1. Journal Writing Rules
Date each entry and write the topic. You do NOT need to write the entire question.
Write until time is called without lifting your pen from the paper – use stream of consciousness writing.
Think, but don’t think too much. Write and let the thoughts come to you.
Don’t worry about conventions (grammar, spelling, etc.)

2. JOURNAL
Topic: heroes
“True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life, in whatever shape they may challenge us to combat.” ~Napoleon
React to this quote in your journals. What is meant by this, and how does (or doesn’t) this description of a hero fit with your own ideas?

3. Ancient Middle Eastern Culture
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Ancient Middle Eastern Culture

4. Mesopotamia circa 3500BC – 539 BC
A fertile valley between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in present day Iraq.
Name means “the land between the rivers.”
Home to the first civilizations and to the Sumerians, who invented writing around 3000 BC. This writing is known as “cuneiform.”
QUESTION: Why is the development of writing
essential to the creation and continuation of civilization?
Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Neo-Babylonians inhabited the area in successive years and adopted Sumerian culture.
Consisted of independent city-states with their own rulers, army, and patron deities (gods).

6. Literary Terms
Archetype – A type of character, story, or element that reappears in multiple works. A “type” that serves as a model.
EX) The Quest Story, the hero, the villain, the wise old man, the star-crossed lovers, the mad scientist, water as symbolic, etc.
Questions:
a. What Quest Stories do you know?
b. Why might elements and story types
reoccur across time and culture?
Epic – A long narrative poem celebrating the feats of a legendary hero.

7. The Epic of Gilgamesh
One of the oldest literary works in existence (over 4,000 years old).
Q: Why are we still reading this today?
The story of Gilgamesh is thought to be based on a Sumerian king who ruled the city-state of Uruk. After his death, stories about him circulated orally until they were written down about 1,000 years later.

8. The Epic of Gilgamesh continued
None of the original tablets on which the story was written have been completely restored, but over the years, scholars have filled in the gaps and translated the work
Q: What does this tell you about the story?

9. Background Gilgamesh is 2/3 god, 1/3 human
He has begun to take advantage of his subjects, so the gods create Enkidu (“hairy-bodied wild man”) to fight him. However, they become best friends instead. Together they conquer major feats as well as create havoc.
The godess Ishtar falls in love with Gilgamesh, but he rejects her. In retaliation, she asks her father to punish him by sending the Bull of Heaven. Together, Gilgamesh and Enkidu defeat the bull.
The gods have decided that now one of the two friends must die. Enkidu, who is not part god, is chosen to die as a consequence for their offenses.