The Summerian culture produced the worlds oldest
  literature of record.
• It was written on clay tablets between 2100 and
  1650 BC
• There have been over 400 works of Summerian
  literature discovered.

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Writing in Mesopotamia
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The largest city-states, such as Ur, Uruk, and
Lagash, had populations in tens of thousands.

• Many city-states were in sight of each other
• But the Sumerians never organized a strong
  central government
• They often competed against each other for land
  and resources
• This made it easy for stronger enemies to capture
  and control them later

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Because the Sumerians failed to form a unified
government, they were vulnerable to the attacks
of different nations

• Akkadians (2500 BC)
• Babylonians (2000 BC)
• Hittites (1600 BC)
• Assyrians (900 BC)
• Chaldeans (612 BC)
• Persians (539 BC)

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It was during the reign of the Babylonians that
the story of a great king called Gilgamesh
became translated and preserved

• The story was written 4000 years ago
• It takes the form of an epic poem
• Tells of a king who actually reigned over the
  city-state of Uruk sometime between 2700 and 2500
  BC
• The story was originally found on broken Sumerian
  tablets and restored / translated by the
  Babylonians

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The epic tells of the superhuman adventures of
the legendary king

• Legend has it that Gilgamesh is two parts god and
  one part human, thus possessing both supernatural
  powers and human weaknesses
• Though he was a great leader of a mighty city, he
  suffered from excessive pride (hubris).
• His anger at the gods over the death of a friend
  leads him to seek eternal life
• Though he confronts obstacles along the way, he
  must ultimately accept his human limitations

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The selections of Gilgamesh we will read are
based upon 12 clay tablets of cuneiform script.

• These tablets were among 25,000 discovered in
  modern Iraq at Ninevah in the buried ruins of the
  library of King Assurbanipal of Assyria
• The original tablets were damaged in a fire
  during a Persian raid around 612 BC, but recent
  discoveries of older versions of the epic helped
  to reclaim the parts of the story that were
  missing.

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The epic was so widely known that scholars
believe it served as an archetype, or model, for
hero myths around the world

• Greece, India, and Persia would later model
  characters and adventures after those portrayed
  in Gilgamesh
• The epic reveals a great deal about the ancient
  Mesopotamians sometimes pessimistic (negative)
  views of existence
• But it also shows us the sensitivity and humanity
  of these ancient peoples, who are not unlike us
  in their joys, sorrows, and strivings

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Archetype of Gilgamesh
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Archetype Review

• They are the basic building blocks of stories
  that all writers use to create a world to which
  readers can escape. Also an archetype is a basic
  plot, character, symbol or idea that recurs in
  the literature of many cultures.
• In Gilgamesh, a heroic king searches for the
  secret of immortality (heroic quest)

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Background of the Sumerian Beliefs reflected in
the Epic of Gilgamesh

• Though they were advanced for their time, the
  Sumerian and Babylonian civilizations were
  powerless against ever-present threats of floods,
  droughts, and invaders.
• They worshipped a pantheon, or family, of
  unpredictable gods and goddesses who could bring
  misfortune as well as favor.
• Regardless of social status or level of goodness,
  there was no joyful afterlife to look forward to.
• No wonder these people had a negative outlook on
  life!

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Myth of the Flood
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These pessimistic (negative) beliefs are evident
in the Epic of Gilgamesh

• Gilgamesh, in spite of his great powers, suffers
  a life-changing loss. When the person who means
  the most to him dies, the proud Gilgamesh must
  come to terms with the reality that he himself
  will not live forever.
• Because, in the Sumerian view, death offers only
  emptimess, Gilgamesh rebels against it, and sets
  off on a quest to attain immortality (eternal
  life).

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Gilgamesh is the earliest known of the Epic Heroes

• All epic heroes are human beings
• All have supernatural strength and spiritual
  powers
• All are mighty leaders of their people
• Most of them are of mixed divine and human birth
• Most of them possess human weakness, which forces
  them to accept human limitations in spite of
  their power

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Why are Epic Heroes so important to us?

• We admire them for their divine, supernatural
  powers, and often wish to be like them
• We sympathize with them because their human
  weaknesses and difficulties remind us of our own