Gilgamesh Mesopotamian Mythology Mesopotamian Societies Sumerians first major

Gilgamesh Mesopotamian Mythology

Mesopotamian Societies Sumerians • first major civilization (3000 BCE) • non-Semitic people /language • Uruk (and other cities) • cuneiform writing • elaborate mythology and cult-based mythic poems Babylonians / Akkadians • later (c. 1200 -600 BCE) • Semitic people. language • myth based on Sumerian myth

Mesopotamian Societies Both societies share: • social/political hierarchy with kings as head of state • priestly class who also teach/write/preserve literature • tradition of sacred writings associated with actual rituals • high level of “civilization” (i. e. social structure & material wealth) • irrigation-based agriculture, water resources organized by government • cuneiform writing

Gods and Goddesses • Sin (the moon), had a higher place in the pantheon than his children: • Shamash (the sun), who becomes important as a deity of all-seeing justice, and • Ishtar (the morning star), whose multifaceted nature includes goddess of sexual love, of justice and warfare, of communal prosperity. . .

Gods and Goddesses • Tammuz (Dumuzi) was Ishtar’s husband – a god like Attis (with Cybele) who died and was reborn every year. • Ereshkigal was the goddess of the Underworld (Kurnugi). • Ea was the god of fresh water, thus a fertility god; he is often a protective figure (asin the flood myth in Gilgamesh). • Belili, Dumuzi’s sister – parallel to Geshtinanna in the Sumerian story, who takes her brother’s place in the underworld.

Gilgamesh is on the Sumerian king-list as one of Uruk’s earliest kings – in the realm of myth. He features in several Sumerian myths (such as the one with Inanna’s hulupu tree), and in one long poem, the “Epic” of Gilgamesh. This poem is the most popular pieceof literature in Mesopotamia, found in many different languages and versions across 2500 years. We discovered it in about 1920. There are two major versions: we are reading the Nineveh version, compiled by a priest in about 800 -700 BCE.

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh and Enkidu

Gilgamesh & Ishtar

Gilgamesh & Ishtar