Title: 04 - Lesson: Before you read The Gilgamesh Epic
Course: English 4A SU15 > Section: Unit: First Words

The Hero

What is the first time you can remember hearing or understanding the word hero? Maybe it is so ingrained in your early experiences that there is no way you can remember. Perhaps you have pictures that pre-date your memories of wearing Batman or Wonder Woman t-shirts. Humans tell stories about heroes. It is just what they do. Perhaps people are born with a need to identify and embellish those qualities because they help us survive our surroundings.

What is a hero? If you ask a dozen different people you may receive a dozen different answers. Typically when writing an essay or learning about something it is recommended that you go to the definition or the source of the material.

The word hero itself is an interesting one...

Definition & Etymology

Etymology:

From Old French heroes, from Latin hērōs (“hero”), from Ancient Greek ἥρως (hḗrōs, “demi-god, hero”), from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to watch over, protect”). Related to Latin servo (“protect”). Replaced Old English hæleþ.

That may mean something or nothing to you now, but if we look at some of the sources we can begin to understand just how important this is. Demi-god, protect and the Old English word which translates to man or hold are interesting places to start.

Definition:

  1. A real or mythical person of great bravery who carries out extraordinary deeds.
  2. A role model.
  3. The main protagonist in a work of fiction

Maybe those definitions are not quite as exciting as what you had in your own mind. They are certainly not as exciting as the words from which the word hero derive. So you see, going back to the origins is fun! Now we'll take a look at the first example we have of a hero that was recorded by humans that we have.

Here is a video that outlines the importance of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

"This video introduces the earliest work of literature—The Epic of Gilgamesh. Learn how this ancient story still inspires readers and artists today, and how its themes of power and leadership, and friendship still resonate."

It's twenty-six minutes but might help generate some interest for you and help you understand why it's such an important story. It will also give you a nice summary of the story that will help you understand what you're reading.

This story also fits perfectly into what we call the Hero's Journey. It is a format which is still widely used today. You'll learn more about this after you read.

Bonus Lesson: Did you know that the term Superhero is actually held in joint trademark with DC and Marvel Comics? You are not allowed to sell a product that uses this term!

Etymology and definition for hero are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License from Wiktionary.org.

Sumerian Culture: Life in Sumer

The first writing system. The plow. The sailboat. The first lunar calendar.

These accomplishments and more were the products of the city-states of Sumer, which arose on the floodplains of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now modern-day Iraq. The Sumerians began to build their walled cities and make significant advances beginning around 3500 B.C.E.

Their domination of this region lasted until around 2000 B.C.E, when the Babylonians took control. Sumerian culture and technology did not disappear but were adopted by its conquerors.

Located in what the ancient Greeks called Mesopotamia, which literally means "the land between the rivers," Sumer was a collection of city-states that occupied the southernmost portion of Mesopotamia. Most were situated along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, lying just north of the Persian Gulf.The physical environment there has remained relatively the same since about 8000 B.C.E. The landscape is flat and marshy. The ground is primarily made up of sand and silt, with no rock. The climate is very dry, with only about 16.9 centimeters of rain falling per year. Natural vegetation is sparse, and no trees other than palm trees grow there. The rivers overflow their banks in the spring, sometimes violently and destructively. During this process, they deposit a rich layer of silt on the surrounding floodplain.

This section on Sumerian Culture is licensed CC-BY under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

 This page English/Language Arts Grade 12 by MN Partnership for Collaborative Curriculum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Sumerian Culture: The Cradle of Civilization

Considering the harsh and forbidding natural environment, how did the first civilization arise in Sumer? Surprisingly, the environment was part of what made civilization possible.

The silt carried by the rivers down from the northern mountains provided rich fertilizer for growing crops when the rivers overflowed. The constant sunshine was also good for crops. But without water, they would have easily dried up and died. Through the leadership of priest-kings, Sumerians organized farmers in each city-state to build extensive irrigation systems of canals and dams. Before long, the desert was blooming with a surplus of barley, dates, and other crops.

This surplus allowed many people to pursue occupations other than farming, while still being able to meet their basic needs. These people became artisans, merchants, and craftspeople. They helped build the cities and increase the wealth of the city-states through trade with neighboring societies.

