Epic of Gilgamesh

known as the ‘first great masterpiece of world

literature’.
 Epic of Gilgamesh
• written in tablets like the one shown here Tablet V).
• dates back to the old Babylonian period, 2003–1595
BC and is currently housed in the Sulaymaniyah
Museum, Iraq
• Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about
Bilgamesh (Sumerian for "Gilgamesh"), king of 
Uruk, dating from the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2100
BC). 

Reverse side of the newly discovered tablet V

 Babylon
• Kingdom of
Mesopotamia
Tablet
 What we can learn from the
Story
• Mesopotamian culture and their religion:
 Gender division – Strong male leader
 Leadership – just rulers
 Rights of citizens
• Human relationships
 a story of human relationships, feelings, loneliness,
friendship, loss, love, revenge and the fear of death.
 Mesopotamia
RELIGION
Polytheistic (attached to natural phenomena with gods
that were very heavily personified).
Relationships with these gods (would pick their favorite or
least favorite to guide or destroy).
Idea of afterlife is created as dark and gray.
 CHARACTERS
Gilgamesh
Enkidu
Humbaba
GILGAMESH

• two-thirds god and one-third man.

• wisest, strongest, and most handsome
of all mortals.
• king of the city-state Uruk (builds a
huge wall around the city).
 ENKIDU
• mortal/god like Gilgamesh.
• created from clay and is sent to live among
the animals.
• wartime comrade and friend of king 
Gilgamesh.
• known as the equal to Gilgamesh, but is
more native and primal.
• for peace in Uruk, he is made to fight
Gilgamesh for the right to rule.
 Humbaba.
• great and terrible guardian of the Cedar
Forest.
• Confronted by best friends Enkidu and
Gilgamesh (who were backed by the Sun
God)
• offers to make Gilgamesh king of the forest,
to cut the trees for him, and to be his slave
 Enkidu
• Rival of Gilgamesh but later became his friend.
• Created by goddess Aruru in response to the
complaints of the people against the abuses of
Gilgamesh
• Abundantly hairy and primitive, he lives
roaming with the herds and grazing and
drinking from rivers with the beasts. 
• Together with Gilgamesh slayed the monster 
Humbaba
 Ishtar
• Babylonian goddess of Fertility, Love, Storms,
and War, and is arguably the most important
mother goddess of Mesopotamia.
• bears the title of "Queen of Heaven."
• invited Gilgamesh after his victory over
Humbaba
• fascinated by the beauty of Gilgamesh, offers him
to be his wife in exchange for wealth and fame;
• Rejected by Gilgamesh, goes to her father Anu,
to demand the Bull of Heaven to take revenge
 Utnapishtim
• survivor of a mythological flood whom Gilgamesh consults
about the secret of immortality.
• was the only man to escape death, having preserved
human and animal life in the great boat he built, he and
his wife were deified by the god Enlil.
• directed Gilgamesh to a plant that would renew his youth
 Cedar Forest

In Cedar Forest, Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the demigod

Humbaba, who is the guardian of the forest.
 Related readings

• /content/enforced/7306-English17/A-short-version-of-The-E
pic-of-Gilgamesh.pdf
 Reinforcement
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98UOxnw-Cxg&t=7s
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LtS8bqaUo8
 TO DO
• content/enforced/7306-English17/Gilgamesh Review Jeopa
rdy Review Game Answer Key.pdf
• Images by:
By BabelStone (Own work), CC0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?
curid=10755114
By Urban at French Wikipedia - photo by Urban,
CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?
curid=1665473
 Sources
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Utnapishtim
• https://
www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/babylonia
• https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gilgamesh/characters/
 Sources
• Hannah Jensen, from Olney Illinois, written paper for Dr.
Lee Patterson’s Ancient Near East course in the Fall 2015.
• https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gilgamesh/characters/
Tablet five[edit]

Tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh

Reverse side of the newly discovered tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh. It dates back to the old Babylonian period, 2003–1595 BC and is currently housed in the Sulaymaniyah
Museum, Iraq
The heroes enter the cedar forest. Humbaba, the guardian of the Cedar Forest, insults and threatens them. He accuses Enkidu of betrayal, and vows to disembowel
Gilgamesh and feed his flesh to the birds. Gilgamesh is afraid, but with some encouraging words from Enkidu the battle commences. The mountains quake with the
tumult and the sky turns black. The god Shamash sends 13 winds to bind Humbaba, and he is captured. Humbaba pleads for his life, and Gilgamesh pities him. He
offers to make Gilgamesh king of the forest, to cut the trees for him, and to be his slave. Enkidu, however, argues that Gilgamesh should kill Humbaba to establish his
reputation forever. Humbaba curses them both and Gilgamesh dispatches him with a blow to the neck, as well as killing his seven sons.[24] The two heroes cut down
many cedars, including a gigantic tree that Enkidu plans to fashion into a gate for the temple of Enlil. They build a raft and return home along the Euphrates with the
giant tree and (possibly) the head of Humbaba.