Gilgamesh

Assignment to have been completed: Students should have read pp. 85‑113 of The Epic of Gilgamesh and have done the study guide questions in the packet.

Activities:

• A. Administer quiz over the reading. Allow about five minutes for students to complete the quiz. Exchange papers and grade in class. Collect quizzes.
• B. Go over study guide questions. You don’t actually have to ask each question. You can allow students to ask about questions that gave them some difficulty or of which they were uncertain. Do ask the questions to which the answers provided say OPEN QUESTION.

3 ‑ The Death of Enkidu

• 1. How does Gilgamesh initially respond to Enkidu’s impending death?

  Gilgamesh curses the wood he desired enough to kill Humbaba to get.

  How does Enkidu himself respond?

  Enkidu curses the trapper and the harlot who took him from his life in the wilderness. [89‑91] (This is the first allusion to Enkidu’s having a wife before he was “tamed.” Another appears on p. 95.)

  How does Shamash change Enkidu’s attitude?

  The god reminds the fallen hero of the joys of friendship he has known and the funerary respect he will be paid because he has known Gilgamesh. [91] (Enkidu then blesses the harlot.)

• 2. Describe the after‑life that Enkidu beholds in his vision.

  Enkidu is transformed by a man‑bird with a vampire’s face, lion’s feet, and eagle’s talons into a winged creature and is led to the palace of Irkalla (Erishkigal), the Queen of Darkness. There people sit in darkness, eat dust and clay, are clothed like birds. He sees those who were great in life ‑ priests, kings, and heroes ‑ reduced to the status of servants. He also sees Erishkigal and Belit‑Sheri, the keeper of the book of death. [92]

  What is the effect of the vision on Enkidu?

  The immediate effect is terror.

  What is the effect of the vision on Gilgamesh? What lesson does Gilgamesh draw from the vision?

  Gilgamesh sheds sympathetic tears and concludes that “the end of life is sorrow.” [93]

• 3. Why does Enkidu’s death shame him?

  Enkidu feels that the only honorable death for a man is one in battle. [93]

  What is Gilgamesh’s response to Enkidu’s last words?

  Gilgamesh responds to Enkidu’s last words with an elegy (a formal memorial poem for one who has died). [93‑5]

  What is his immediate response to Enkidu’s death?

  Yet, when Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh rages. [95]

  How does he then plan to mourn Enkidu?

  He plans to mourn Enkidu by declaring official mourning by all citizens. He will himself wander the wilderness in a lion’s skin. He has a memorial statue built and sacrifices to Shamash. [95‑6]

  What is the most macabre indication of Gilgamesh’s devotion to Enkidu?

  He holds Enkidu’s body until the worms begin to crawl on it.

4 ‑ The Search for Everlasting Life

• 1. What truth had Enkidu’s death forced Gilgamesh to face?

  Gilgamesh is struck with the fact of his own mortality (capability of dying).

  With what emotions does this truth fill his heart?

  He feels despair and fear.

  On what quest does he decide to go?

  He decides to seek Utnapishtim the Faraway (an epithet), the only man ever to be given everlasting life. [97]

• 2. What does Gilgamesh reveal that he had hoped his weeping would accomplish?

  Gilgamesh had hoped that his weeping would result in the resurrection of Enkidu.

  What does Gilgamesh tell the Man‑Scorpions is the object of his quest?

  He tells the Man‑Scorpions his quest is to question Utnapishtim concerning the living and the dead. [98] [NOTE: Enkidu took twelve days to die; Gilgamesh had to pass through twelve leagues of darkness]

• 3. What does Shamash tell Gilgamesh about this quest?

  Shamash says, “You will never find the life for which you are searching.” [100] [NOTE: Dressed in animal skins, Gilgamesh has become more like Enkidu.]

  What is Gilgamesh’s response?

  Despite Shamash’s warning, Gilgamesh persists in his quest.

  What advice does Siduri offer him?

  Siduri says to eat, drink, and enjoy the pleasures that life affords before he dies. She emphasizes that this is the assigned lot of humanity. [102]

  To whom does she direct him (and with what advice)?

  When he persists, she sends him to Urshanabi, the ferryman of Utnapishtim. Again, she emphasizes acceptance of fate. [102‑3]

  What is his response?

  In response, Gilgamesh destroys the tackle of Urshanabi’s ferry in a rage. [103]

  What is Utnapishtim’s basic answer to Gilgamesh’s question?

  Utnapishtim’s answer to Gilgamesh is “There is no permanence.” [106]

  To what condition does Utnapishtim compare death?

  He compares death to sleep. [107]

• 4. What does Gilgamesh find most striking about Utnapishtim’s appearance?

  Gilgamesh looks more like a loafer than like a hero. [107]

5 ‑ The Story of the Flood

• 1. Why did the gods decide to exterminate humanity?

  “The uproar was intolerable and sleep [was] no longer possible.”

  Who acts to preserve humanity?

  Yet, Ea (also called Enki, god of fresh water, wisdom, and the arts, one of the creators of mankind) moves to preserve mankind.

  What instructions does he give Utnapishtim?

  He instructs Utnapishtim to build a boat and take on it “the seed of all living creatures.” He also advises Utnapishtim to lie to the people of Shurrupak about the building of the boat ‑ so that they will not seek to save or be saved themselves. [108‑9]

• 2. List all the things that Utnapishtim places on the boat.

  gold, his immediate and extended family, animals, and craftsmen

• 3. How did the gods react to the Flood?

  The gods were terrified by the flood and cowered in heaven. [110]

  How does Ishtar respond?

  Ishtar repented her decision; then so did the other gods. [110‑111]

  What odd simile is used to describe the gods’ response to Utnapishtim’s sacrifice?

  The gods gathered like flies around the sacrifice. [111]

  Whom do the gods blame for the flood?

  Then, they blamed Enlil. [NOTE: Ea’s poem suggests opposition to capital punishment in lines 1‑4.]

  How does that god treat Utnapishtim in the end?

  Then Enlil gives Utnapishtim and his wife immortality. [113]

Assignment for next class meeting: Read pp. 114‑119 of The Epic of Gilgamesh. Write out answers to the study questions. Do character analysis essay on either Gilgamesh or Enkidu.