1. Background Information
Ancient worlds
Background Information

2. setting Where: Uruk, a Sumerian City; modern- day Iraq
When: around 3500 BC

3. Cultural context: Sumeria
World’s oldest civilization
Responsible for bringing the wheel, government, art, mathematics, astronomy, and a kind of writing called cuneiform to the world

4. Influential “people”: dietiesAN
ISHTAR
The sky god
God of the kings
Unfriendly to the common people
Took over heaven when it was separated from earth, creating the universe as we know it
The goddess of love, procreation, and war
Type of “black widow spider” – she finds a mate and then kills him when she is through (i.e. she attempts to entice Gilgamesh, but is refused by him, so she asks her father An to unleash the “Bull of Heaven” upon Gilgamesh and Enkidu)

5. Influential “People”: dieties
ENKI
ENLIL
The god of the subterranean waters
His words came to life – what he spoke became reality
The wind/storm god and the god of the lands and of the earth
The most important god, but he had a short fuse and was responsible for the great flood
Credited with the creation of mankind

6. Characteristics: the epic
Definition: a long narrative poem on a serious subject centered on a heroic of god- like figure on whose actions depends the fate of a tribe, nation, human race; developed in the oral traditions

7. Characteristics: epic conventions
The hero is a figure of great national or even cosmic importance, usually the ideal man of his culture.
The setting is vast in scope.
The action consists of deeds of valor (bravery).
Supernatural forces interest themselves in the action and intervene at times.
The style of writing is elevated (more formal).

8. Characteristics: other epic conventions
Opening states the theme of the epic
Writer invokes a Muse (a source of inspiration)
Opens “in media res”
Uses heave use of repetition and stock phrases
Gives catalogs and genealogies
Main characters give extended formal speeches
Uses the epic simile ( a more involved, ornate comparison)

9. Significant work: The epic of gilgamesh
Perhaps the oldest written story on Earth
Originated in Ancient Sumeria
Written on 12 clay tablets in cuneiform
About the adventures of the historical King of Uruk, somewhere between 2750 and BC

10. Works cited
Brown, Arthur A. “Storytelling, The Meaning of Life, and The Epic of Gilgamesh.” Exploring Ancient World Cultures: Essays on the Ancient Near East. eawc.evansville.edu/essays/brown.htm
Hooker, Richard. “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” World Civilizations: The Mesopotamian Reader. Wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/GILG.htm