Sumerians also developed high-quality crafts, evidence of which was found in the royal tombs of Ur, excavated by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1920s. Trade also helped the Sumerians to secure vital items such as timber from Lebanon and luxury goods such as the semi precious stone lapis lazuli from the Indus River Valley.

Sumerian Culture: Ziggurats

This clay plaque (c. 17th century B.C.E.) depicts what some archaeologists believe is the Sumerian goddess Inanna, patron deity of fertility. Makes you wonder who'll find those Barbie dolls you buried in the backyard.

Because of the surplus grain, the government could grow in size to support numerous officials and priests. It could also pay thousands of workers with barley while they were building canals, city walls, and ziggurats or while they were fighting to defend their city-state or extend its influence over the region. The barley was collected as a tax from the farmers. Farmers were also required to give some time to the government to work on projects. Slaves and hired workers also contributed.

As the government and economy grew in size and complexity, officials and merchants required a sophisticated writing system to record transactions. First came number markings and simple pictograms, the writing system began to incorporate pictures representing a physical object or idea (such as a picture of the sun to represent the sun).

As trade and government activity increased, the writing system began to incorporate more abstract pictograms and phonograms, or symbols representing sounds. These new forms provided greater flexibility and speed in writing. They were adopted by other cultures (such as the Assyrians) who did not even speak Sumerian.

Sumerian Culture: Wisdom

The Sumerians wrote on clay tablets, using a reed pen called a stylus. Once dried, these tablets became hard and, fortunately for today's researchers, endured for millennia in the hot, dry climate.

Thousands of these tablets have been unearthed. Some libraries have even been discovered with over 10,000 of these clay tablets. And although the vast majority of these tablets contain records of goods collected and distributed by the governments and trade transactions, some contain myths, stories, and letters. These documents have provided much information about the culture and history of the Sumerian people.

With their ingenuity, the Sumerian people developed complex irrigation system and a written language. They were the first people to use the plow to lift the silt-laden soil of their crop fields and they invented the sailboat. They were the first people to design a calendar based on the phase of the moon and they developed a numerical system, based on the number 60, that is still used to measure seconds and minutes.

Gilgamesh Intro

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh was likely an actual king of Uruk in Babylonia who lived about 2700 B.C.E.

Sumerians recorded stories and myths about Gilgamesh, which were written on clay tablets. The stories were combined into an epic tale. Versions of this tale were translated into other languages including Akkadian, which was spoken by the Babylonians.

The fullest surviving version is derived from twelve stone tablets, in the Akkadian language, which were found stored in the famous library at Nineveh of Assyrian King Assurbanipal.

The epic relates the heroic deeds of Gilgamesh, who is the king of Uruk. His father is mortal and his mother is a goddess. Since Gilgamesh is part mortal, he knows he must die one day. However, he longs for immortality, whether through doing great deeds or discovering the secret of eternal life. He roams the earth on this quest and meets Utnapishtim, the only human granted eternal life by the gods. He tells Gilgamesh many stories, including one of a great flood that covered the Earth.

What happens to Gilgamesh? Read the tale and find out. The following is an excerpt from Gilgamesh.

O man of Shuruppak, son of Ubartutu:
Tear down the house and build a boat!

Abandon wealth and seek living beings!
Spurn possessions and keep alive living beings!
Make all living beings go up into the boat.
The boat which you are to build,
its dimensions must measure equal to each other:
its length must correspond to its width.
Roof it over like the Apsu.
From Tablet XI — translation by Maureen Gallery Kovacs, 1998

Gilgamesh Timeline

Additional Readings:

Ancient Tablets, Ancient Graves: Access Women’s Lives in Mesopotamia

Sumerian Culture

Before you actually read the story you may want to review some of the questions you'll be asked to answer before the reading: 05 - Study Questions: The Gilgamesh Epic

^1 Hero Lion Dur Sharrukin via Wikimedia Commons / CC0
^2Image: Gilgamesh Timeline. Copyright © 2015 Bookish Whimsy. Used with Permission.

 This page English/Language Arts Grade 12 by MN Partnership for Collaborative Curriculum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.